Tuca & Bertie S2E6: An off-key episode explores gentrification and anxiety

After two emotionally strong and profound episodes back-to-back, this week’s Tuca & Bertie felt a bit lackluster. “The Moss” primarily explores the idea of gentrification while using Bertie’s anxiety as a thrumming undercurrent throughout the episode.

Perhaps the strongest part of the episode is the thematic use of the animation. At the beginning of the episode, the duo notices a green gooey moss overtaking the building, signaling that something about the building is changing.

Sure enough, the building has been sold and their rent is increasing. While change triggers Bertie into panic mode, Speckle throws himself back into the project of working on their dream home, the house he purchased in the first season.

But that’s a sore spot for Bertie, too, because even though she loves Speckle, moving into a house with him, where Tuca doesn’t live one floor above them, is too big of a commitment for her.

This leads Bertie to avoid Speckle and encourage him to go wild on the house while she and Tuca try to save the building. In the course of their journey, they discover a famous author once lived in Tuca’s apartment, hoping this can get the building protected historical status.

Unfortunately, it only protects Tuca’s apartment, and the moss slowly recedes from her unit as it continues to devour the rest of the building. While Speckle asks Bertie for feedback on the house, she tells him she wants something that requires him to go hunt it down.

In other words, she pushes Speckle away before asking Tuca if she can stay with her, too afraid to live in the house that Speckle is building. Tuca seems largely unbothered by everything in the episode, which feels in character but also a bit like an afterthought.

“The Moss” is a fairly obvious episode that feels like a setup for the remainder of the season. It’s not bad and has some fairly comedic moments, mainly the seance with the dead author who lived in Tuca’s unit, but it’s by far the weakest episode of the season, which is still to say it’s not a bad episode of television on the whole.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Make sure to tell us in the comments below!