#Amphibia Best Fronds

[amphibia-a-day]

Day 1121 of Amphibia Screenshots

Episode: Best Fronds

[alexisr294]

Amphibia Pilot (Full)

[melliferian]

Amphibia has been dead for 20 years and he’s still here

[aifoxdev]

I couldnt find high resolution wallpaper of planter farm from animated series amphibian. Therefore I used a neural network to increase size and then processed image a little. I share on a slightly smaller scale because platform has scale limitations.

[writesailingdreams]

What are your ideas on Amphibia’s idea of self-love and how it’s tackled?

I’m afraid I don’t have very in-depth thoughts (or more precisely I hadn’t thought about this idea until asked*). But from my few days brewing on it my answer is: I think it’s idea of self-love is something I would have been grateful for when I was Anne’s age and I think it’s tackled pretty well.

As an addendum, I felt only Anne really had an arc defined by discovering self-love. To me, Marcy’s arc was about coming to term with facing unpleasant things, and Sasha’s was recognizing how she wanted to be a better person/grow. I also don’t see any of the Plantars needing to learn self-love. Sprig might come closest but to me, his arc is more about finding a friend, someone who will actually like him/spend time with him, and it’s less him learning to love himself but finding the friend who will love the himself he already is pretty open about expressing/seems to like.

As to what I mean in more specifics (because of course), I’m having a hard time arranging it my head coherently. But essentially: I felt Anne’s arc to self-love was handled very gradually.

She’s starts out (Best Fronds) as very concerned with what her friends will think if she isn’t agreeable to what they say; she has to be likable, she has to be what others want her to be. But then she meets Sprig (and family) and live in Wartwood, where she has to make decisions on her own/withiut her usual friends. Wartwood is disturbed & distrustful but she earns their trust & respect (Toad Tax). Then later there’s Wally’s bit of “you can be whoever you want to be here” advice and her becoming less worried about whether she’s the “town weirdo” (Wally and Anne). Then there’s the whole Reunion bit with Sprig defending her and saying she’s a good person & brave & not going to be pushed around; she’s someone—as she has presented herself in Wartwood—of value and love (at least in the eyes of this pink frog boy. See this is why I get so emotional about these two?)

I’d say there’s less direct instances in S2a (at least nothing immediately jumps to mind), but by the time she’s there she has had some growth. I think this is most evident in her relationship with Marcy. By the end of her stay in Newtopia, she’s opened up to Sprig (and vice versus) (Hopping Mall). She’s learning to express how she feels and be okay with that. So by the time the show gets to Bessie and Microangelo (I love that ep), she’s happy with herself. (Oh, Tritonio helped, less in his ultimate goal reveal but in instilling in Anne an actually desire to work at something and see herself as worthy as be capable of working at something. Oh, and Stumpy’s statement that her parents would proud of what she did feels like it boosted some kind of ‘You’re ideas may be over the top but they come from a good place.”)

Like omg! To 13 yr old me those kinds subtle and but very clear & audial expressions of my value and worth would have been amazing. Maybe it’s okay to just be the weirdo you are. Maybe others *will* like you. Maybe someone will be your friend even if you share your weird and sentimental feelings. Aaaah! (Heck, I’m in my 30s and I’d still love this).

In that sense, to me, Anne’s self-love grew very much from the space where others (frogs) allowed her to be who she was and as she grew more expressive, she became more sure of herself and the more sure she became the more self-love was genuine. Anyway, I think it’s beautiful.

*this ask reminded me that I’ve been wanting to rewatch Amphibia; I have been reminded that I usually dig my teeth into fandom media when it’s complete, One Piece being the nearest thing to an exception and even then (1) it’s a lot easier to analyze Ace than other characters and (2) I usually narrowly focus or broadly react

[mysteriesofmarcy]

Honorable Mention: Best Fronds

The first episode that wasn't the series premiere.

The core of the show is Anne and Sprig's friendship. This episode focuses on how it differs from her friendship with Sasha and Marcy. And it exposes just how toxic that friendship with Sasha was when Anne describes how she viewed it.

And while it's not really what the episode is about, I do like water / beach / lake episodes. The water snake fight was pretty cool too, because it told us a lot about our two protagonists and the misadventures they would get into this season.

[calechipconecrimes]

oh my god in "Best Fronds" he's reading a book titled So You're a Failed Actor

i think i'm going to make just one post for every episode, or maybe one per every few if they don't have a whole lot to notice

i'll figure out a tag for these later and also I'll put the faces at the end in a separate reblog

holy shit, anne's eyes flash blue when she saves sprig's life in "Anne or Beast?" fhaefavfbhiuo

i love this show such a normal amount

[flowerynameslover]

Amphibia - “Best Fronds”

[detentiontrack]

Anne or beast

10/10

I think this is a perfect first episode. I couldn’t ask for anything better. It establishes the general vibe of wartwood (slow to accept, even slower to respect), shows how Anne lived on her own in a cave before moving in with the planters, and we get the introduction of Spranne. I also like how we can see Anne deconstructing her previous selfishness after only being in amphibia for a short time (risking her own life to save sprig instead of running when she had the chance.) and the foreshadowing of the calamity powers!!! I also LOVE the final scene where it shows her desperation for the box to work and to go home. It’s so sad and you can feel her frustration and pain

Best Fronds

10/10 again!

I like that we get to see Anne’s feelings of missing home and missing her friends, as well as some background on how she arrived in amphibia. We get the iconic “without them I just feel like of lost” line. We get more spranne development and sprig being caring and empathetic of her situation (I love him). We see more of Anne’s irresponsible and impulsive side (she’s adhd fr) when she sneaks out to the lake, and we start to see a little bit of how unhealthy Anne’s previous friendship was and Sprig’s loneliness before Anne. I think it’s really interesting how we see Anne displaying the same manipulative behaviors as Sasha, likely because she thinks it’s normal and how friendships should be after being with Sasha for 8+ years. But we also see the cracks in the trios friendship with Anne stating how she really didn’t want to steal the music box and felt pressured into it by Sasha and Marcy. The first time I watched amphibia I was SHOCKED when they showed Sasha at the end of the episode, and it still makes me sad when I see it. Overall this episode was really good at further developing the plot and establishing the relationship between Anne and the Plantars

[eleviathan]

I just had an idea for an amphibia au

Sasha and Anne swap starting locations (sasha in wartwood/anne in toad tower)

Sasha ends up waiting to go to the lake like in best fronds, and does her whole manipulation thing, but seeing Sprig almost get killed makes her question her actions. Over the course of her stay (Season 1) she learns from her froggy family and neighbors how to be a better person, closer to how she was in Season 3b.

Anne, on the other hand, is stuck in the dingy, decrepit toad tower with Grime. The toads take the box from anne, but have no idea how to use it, and neither does Anne. The longer she stays, the more she starts to resent Sasha for "making her" steal the box and her getting her trapped. Eventually, the herons attack, and Anne actually helps fend them off after they attack her cell. This impresses grime and says that he might let her go and give the box back if she works for him, Anne agrees and is recruited into the army. This is no partnership however, and the harsh military environment only makes Anne more vindictive and cruel.

The toads find out about Sasha after toad tax and thing lead up to reunion. Sasha is thrilled to see her friend again, and Anne appears to be too, though it feels a bit disingenuous. Same old party trap to execute Hop Pop, and we end up at the top of the tower. Anne is surprised that Sasha would do so much for these frogs but tells her to drop the act and join her and the toads. Sasha looks back at the frogs and refuses to give them up.

Anne is exasperated, "You don't actually 'care' for these things, do you? Listen here Sash your going to come over here and leave those country bumkins, END OF DISCUSSION."

Sasha is taken aback, "Anne, what happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" Anne says." I'm only doing what you would do.

"I would never do something like that."

"THEN WHAT WERE YOU DOING WHEN YOU FORCED ME TO STEAL THE FROGGING BOX!"

Silence...

"I just wanted to go home to my parents, but no, YOU made me skip class, YOU made me graffiti the wall and steal a shopping cart, and it was YOU who made me take the box that got us stuck here!"

"I'm sorry, Anne, I really am. But I'm not going to let my friends down, not again."

Fight ensues, Sasha has the upper hand, but Anne lands a clean cut on her face, and she falters. Then the Boomshrooms go off, Sasha catches Anne, Anne trys to take her down with her, Planters catch Sasha, Grime catches Anne, Toads leave, cue depression.

That's all I got for now, make make more, probably not.

[amphibia-a-day]

Day 1026 of Amphibia Screenshots

Episode: Best Fronds

[battlekidx2]

Amphibia Season 1 Re-watch Thoughts/Review

Amphibia season one was really fun and had an amazing finale. The choice to be an episodic comedy series works wonders for this season and I believe makes Reunion and season two hit all the harder. 

This season falls into a few of the usual trappings that almost all first seasons do but its biggest strength is that it knows what the series is about at its core and it focuses on that.

This show knows what themes are at its heart. Amphibia is about friendship, change, growth, and becoming your best self and that’s what the first season is just on a smaller scale than the second and third.

It allows for a gradual build up to the huge scale of the third season. The first season keeps the focus on Anne’s growth and how she learns self-love through her relationship with the Plantars. And it slowly opens the world to us by introducing one of the toad towers in Prison break, halfway through the season, then Reunion opens up how much the events of the season have effected the rest of the valley. 

All these actions that felt like they were occurring in a vacuum have wide reaching consequences. This is bigger than we initially thought. And that final shot in season one before the “End Part I” showed up on the screen where we see Anne and the Plantars overlooking the valley while hugging perfectly encapsulates how the world has now opened up to them. That the scope we saw in the first season will be widened exponentially.

The show needed this gradual build up. Suddenly making the show about all of Amphibia during this season wouldn’t have worked and expanding the view beyond Anne’s growth would have made it so that moments later in the series wouldn’t have felt as earned. 

I believe this was a good choice for the show but also a big reason why Amphibia was so underrated for so long. A lot of people looked at the more episodic problem of the week formula that the first season followed and didn’t think twice about it until the finale came along and shattered the status quo. It wasn’t noticeably serialized right out of the gate.

This is an unfortunate issue because it is based on first impressions. Something like the Owl House is an obviously serialized show from episode 1. Everything flows into one another and that draws in an older crowd easier than the seemingly episodic formula that Amphibia had out of the gate. 

There were hints of serialization in “Anne of Beast?” and “Best Fronds” but as early as “Cane Crazy” the show started with the problem of the week formula, which I want to emphasize once again was a good choice for the show because it really emphasized its themes of change and growth, but that also caused some people to not give the show a fair shot.

The choice to have the season air over the course of a single month also stunted Amphibia’s ability to garner a following. There wasn’t time for people to talk or speculate about the show episode to episode because a new one was coming out every day. 

Episodes that likely would have gotten fans talking and speculating about the finale like Prison Break, Bizarre Bazaar, and Anne of the Year weren’t given any time to breathe so this could happen.

It was just an unfortunate choice that caused Amphibia to be underrated going into its second season (which is phenomenal).

There are some genuine drawbacks from the episodic formula that Amphibia used in its first season though. Some episodes become formulaic because they use a similar structure with a basic life lesson being learned in almost every one. The interesting and unique world and how it was used could save some of these episodes from falling into tedium but not all of them.

It also takes a while for anything about the lore, Sasha and Marcy, or plot to really come into play which can become frustrating, especially for people that have never seen it before but were drawn in by what they’ve heard about it online. 

It can be a bit slow with divulging information with Sasha not being formally introduced until the episode Prison Break which was 10 episodes in and nothing about the Calamity Box explored until Bizarre Bazaar which was episode 15. 

There are long stretches that don’t expand on these very important and interesting plot points. This can exacerbate the flaws in certain episodes and make the pacing feel off or slow at times which is something the show greatly improves upon when season 2 comes around. This structure and slow build up isn’t for everyone.

This was what initially kept me from watching it when this season first aired (I regret this choice). Interestingly the thing that sold me on watching the show the first time around was the opening. Specifically this shot: 

This moment in the opening never failed to intrigue me. It was a hint of the themes this show would grapple with and how all the events seen are because of this broken friendship. There is genuine care between the people in the photo which can be seen by their closeness and the writing around the edges but it is literally out on a limb in the middle of a storm. It’s struggling to hold on and brings an air of tragedy to their current situation.

The lightning strike provides an even more ominous tone to the moment. The rain alone could have just made it seem tragic, friends torn apart by circumstance, but the lightning strike is what tells you there was something off/toxic about the friendship even before Amphibia. 

It never failed to make me wonder what exactly that was and it kept me watching to see what the reality behind it would be. This comes around in a big way with Sasha.

In Sasha’s introduction she is shown to be cunning and manipulative. There is genuine care for her friends but it is overshadowed at this point by her flaws.

It starts to paint a picture about what Anne’s friendships were like at home. This portrayal of toxic friendship and outgrowing connections is one of the things I think the first season does best in retrospect.

The first season makes it so that Sasha's (and Marcy’s) influence can be felt on Anne long before she even speaks through things Anne says and does. 

This makes it so that even though Sasha’s screen time is limited and she and Anne don’t interact until the very end of Anne of the Year the audience can understand why their clash in Reunion is so important for Anne’s character.

This is a great but subtle build-up to the finale.

Reunion is a fantastic and very interesting episode. It is in many ways the most formative episode of the series. It creates the mold that Amphibia’s finales follow moving forward.

For example, it makes the decision to bring the audience back to the day Anne, Sasha, and Marcy get whisked away to Amphibia and provide context for what led Anne and Sasha to that point. This is an important part of True Colors, All In, and The Beginning of the End as well.

It also starts the trend of what I’m going to call Amphibia’s “wham” moments with Sasha letting go of Anne’s hand. This is continued in the other season finales with Marcy getting stabbed and Anne’s death.

Lastly is how the episode addresses change and the ways people fight against it. The series as a whole tackles change but the finales are where the trio and their issues with accepting change come to a head.

Leading up to Reunion Sasha has had her negative traits encouraged by amphibia- they allowed her to flourish at toad tower- and as a result she hasn’t grown and changed in the same way Anne has. Anne landed in Wartwood with the Plantars and has had her old mindset challenged constantly which led to her growth. This growth allows her to stand up to and best Sasha.

This is repeated in True Colors, where Sasha and Marcy’s bids to fight against change cause things to come crumbling down for them, and in The Hardest Thing where the core (a being that can’t let go of the past) is taken down by Anne because of the calamity trio’s growth and acceptance of change.

These similarities make it so that all the finales feel like they build on one another. This creates a cohesive through line in the series.

Overall I think this season built a solid foundation. There are instances of the show struggling to find its footing and it does become repetitive in some areas, but it’s really fun and has a strong heart.

Extra Thoughts

This is more of a deleted scenes/excerpts of analysis that didn’t fit in my review.

Reunion also plays into Amphibia’s overarching themes of change. The way it interweaves present day with flashbacks to what led Anne and Sasha to opening the music box really showcases this. Sasha is practically unchanged. She landed in toad tower where her negative traits are encouraged and cause her to flourish. Whereas Anne has grown so much because she landed with the Plantars in Wartwood and has had her mindset challenged constantly by those around her. The clash between Sasha and Anne can be seen as a clash between accepting change and staying stagnant with accepting change (Anne) coming out on top.

There’s an interesting parallel between Toad Tax/Prison Break and Reunion. Toad Tax has Anne stand up for what’s right instead of taking the easy path and submitting to “bullies” to gain the Wartwood citizens’ respect. Prison Break introduces Sasha’s toxic traits and shows how they help her get free and flourish at toad tower. This is exactly what their conflict is about in Reunion.

I love how Anne’s heritage is explored this season in Lily Pad Thai. The exploration of Anne’s culture is one of my favorite things about the series.

The use of someone to lean on in the finale is really interesting because on the one hand it stands out in a jarring way because the show doesn’t use non-diegetic licensed music at any other point in the series but on the other hand it fits really well thematically and provides insight into Sasha and Anne’s mindsets during this moment. 

The music in this season is the weakest of the 3 but that doesn’t mean it’s bad by any stretch. It is more washed out because of the sound mixing and not given the chance to shine until the finale. Reunion has a very good score with my favorite part being after toad tower falls and Anne makes eye contact with Grime. It’s tragic and foreboding and it’s the first time this season that the score is allowed to be the loudest part of a scene. This decision makes it so that this scene is given a different feel to all the ones that came before. It’s a transition in the music just as much as it is in the series. The music paired with the look clearly indicate that the conflict is far from over. This is just the beginning.

The only other episode where the music is allowed to shine is Prison Break. TJ Hill goes all out giving toad tower a completely different feel from Wartwood and I believe the music/title card (”far, far away from Wartwood”) is in part a Star Wars reference/homage (I could be wrong).

The dark humor of this show is amazing. Hop Pop is the one primarily used for this type of humor this season and gets the best jokes because of it.

Sasha doesn’t embrace or even really have to accept the changes that living in Amphibia naturally brings unlike Anne. After she is released from prison she gets herself plumbing and makes the toads make human cuisine. She forces things to be like they are back on earth (the parts she likes anyways). 

I know Reunion isn’t the first episode to use flashbacks in the series, Best Fronds is actually the episode that has that honor, but the way Reunion uses the flashbacks is what is brought back in True Colors, The Beginning of the End, and All In. 

I really like going back to the beginning of a series like this to see how all the characters changed as the show went on. Watching Anne in this season right after watching season 3 kind of smacks you in the face with just how much she changed (in the best way. It reminds you of just how far she’s come). It’s a lot easier to remember in a fair amount of detail just how much someone like Sasha or Grime has changed because of their limited screen time and massive character growth in that limited time. But Anne is the main character so her change is more gradual and can blend together because of this. I just like this aspect of re-watching a series.

[happi-tree]

Do you have a favorite episode or episodes of amphibia?? Asking for a friend 👀

Oh, jeez. Ori, I have. SO MANY. Uhhhhh, buckle up??? 👀 I limited myself to 3 episodes per season but honestly this show has so many fun episodes!!!

Season One

s1ep1: Anne or Beast?/Best Fronds - Episode 1 does SUCH a great job at setting up the story and tone for the show imo! It leaves a lot of things purposefully vague (how did our protag end up in this wacky alternate world? who the hell is in that photograph? etc etc) to reveal as the seasons progress, which I really enjoy! AND you get introduced to the found siblings ever with Anne and Sprig 🐸 I love them so much! While I'm mostly referring to the first part here, Best Fronds does an excellent job at establishing their relationship and their perspective on what friendship means.

s1ep9: Lily Pad Thai/Plantar's Last Stand - Even though it's more of a filler episode, I really love how Lily Pad Thai explores Anne's Thai heritage! Very near and dear to my heart 🥺 Plantar's Last Stand is alright, too, but I much prefer the first half of this episode <3

s1ep20: Reunion - Emotional Damage The Episode. Things get! Dark! Would have reduced me to tears had I not had previous associations with the background music 🥲 Also. Sasha Waybright beloved there are so many things wrong with her <333

Season Two

s2ep6: Marcy at the Gates - Introduction to the third member of my favorite trio! Marcy is very, very adorable and endearing and seeing a reunion that goes more smoothly than. Reunion. Is very sweet 🥰

s2ep10: The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers/Day at the Aquarium - BOTH parts of this episode are so very good and I cannot possibly choose a favorite between them. The girlies getting up to hijinks in a castle late at night and bawling your eyes out when it's your last day in a place you've grown fond of <333

s2ep19: The Dinner/Battle of the Bands - Once again, I literally could not choose even if you held me at gunpoint. The Dinner is very fun and very awkward and it is SO fun to see all these characters finally interact in a (sort of) low-stakes situation. And Battle of the Bands is just plain, cheesy, Disney fun! Heartstomper and No Big Deal my beloveds 💗💙💚

Season Three

s3ep7: Spider Sprig/Oliva & Yunan - OAY. Hoooooo boy. I can not even BEGIN to imagine what it must've been like to watch this live but I hadn't gotten caught up to the release dates until the Christmas special lmao. Emotional Damage The Episode Part Three 👁 (part two was s2's finale, naturally). Everyone in this episode is having a Bad Time. Spider Sprig is. Not a favorite. Sorry.

s3ep11: Commander Anne/Sprivy - Commander Anne is a really neat exploration of Anne and Sasha's relationship as they navigate how to repair some things and also like. Lead the rest of their group without falling apart at the seams. Also the source of a certain meme, thanks to Sasha's gayass blushing 💗 Sprivy is,,, okay? I MUCH prefer the first half of this episode, though.

s3ep17: All In - This episode has everything. Heartwrenching quotes from the protagonists. Mass destruction of property. Kpop. Rupaul (unfortunately). The Photograph. The girls fighting ⚔️ (part ???). Very very fun. I'd also put The Hardest Thing in here but that would be breaking my little self-imposed rules so

[writesailingdreams]

I think one minor way they could have connected 3B and 3A was have Hop Pop mention the resistance’s hydroponics was based on stuff he learned on Earth. I also think Anne talking to Tritonio in Newts in Tights was an interesting contrast to Best Fronds.

That's a neat suggestion.

Don't remember what Anne said to Tritonio in the same detail as Best Fronds, but that's cool.

[narfoonthenet]

An (Amphibia) opinion I feel like repeating

So, this a a more fleshed out version of an older post on the same subject. I'm just sharing this 'cause, like the title says, I feel like throwing it out into the void again.

Anyway…

I don't actually like the "don't be afraid of change" moral.

I don't think it's bad - that's a good lesson for people to learn no matter their age.

I just don't think there's enough in the show to really support it being the core message.

I mean, think about the lessons Anne (along with the Plantars) learned in each episode throughout the series. Almost all of them have to do with how to treat others: trusting others, respecting other's boundaries, not forcing them into things they don't want to do, not making assumptions and jumping to conclusions about others, recognizing behavior that hurts others, not being a selfish prick, trusting others and their abilities, giving others a chance at forgiveness and letting others build up to that forgiveness…

The only episode I can think of that supports "don't be afraid of change," other than The Hardest Thing, is Little Frog Town - but only 'cause it's the literal message of the episode.

Honestly, I think a better, more strongly supported moral for the show should have been the importance of having and maintaining healthy relationships, and recognizing toxic behavior in yourself and others.

Focusing on Anne for a bit, a lot of her arc in season one had to with what an actual friendship looks like - starting with Best Fronds - and becoming more attentive to others' needs and boundaries and be less self-centered while also learning that she deserved the same treatment, that last one culminating with her standing up to Sasha in Reunion; and a big part of her arc in season 2, as already mentioned, was learning forgiveness and giving others a second chance - a lesson she explicitly shared with Sasha in season 3.

We can throw in Sasha and Marcy, too, since Anne's relationship with them is so central to her and the overall story. A big part of Sasha's arc was realizing her controlling behavior and disregard for others' boundaries was pushing them away from her rather than keeping them close (the episode with barrel's Warhammer is a rather straightforward example - heck, we see Grime had learned this before her; respecting Braddock and Percy's decision to bail and showing no ill will towards them). While Marcy's (season two) arc had her learning to be less oblivious and more aware of the impact her actions had on those around her - the First Temple, again, being a straightforward example of this (though it focused more on Anne and Hop Pop's conflict).

Heck, I'd even argue that the biggest conflicts stem from some form of toxicity in a relationship: Sasha and Marcy bullying/pressuring Anne into things she clearly doesn't want to do; Anne and Sasha being neglectful of Marcy's emotional needs (hell, it's suggested in season 3 that this is a factor in why Marcy did something so extreme and drastic); Marcy and Anne enabling Sasha's controlling habits - yes, that is toxic behavior; Andrias' manipulative treatment of Marcy; Aldrich's manipulative and abusive treatment of Andrias; all the times Anne and the Plantars butted heads against each other (like Stakeout and Sprig vs Hop Pop)…

I think y'all get what I mean at this point.

So, there you go. I think "have healthy relationships" is a better-fitting message for the show than "don't be afraid of change."

P.S. a few things I want to admit real quick: I haven't re-watched the show beyond some S1 episodes, and I neglected watching S3-A, so there's probably some stuff I'm missing. I just had this on my mind and just needed to get it out. Again.

Real late addition: So, a while ago I got a response for this on Reddit that's kinda stayed with me, so I feel I should make a clarification.

Yes, change is a constant, major theme in the series. That's something I don't deny.

But, the "change" the moral and Anne's ending speech refers to is focused on inevitable change; that change is something that happens and it's better to adapt to it, rather than resist it.

The change we see throughout the series, however, has always been about personal improvement. Changing yourself to be a better person; something that, in the show, leads to Anne and her friends and family treating each other much better than at the start, improving and strengthening their relationships. Which lends itself to the whole "importance of healthy relationship" moral I think the show should've gone with.

I feel the examples I gave in my main argument provide enough evidence to support my point.

[purpleplaid17]

Jess Watches // Sat 9 Mar // Day 166 & Sun 10 Mar // Day 167 Synopses & Favourite Scenes & Poll

Six Nations 2024 Round 4

England (3) vs Ireland (1) (with L)

My dad couldn't believe that I was actually very vocally supportng England lol. It was a thrilling match. And after Ben Earl scored a try he looked like he wanted to kiss one of his teammates on the mouth. He should have imho. Also, my friend's surname is Smith so she was highly delighted with that last-second drop goal. "Never underestimate a Smithy."

Wales (5) vs France (2)

I only watched the second half and thought Wales might have been able to keep up with France's power and pace a bit longer but it must be knackering trying to keep up with all those fast passes and bullet train surges. And I missed Le Garrec's 40m reverse pass but caught it on highlights. How did he do that??

Severance (rw with mum) 1x08 What's for Dinner?

The team prepares a plan. Mark attends Devon and Ricken's party.

What do we think the numbers they're refining mean? Management were suspiciously relieved they'd made their quarterly quota.

Ms. Casey breaking protocol to answer Mark honestly 💔. It seemed Cobel put them together one last time because she wanted them to remember. Does she have a severed loved-one she needs to remember her?

Shout out to Natalie's actor, Sydney Cole Alexander, for playing the role in such an unnerving way. She expresses so much with few words.

Still mesmerized and disturbed in equal measure by the waffle party. Those masks will haunt me but the violin was fire 🔥.

Trivia: Ben Stiller provides the voice for animated Kier Eagan.

Amphibia 1x01 Anne or Beast?/ Best Fronds

Sprig tries to capture a mysterious beast to prove that he's responsible. / Sprig takes Anne swimming in a nearby lake to help her feel less homesick.

A cute introduction to a new fun froggy world. The episode did start with Japanese audio which threw me for a minute lmao. (The last thing I watched on Disney was Japanese so I guess it just keeps whatever language you last watched as the default??)