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It’s been an exciting few years watching this exciting Disney animated TV series, and now here comes a new set of reviews to cover how it all ends. This is:
Amphibia (Season 3)
Basic Premise
It’s very surprising how much intrigue there is to a deceptively simple show like Amphibia. At first glance, it seems like an average talking animal show with lots of antics. While it is true that the show is plenty comedic with wacky adventures as a part of its general makeup, this show offers much more than just that as shown through its two seasons. The family bonds are very endearing; the world created for itself is expansive and engaging; and it’s always clear there’s something bigger going on. This is especially apparent in its season finales which go all out with emotion and huge stakes dare to change everything the audience thought they knew. The finale to the second season is no exception. After a whole season’s worth of traveling to new areas of the world, adventures with new characters, and huge advancements to the underlying plot, the show hit a new peak. With shocking character depths, standout moments with a striking aesthetic, risky intense scenes near the end, and bold new directions, things easily got way more interesting.
This is where the third and final season comes in to follow up on everything brought up in the previous seasons to a satisfying closure. In doing so, there’s a lot to look forward to as a way to make this season stand out. There’s a lot of time spent in a new realm, the human world; dynamics shifted with Anne now having to take care of the Plantar family, Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly; new characters including Anne’s parents; and risen stakes from the end of Season 2 with Amphibia under control of a villainous king and uncertainties over the fates of other allies. All together, these goals for the season make it a good fit to the structure as conceived by original series creator, Matt Braly. Envisioning his show like a three act story, it feels like three seasons are exactly what’s needed for such a structure. With the first season being introductory and the second raising the stakes, it’s up to the third season to serve as the resolution and give the characters satisfying conclusion. With these reviews, it will be explored exactly how well these arrangements are pulled off, and the many new characters and anticipated plot points work in its favor.
So off we go in exploring the grand end of one of Disney’s most engaging series of recent years, Ampbibia.
Now on with the reviews:
The New Normal
So this is where the final season with all its status quo changes begins, and it get things off to a commendable start. By following up on major past events, introducing new settings and characters, and establishing the tone to follow, the audience is shown what to expect. However, while it is very enticing, it may not live up to the biggest expectations some people may have after the big show of emotions in the Season 2 finale.
It’s about Anne finally fulfilling her goal of returning to her home on Earth, specifically the lovely town of Los Angeles, California. Due to recent events, the Plantar family, Sprig, Polly, and Hop Pop, were sent with her, and now have to navigate this world that's strange to them.
Believably, the first matter of business for Anne is to go straight to her home and reunite with her parents. Considering how long she’s been away, it’s no doubt a very emotional experience for the Boonchuy parents to suddenly see their daughter appear at their doorstep. There’s tight embraces, moments of silence to reflect on how refreshing it is for the family to be together again, and a lot of heart all around. Of course, with the Plantars with her, Anne’s return stands out from the norm as arrangements are made to have these talking frogs stay with the Boonchuys to keep them safe. In fact, having Anne’s parents aware of her supernatural interdimensional adventures, there’s a freshness to the whole setup to emphasize the weight and legitimacy of the fantasy element. Plus, this makes a good impression for the parents; they may be confused by all this strangeness and firm with their daughter, but they’re still very supportive.
That said, Anne still insists on keeping huge things like friend betrayals, a coming invasion, her planning on going back to Amphibia, and especially her glowing blue powers secret. Some would expect all this weight and more to bring a huge emotional toll onto Anne, but it’s surprisingly more light-hearted than full-on emotional.
There’s a sequence devoted to antics brought about by Anne and the Plantars being put on lockdown to keep a low profile which is already relatable. Given the state of the world for the past few years and choice of words like ‘lockdown’ and ‘quarantine,’ it’s hard not to see connections to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ironically, this premiere was conceived before the pandemic was in full force.
Anyway, while these moments bring more humor than appropriate for a follow-up to such dark traumatizing experiences, they do lead to a defining moment for Anne’s character. When the quarantine and her parents’ attention gets to be too much, she firmly tells them she needs space while also being considerate of why they’re acting like this; they can’t really be blamed for worrying about their daughter’s safety after she’s been gone in another world for months. Though she has difficulty negotiating at first, Anne gets strong support from the Plantars to let her parents know how much she’s matured during her time in Amphibia. This support is so convincing that the Boonchuys decide to test Anne’s responsibility during a trip to the local market with the Plantars wearing human disguises. Sure enough, Anne proves to be very responsible in helping her parents along with their shopping. She makes sure she has everything, informs the Plantars of human amenities they run into, and doesn’t do anything crazy at fun detours from shopping like stopping for noodles. Through it all, she demonstrates a great show of character growth from where she started, and it’s refreshing that her parents notice this too.
While the premiere is mostly slice-of-life, fitting for the feel of Anne returning to her home realm, the supernatural fantasies of Amphibia still end up following her. There’s a brief look at that world with King Andrias, his castle still floating high above his kingdom. He’s preparing his invasion of worlds made possible with the mystical Calamity Box in his possession. In the process, there’s a look at the fate of one of Anne’s human friends Marcy who met a very deadly fate in Season 2’s end. As seen in the Season 3 intro tacked onto the finale, she’s recuperating in a healing tank, inert and unable to interact for the time being. This means that Marcy will eventually recover, but her suffering as a result of her getting her friends transported to this world on purpose has only just begun.
Anyway, as a bigger relevance for the story, Andrias sets out to deal with the one threat to his invasion, Anne, by sending a robot after her. The robot easily hides itself from being noticed, which gives it just as much a challenge as it is to Anne and the Plantars to fight it while they’re in a market without being noticed. The battle has some creative ways of keeping itself secret, even if they’re not always convincing as well as a few twists.
The most notable twist is when they all end up in a meat freezer and the Plantars freeze into place since they’re frogs, just as they have done once before back in their home. With Anne left alone to fight the robot, this scenario allows her to use her blue powers to beat it back, and just as before, she unleashes a very strong force. The robot is dealt with for now, though Anne is left weakened from how much energy her powers used. Luckily, an earlier use of durian cleverly revives her and her parents are fully convinced she’s responsible enough now, even though her being discrete was not so convincing. While it’s still a benefit for Anne and the Plantars, the encounter with the robot and the risky use of her powers give Anne yet another thing to worry about on top of everything. It’s just a shame that it’s not given the appropriate tonal approach.
In following up the Season 2 finale, this premiere is very good overall, but not perfect, mostly with how surprisingly nonchalant Anne is about her experiences. What lacks in an appropriate tone though makes up for with introductions to a fresh new regular setting, likable new characters, and clear development for both plot and cast. It might be a lesser experience compared to how things left off, but still one to leave audiences intrigued for the rest of the season.
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 New Normal
23.
The Dinner
24.
Hop-Popular
25.
Anne Hunter
26.
Wally and Anne
27.
Children of the Spore
28.
Friend
or Frobo
29.
A Night at the Inn
30.
Bessie
and MicroAngelo
31.
Handy Anne
32.
Scavenger Hunt
33.
Lily Pad Thai
34.
Dating Season
35.
Anne or Beast?
36.
Combat Camp
37.
Little Frogtown
38.
Cursed!
39.
Snow Day
40.
Civil Wart
41.
Maddie and Marcy
42.
Stakeout
43.
Croak and Punishment
44.
Taking Charge
45.
Flood, Sweat, and Tears
46.
Bizarre Bazaar
47.
The Plantars Check In
48.
The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers
49.
Wax Museum
50.
Return
to Wartwood
51.
Sprig Gets Schooled
52.
Swamp and Sensibility
53.
Trip to the Archives
54.
Toad
to Redemption
55.
Anne Theft Auto
56.
Hop Luck
57.
New
Wartwood
58.
Ivy on the Run
59.
Night
Drivers
60.
Quarreler’s
Pass
61.
Hop Pop and Lock
62.
Plantar’s Last Stand
63.
Fort in the Road
64.
A Caravan Named Desire
65.
The Big Bugball Game
66.
Fiddle Me This
67.
Truck Stop Polly
68.
Family Fishing Trip
69.
The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar
70.
Girl Time
71.
Breakout Star
72.
Grubhog Day
73.
Cane Crazy
74.
Lost in Newtopia
75.
Sprig vs Hop Pop
76.
Cracking Mrs. Croaker
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Plantars are challenged to survive a human mall, and we learn what's become of Anne's friend Sasha back in Amphibia.
If you would like to check out other Amphibia reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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