Dating Season

"Dating Season" is the first segment of the seventh episode of Amphibia. It premiered on June 26, 2019.
==Synopsis==
Anne and Hop Pop learn Sprig may like Ivy Sundew, so they attempt to set them up.
==Plot==
Sprig and Anne are walking through the forest with Sprig trying to convince Anne the forest is a good place to hangout. As they continue walking, Sprig and Anne hear movement in the bushes where the former is suddenly attacked by Ivy Sundew, a young frog girl and childhood acquaintance of Sprig's. The two catch up, revealing they enjoy sparring with each other for fun, just as Anne is introduced to her. After Ivy leaves, Anne immediately believes Sprig has a crush on her, despite him shrugging it and insisting he is just friends with Ivy. Upon returning home, Anne tells Hop Pop that Sprig was "flirting" with Ivy which makes him happy as the Sundew family possesses farm land that contains medicinal properties that is worth a fortune. He prepares a courting kit for Sprig, but this makes him uncomfortable as he sees Ivy as just a friend and the fact that he is technically still engaged to Maddie. Anne convinces Sprig that most couples start off as just friends before taking things romantically and he decides to go along with it just as Hop Pop invites the Sundews for courtship at the Firefly Festival that is happening that night.
Sprig and Ivy get prepared in traditional garb for the ritual much to everyone's delight (minus Polly who does not care). Hop Pop and Felicia both voice how proud they are of each other's children while Anne vocally supports the pairing. During the dance, Sprig and Ivy awkwardly try to be polite with each other before admitting that they see each other as just friends. They happily venture into the woods to watch fireflies. While Anne sees this as a romantic gesture, Hop Pop and Felicia believe that the ritual will be ruined if they do not finish dancing and convince Anne, and a uncaring Polly, that they have to go get them. While searching for them, they encounter Lovebirds, which in Amphibia are beautiful, but ferocious creatures who swoop up and grab the group.
As Sprig and Ivy happily enjoy watching fireflies, they hear their friends and family in danger and chase after the Lovebirds. The captured are left to "marinate in [their own] fear" as Hop Pop and Felicia start arguing and Anne attempts to read through her love magazine, where she had been getting a lot of her information. Polly angrily tells them that their current predicament is due to Hop Pop and Felicia's greed and Anne's dumb matchmaking statistics and they all apologize. Sprig and Ivy rescue everyone and defeat the Lovebirds. As the Sundews return home, Sprig realizes that he has, in fact, fallen in love with Ivy.
==Cast==
*Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy
*Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar
*Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar
*Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar
*Katie Crown as Ivy Sundew
*Kaitlyn Robrock as Felicia Sundew
*Kevin McDonald as Albus Duckweed
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
===General===
*This is the first appearance of Albus Duckweed, who will not be named until "Lily Pad Thai".
*Anne believes that magazines never lie.
*This is the first appearance of Ivy Sundew.
*Although claiming before that Sprig didn't have friends and that the other children in Wartwood avoid him, it's revealed that he's known Ivy for a long time and that they are good friends.
*When Anne guesses shipping names for Sprig and Ivy, it is related to many fandoms of television series who combine the names of two characters from one show to one name to make them in a relationship, even when a relationship is non-canon.
*The episode's title is a reference to the mating season in the world of animals.
===Cultural References===
*This episode is similar to the Clarence episode "Clarence Gets a Girlfriend", where Clarence ends up dating with his friend, Ashley.
===Continuity===
*Sprig mentions the events of "Hop Luck" when he got engaged to Maddie.
===International Edits===
*In the southeast Asian broadcast, the words "heck" and "dang" were edited out.
==International Premieres==
*August 13, 2019 (Brazil)
*September 30, 2020 (Portugal)
==External links==
*Dating Season at the Amphibia Wiki
pt-br:Temporada de Namoro
Category:Amphibia episodes