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The Shut-In
When a show sets its focus on leisure, even when there’s a bigger plot going on, a very good way to execute that focus is with holiday specials. In the case of Season 2, it’s got a special that can be viewed as self-contained as it plays up the fun and creativity of crafting scary images and scenarios. In other words, this is a special very ideal for Halloween. While it doesn’t have too big an effect on the show, for that time of year, it’s a very impressive charmer in a frightening sort of way.
The basic premise has all of Wartwood preparing for the titular event, the Shut-In. Instead of going door to door for free candy, everyone goes to get supplies they can use to keep themselves in their homes at night and serve as protection from any danger. This is due to a legend saying that anyone who goes outside into the full moon will turn into a hideous monster. Customs even include decorations that bring to mind things like jack-o-lanterns. Basically, even if the town insists otherwise, there’s no way to convince Anne, and by extension the audience, that this whole event is not a take on Halloween.
Anyway, the biggest custom of all for the Shut-In is everyone gathering around to tell scary stories, and that’s what the special mainly focuses on. While shielded from the moon within the comforts of their home, Anne and the Plantars pass time with their own scary stories. Structurally, each story makes for a nice even pace for the entire special. There’s a framing devise with everyone commenting on what they hear and even a running gag of Polly trying to come up with a story that ends up just recapping a previous cartoon. She can’t be blamed though; events like the cannibals at an inn, mushrooms controlling people, and the first impressions of Anne are kind of scary stories in their own right. Of course, the real bulk consists of the actual stories from Anne, Hop Pop, and Sprig, each one true to the characters enhanced by atmospheres that really go all out with fright factors.
Anne’s story, “Phone-Mo”, is first, and in addition to
building up a special brand of frights, it’s one very personal to her. It takes place at a middle school modeled
after the one she goes to back home, and the main character isn’t her, but
someone named Anna, a slightly warped take on her name. Joining Anna are human versions of Anne’s
closest frog friends. Instead of Sprig
and Polly, there are student stand-ins of them, Twig and Molly. There are also human versions of frogs Anne
isn’t as close to, but represent certain student archetypes with Maddie
Hattie as the goth, and Toadie Broadie as the nerd. They’re all brought together by the popular
youth trend of social media where they can’t get enough of cute or funny
internet videos, mainly played on their phones.
The feel of this pastime is especially realized with a video that’s
apparently so cute and irresistible. It smoothly transitions into something
frightening with an offhand mention that people who have seen the video
disappear forever. As is common with the
real Anne, despite this and a warning of not to do so from Twig, Anna ends up
watching the video anyway. A few scenes
give warnings that the darkness behind the video may be true with all of Anna’s
friends going missing after watching the video, with only their phones left
behind soon appear.
They build up to Anna herself witnessing its dark myths come alive as her phone is possessed and the cute creature in the video comes into the real world as a scary monster. This story already has some greatness going for it in how the frights escalate, but the teen hobby element personal to Anne is nicely worked in too. The reason the video is so powerful is that it has literally no negativity to its reception; just a lot of likes and positive comments. The way Anna beats it and by extension the creature it centers on is a simple yet logical action of giving it a lot of dislikes and a single “Worst Video Ever” comment. While this is a story, this can serve as a solid explanation for why there’s no such thing as an online video with no sort of negative feedback. In the end, this story is both personal and creatively frightening for being true to Anne’s background and still building an atmosphere fitting for the night.
Next up is Hop Pop’s story “Dead End.” Rather than the usual teen archetypes found in Anne’s story, the background here looks into Hop Pop’s past. There’s talk of his old job as a wagoner, and especially lots of details on how nice hair he apparently used to have was. One day, he picked up a mysterious traveler called Mr. Littlepot. Hop Pop couldn’t pass up the offer, especially with Mr. Littlepot looking like a rich type, so he let him ride with him in exchange for some good money. This sets a solid establishment for the story to ease in the audience. However, it isn’t long before the story really gets frightening. During the trip, Mr. Littlepot insisted on making stops at certain frogs’ homes. That doesn’t sound too bad, but when looking deeper into the scenes, one might notice that the stops happened just as something deadly was about to happen. One frog was held up with a deadly disease, and a venomous snake slithered into the home of one frog who was in much better health. Every time, Mr. Littlepot would reemerge claiming that those frogs wouldn’t have to worry about anything anymore.
As some may be able to tell, since Mr. Littlepot stopped at these homes as these deadly things were about to happening, he was really here to steal souls. It’s like he somehow knew those frogs’ ends were near and was ready to collect in a manner similar to the Grim Reaper. You could only imagine the terror hitting its high point during the part of the story where Hop Pop realized he was the next victim. Staging is very effective as Mr. Littlepot waves his cane like a scythe like he’s ready to steal Hop Pop’s soul like the others. Instead, all that’s lost is Hop Pop’s hair, explaining why he’s bald to this day. This may be anti-climactic compared to the actual deaths, but it still works as a solid shock, and Hop Pop is horrified enough by the loss of his hair. Plus, it still doesn’t confirm that those other frogs were fake-outs too. Perhaps Hop Pop losing his hair may not have been a very extreme loss, but a loss nonetheless.
The final story is the closest one to a recount of actual events, and probably the best structured of them all. It’s set up as Sprig’s recount of a time hanging out with his girlfriend Ivy. They were innocently playing bugball which in the process revealed an endearing insecurity of Ivy’s. A reason she insists on wearing a hat is because she has really bushy hair that she has a strong disdain for, something many people can probably easily relate to. After losing the bugball, Sprig and Ivy headed into the woods to get it, later discovering that it landed in the home of a mysterious frog, the Seamstress. Like most scary legends, this one has a dark background of taking frogs’ actual skins and sewing them into a skin all their own. Much like the ties to the Grim Reaper in Hop Pop’s story, this background is full-on disturbing.
If that’s not all, while most stories like this would be proven fabricated, there’s no denying that the Seamstress turns out to be real. Within her home, Sprig and Ivy found the frog skins, and moments later, were confronted with the Seamstress herself, sewn together frog skins and all. Its reveal stands as a truly frightening highlight for the entire special from the imagery, the background music, and young Sprig and Ivy’s screams of terror. However, it also presents their charming dynamic as a couple. Sprig is very emotional with his fear of the confrontation with the gross and scary creature, while Ivy gives him encouragement to keep fighting, and they press on together. Sprig would later see the Seamstress’s true identity as a sort of glass frog with transparent skin. Being so unusual, Ivy could easily relate to it considering how she felt about her own bushy hair. The scene is set up to be an endearing resolution, but then Ivy flipped her sympathy, attacked the Seamstress again, and she and Sprig escaped as they burned the Seamstress’ home. Technically this is messed up, but the Seamstress herself is already messed up. She may have sympathetic background but she still stole a lot of frog’s skins. If she’s going this far, such a murderous fate seems like the only thing to make up for this.
As for the story, it even has a benefit of continuing into the present. As Sprig finishes the story and everyone is left with a lot of questions, they’re apparently visited by what appears to be Ivy transforming into a Seamstress herself. However, it’s just a fake-out with Ivy merely coming over with a harmless burlap Seamstress head as a disguise that thankfully protects her from the moon. Speaking of which, there’s one more fright to close the special on. Polly sneaks out to look at the moon to see if the Shut-In is real after all, at first it seems like it’s not, but then she transforms into a beast, all while approaching it casually. For her sake, it’s good to know this special is largely self-contained, but it’s very fitting for something of specifically tailored for the Halloween season.
As a special specifically meant to exist in the name of fun, this is very successful. It sets out to get into the Halloween spirit, and it’s greatly realized with a fitting structure, and three stories that go all out with frightening and at times risqué moments and setups. As they also feel in line with characters’ backgrounds, dynamics, and all-around natures, consider this special both successful creative storytelling, and its unique Halloween tradition.
A+
Series Ranking
1.
Hopping
Mall
2.
Reunion
3.
Marcy at the Gates
4.
Toad Tax
5.
Anne vs Wild
6.
The Domino Effect
7.
Toadcatcher
8.
Prison Break
9.
A Day at the Aquarium
10.
Anne of the Year
11.
Contagi-Anne
12. The
Shut-In
13.
Best Fronds
14.
Family Shrub
15.
Hop-Popular
16.
Anne Hunter
17.
Wally and Anne
18.
Children of the Spore
19.
A Night at the Inn
20.
Handy Anne
21.
Scavenger Hunt
22.
Lily Pad Thai
23.
Dating Season
24.
Anne or Beast?
25.
Combat Camp
26.
Little Frogtown
27.
Cursed!
28.
Snow Day
29.
Civil Wart
30.
Stakeout
31.
Croak and Punishment
32.
Taking Charge
33.
Flood, Sweat, and Tears
34.
Bizarre Bazaar
35.
The Plantars Check In
36.
The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers
37.
Wax Museum
38.
Return
to Wartwood
39.
Sprig Gets Schooled
40.
Swamp and Sensibility
41.
Trip to the Archives
42.
Anne Theft Auto
43.
Hop Luck
44.
Night
Drivers
45.
Quarreler’s
Pass
46.
Hop Pop and Lock
47.
Plantar’s Last Stand
48.
Fort in the Road
49.
A Caravan Named Desire
50.
The Big Bugball Game
51.
Fiddle Me This
52.
Truck Stop Polly
53.
Family Fishing Trip
54.
The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar
55.
Girl Time
56.
Breakout Star
57.
Grubhog Day
58.
Cane Crazy
59.
Lost in Newtopia
60.
Sprig vs Hop Pop
61. Cracking Mrs. Croaker
The next Amphibia review looks into the family life of Ivy Sundew, and Anne's trust in Hop Pop is shattered as she finally learns what Hop Pop has done with the music box.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews, The Owl House brings "Any Sport in a Storm."
If you would like to check out other Amphibia reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
