Dating Season

"Dating Season" is the first segment of the seventh episode of the first season of Amphibia, and the thirteenth episode overall.

It premiered on June 26, 2019 alongside "Anne Vs. Wild".

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 when the former is suddenly attacked by Ivy Sundew, a young frog girl and childhood acquaintance of Sprig's. The two catch up, and Ivy is introduced to Anne as Sprig's sparring partner. After Ivy leaves, Anne immediately accuses Sprig of having a crush on her. Upon returning home, Anne tells Hop Pop that Sprig was "flirting" with Ivy, which makes Hop Pop happy, as the Sundew family possesses farm land that contains medicinal properties worth a fortune. He prepares a courtship kit for Sprig, but this makes Sprig uncomfortable, as he sees Ivy as just a friend, as well as 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, showing him some of her dating magazines 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 via mosquito messenger. After delivering the message Hop Pop also allows the mosquito to have some of his blood as a "tip".

Sprig and Ivy are prepared in traditional clothing for the ritual much to everyone's delight, minus Polly, who does not care about the engagement. Hop Pop and Felicia both voice how proud they are of the children, and agree that after the marriage Sprig would work in Felicia's tea shop while Hop Pop would receive the Sundew family's special seeds. Anne vocally supports the pairing, excitedly talking to Polly, who is steadily getting more annoyed. 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 an uncaring Polly, that they have to go get them. While searching for them, they encounter love doves, which in Amphibia are beautiful, but ferocious creatures who swoop in and grab the group.

As Sprig and Ivy happily enjoy watching fireflies, they hear their friends and family in danger and chase after the love doves. The captured families 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 finally gets fed up and angrily tells them that their current situation was due to Hop Pop and Felicia's greed and Anne's dumb matchmaking statistics in her dating magazines (which she tears up) and they all apologize. Sprig and Ivy rescue everyone by ambushing the birds and defeat the love doves. 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
 * Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar
 * Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar
 * Kaithlyn Robrock as Felicia Sundew
 * Katie Crown as Ivy Sundew
 * Kevin McDonald as Albus Duckweed

Character revelations

 * 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.
 * In all her time in Wartwood, Anne never has met Ivy or heard of her, although Ivy had seen Anne around in the village.
 * The Sundew family have proprietary crops.
 * Anne believes that magazines never lie.
 * Sprig falls in love with Ivy at the end of the episode, but wasn't in love with her before they went to see the fireflies.

Series continuity

 * Sprig mentions his engagement with Maddie, after Anne forcefully set him up with her in "Hop Luck".
 * When Anne thinks about a shipping name for Sprig and Ivy, Polly screams that she doesn't understand what Anne is saying. This is referring to the frogs that they don't understand the many references to Earth and Anne's life there that she occasionally makes.

Trivia

 * Anne says "Well" seven times after seeing Sprig liking Ivy, similarly to when Bill Cipher said the same to Ford in "The Last Mabelcorn" on Gravity Falls.
 * This is the first episode and sighting of Ivy Sundew.
 * Anne is wondering what the 'shipping name' of Sprig and Ivy as a couple will be, and is thinking between  Ivig  and  Sprigivy  . It's relating 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 actual shipping name that is being used in the Amphibia fandom to name Sprig and Ivy's relationship is ' Sprivy '.

Allusions

 * "Mating Season" - The title is a play on the animal practice of "Mating Season".
 *  - The scene in which Anne tries to put Sprig's arms down while he is wearing the courtship garb recalls a similar scene from the 1983 movie.

Edits

 * The words "heck" and "dang" were cut during the Southeast Asia broadcast.

Animation errors

 * The whole scene where Sprig is sitting on the ground after being ambushed by Ivy, his chin and head have another outline and shape than normal and are also bigger.
 * When Sprig and Ivy look up, Anne, Polly, Hop Pop and Felicia are taken by the Love Doves and Sprig is seen next to Anne and Polly, even though he is on the ground.

Errors

 * Continuity error: In "Best Fronds", it was stated that Sprig didn't have friends and that the other children in Wartwood avoid him. In this episode, Ivy comes forward as his (only) friend.