Overview
A walking talking frog that changes lives and rewires brains.
Our Take
The title translates to “The Incredible Journey of Mr. Frog” which is really what this week’s episode is about as Mr. Frog quits being the President of the United States, and goes on a journey of self-discovery that includes reunited with his dad, eating a bug, and really the notion that maybe the guy just needed a break.
Honestly, I think my only notes would have been to just remove the other characters that aren’t Mr. Frog and double the episode runtime because this might be a top five episode of Smiling Friends for me of all-time. For starters it really is one of the more compelling episodes that producers Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack have mustered up in just over three seasons which slowly shows the guys focusing less on just the artistic gags and instead spending more time on thickening a plot and bringing in stoic dialogue delivered by the legendary Creed Bratton which really is a master stroke of casting that I’ve seen in a long while and that’s saying something about a series that typically gets solid guest casts.
I think episode in a lot of ways makes me feel the same way I did about Pickle Rick for Rick and Morty, a maturation in storytelling that helps the series round itself out from being just another quarter-hour for an Adult Swim network that seldom appreciated it’s talent and instead hopefully helps set a stage for Cusack to take on more challenging subject matter in the future.
