It’s well and truly autumn (in Melbourne at least), which means a few things: pumpkins and potatoes are hitting the ovens, power bills are going up (and up), and sidewalks are covered in shrivelled wet leaves waiting to send you on the slip’n’slide of your life.
‘Tis the season when I’m well and truly double-socking every outfit and avoiding the flu like … the plague. Sigh.
Enter Frog and Toad, Apple TV+’s adaptation of the beloved children’s books by Arnold Lobel.
Frog and Toad offers a simple antidote to the chill, by way of invitation into a world where two well-dressed amphibians are best friends and only have addictive cookies and lost buttons to worry about. I love it.
The easy, low-stakes storylines and gorgeous animation equal a great way to turn the ol’ brain off and relax for a bit. I found myself just letting the episodes play as I snuggled into my ALDI brand electric blanket, giggling away at Toad trying to carry an ice cream cone stacked with scoops of every single flavour.
Sure, it’s obviously for kids – there’s no pretence otherwise. But there are elements everyone can relate to: being a good friend, participating in your community, and choosing to do what makes you feel good over what you think is the correct choice.
There’s also a little subtext that only the older watchers may pick up on. Frog and Toad have been analysed as a potential queer couple for a long time; long before the show came out. They’re both male, they’re both ‘bachelors’, and they’re both each others very best friend and closest confidant. And Lobel himself was a gay man, who tragically died of AIDS in 1987.
Perhaps Frog and Toad was his coded way of telling the world who he really was.
The animated adaption of Frog and Toad is out now on Apple TV+, and I heartily recommend it as a wholesome way to spend your afternoon.
