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True Colors
Ever since this show began, it’s stood as a very commendable and engaging animated work. With appealing spirit and brilliantly defined characters, everything to this series has consistently fallen into place for all its stories to work so well. This has also been beneficial for the times it would shift into heavier territory through things like threatening stakes and plays on emotions. These types of instances were very common throughout Season 2, and now to finish it off is no doubt one of its biggest, grandest, and heaviest stories. It’s something that not only culminates what’s come before and sets up what’s to come, but as a story on its own, every moment builds upon itself to show how grand it can be.
It starts with a welcome development to the show’s underlying series by showing what Marcy was up to on Anne’s birthday, the day all three girls were transported to Amphibia. For so long, only Anne and Sasha’s perspectives of that day were known to the audience, so getting the full picture with all three girls is a huge help in bringing everything together. In many respects, the flashback answers some huge questions, particularly when Marcy, while studying at the library, is shown to have come across a mysterious book. Within this book was the very music box, the Calamity Box, that got her and her friends into their present situation, as well as information that it could help one travel to other worlds. The flashback also brings to light more questions with Marcy suddenly being called home. Her conversation with her parents isn’t really shown, but it’s clear that it wasn’t good. There’s a stressful atmosphere from the tone of Marcy’s dad telling her to understand something, and Marcy running out of the house in tears. It’s hard not to wonder what all that was about and what would leave Marcy in such turmoil. However, it’s all the more telling when in storming off, Marcy came across the very convenience store that held the music box, aware of what it was really capable of. Seeing her text her friends of this finding with smug vigor, naturally aligning with the other girls’ perspective on this event by the way, begs many questions of Marcy’s intent. There are implications of something ominous from Marcy, this seemingly happy and chipper free spirit, but the earlier scene with her parents does bring a sympathetic feel. Anyhow, with Marcy being the reason the girls ended up with the box, setting the entire series into motion, the audience is left with something huge to ponder throughout the story.
Once that background is established, there’s a cut to the present that wisely starts things off all calm and innocent so to set themselves up to really escalate later. Anne, Sasha, Marcy, the Plantars, Grime, and Frobo arrive at Newtopia all set to see King Andrias and finally return the humans to their world. Everyone talks about how far they’ve come to this moment and contemplate on how the adventure is finally over. There are even talks of their new frog friends still being able to see each other as long as they have the music box. Anne in particular is in a very peaceful place with where things seem to be. She’s got all her friends, she’s on good terms with everyone, and she’s finally about to accomplish her goal of getting home; nothing could be more perfect. However, with apparent ulterior motives and the knowledge of another season after this one, it’s easy to guess things clearly won’t be as smooth as she thinks. The effects of said circumstances are what ultimately elevate this story to unimaginable greatness.
They all make it to King Andrias and all seems set for him to send the humans home. Right before that can happen though, everything that seemed good and innocent instantly starts to unravel with Sasha and Grime suddenly intercepting the music box. Then just as they planned sometime early, they hold back the king and signal their huge toad army right outside the city who’s ready to invade. This shows that despite how much things between Sasha and the others that appeared to be fixed recently, her push for control never left. It doesn’t come as a total surprise since she and Grime have talked about it constantly behind everyone’s back, but her good moments with Anne have felt very genuine. For that, the intense betrayal Anne feels is totally understandable and warranted. For so long, she’s gone along with Sasha’s control in the group so to maintain her friendship with her. Now, she’s been pushed around and manipulated by her one time too many just when it seemed like things would be different and more civil for once. When Sasha tries to sweet talk Anne into just accepting everything, Anne stands her ground and firmly declares that her friendship with Sasha is over. It’s like she’s grown to realize how toxic her friendship with Sasha truly is. This makes it clear how much she’s grown as a character, and it shows even more after Sasha has her and the rest of the group arrested. After they escape and hide out with the help of General Yunan and Lady Olivia and everyone feels there’s nothing they can do to stop the toad army, Anne steps in with confidence. She inspires everyone to give all they got in this oncoming army, and use their unique talents to free the king and fight back. As it turns out, Anne’s plan is very effective in fighting back against the invasion, and before long, she and Sprig are all set to come out on top by shutting Newtopia’s gate.
During all of this, there’s also a look at the depths to Sasha’s true self. Though her betraying her friends and taking over presents her as a straight-up bad person, like many of her roles, she actually turns out to be legitimately complex. She’s achieved her goal of taking over the kingdom, but while she has all the power and control, she’s not content or all that satisfied. She basically doesn’t really know what she wants, and maybe getting the ultimate control isn’t it, so she’s ultimately more than just lustful for power and still has some care for others. Such complexities are key in uncovering some very huge truths that further escalate things later on. When Grime convinces her to go ahead with redecorating the castle, they uncover a tapestry with a major historic reveal. It features King Andrias in a position of dark power with the music box in his possession, and it’s all around very concerning.
It’s then when they notice Anne trying to shut the gate to keep the toad army from getting in and taking over. Sasha and Grime rush to stop her, but instead of for her own goals, it’s all for the protection from a greater evil. However, because she’s backstabbed Anne one time too many, it makes perfect sense that Anne doesn’t believe or listen to Sasha’s claims. It’s all emphasized by a major action scene with Anne ready to face her ex-friend, sword in hand. Much like the duel in the Season 1 finale, this one easily gets intense fast, especially with Sasha visibly not willing to put up a fight. In fact, it’s almost shocking to see Anne completely on the offensive, and showing no signs of holding back. At the same time, there’s a very interesting battle setup as little Sprig faces off against the buff and threatening Grime with the all-powerful and heavy Barrel’s Warhammer. The especially shocking thing is that Sprig actually puts up a strong fight in this scuffle and comes out on top. Together, both these performances in battle allow for Anne’s plan to be a total success which would be good news until you consider the context of what Sasha knows. This does mean that the toad army, who had significant build-up prior, doesn’t get that strong a payoff from not getting a chance to invade. However, this ultimately doesn’t matter because while this opposing force doesn’t get going, for the third and last act of the story, a bigger one strikes instead.
Just after beating stopping the big toad rebellion, Anne hands the music box over to King Andrias, continuing to ignore Sasha’s claims that she shouldn’t do that. Once this is done, the biggest sequence of escalation is put into motion. It starts with a huge look into King Andrias’ background and his relationship with the box, dating back thousands of years ago. Through this backstory, there’s something to be said about how he views others. He had companions that he saw as loyal friends, but soon grew to resent trusting them, for they took the music box and sent it to parts unknown when he was tasked to watch it. Without it, his family was unable to uphold their legacy and continue their important trade. With the box retrieved and recharged now, Andrias vigorously pronounces that his ancestry can return to glory. Then it’s revealed exactly what his family’s legacy is built upon which, along with a later episode delving deeper into his past friendships, spells big trouble. For a while, it’s been believed that Andrias’ ancestors consisted of explorers who specialized in just traveling to other worlds. This turns out to not be totally true, for Andrias makes the big clarification that they were actually conquerors, and the weight of this reveal instantly unfolds.
Using the charged music box on a special podium, a powerful force is unleashed across Amphibia. Andrias’ entire castle flies to unimaginable and uncomfortable heights, and the old ruins explored in the season premiere turn out to be an important step in his conquest. The box’s power activates them all, and their purpose becomes clear. Slightly hinted by them being where Frobo was created, the ruins turn out to be a huge robot factory to create a hostile robotic army at Andrias’ command. With the robots and his floating castle in place, he’s all set to use the music box to travel to other worlds and finish the many conquests of his ancestors. This reveal greatly delivers on raising stakes, but also stands as a clever reveal of the intentions of King Andrias. While his darkness has had solid foreshadowing before, he also felt really genuine when being friendly and jovial with the rest of the gang. As a result, the truth of his evil intentions is both an effective twist, but easy to believe at the same time to the point where Anne laments not noticing this sooner.
As a way of continuing an on-going theme with this finale, this moment makes clear the true intentions of one more character, Marcy. When Andrias reveals what he really plans to do with the music box and things get tense, she intervenes and points out that people getting hurt was not supposed to happen. However, in doing so, she makes it known that she was aware of what Andrias was going to do with the box overall all along. She supported this plan as a way for her, Anne and Sasha to join him in traveling to the other worlds, but the bigger reveal is of why she did this. There was evidence in the flashback at the beginning, but Marcy, who originally found the music box, intended for it to send her and her friends to a world like Amphibia. Given the heavy implications behind the premise and how seriously the show has taken them, it’s pretty messed up that Marcy let all of this happen on purpose. Anne and Sasha’s horrified and disgusted reactions are very appropriate, especially from Anne who just experienced two big betrayals already. Marcy further explains herself while also answering some of the big questions the flashback brought to light. As it turns out, the conversation she had with her parents was about her moving away out of the state due to a new job her dad got. Because this meant that she’d be taken away from her friends, she took the drastic steps to prevent that with the help of her recently uncovered knowledge of the music box. If they were transported to a whole new world together, then they’d never have to be apart.
Shocking as this is, the course of action makes perfect sense for Marcy’s character. She’s always had a mind for escapism based on her deep intrigue in things like video games and complex role playing games, so of course she wouldn’t mind going to another world. Plus, she’s stressed wanting the whole group to be together a lot throughout her past appearances, explaining the great pain over the idea of being taken away from them. If that doesn’t still make her endearing and understandable despite how low she sunk with her actions, her desperately trying to stress any good out of it probably can. While breaking down into a near panic, she does bring good points of how Anne and Sasha have grown a lot during their time in Amphibia as well as the thrilling adventure. True as this may be, it doesn’t change the fact that she willingly took them away from their lives and their families, which especially stings for Anne. That’s not even mentioning that while she landed in a position of greatness from the start, Anne and Sasha faced several unprecedented hardships before they gained any reverence. Basically, no matter how one looks at it, what Marcy did was very harmful and selfish, and it leaves her with guilt.
Clearly, what started as calm and promising has turned into one major and stressful betrayal after another. However, Anne knows better that to let her rightfully hurt emotions cloud reason. She can tell whose actions were big mistakes and that King Andrias is the true evil one. With this show of confidence, she vows to stop him, and all her friends rally behind her to support her however they can in a very empowering and inspirational manner. At this declaration of determination, they all engage Andrias and his robot army in battle. Just about everyone gets in on the action with something significant to offer.
However, of all the characters, the one who stands out the most in this fight surprisingly is Polly. It starts when her own robot companion, Frobo, who was built in the same factory as Andrias’ army steps in to save her when she’s in a particularly dangerous situation. When doing so, Andrias gets particularly nasty and crushes Frobo to bits leaving only his head. With how powerful Polly’s connection was to him, it’s very emotional and fitting that this has all the reactions of an actual death. Enraged at this action, Polly soon becomes ready to really face off against Andrias and throw off his plan when around this moment, this little tadpole suddenly grows her legs. It’s another one of many highlights here with solid foreshadowing from earlier this season and a recurring gag of Polly constantly scratching herself, and the legs prove effective. Her new additions as well as her small size help her avoid attacks from all the robots and get her to the music box. She takes it off the podium and it depowers the castle. Our heroes seem victorious, but sadly only temporary.
Just as the side of justice seems to have the music box retrieved, King Andrias reveals to have gotten Sprig in his hold and threatens to drop him to his doom. To ensure his safety, everyone complies to the king’s wishes and has the box put back on the podium. Demonstrating true darkness though, Andrias doesn’t comply with the agreement. Giving a very telling and personal statement of how the more you love friends the more it hurts when they go, he straight-up drops Sprig anyway. Such a simple yet very murderous action is staged as very emotional to everyone, but to Anne, it’s downright devastating. There’s major emphasis on her pained reactions to her first true friend in any world falling to his doom backed up by nothing but soft emotional music and clips of past adventures. This even includes an alternate angle of a truly wholesome moment between the two from the Season 1 end credits. It’s at this moment where it’s clear that Anne has come to realize what makes a healthy friendship. After experiencing many betrayals all day while believing she’d finally be going home, losing Sprig has gone beyond too far. However, it’s this dark heinous act that unleashes one of the grandest sequences of this finale and the series.
As the sequence unfolds, it helps to remember exactly how the music box’s stones were recharged. While Sasha and Marcy’s stones were charged all the way as shown with an entire glow in their eyes being drained, Anne’s stone was only charged part of the way. It’s at this moment where the results of that circumstance become clear as Sprig being dropped is the heavy-hitting event to serve as the trigger. Anne suddenly expresses strange powers that allow her to emit a powerful blue glow, leaving everyone absolutely dumbfounded. From clear buildup through slowly swelling music and a collection of reactions, the powers seem poised to bring a huge impact. Then when the time is right, nothing is held back as Anne brings an all-powerful display against King Andrias. The smooth animation, the epic music score, the large variety of shots, and the emotional range driving Anne’s aggression are the makings of a real highlight. It’s a strong culmination of what’s basically Anne’s breaking point from how much everyone’s betrayed her, and it’s all spectacular. However, the implications behind this being the first display of these powers isn’t ignored, for the sequence ends with the music and tone really calming down as the powers wind down. As a result, Anne collapses with a lot of energy clearly used up, while King Andrias is delighted to see that while Anne has these powers, she’s unable to control them properly. As for Sprig, the pain of his fall is at least resolved for he ends up surviving thanks to Marcy coming to his rescue. Still, all is not so well as the final moments have one last shock.
For a few moments, it seems like everyone has a chance to stop Andrias after all as Marcy attempts to make up for causing the main predicament in the first place. At the right opportunity, she gets the music box and uses it to open a portal back to Earth, something she could have done all along without going to King Andrias. Anne and the Plantars start to enter the portal to escape the chaos and call for Marcy to join them…and then it happens. While she’s talking, something appears to strike her, and immediately, it’s revealed that the blow was Andrias stabbing her with a huge sword. In other words, something as dark as a fatal blow to a major character has just occurred, and it’s very powerful to see these risks taken in a show like this. Shocking and intense as this moment is, it does a lot of good for the status of this entire series.
In the context of this story, it leaves a lot for many characters to work through. Anne of course is left to cope with the possible death of a close friend on top of everything else she’s experienced, but then consider Marcy herself. Her last words before giving into the pain of her impalement are a simple apology for everything. It’s a sign of her realizing how bad and harmful her actions really were, ultimately the last thing ever on her mind. The weight of what she caused has her leave the world of the living full of heavy guilt and fear that her two best friends will hate her forever. As bad as what she did was though, she’s still left very sympathetic, tragic even when looking at her background. It’s not justified, but it is understandable as to why she resorted to her course of actions. She was afraid of the changes in her life that would take her away from the friends she’s clearly devoted to. She never had a chance to reconcile with either her parents or her friends, or to properly resolve her issues. Even when she thought she had good connections when coming to Amphibia, they left her backstabbed, figuratively and literally, costing her best chance of resolution. With everything that came of her choices, what seemed like paradise is now real torture and suffering. Even with the last scene being of the portal sending Anne home, her main goal for the entire series, it’s hard to call it a true victory. She’s finally home, but at the cost of many unfortunate things; the Plantars are now stranded in a world strange to them with no way back; her two human friends were left behind in Amphibia; one of them may very well be dead as far as Anne knows; the music box has successfully been intercepted by the evil king; and there’s a looming threat of an invasion to many worlds, so home may not be too safe anyway. So much has happened and has left a lot to take in, a perfect atmosphere to close out this season and head into the next one.
It’s plain to see that a story direction like this leaves a lot of implications and heavy emotional impacts. As a result, not just the finale, but the entire series stands as something more than just an average animated series. It achieves a wide emotional range that brings a high level of seriousness to what unfolds in the story, and makes the characters at their most believable. They’re not just archetypes or characters solely there to entertain; they’re relatable figures going through universal difficult challenges, even as far as facing truly dire consequences. In some ways, it can be believed that this work practically masters the feel of a timeless Disney classic. However, that would be purely from an artistic sense as the executives in charge did not really do this finale justice. Despite Disney having several intense moments throughout its history, they delayed it at the last minute since that ending would be too dark for the kids in the audience. Not only did this move lead to a huge backlash from fans especially after the finale was carelessly leaked onto digital platforms, but it shows who at Disney deserves respect. Executives seem to just think of profit and limiting certain things to specific demographics, like animation solely to kids. The artists at Disney, however, understand that something that’s truly timeless takes risks and achieves a variety of feels instead of being solely light-hearted. They can appeal to kids fine, but incorporating elements like this season finale’s intense moments help a work’s longevity by being able to be carried for life long after childhood. This is what it means to be universally appealing, and the material Disney has brought to life throughout the decades including its TV shows is no exception. The drama doesn’t matter too much now that the finale has aired unaltered with the dark content intact, albeit with a noticeable compromise. A content warning at the start warns of the final scenes and how scary they’d be for kids; it premiered in primetime as opposed to Saturday mornings like normal; and it ends with a sneak peek at the intro for Season 3, which includes a scene of Marcy in a healing tank, indicating that she’ll be all right. That said, she still has much to suffer through in the following season. All of this does cost the suspenseful tone series creator Matt Braly was going for with the finale, but the final product is still very satisfying, and that’s something to really appreciate.
Amphibia was always great, but this season finale brings it into a whole new league. It masterfully builds up its grandness with every major event that pays off many established topics of the past two seasons. The story is daring, the characters feel more fleshed out than ever, there are several memorable moments, and potential is set up for new and bigger things. If there was ever any hesitation to check out his show before, this season finale is an excellent way of showing just what this show about talking frogs is really capable of.
A++
Fan Art
Series Ranking
1.
True Colors
2.
Hopping
Mall
3.
Reunion
4.
Marcy at the Gates
5.
Toad Tax
6.
The First Temple
7.
Battle of the Bands
8.
Barrel’s
Warhammer
9.
Anne vs Wild
10.
The Domino Effect
11.
The Third Temple
12.
Toadcatcher
13.
Prison Break
14.
The Second Temple
15.
A Day at the Aquarium
16.
Anne of the Year
17.
Contagi-Anne
18.
The
Shut-In
19.
Best Fronds
20.
After
the Rain
21.
Family Shrub
22.
The Dinner
23.
Hop-Popular
24.
Anne Hunter
25.
Wally and Anne
26.
Children of the Spore
27.
Friend
or Frobo
28.
A Night at the Inn
29.
Bessie
and MicroAngelo
30.
Handy Anne
31.
Scavenger Hunt
32.
Lily Pad Thai
33.
Dating Season
34.
Anne or Beast?
35.
Combat Camp
36.
Little Frogtown
37.
Cursed!
38.
Snow Day
39.
Civil Wart
40.
Maddie and Marcy
41.
Stakeout
42.
Croak and Punishment
43.
Taking Charge
44.
Flood, Sweat, and Tears
45.
Bizarre Bazaar
46.
The Plantars Check In
47.
The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers
48.
Wax Museum
49.
Return
to Wartwood
50.
Sprig Gets Schooled
51.
Swamp and Sensibility
52.
Trip to the Archives
53.
Toad
to Redemption
54.
Anne Theft Auto
55.
Hop Luck
56.
New
Wartwood
57.
Ivy on the Run
58.
Night
Drivers
59.
Quarreler’s
Pass
60.
Hop Pop and Lock
61.
Plantar’s Last Stand
62.
Fort in the Road
63.
A Caravan Named Desire
64.
The Big Bugball Game
65.
Fiddle Me This
66.
Truck Stop Polly
67.
Family Fishing Trip
68.
The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar
69.
Girl Time
70.
Breakout Star
71.
Grubhog Day
72.
Cane Crazy
73.
Lost in Newtopia
74.
Sprig vs Hop Pop
75.
Cracking Mrs. Croaker
Final Thoughts
When animated series get a chance at another season, it’s a good opportunity to take its established strengths and go all out with what can be done with them. Amphibia is no exception where it follows this trend and pulls off a very impressive second season. As a result, it reaches greatness in ways very few could probably imagine a talking frog show could.
Making the actual events of Season 2 especially exciting is their fairly clever structure of how everything is arranged and how they lead into everything that happens. One can divide this season into four equal quarters, each devoted to a significant part to one big whole. The first part of the season devotes itself to traveling through this world with a specific destination to its capital, Newtopia. Along the way is plenty of lore and world building with stops in various towns and unexplored areas. While the actual locations are different from the norm, the adventures themselves are a solid fit for the established tone of the series. They’re mostly fun escapades consisting of antics with standout bits of character growth like wanting to contribute to the family and striving for more respect. They’re not always the best works though, at least compared to other highs. Many of these stories are held back by tired formulas, character exploration that isn’t shown further later, and sometimes going backwards on character development. Still, credit must be given to all the adventures not feeling out in place from what has always been the show’s tone, fun escapades in a frog world with touches of broader topics. Unsurprisingly, adventures with those touches are the ones that stand out the most such as Anne learning hunting; a Gravity Falls tribute revealing a connection to Earth; and especially a brief break in the action to see where Sasha has been since the end of Season 1.
Such broader topics stand out a lot more in the second part of the season all about the Plantars’ stay in Newtopia, mainly with some of the newly introduced characters. The one to stand out the most though is easily one of Anne’s friends, Marcy. With a look at her appealing and relatable qualities of great energy and special interests driving her adapting to this strange world, she quickly becomes a worthy addition to the cast. She and Anne even demonstrate a lot of heart to their friendship with excitement of being around each other, looking out for each other’s safety, and admiring the other’s strengths. Marcy is also shown to be highly intelligent, in line with her adapting to this world so easily, making for strong development in the main plot of the series. She has a connection with the ruler of Amphibia, King Andrias, who also stands out for the questions he raises on his morality. It’s just as convincing that he’s friendly and jovial as much as it is that he’s dark and conniving, which turns out to be the case in the end. Anyway, it’s during these Newtopia adventures that information is uncovered about the music box that transported Anne and her friends. The biggest reveals in particular involve how it works and what must be done to recharge it.
However, in spite of the promising developments in this area of the underlying story, focus for this part of the season remains on light-hearted antic-driven escapades. Some are reasonably fun like Sprig taking advantage of a credit card while at a hotel and Hop Pop becoming a detective to uncover truth about an old friend’s sandwich shop. Then there are the likes of “Lost in Newtopia” which appears to be antics for antics' sake, and little being done to undo the damage they cause to everyone. With this in mind, stories like these don’t always work, especially for how much Newtopia was built up. That said, it’s here where the feel of the show is perfectly realized with the likes of “Hopping Mall.” At first it seems like just another simple escapade with Anne entering a competition to win a special prize with plenty of antics and banter all around. However, it really stands out with strong instances of heart at the core of everything considering that this prize is a gift Anne wants to give her mom. Such emotional feels are further shown with interactions between Anne’s opponent in the competition, and especially at the end when she talks about her mom with Sprig. Sprig even adds to the emotion by revealing the tragic fate of his own mom, leading to a very powerful ending. This captures the full potential of what this show sets out to do; it has its simple fun adventures, but also enhances the material with a powerful emotional range. This is even true for the transition into the third part where Anne and the Plantars are driven to sadness at the idea of being apart, even if it is for a while. Everything works out as they head back to Wartwood together after all, but not without a hint at dark truths for both Marcy and King Andrias.
The third part of the season is mostly a return to form, right down to Wartwood once again serving as the main setting. After much time away, it’s practically relieving to see the familiar town as well as its memorable residents again with a whole cartoon devoted to reuniting with them. From there, the focus is mostly on light-hearted escapades highlighting daily life in Wartwood, although many stand out with the spotlight taken by supporting characters. More noteworthy is how even in the simpler stories, the overall tone keeps finding ways to shift towards more dramatic than ever. This only makes sense considering how all the traveling and exploration of the first half of the season brought in a lot of heavy reveals and emotions.
When it comes to the biggest instance of drama, it would have to be the lingering plot thread from the previous season with Hop Pop burying the music box unbeknownst to Anne. Her finding out just after expressing major trust in Hop Pop brings much emotional turmoil between them, reflecting the growth in backbone of the story going forward. There’s Anne nearly leaving the Plantars behind; Sprig and Polly in a life-threatening situation while trying to make things right; and Hop Pop explaining his actions with a tragic backstory of exactly what happened to Sprig and Polly’s parents and how that led him to be so protective of his family. This in turn is some of the most powerful moments to come from the series, though while the story itself makes it seem easily resolved, that turns out to not be totally true. Tensions between Anne and Hop Pop turn out to be so strong, they carry into the next adventure and are dealt with in an impressively believable way. They intensify out of bottling them up in an effort to keep the peace, coming to a head in particularly dramatic scenes. Such moments end up being very impactful ways to come to a resolution of both Anne and Hop Pop being honest with their issues. While exactly how they work things out isn’t seen as they’re on mostly normal terms for the rest of the season, the emotional weight is telling of bold storytelling directions.
On the subject of this adventure, it’s also telling of how bold the show has become in this second season. There’s more world building with a voyage to a temple needed to help recharge the music box’s stones. This temple goes all out with creativity in its design, challenges, and ways it connects to a virtue of one of the three human girls the gems on the music box represent. It’s ultimately one of the grandest examples of how much this show has evolved and make for several standout moments of both the series and the entire show. It also expands in scope with updates to the status quo, mainly with Marcy showing up as a guide to this temple and later relocating to Wartwood to join in all adventures. It’s a telling sign of how much a show appreciates its characters, a core factor to success of a work of media, when it allows focus to other appealing personalities regularly. Marcy’s simple presence adds a whole new perspective to dynamics and approaches to adventures. She even has good friendships with several of the Wartwood citizens. No matter what she does from adding several helpful renovations to the town to practicing sorcery with Maddie Flour, her roles are always such a joy. With all this said, it would be fitting to consider Marcy a valuable asset to the cast, especially in this season. This season also has an interesting way of introducing another character. After the season premiere, there are a few instances of a frog robot created in old abandoned ruins following the Plantars wherever they go. It’s not always followed up on, but it’s enough to make the audience ponder the robot’s true intent. When it finally does reach the Plantars, there’s an interesting move where it establishes a friendship with, of all characters, Polly. This is also a smart move in allowing strong development for the little tadpole. Looking after this robot, dubbed Frobo, allows her to learn the importance of responsibilities that come with growing up and keeping others out of trouble. It’s through this leadership that Frobo becomes a valuable and helpful asset to the Plantar family, especially in big daring adventures that make up the last part of the season.
Finally, the last part of the season is where everything in the season comes together and really escalates to the most exciting and intense the show has ever been. The focus here is on wrapping up all the major lingering plot threads brought to light this season. At the center is something central to the show as a whole, the relationships between the three human girls transported to Amphibia. It’s first shown in adventures dedicated to finishing the process of getting all three of the music box’s stones charged. Continuing off the adventure with the first temple, the other two follow its motifs. They both tie into a virtue connected to one of the three girls with challenges designed to put them to the test. From these challenges as well as the temples’ unpredictable nature and design, there’s a lot of details explored when it comes to Anne’s heart and Sasha’s incomparable strength. They’re not only formidable tools in overcoming the challenges, but are also key in shaping both upcoming events of the story, and directions of the girls’ friendship. For Anne, her heart and care for her friends not only overcomes the challenges of the temple dedicated to that virtue, but also sets up a major twist in the story. In putting the safety of her friends above everything, she actually does not fully recharge her stone on the music box. This course of action works in two different ways, showcasing how important her relationships are to Anne, and adding a layer of excitement to a later climax. As for Sasha’s role with these temples, it’s a basis for the drama that ultimately unfolds for the three friends. As Anne and Marcy frequently talk about finding her and getting the group back together throughout the season, Sasha is shown to clearly have her own plans of power and control. Still, her roles prior to her own temple adventure don’t ignore her hidden desire for friends she doesn’t want to lose after her tense encounter with Anne. When one of her huge ambitions for control pushes away two of her loyal toad comrades, it’s enough to suggest that this is where she’ll change for the better. This is further suggested when she finally sees Anne and the others again at the third temple. Sasha’s virtue of strength pull off recharging the last stone, and her conversations with Anne feel actually genuine and make proper reconciliation feel possible. Following this up with full on reunions between the trio with a dinner and performing in a concert further suggest a feeling of unity and renewal. However, it’s never forgotten that Sasha still has plans to go through with her authoritative plans, leaving the audience unsure of how exactly things will unfold.
Then just about everything comes full circle with the grand finale to this season, “True Colors.” Season finales are typically huge and spectacular by nature, but this one takes things to a whole new level with how much it packs in and the directions in goes. It practically has it all with a brief yet very telling flashback to kick things off; calm assurance suddenly compromised for major tensions; disheartening betrayals after convincing trust; fast-paced action to stop opposing forces; huge game-changing reveals on huge authority figures; even bigger threats coming into play after earlier ones are swiftly stopped; emotional consequences for secretly taking friends away from their lives; another big action sequence filled with surprises and developments; the results of Anne not fully charging her stone with glowing blue powers unleashed; an actual onscreen death (as it appears for now anyway); and some sort of accomplishment in Anne’s goal of going home despite many unfortunate side effects. It’s easy to tell that the way this finale ends off Season 2 is packed beyond belief with many layers of greatness. The action is non-stop, the character reveals are powerful and huge, the emotions are real, and story directions show a boldness deserving of all appreciation. It’s the true essence of animated greatness, especially one part of the legacy of Disney. Also, in ending things strong for this season, things are also set up well for the third season with so many after effects for the characters to deal with. That, however, is what’s necessary in keeping the story fresh and engaging, and the audience excited for what’s to come. As for whether the third season lives up to the hype that the second one promises, that’s a matter for another time.
For Season 2 though, it’s a very telling sign of how Amphibia has grown and developed as an amazing animated series. Through its structure of story events, it manages to accomplish a lot in covering what a great asset to the medium should be like. Along with the usual light-hearted fun adventures, it adds a lot with appealing new characters and places, huge stakes and challenges, and unexpected story directions. This simple frog show has evolved into something special and incredibly laudable, and its second season is the best proof of this point one could hope for. And that, my friends, is no big deal.
Highly Recommended
This just about wraps things up for Amphibia Season 2. Next time is the season finale for The Owl House followed by a few major updates for this blog. Until then:
Stay Animated Folks!
