"The Root of Evil" is the first segment of the fourteenth episode of the third season of Amphibia, and the ninety-ninth episode overall.
It premiered on April 16, 2022, alongside "The Core & The King".[1][2]
Synopsis
Anne and the Plantars get stuck in a strange village of plant lovers.[2]
Plot
Loggle attracting new recruits.
Anne, the Plantars, and Loggle are trying to recruit some frog refugees whose village was attacked. Hop Pop fails to get recruits from showing off his gardening skills, while Anne succeeds in convincing them to join the Wartwood Resistance by showing off Loggle's muscular physique, saying they could become buff like him. As they return to their base, a dragonfly drone sent by Andrias attaches itself to the Fwagon as a tracker. Hop Pop is depressed that nobody seems to be passionate about plants like he is. Just then, the gang realizes they're lost, and the Fwagon falls off a cliff.
When everyone wakes up, they find themselves in bed dressed in white robes, and discover they are in Gardenton; they are greeted by a frog named Horace. While the others find the villagers a little weird, Hop Pop is ecstatic to finally meet people who love horticulture as much as he does and wants to meet their leader.
Welcome to Gardenton the place of Hop Pop's Dreams.
As they reach the greenhouse, Hop Pop goes to greet the leader, only to find a corpse covered in mushrooms. The leader is revealed to be Apothecary Gary, who Hop Pop believed he killed. The psychic fungus explains that he managed to survive by possessing Jeremy the beetle, who now serves as his current host.
Fire class Frobots have come to destroy Gardenton
After leaving Wartwood, Gary and his host traveled Amphibia for a place to regrow Gary's strength. After long traveling and hardships, they were eventually found and taken in by the future citizens of Gardenton, where they formed a true symbiotic relationship where the frogs willingly used Gary's spores to become better gardeners without mind control, using this power to make Gardenton into a paradise. While the villagers do have Gary's spores on their heads, he's not controlling them, and instead is working with them. The villagers' symbiosis with Gary allows them to empathically feel the needs of all plants, making them exceptional gardeners capable of cultivating even the most finicky orchids. That being said, everyone can't help but feel very disturbed that their side doesn't seem to care how unnerving everything is.
Hop Pop distracts the villagers by stomping on a flower which causes them pain, and the gang escapes to find Bessie. When they do find her, however, Bessie is tied up in vines, and soon Apothecary Gary has the rest of the group tangled in vines as well. Before they can escape, Gary hears a beeping noise. The dragonfly tracker activates, mistaking the town as the resistance camp, and sends Fire Frobots to attack the village though it is quickly destroyed by Sprig's tongue.
Gary lets go of his grudge against Hop Pop and he and his followers join the resistance.
The team flees, but Hop Pop convinces them to turn around and rescue everyone. The rebels destroy some frobots and the citizens follow their example and destroy the rest and because of their psychic link they can attack with perfect timing, incredibly skilful precision and amazing corndination. While Gary still wants to kill them, Hop Pop and Horace convince him otherwise as Andrias will keep attacking their village regardless. Anne asks Gary whether the collars Andrias had been using are based on his spores. Gary believes that they are coming from another fungal creature similar to him, exciting himself further. He then agrees to come if called and the heroes leave Gardenton while also commenting on the very comfortable tunics they are wearing.
Cast
- Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy
- Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar
- Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar
- Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar
- Brian Maillard as Leopold Loggle
- Fred Tatasciore as Horace (debut)
- Tony Hale as Apothecary Gary
Additional voices
- Fred Tatasciore as Dragonfly Drone, Blue Frog Recruit, Mind Controlled Frog
- Brian Maillard as Yellow Frog Recruit
Mentioned
Other characters
Titles in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Latin American Spanish
|
La raíz del mal | The root of evil | |
 Bulgarian
|
Коренът на Злото | The Root of Evil | |
 German
|
Die Wurzel des Bösen | The Root of Evil | |
 Japanese
|
ガーデントン | Gardenton | |
 Dutch
|
Kwaad Tot In De Wortel | Evil Down To The Roots | |
 European Portuguese
|
A Raiz do Mal | The Root of Evil | |
 Polish
|
Zło w grzybie wcielone | Evil incarnate in a mushroom | |
 Thai
|
รากแห่งความชั่วร้าย |
Transcript
| For a full transcript of "The Root of Evil", click here. |
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
- Viewership: This episode was watched by 0.24 viewers on its premiere.[5]
- This along with "The Core & The King" is the seventh of eight episodes to use the short opening sequence following "Toad Tax"/"Prison Break", "Reunion", "The First Temple", "True Colors", "The New Normal" and "Escape to Amphibia" and followed by "The Three Armies"/"The Beginning of the End".
- This is the only Season 3b episode outside of the four-part finale to not use the standard opening sequence.
- This and "The Core & The King" are the only episodes from the second half of Season 3 in which Sasha is absent.
- This is the last episode where Sprig, Hop Pop and Polly wear different outfits other than their standard clothing.
Revelations and significant events
- There is a hidden town in Amphibia called Gardenton, where all the frogs love gardening.
- Apothecary Gary became the leader of the village as the villagers willing to grow their crops submitted to him.
- Gary and the Gardenton villagers join the Wartwood Resistance at the end of the episode.
- Gary believes that the mind-controlling collars Andrias is using on the local wildlife come from another fungal creature similar to him.
Continuity
- The events of "Children of the Spore" are mentioned.
- Jeremy is still attached to Apothecary Gary since the end of that episode.
- Anne mentions to Gary the control collars Andrias is using to control the creatures, which Sasha revealed to her in "Commander Anne".
Allusions
- Fullmetal Alchemist - The image of the muscular Loggle posing in front of roses is a reference to the character Col. Armstrong.
- Midsommar - The villagers of Gardenton are dressed in white garbs, just like the Swedish village in the film. Horace also speaks with a Swedish accent.
- The Root of All Evil - The episode title is the saying just without all.
- The Owl House - While giving a tour, Horace and the Plantars pass by a sun symbol that resembles the insignia of The Collector.
Videos
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Disney Animation Promos on Twitter" (Tweet) (March 10, 2022).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "April 2022 Programming Highlights". Disney General Entertainment Content (March 21, 2022).
- ↑ Disney Schedule Archive [@DisneySchedules] (Jun 16, 2022). "Here are the rest of the episode titles for "new" #Amphbia in June on Disney XD. The Series Finale airs Monday, June 27 at 11 am ET/PT.
The final four episodes will stream on June 22 on Disney+." (Tweet). Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-06-17. Retrieved on 2022-06-17. - ↑ De La Fuente Sibert, Alex. "Amphibia (inspect code elements to find the original file headings)".
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Metcalf, Mitch (April 19, 2022). "Saturday 4.16.2022 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals". Showbuzz Daily.