Polly: "Wow! Flying?! What a great way to spy on my enemies."
[Evil laughs.]
Sprig: "It's what Hop Pop and I have done this trip ever since I was a pollywog."
Hop Pop: "Morning, kids. Ready for the brisk open waters?"
[Scarf blows in the wind. Hop Pop winks and nods cap.]
Hop Pop: "Ahoy, there."
Anne: "Dang, HP. Looking good."
Anne: "Looks like Hop Pop's fishing for something else."
Polly: "Ew. Gross, Anne."
Hop Pop: "To the sea!"
[Muffled evil laughing.]
Sprig: "Funny thing, Sylvia."
Hop Pop: "I thank Frog for her, every day."
Anne: "This crab is making me very scared!"
[Crab snaps claws.]
Anne: "But also very hungry!"
8/10
Very glad to see that the relationship between Sylvia and Hop Pop naturally developed. the conflict between Sylvia and Sprig is understandable from a child's perspective and I'm glad it all got hashed out at the end. Jokes are incredible here. Anne doesn't play much of a part in this episode which is OK, but the way wind gliding was introduced to wrap up the climax was well executed.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2024-01-05T22:26:30Z
[6.6/10] This one wasn’t my favorite. The central observation here -- of kids feeling anxious and left out when a putative step parent arrives -- is a good one. And I’m sympathetic to Sprig feeling like the tradition he’s shared with Hop Pop since he was a pollywog is being intruded upon by this new interloper. But it’s hard to see Sprig seem like such a jerk.
I get it. That's the point of the story. Sprig acts like a jerk because of his hang-ups. He realizes he’s gone too far. He goes to great lengths to make up for it. It’s a solid structure. It’s just hard to watch a character we know and like behave in such an unlikable way.
Sylvia turning out to be a kind person who understands Sprig’s concerns is a good, if inevitable turn in the narrative. Although the fight with the giant crab to save her didn’t do much for me.
I do get a kick out of the things at the margins, though. Anne’s fascination with hang-gliding, and the rest of the Plantars being maddeningly better at it than her was a good running gag. The shtick about hop Pop and Sylvia being dressed up for a day on the boat got a laugh out of me. And as cheesy as it was, I even enjoyed Sprig’s goofy little song.
Overall though, this one is definitely a lesser light thanks to the bluntness of the execution and the unlikableness of Sprig’s behavior, even as that behavior is the point.