Adventures in Catsitting

**"Adventures in Catsitting"** is the second segment of the third episode of the third season of *Amphibia*, and the eightieth episode overall.

It premiered on October 16, 2021, alongside "Thai Feud".

## Synopsis

*The Plantars volunteer to take Domino to the vet.*

## Plot

Anne is looking for articles about interdimensional portals in science magazines. To her disbelief, there are none about the topic. Meanwhile, the Plantars are happy to be living in the lap of luxury. Hop Pop comments on the two days they've been on Earth, and on the fact that they'll have to start working for themselves soon, only to be reminded by Sprig that they've been there for a week. Shocked, Hop Pop declares himself, Sprig, and Polly to be freeloaders and compares them to Cousin Stanley, a "relative" who had long ago been a freeloader on the Plantar Farm and had ended up being thrown out the window. Mrs. Boonchuy arrives to tell Anne that she has to go to the dentist to have her teeth checked, but this coincides with a vet appointment Anne had made for her cat, Domino. Mr. Boonchuy can't take the cat because he has to work at Thai Go. So the Plantars, in an attempt not to look like freeloaders and help out, offer to help by taking Domino to the vet.

So, the Plantars try and round up the cat and get her into a travel case, which proves to be more difficult than they originally thought. The group puts on their disguises and ventures forth to take her to the vet with the help of a few tools from the Boonchuys, like a cell phone. They watch the local humans take the bus and follow the same actions they observe and climb aboard, but when the bus takes off, Hop Pop tries to latch on to something by shooting his tongue but ends up accidentally licking everyone on board, getting the group kicked off the bus. Sprig suggests that they ask Mr. Boonchuy for a ride, only to be dismissed by Hop Pop, as they continue setting off for their destination.

Their quest continues and they finally end up at the vet's office full of suspecting animals barking and hissing at them while they are disguised. Sprig also notices someone's pet frog and has a brief moment of connection with his "brethren".

Domino is seen, but the vet himself is bombarded with questions from the Plantars about back pain and frogs and their abilities, puzzling the doctor. As they leave, Domino unlatches her travel carrier and sneaks away, inevitably causing the frog family to panic to a point where Sprig calls Mr. Boonchuy and tells him they lost the cat, much to Hop Pop's chagrin. We also briefly see the owner of the pet frog from earlier question its whereabouts.

Mr. Boonchuy tells them to go to the nearest Shawarma restaurant, as it is Domino's favorite food. That's where they find her, to the delight of all the customers inside, where the owner of the restaurant says aloud that the cat is a customer magnet and he's never getting rid of her. In an attempt of a distraction, the family sees a smoke detector inside the restaurant and Hop Pop replicates the high pitched alarm, evacuating the customers in the restaurant. Sprig attempts to pull Domino away from the shawarma sample, but to no avail. In a final endeavor, Polly rolls around, pretending to be a ball of yarn to entice the cat back into her travel carrier, and as the fire department approaches, so does Mr. Boonchuy, who says he'll drop the group back at home on his way to the restaurant.

Hop Pop feels bad that he has to go out of his way again for the Plantars, calling his family freeloaders. Mr. Boonchuy stops the scooter and says to them that they took his daughter into their home when she was most in need, kept her safe and fed her for five months out of the kindness of their hearts. As such, the Plantars will never be freeloaders because they will never owe the Boonchuys anything.

They get back home just before Anne and her Mom show up, with Anne clearly under the influence of some pretty strong dentist medication. Mrs. Boonchuy explains that Anne had "eight cavities and a whole lot of cricket legs". The Boonchuys leave the loopy Anne with the Plantars to keep her occupied as Hop Pop begs the human girl to let go of his face while Domino is seen casually licking herself.

## Cast

* Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy
* Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar
* Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar
* Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar
* On Braly as Mrs. Boonchuy
* Brian Sounalath as Mr. Boonchuy
* Kevin Michael Richardson as Vet, Shawarma Restaurant Owner (credited as additional voices), Bearded Cap Bus Passenger (credited as additional voices), Cheering Customer (credited as additional voices)

### Additional voices

* Eden Riegel as Emily, Frog Owner
* Sam Riegel as Bearded Tough Guy Bus Passenger, Glasses Customer
* Jenn Strickland as Snake Owner

## Trivia

* **Viewership:** This episode was watched by 0.36 viewers on its premiere.
* Anne plays a minor role for the second time again, after the episode "Maddie & Marcy".
* A poster of the second season of *Suspicion Island* is shown when the Plantars are waiting for the bus.
* The Boonchuy family not only owns a red minivan, but also have a red motor scooter that Mr. Boonchuy rides.
* The look on Domino's face when being checked "there" is an expression that cats who usually don't like being checked use in real life.
* Emily (the orange-haired girl in Sherm's Shawarma wearing a pink cat shirt and blue hat, who Sherm referred to as a "Karen") is seen earlier in the episode on a local bus when Hop Pop licks her face.
	+ "Karen" is also a slang term with multiple related connotations, one of which in the service industry refers to a an over-entitled customer who complains excessively or unreasonably to management about the standard of service they're given. Emily complained to Sherm about her shawarma order even during a fire alarm, and Sherm criticized her for this while addressing her as "Karen."
* Sprig meets a real Frog from Earth.
* The Plantars learned that Frogs on Earth don't age like them or any of the Frogs in Amphibia.

### Revelations and significant events

* It is revealed that the Plantars once housed someone pretending to be a cousin of the family named Stanley, who was a freeloader who was eventually kicked out of the Plantar Farm.
* Domino's favorite food is shawarma.
* Hop Pop has the ability to mimic the sound of a fire alarm. This is based on the fact that some frogs, such as the male concave-eared torrent frog, have the ability to emit ultra-frequency sounds that sound like fire alarms. His grandchildren also have the ability to mimic sounds and voices.
* Anne did not brush nor floss her teeth in Amphibia for 5 months, resulting in her receiving 8 cavities and a bunch of cricket legs inside her teeth.
	+ However, Anne was seen brushing her teeth during "Best Fronds" and about to brush her teeth at her home's bathroom in "The New Normal" before her mom scared her, so it can be assumed she rarely brushed her teeth for a while or had limited toothpaste to clean her teeth which caused those 8 cavities in her teeth.

### Continuity

* This episode takes place a week after the events of "True Colors", "The New Normal" and "Turning Point" and one week before "Anne-sterminator".
* Anne and the Plantars continue to search for a way to return to Amphibia through portals, as seen in the previous episode, though with not much success.
* Sprig mentions Domino 2 from "The Domino Effect" because of Domino's appearance.
* Mr. Boonchuy references "Anne or Beast?" when he says that the Plantars took Anne to their home when she needed it the most.
* The snake (possibly a boa) owner that appears in the veterinarian is the same person as the alligator store owner from "Hop 'Til You Drop".
* Emily reappears from the previous episode where Sprig nearly tongued her.
* Sprig mentions being part of the Boonchuy family from the previous episode.

## Allusions

* *Adventures in Babysitting* - The episode's title is a reference to the 1987 American comedy film and the 2016 movie remake.
* Benjamin Franklin - Hop Pop's phrase about guests being like noxious swamp gas is similar to Benjamin Franklin's comment comparing them to fish.
* CRISPR - One of the science journals Anne is looking through has "CRISP-Y" on the cover, referencing the gene sequencing method used for detecting gene irregularities.
* *Dunkin' Donuts/Dunkin'* - Before the planters get on the bus, behind Hop Pop, is a donut shop called Dunkin Dunce. The shop's logo also resembles the Dunkin' Donuts logo from 1960 to 1976.
* *Disney World* - A man on the bus is wearing a shirt that says "Bibsy World" with a cartoon rabbit on it, a parody of the theme park in Florida. The text also utilizes a font similar to that of the park's logo.
	+ Oswald the Lucky Rabbit - The cartoon rabbit on the shirt could be a nod to Oswald, one of Walt Disney's earliest creations and Mickey Mouse's predecessor.
* *Kirby* - When the Plantars arrive at the vet, they do a dance similar to Kirby's level clear dance, accompanied by 8-bit music.
* *Gravity Falls* - When Hop Pop and Polly do a spit-take at each other and repeatedly spit out the lemonade at each other's faces, this is a possible allusion to a scene in *Gravity Falls* in the episode "Headhunters" when Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland do the exact same thing to their coffee when they discover Dipper had proved them wrong about being able to solve the case.
* *Sonic the Hedgehog* - When Polly lures Domino out of the shawarma restaurant via transforming into a ball, she does a spin roll technique similar to the Spin Dash.
* *Among Us* - The Suspicion Island poster is called Suspicion Island 2 sus, the reference of the title is a play on the meme of the game, Among Us. The sus is also a wording, saying a meme when someone in the game votes someone off and replies "sus!"
* *Roku* - The remote Domino knocks over is a ROKU remote, probably Roku TV.

## Errors

* Anne's hoodie tied around her waist disappears after the Plantars tell her about Cousin Stanley.

## Memorable quotes

“
But we were hosts, so we had to be nice. We just resented him a little more each day. Thankfully, he eventually left peacefully on his own. Just kidding. We threw him out the window.
”

—Hop Pop

“
8 cavities and a whole lot of cricket legs.
”

—Mrs. Boonchuy

“
Oooh cricket legs? Did you save us any?
”

—Hop Pop

“
Listen, Domino is not just a cat. She's the alpha and omega. An interdimensional being beyond all time and space.
”

—Anne

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "October 2021 Programming Highlights". *Disney General Entertainment Content* (September 21, 2021).
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Metcalf, Mitch (October 19, 2021). "Saturday 10.16.2021 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals". *Showbuzz Daily*.