Taking Charge

"Taking Charge" is the second segment of the fourth episode of the first season of Amphibia, and the eighth episode overall.

It premiered on June 20, 2019 alongside "The Domino Effect".

Synopsis
After one of the Plantars mysteriously runs out the charge on Anne's phone, the family embarks on a mission to try and recharge it.

Plot
In the morning, Anne surprisingly screams and shows the Plantars her favorite show, Suspicion Island on her phone (the new season auto-downloaded before she came to Amphibia). The show features teens stuck on a dangerous island where the theme is "suspicious". Sprig and Polly start to enjoy it very much, but Hop Pop states it's just a bunch of garbage and prefers reading plays and books. After convincing Hop Pop, they spend several hours to watch some new episodes. They watch their last one with the last scene featuring two teens on a cliff being surrounded by pterodactyls, who are clones of a dead brother of the male teens (much to the kids' surprise and Hop Pop's uninterestedness). The female teen gets grabbed by the pterodactyl and flies away. Finishing the episode, Anne shuts off her phone and suggests that they watch more in the morning, as it would be more fun than to just finish it all in one night. Anne, Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop leave and go to their beds, with Sprig and Polly complaining they wanted to watch more and eager to watch more episodes.

Later in the night, a shadowy figure emerges from the darkness and moves over to Anne's phone, and begins watching a new episode. In the morning, Anne gets some popcorn and proceeds to watch some more new episodes of Suspicion Island, only to find out that all the episodes had been watched and her phone's battery has been drained. The phone dies shortly afterwards. Anne becomes heartbroken and outraged, as she claims that all her memories from home were on that phone, including texts, images and videos, and without them, she seems lost. Anne asks the Plantars if they have any electricity, to which they appear confused about. When Anne expresses it as being "Zap Zap", Hop Pop looks through his book of beasts and tells her of a Zapapede, a creature that stuns its prey with electricity. As they leave and go on their trip to the Zapapede, the family remain suspicious of each other, using phrases they had learnt from Suspicion Island.

As they reach a rope bridge, they notice a Zapapede resting on a rock on the other side of the bridge, and they began to cross it. As they are crossing it, Sprig yawns, provoking Polly to comment to Anne that it's very suspicious as it proved he was the one who had used the phone. Sprig then calls Anne over to his side of the bridge and expresses his own concerns in finding the thief and that it was not him. Polly then accuses him of sweet-talking Anne and they argue with each other in the middle of the bridge. Anne and Hop Pop join them, and the combined weight causes the bridge to collapse. All four plummet down the mountain side. Having fallen on a ledge, Hop Pop spots a huge mass of Zapapedes below the cliff. Anne suggests they link hands and make a rope with their linked bodies like in one of the episodes. Sprig states that if they did, then Polly would drop them to cover up her tracks, similar to the events that occurred in the same episode. Sprig and Polly engage in a fight, accidentally kicking Anne, who joins in with them. Hop Pop calls them to stop but with no avail. Getting nervous, Hop Pop then yells "It was me!", causing the kids to stop fighting immediately. Hop Pop explains that he actually loved the show, but just didn't show it, being in love with the crazy teens and their adventures. He went down and watched the rest of the season secretly, and decides that he will redeem himself by charging Anne's phone. Hop Pop then jumps over the side of the cliff and onto the pile of Zapapedes. For a moment, nothing happens and Hop Pop says it feels quite relaxing actually before being repeatedly zapped and electrocuted. Anne, Sprig and Polly agree to work together and make a rope using Sprig's tongue and Polly holding onto Anne's legs. As Anne grabs Hop Pop, she herself gets electrocuted as well as Sprig and Polly, causing all of them to blast off and land near the base of the cliff on some shrubs. Anne's phone displays "10,000%" and is well charged now. Hop Pop apologizes to Anne, who forgives him, and they make their way back home so that Anne, Sprig and Polly can also watch the rest of the episodes of the season before Hop Pop spoils it for them.

Cast

 * Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy
 * Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar
 * Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar, Suspicion Island Narrator (credited as additional voices)
 * Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar, Vivica (credited as additional voices)

Additional voices

 * Matthew Mercer as Randy, Chad
 * Eden Riegel as Peruvia

Trivia

 * When Anne's phone downloaded Suspicion Island, the Plantars were confused about this and what the "internet" was, due to the fact that in Amphibia there are no such things as movies or TV shows, but plays for entertainment. This was later shown as an example in the Teen Girl in a Frog World short, "No Signal", where Sprig thinks that Anne needs an antenna of a bug.
 * This is the first episode where Sprig is seen playing his fiddle.
 * This is the first episode with music and a song.

Revelations and significant events

 * Anne's phone hasn't been charged since she came to Amphibia.
 * Sprig can play the fiddle and appears to be a good singer as well.

Continuity

 * Hop-Pop continues to promote old things, rather than try and embrace new things.

Production notes

 * The idea for the Zapapede to have + and - shaped pupils came directly from Steve Wolfhard. Creature designer Brandon Wu took the concept and ran with it.
 * According to Matt Braly: Taking Charge was conceived because it made me INSANE that Anne’s phone has lasted as long as it has without running out of power. From there we reverse engineered the story into a “whodunit” where the family became addicted to binge-watching TV - a concept that should NOT exist at all in Amphibia.

Allusions

 * "Taking Charge" - The title is a play on such words, since "Taking Charge" can mean to take charge and lead a situation, while also suggesting the action of charging a phone.

Errors

 * When Anne said "We need power. Electricity", she appears to have two eyelashes on each eye.
 * Before the fight between Anne, Sprig, and Polly which occurs in the mountains, Sprig's goggles appear to be slightly shaded pink instead of gray.
 * When they all get electrocuted, Sprig is seen having bones in his tongue. This must be a error cause frogs don't have bones in their tongues.

Edits

 * The words "stupid sleep!" and "old" were cut during the Southeast Asia broadcast.