This episode continues the reboot’s trend of
adding its own elements alongside putting its own spin on the familiar.While it did a very commendable job with Lena
a while back, the reboot-exclusive elements here is kind of mixed.
At a club
made for billionaires comes a sudden appearance of a tech developer called Mark
Beaks.His main trait is being up to
date with the latest trends, innovating with new technology and staying
relevant on social media.As a
character, these qualities can be seen as fairly enjoyable or somewhat
excessive and dated, so that puts his entertainment value in a conflicting place.Looking at the main plot, Huey and Dewey,
taking a keen interest in Mark’s ways, learn that the tech developer is looking
for an intern and they’re inspired to apply for the job.Even as they say they’ll approach competing
for the position fairly, it’s very easy to tell that this position will come
between them.
Within this standard plot
though, there’s solid entertainment coming from exploring his company,
Waddle.For such a major business said
to have made millions, the whole place is practically one big playground from
an abundance of trampolines and slides to everything made of candy.In addition to the fun environment, the main
conflict does a solid job of demonstrating a point of favor to this entire
reboot.It highlights the newly formed
individuality of the nephews that other incarnations of the characters never
touched upon.Competing for the
internship shows off Huey’s specific trait of being obsessively detail oriented
with Dewey’s more laid back approach of taking the easy way through the
job.While the former certainly has a
serious and more responsible approach to business, the latter treats the job
offer as something cool and develops a good rapport with the staff.In Mark’s eyes, they both seem to show good
potential, though his thought process is very random.After a random stint of the boys bringing him
coffee for certain times, he declares Huey the intern but out of nowhere
decides to make young Dewey a vice president.It does show off more good individuality in the characters with Huey
suffering a breakdown over things going against everything he calculated.
While Waddle certainly seems like a fun
business place, one can’t help but feel there’s something phony about all
this.It’s like the episode is smart enough
to point out that even the best seeming companies have a catch to them.A lot of that is displayed in scenes
featuring Scrooge and Flintheart Glomgold contemplating Mark Beaks and how
untrustworthy he is.The two rival
billionaires even consider teaming up to take him down, though Flintheart is
much more demented in his scheme that goes to ridiculous lengths.
A big factor to his plan is that he’s at
least clear that he plans on betraying everyone when all is said and done, unlike
Mark himself.This is especially notable
with his constant mentions of an amazing sounding plan called Project Ta-Dah,
especially to a threatening looking agent, Falcon Graves.For all Mark’s talk, the nature of the
project is very vague and just a cover for its truth later on; that being that
the project doesn’t exist.It’s nothing
more than a big empty room whose sole purpose is to build up hype from the name
alone.Because Graves is the one who
invested in Mark becoming rich, it’s way too easy to side with him when he attacks
him.While Huey and Dewey reconciling
and appreciating each other’s virtues is nice after learning the truth, it’s
concerning that they still feel like Mark is the one who needs help.Even so, while their strengths do save Mark,
they do give him some karma by posting an embarrassing picture of him on social
media.Plus, it seems like Mark does get
some comeuppance when he’s suddenly roped into Flintheart’s convoluted scheme
of going to a fake yacht party.It’s
never seen, so whatever happens is up to audience interpretation.
In spite of a questionable character and
basic plot, the execution brings enough solid fun and chemistry from those
involved.
B+
Series Ranking
1.The House of the Lucky Gander
2.The Beagle Birthday Breakout
3.The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest
4.Daytrip of Doom
5.The Great Dime Chase
6.Escape To/From Atlantis
7.Woo-oo
8.The Infernal Internship
of Mark Beaks
The next episode takes Scrooge and the team to Egypt where they find a group of mummies with limited knowledge of the outside world and worship their own fabricated god.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Your Ed Here" and "The Good Ol' Ed" from Ed Edd n Eddy.
If you would like to check out other DuckTales reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
Focus is back on Huey, Dewey, and Louie with
this episode and continues the trend of them wanting to get money the easy way
only for their plans to majorly backfire.With this in mind, it’s fitting to expect a lot of familiarity with the
concept, though it’s not without some interesting insight on exactly how money
works.
As usual, the boys are keen to a
summer of all their favorite activities, but their excitability causes them to
burn through the allowance they have, so they can’t afford to do them all.Since Scrooge won’t raise their allowance,
they try to settle for a summer job acting as the “dust busters” utilizing the
best skill kids their age have, cleaning.That said, even attempts at that job don’t go as planned.While on their job, they try selling their
services to Gyro Gearloose who has another invention on hand for them to use to
solve their problem the easy way as usual.This time, the invention is a duplicator ray with a name the boys
noticeably have trouble pronouncing throughout the episode.Seeing that it can make a copy of anything,
including money, that’s enough to convince the boys that their money problems
are through. However, they end up proving very impatient and brash as they take
the duplicator and use it to double their money without getting all the details.
The consequences of this are soon known as
Gyro notices everything he duplicated starting to double at the sound of a
bell.Since Huey, Dewey, and Louie used
the duplicator on their money, that means it doubles too at the sound of a
bell, and that holds true for everyone who’s paid their money.On the surface, it seems good that everyone
gets a lot of money, but all of this means a very believable effect on the
entire economy, inflation.Since everyone
keeps getting tons of money, there are skyrocketing increases on even the
smallest of things (though things like the cost of dental insurance remain the
same).The depiction of inflation has a
comedic exaggerated edge to it, but the main point of what all this means is
still very clear.In a way, the episode
is both a fun comedy of errors but also teaches a very valuable lesson on
managing money, one of the most essential tools of life.
In finding a way around the doubling money
situation, admittedly, there is some confusion and a bit of needless complexities.At one point, the money doubles so much that
a warning from Gyro makes it seem like it and everything that was duplicated
will explode.Fenton Crackshell, who
throughout the episode was trying to come up with a good way to help Scrooge in
hopes for a raise, comes up with a solution.By calling a few favors, he makes it very easy for the Beagle Boys to
break out of prison and steal all the money complete with storing it in their
own money bin.They think they hit it
rich, unaware that they’re storing away an impending explosion.Then it turns out Gyro never meant to imply
the duplicated items would explode causing some drama between characters.A bell goes off shortly after and then all
the duplicated items including the money disappears or “implodes.”That takes care of the issue, but why
couldn’t the clarification have been made sooner?There was honestly nothing to gain from that
brief moment of panic.At least the
point of inflation was made as is Huey, Dewey, and Louie learning to be more
reasonable with making money…again.
On
the whole, this episode is a mix of clever ideas and interactions along with
repeated tropes and confusing stakes, but it’s a positive experience more or
less.
B
The Ranking
1.My Mother the Psychic
2.Allowance Day
3.The Land of Trala La
4.The Good Muddahs
5.Dough Ray Me
6.Metal Attraction
7.Bubbeo and Juliet
The next review shows what happens when a rambunctious cave duck gets a moment of genius.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is an episode from the reboot, "The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks."
If you would like to check out other DuckTales reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
When one becomes so attached to a
show, it can be a vital part of their lives through always having something new
to look forward to.Very often though,
shows don’t last forever and when they end, anyone who was a fan has to deal
with the fact that there won’t be anything from it to look forward to
again.However, what truly matters isn’t
that a show ends, but rather HOW the show ends, for that helps make it
potentially stand out as something special.An ending can almost serve as reminder for why the show was so great to
begin with, bringing plot points, character development, and themes full
circle.This show in particular has been
very engaging for sure, and now it's reached the very
end, and the passion is present to strongly send everything off.
Coming right after the
double-length middle of the finale with Anne and the others defeating The Core
on Earth, another challenge is set up.The Core has followed them all back to
Amphibia and taken control of the moon, aiming to crash it into the land and
destroy everyone.The reason for this
course of action is that it fears change that could threaten their old customs
of conquest, which is very striking considering change is a main theme of this
show.As a result, the efforts of the
protagonists are a mixed bag so far, but this situation calls for payoff to one
other lingering plot point to bring peace once and for all.
With the sudden presence of Mother Olm,
attention is brought to the prophecy that leads to Anne, Sasha, and Marcy using
the power of the Calamity Box stones to save the world.It’s staged as the biggest chance they have
to settle things, but it not exactly a definite plan.Making it more realistic, Mother Olm explains
that the prophecy is basically a best case scenario and not guaranteed to
work.Nevertheless, the three human
girls are willing to take the chance for the good of the world they’ve grown a
fondness to.
The drawbacks to the prophecy
don’t even stop there with Mother Olm also having a word of caution for Anne,
the only one who’s experienced the box’s power firsthand.While the power can be a great asset to
defeat The Core, one person using all the power will be too much for her and destroy her.Anne understands the morbid implications, but
presses on to do what’s right anyway, showcasing noticeable maturity fitting
for the final adventure of this show.
Via a sudden appearance of one of
the original keepers of the music box, Valeriana, the human girls absorb the
power of the box’s stones needed to face The Core.
It’s an exciting occurrence for Sasha and
Marcy for sure since they never experienced these powers at all before, but
Anne can quickly pick up a difference.These powers are much stronger than usual, and even give her and her
friends updated outfits, hair styles, and even weapons.
Their new forms established, they all take to
the void of space to face The Core with the stage set for an exciting
climax.Backed by a rocking guitar piece
in the background and the pace being appropriately fast and lively, the three
girls put up a strong fight in incredible style.Each of their powers adds a special
individual flair by connecting to their special interests.
Anne fights The Core with giant glowing
tennis equipment; Sasha uses her talents as a cheerleader which she’s claimed
in the past to be where she gets her fight moves from; and Marcy, so happy to
live her dream of experiencing fantasy powers and fighting alongside her
friends, adds to the battle with huge glowing tools from her RPG games, in this
case a multi-sided die.It’s a battle
built on grand staging, pure imagination, and personal touches.
However, it’s not just these three girls who
stand out in this climax.The now
defeated and humbled King Andrias really surprises by sending his robots up to
the fight.
Given his usual nature, it
would be fitting to believe he’s trying to stop the girls at the pleas of The
Core who he had been taking orders from for so long.
Instead, the robots are sent up to help the
girls in the fight, and Andrias doesn’t let The Core control him for once; as
he puts it, he’s finally standing up to them.Not only does it show that his prior growth as a character was indeed
genuine, but it makes for an interesting parallel to Anne which becomes clearer
shortly afterwards.
After Anne and her friends put up a
strong fight, Sasha and Marcy notice their powers starting to fade, but Anne
can figure out what needs to be done.She tells her friends that the way to defeat The Core now is for Sasha
and Marcy to transfer their powers to her so she can face it with one huge
blast.When they hear that she might not
make it in the process, Sasha and Marcy are absolutely shocked and don’t want
this happen.However, Anne points out
that it’s her choice to do this and is following it on her own accord after
only following their lead for so long.With this declaration and understanding of how much Anne has grown, Sasha
and Marcy go along with Anne’s plan, albeit clearly devastated about the morbid
possibility.
They’re not the only ones affected
by what Anne sets out to do as word of this soon gets to Sprig, Anne’s
strongest connection in Amphibia.Extremely dismayed by Anne’s choice, Sprig uses Frobo to fly up to her
to get a word in about Anne’s decision.
He tearfully begs her not to risk her life like this, but unfortunately
Anne’s mind is made up, though she still has the heart to let her friend know
how much he means to her.
With that, she
uses the huge display of power, and that ultimately does the trick in
destroying The Core as well as the moon.Regretfully, just as warned, it proves to be too much for Anne,
and it’s clear how painful its effects are for her body.
By the time the enemies are fully destroyed
and the world is saved, Anne is left completely greyed, battered, and depleted
of all energy.Then, as a heavy hitting
end to such an awesome show of action, many of Anne’s loved ones tearfully
watch over her state, knowing what this means.
Anne, however, is at full peace with herself and pleased with the
sacrifice she made to save everyone, and then, she leaves the living by
disintegrating into mystical leaves.This morbid event being built out of a big choice to lay down one’s life
for an entirely different world she’s come to care for is a heroic moment in
every sense of the world.It would also be
a tragic one just for going this far, and while the emotions still hit hard,
what happens after this is a far more fitting payoff to Anne’s character
journey.
She suddenly wakes up in what can
be best described as an imaginative take on purgatory with floating terrains in
space and a little house.
Inside the
house is a unique means of communicating with her in the form of an old school
computer, using what it types to communicate with her.
However, at Anne’s request, the computer
takes a new form of something more fitting to her interests, her cat Domino.This entity is the guardian of the Calamity
Box’s stones, and for a deity, they seem very casual when interacting with
Anne.They first explain that the reason
she’s here is that they made an exact copy of her just before she expired from
using the stones’ power.It’s noticeable
that Anne’s body is a copy, mainly from the fact that her missing shoe is now
on the other foot, but there’s a disturbing possibility that her soul was
copied too.Since nothing is definitive
about the latter, this reviewer prefers to believe that just the body was
copied, at least for the sake of comfort.Either way, she’s still basically the same Anne with the same thoughts,
feelings, and growth, and the audience is given the guardian’s word on that.
Anyway, the guardian further explains that they
have been watching over the living to see how they’d handle the stones’ power.Apparently, no one has used the power for
good until Anne showed up, and for that, she’s earned the right to take their
place as guardian.Luckily, so not to
put any stressful chosen one-like pressure on her, Anne is wisely given the
choice for this position instead of being forced into it.In an interesting turn of events, Anne
promptly turns the offer down, giving a very passionate speech about the truth
of character growth.While she
acknowledges that she did a brave selfless thing in defeating The Core, she’s
also aware of her own flaws and how she’s still humanly capable of making
mistakes.However, she also acknowledges
that from her experiences, the friends and places that started out flawed whom
she thought would stay the same changed for the better.The fact is that everyone is always changing
and the more they do, the better they can become, and that’s a very impactful
philosophy fitting for this show and real life.So while Anne may not be eligible to be the new guardian of the stones
now, it’s possible she’ll change enough to take on the role at a later time.
For now, the guardian being enlightened by
Anne’s words grants her the right to go back to the world of the living, eager
to see how much she’ll change a long time from now.
This move is met with a grand reunion and
happiness from Anne’s friends and found family seeing her alive, a fitting
counteract to the sadness of her sacrifice.
Anne was also sent back with the
remaining shards of the box’s stones said to mark a new beginning, which has a heavy-hitting meaning.
Upon investigation, it turns out
that the shards only have enough power for a one-way trip back to Earth,
meaning there’s no going back to this frog world.In spite of what this will mean for the ties
to the amphibians Anne and her friends have grown to love, everyone
agrees it’s best the girls use them.After all, they have lives to return to on Earth and problems to face
head-on after they’ve grown so much.Plus, the music box they used to contact this other world has been said
to be dangerous several times and that’s been further proven with what its
powers did to Anne.Basically, having
Anne, Sasha, and Marcy leave Amphibia is really a decision for the best, but
that doesn’t make it any easier to do; clearly saying goodbye is the titular
hardest thing.
This is made even clearer
by the sheer emotions that come with each of the girls parting ways with their
respective amphibian companions.
Marcy
gets an endearing sendoff from her two most trustworthy comrades of Newtopia,
Olivia and Yunan, and they all declare they can learn a lot from each
other.It also brings solid closure to
the noteworthy closeness of the two newt officials.
Sasha and Grime have a very interesting way
of parting ways starting off on serious military mannerisms...
...and then breaking
down into blubbering tears.It’s a very
interesting way of showing how they both hold onto their tough authoritative
ways, but are now open to their softer sides, demonstrating very welcome character
growth.
Of course, the most focus is
given to Anne parting ways with the Plantars which also has the strongest
emotional beats of all the groups.
Polly
and Hop Pop get very endearing last heart-to-heart moments with Anne where they
both discuss how grateful they were to have her in their lives.
Sprig, however, goes above and beyond in
showing how important Anne has been to him.Expressing his sadness of letting his friend go through tears and a big
embrace, it’s easy to tell how he has it the hardest of them all.Still, it’s clear that the memories of how
important he and Anne were to each other will always remain.
Then as one last big show of emotion, all of
Amphibia sees Anne and her friends off with gratitude and good wishes all while
a moving piece of orchestral music plays.That’s not even all as it’s followed by another embrace between Anne and
Sprig more smoothly animated than before.Finally, the girls leave through the portal while the calamity box
crumbles to pieces, officially ending its power and marking the end of an
era.At the same time, a new beginning
comes out of this grand scene of closure.
The final scenes explore where the
characters end up some time after all these events, and they’re all as
satisfying as one may hope.There are
two flash forwards to showcase these changes, both involving different sets of
characters.For the residents of
Amphibia, there’s a look at what their lives are like after several
months.Frogs, newts, and toads are now
working together in harmony with the land ruled by a council made up of
delegates from each of the three classes.
Andrias now spends the rest of his days fixing the damage his reign
caused, and nothing more.He also seems
to let his aging catch up with him, no longer using cyborg equipment to prolong
his life, proving him humbled and willingly changed and redeemed.
It’s also pleasing to see Wartwood in a more
pleasing state, especially with how much the Plantars’ reputation and lives
have improved.
Polly has finally grown
up into a full-fledged frog and has built a strong social rapport with the
town; Hop Pop has found much more success as a farmer, putting his newfound love for avocados to good use, though there’s a big question as to how this is
so since he threw the one avocado he had to a preying mantis;
...and Sprig keeps up his memories of Anne by adopting
her adventurous spirit by exploring uncharted areas of Amphibia.It certainly helps that Anne left him her
prized phone to help record his findings.
Speaking of Anne, while she’s no longer part of the community, her
legacy certainly lives on for everyone as the flashback ends with everyone
gathered to honor a statue of her.
There’s also a flash forward of Anne
herself as well as Sasha and Marcy, covering a bigger distance of 10 years into
the future.It showcases interesting
outcomes of how much they’ve grown as a result of their adventure in
Amphibia.
First of all, Marcy ultimately
did move out of state as planned, but her meeting up with Sasha is indicative
enough that the friends still kept up their ties despite distance and time.Speaking of distance, what ultimately became
of Anne and Sasha as friends has a surprisingly realistic quality.A conversation reveals that they were both
very close for a while, but once they started high school, they ended up
bonding with different friend groups who fit them better.Even though they were no longer as close as
they were before, they did still talk and see each other as friends.The three girls have also found solid paths
that apply to what they’re passionate about, bringing the promise of healthy lives
for them all.Marcy has put her interests
in fantasy adventures to good use by creating her own web comic that’s gotten a
lot of hits, including from her friends; Sasha has managed her stress well and got to
the point where she’s started a good career as a child psychologist; and Anne
is shown to have the most rewarding career of them all.
Working as a herpetologist at a favorite
place of hers, the local aquarium, she’s created a frog-based exhibit inspired
by her time in Amphibia.This is a very
fitting outcome that has her stick with her own virtues and passions instead of
following the lead of others.Her
maturity has also reached its peak here as she’s shown to have adopted a whole
new philosophy on change.Changing can
involve doing things that can be really hard and not very pleasing, but it’s
still a natural part of growing up for the better. Anne has
certainly come to take that to heart in having to let her frog family she’s
grown so attached to go.
Still, in the
emotional break from them, she and her friends have successfully changed for
the better.Not only that, but the last
scene of Sasha and Marcy meeting up with Anne for a get-together after work
shows that even when you let things go, they can always come back.This way, while there are a lot of somber
emotions that come from making difficult changes, happiness can
still be maintained and loved ones can be reunited.It’s great to know everyone’s in a good place
despite separated, but with all of this said, maybe there is hope that they can
see each other again someday.
It takes a lot of love and care to
end a great series and pay everything it’s built for itself off in a satisfying
way, and this finale certainly shows that love and care.The main theme of the show comes full circle to
very grand effect with an exciting climax, all sorts of emotions on display,
and a satisfying closure for the characters wraps everything up nicely.There are some sad sacrifices to dynamics out of this, but the maturity,
hope, and clear honesty to the reasons behind the direction even make all story decisions and directions work.Thanks to the
clear efforts of the crew, not only is this finale a grand sendoff, but it also
helps this entire series leave its mark.
A++
Series Ranking
1.True
Colors
2.The Hardest Thing
3.All
In
4.Hopping
Mall
5.Reunion
6.Marcy at the Gates
7.The
Core and the King
8.The
Beginning of the End
9.Anne-sterminator
10.Olivia
and Yunan
11.Toad Tax
12.The First Temple
13.Froggy Little Christmas
14.Turning Point
15.Battle of the Bands
16.Barrel’s
Warhammer
17.Escape
to Amphibia
18.Anne vs Wild
19.The Domino Effect
20.The Third Temple
21.Toadcatcher
22.Prison Break
23.The Second Temple
24.Temple Frogs
25.A Day at the Aquarium
26.Mr. X
27.Anne of the Year
28.Contagi-Anne
29.The
Shut-In
30.Best Fronds
31.After
the Rain
32.Family Shrub
33.Fixing
Frobo
34.If You Give a Frog a Cookie
35.Commander Anne
36.The New Normal
37.The Dinner
38.Hop-Popular
39.Anne Hunter
40.Fight or Flight
41.Wally and Anne
42.Children of the Spore
43.Fight at the Museum
44.Friend
or Frobo
45.The Root of Evil
46.Grime’s Pupil
47.Sprig’s
Birthday
48.A Night at the Inn
49.Bessie
and MicroAngelo
50.Handy Anne
51.Scavenger Hunt
52.Lily Pad Thai
53.Dating Season
54.Anne or Beast?
55.Combat Camp
56.Little Frogtown
57.Cursed!
58.Thai
Feud
59.Newts
in Tights
60.The
Three Armies
61.Snow Day
62.Civil Wart
63.Maddie and Marcy
64.Stakeout
65.Croak and Punishment
66.Taking Charge
67.Flood, Sweat, and Tears
68.Bizarre Bazaar
69.The Plantars Check In
70.The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers
71.Wax Museum
72.Return
to Wartwood
73.Sprig Gets Schooled
74.Swamp and Sensibility
75.Trip to the Archives
76.Sasha’s Angels
77.Toad
to Redemption
78.Anne Theft Auto
79.Adventures in Catsitting
80.Hop Luck
81.New
Wartwood
82.Ivy on the Run
83.Night
Drivers
84.Quarreler’s
Pass
85.Hop Pop and Lock
86.Plantar’s Last Stand
87.Fort in the Road
88.A Caravan Named Desire
89.The Big Bugball Game
90.Fiddle Me This
91.Hollywood Hop Pop
92.Truck Stop Polly
93.Family Fishing Trip
94.Mother of Olms
95.Olm Town Road
96.Hop ‘Til You Drop
97.Spider-Sprig
98.The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar
99.Girl Time
100.Breakout Star
101.Grubhog Day
102.Cane Crazy
103.Sprivy
104.Lost in Newtopia
105.Sprig vs Hop Pop
106.Cracking Mrs. Croaker
Final Thoughts
When reaching the end of an
animated series, there’s always an inevitable sense of bittersweet knowing that
your time with it is over.Still, if all ends well, there’s happiness in knowing that it will stand
as something truly great and memorable and always worth revisiting.With Amphibia,
this show has proven to be very well-crafted on all its levels, and its strengths are
clear to see in this final season.Much
of it offers some of the grandest and most engaging moments of the series,
showcasing the passion put into it, although there is a bit of a catch to all
the grandeur.
Structurally, different parts of
this season cover different main topics that have a solid flow when put
together.The subjects vary
throughout, but they keep a good focus on what they set out to accomplish, and
do well at transitioning into each other.The first part of the season directly follows the end of Season 2 which
featured Anne finally fulfilling her main goal of getting back to her home on
Earth.With this finally accomplished,
the topic of the early part of this season is getting to know Anne’s home while
trying to get back to Amphibia to stop the big threat in the process.
One of the strongest elements of this part of
the season are the many new characters introduced throughout, each one very
memorable in their own right.Some of
them have a direct connection to helping the protagonists achieve their goal.Dr. Jan is an excitable museum curator
passionate about knowledge while also sympathetic and helpful towards Anne who
is understandably hesitant to trust others.Another helpful figure in returning to Amphibia is a scientist named
Terri, who starts off working for a vain and demented scientist but grows to do
what’s right.
However, a truly memorable
personality comes from an antagonistic force, Mr. X, an FBI agent bent on
tracking down any suspicious extraterrestrial activity.His flamboyant ways and mannerisms and
abilities to do everything really make him stand out as a character and pose as
a legit challenge to Anne and the others.In his pursuit, his role makes Anne’s development truly shine bright as
she embraces her abilities after he makes her question her worth, leading to a notable turning point.If that’s not
enough, Mr. X himself even gets development of his own when he ultimately
becomes an ally to Anne near the season’s end, putting his talents and charisma
to good use.
These are well defined
personalities that serve the plot, but even those with a notably weaker
tie to the main plot have great memorability to them.What they lack in plot relevance make up for
in special connections they have to each of the Plantars and their own arcs
while they’re living on Earth with Anne.Sprig gets a likable dose of hero worship as well as constructive
criticism from a girl named Molly Jo, though admittedly, she still doesn’t
stand out much in the grand scheme.Hop
Pop’s development is a bit more substantial where his long established desire
to be an actor makes some progress through an old human who looks like him
named Humphrey.It’s honestly remarkable
how he has big actor dreams, but is also capable of being a good sport when Hop
Pop gets the goal he’s after.This
attitude even pays off well when not only does Humphrey get the part he was
after, but is also truly integral to a more plot-relevant stunt.However, the Plantar with the most relevant
Earth connection is Polly, who bonds with two figures that connect well with
something close to her.When trying to
fix her robot friend Frobo, she discovers the IT Gals, Ally and Jess, a
charming couple with shared special in robotics.Like most of the other new characters, they’re
both fun personalities that liven up all their scenes, and have great chemistry
with themselves and others too.It’s
also nice to see how much they value safety as much as their special interests
as evident when Polly rushes the advice they give her in fixing Frobo.Still, their advice leads to productive development
as Polly later gives Frobo smaller but still noticeable repairs, and by the
season’s end, rebuilds him to former glory with a new design.He even has relevance in the finale arc, and
it’s good to know that a notable benefit to the protagonists’ cause come from a
pair of likable characters.
Out of all the new characters introduced
in this section of Season 3, the most notable and relevant ones are easily
Anne’s parents, the Boonchuys.One thing
that’s just as great for a story to have as an endearing and likable lead is a
strong support group.A particularly
strong point in such a group’s favor would be including said character’s
parents who are typically absent in the main action.The drive behind Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy is how
they go about getting Anne back after she had disappeared to another world for
several months which allows their support to grow.At first, they’re very protective and vigilant of everything Anne and the Plantars do, and it’s incredibly
understandable to see why.Such behavior
is perfectly in line after their child was away for so long.No matter how strict and overbearing the
Boonchuys appear to be, it’s near impossible to blame them.The extent of how worried they were for Anne
is even shown as details in various parts of the season like the community of
the local Thai temple providing for them; and Mrs. Boonchuy having a work out room to relieve stress over the worry of her daughter going missing.
The best part of all this is that Anne
herself at this point has clearly matured enough to see her parents’ point of
view instead of giving into her own frustrations.It’s this understanding that really allows
the Boonchuys as a family unit to really grow closer and in many ways stronger
as time goes on.By understanding where
her parents are coming from, Anne manages to show them how much she’s changed
from how reckless and irresponsible she used to be before disappearing.This earns her the right for her and the
Plantars to get some liberties after quite some time of lockdown, and
ultimately, she proves to be responsible and has things under control.
The only problems are the remnants of the dark
events going on in Amphibia have followed Anne back to Earth, and these are
things Anne opts to keep secret from her parents.While things like robots coming after her,
becoming an enemy of the king of Amphibia, and her glowing blue powers are kept
secret at first, complexities soon arise.While it would be easier to just be upfront
and honest, Anne’s actions are easy to understand since all of this seems too
big and strange for her parents to handle.Basically, she has her reasons for this drawback that have plenty of
legitimacy to them.Since they are still
drawbacks, it isn’t long before the secret becomes near impossible to hide, and
it happens just as Anne herself begins feeling guilty about doing so.An exciting car chase where a large number of
truths are revealed ultimately open Anne’s parents up to everything she’s been
hiding.The confrontations are tense,
but in the end, as Anne further explains her reasons for the secrets, they ultimately
understand.In fact, these circumstances
actually bring the entire Boonchuy family closer.They all play a role in taking down the robot
chasing them, and that’s not all.Anne’s parents prove to be highly capable and creatively cunning in
keeping Mr. X from capturing the Plantars, and are principle players in
building the portal back to Amphibia.
With this in mind, there’s also something to be said of how supportive
they are to Anne’s ties to the alternate world she was sent to.Anne may have always been keen to get back to
her old life, but her time in Amphibia has given many attachments to those who
live there, especially the Plantars.So,
when they’re sent back to Earth with her without their own way home, they need
all the help they can get in operating in this world that’s so strange to them.Fortunately for them, while their presence is
a very strange occurrence for them, the Boonchuys are still open to let them
into their home and provide for them.In
addition to their support, guidance, and protection in this new world, there’s
also good heart found in Anne’s two families coming together.It especially gives weight to more
antic-driven adventures through Sprig trying to be accepted as family by Mrs. Boonchuy; and all the Plantars seeing that they’re honored by Anne’s parents by
letting her in and taking care of her for so many months, quelling any fear of
them being freeloaders.Also,
considering all the Boonchuys do to protect the Plantars, the heartfelt aspect
of the two families together actually pays off in the end.At one point during the final battle, the
Plantars end up returning the favor to Anne’s parents by protecting them from
harm, all while standing up to creatures they fear the most.
There certainly are a lot of things to admire
about Anne’ parents, and it’s also rewarding how they help Anne get closer to
them.By the time this season is halfway
through, it really feels like the Boonchuys have grown a lot as a family unit.In addition to plot-related moments, just
simple down-to-Earth moments between Anne and her family are endearing enough
to show how close they’ve become.From
Anne getting meaningful life advice; to her setting out to give her parents the perfect Christmas gift after all they’ve done to her; to them playing around in a store; the heart speaks for itself.
The heart is at its strongest when it comes time for Anne to leave her parents behind again to save her Amphibia.However, by that point, they too have grown a lot to trust that Anne can
pull off what she’s set out to do and help her overcome any self-confidence
issues she has.Even then, while they
don’t join her in returning to this other world, they still find ways to help
Anne out as shown in the finale when they get Mr. X on their side.In all, through entertainment, heart, and
notable parental support, the Boonchuys make for some of the most compelling
animated parents one can find.
While it’s clear that there’s a lot
to admire about the use of characters in this part of Season 3, the storytelling,
to say the least, is a different story.In general, it’s very good with how main events build off each other and
lead into a notable shift in focus by the season’s midpoint.As well-constructed as the events are though,
there are some notable drawbacks when looking at the story’s execution.When first going into this new season, audiences
are likely to be very shaken by the major striking events of the end of the
previous one.To recap, Season 2 left
audiences with the rise of a huge antagonist, the titular world in jeopardy,
tensions between friends, and a possible death of one of those friends.These are all things that can easily leave a
major emotional toll on those who bore witness; in this case it’s Anne.
However, once Anne is back in her world of
origin, she appears mostly unfazed by the recent drama.That’s not to say she doesn’t care about it;
it’s her entire drive to fix everything for the season.The problem is that she seems to operate
completely normally and too in control of herself; it’s just not too believable
after what unfolded at the end of Season 2.This in turn makes for inconsistencies with tone throughout this part of
Season 3.The audience goes in expecting
a lot of emotional drama to follow where they left off, but a lot of the time,
things seem a little too light-hearted.In addition to Anne seeming a little too calm and collected following
what she saw, there are also a share of cartoons that follow the usual
antic-driven formula.Normally that
would be fine, but given the circumstances, escapades like havoc at the mall;
the Plantars flimsily hiding their identities while taking Anne’s cat to the vet;Sprig being a superhero; and Hop Pop’s attempts at being an actor don’t
feel like very welcome additions.
That’s
not to say that there is no focus on the drama.As previously mentioned, the events at the end of last season are Anne’s
entire drive.There are notable effects
of that with her spending sleepless nights researching for solutions, and her
keeping secrets from her parents about her experiences.Whenever things like this as well as other
drama of how Anne’s absence affected her parents come up, that’s when this season
becomes especially engaging.In fact,
some of the light-hearted adventures have something bigger to them to make them
a bit more engaging than usual such as the mall antics relating to how Anne and
the Plantars are always looking out for each other; and the catsitting escapade
culminating with how grateful Anne’s parents are for the Plantars looking after
her.
These emotional elements may get good focus, but there is one past
experience whose neglect make the season’s tonal inconsistencies particularly
notable.It all relates to Anne’s ties
with her friends Sasha and Marcy.At the
end of the previous season, Anne was left with a lot of anguish and unease from
them.Both of them majorly betrayed her,
and just as she was understanding their actions, not only were separated again,
but she witnessed a very violent blow towards one of them.Considering that Anne’s relationship with her
human friends is a big narrative drive, one would think that they would be a
big factor on her mind.However, aside
from a few little moments, Anne hardly mentions her friends throughout her time
on Earth.They just feel like a minor
footnote in her plans and frame of mind in the grand scheme.Even more disappointingly is that there’s
never a display of any plausible trauma from what she experienced from them,
especially Marcy.Last time Anne saw
her, she was literally backstabbed as far as she can tell; how is that not
something to freak out over?A few hints
show Anne insisting that Marcy is alive, like she’s refusing to believe the
worst, but there’s no exploration of the full extent of her feelings on the
matter.Surely, she seems like she’s
keeping it together regarding her friends on the surface but is actually very
terrified on the inside, but it’s never made clear like it should be.
If that’s not enough, the world around Anne
never seems to make a big deal of what’s become of Sasha and Marcy.A couple times, people see Anne and make a
big deal about how she went missing for months, but don’t they know that Sasha
and Marcy also went missing at the time?If Anne came back, why wouldn’t anyone be questioning that Sasha and
Marcy aren’t with her?At the time, some
might think that since Sasha and Marcy took charge of everything the group did
and are more reckless, they’re more of social pariahs than Anne.That’s the best reason why no one questions
about them, but even that has marks against it.For one thing, Marcy is a student prodigy, and despite finding the music
box that started everything, she never really did anything bad; and being in
the zone isn’t that harmful to others.Sasha was the more disobedient and somewhat destructive type, but a few
points show she was no pariah either.One notable example is her being happily greeted by Mrs. Boonchuy when
the group of protagonists meet up with Anne’s parents and Mr. X in the final
battle on Earth.Even a flashback to the
day before Anne’s birthday shows that for all the pranks the trio pulled, Sasha
and Marcy had a lot of admirable talents in the eyes of the school principal.In this regard, there are
lots of reasons why people would be as concerned about Sasha and Marcy as they
were about Anne, but they never are, and it feels wrong.
The only figures who would definitely be
worried about them are their parents, and Anne is seen writing to them at one point, but even that’s never followed up on.It’s a missed opportunity to not even show them given the magnitude of
the underlying situation.Now, it should
be noted that the reason Sasha and Marcy’s parents were never shown is because
the season was overstuffed and there wasn’t enough room for these details.Plus, it was believed that Sasha and Marcy’s
parents were not as integral to their arcs as Anne’s parents.Even so, it feels like one of the
light-hearted escapades could have been swapped out in favor of getting to know
their parents.Maybe things like Sprig being
a superhero or Hop Pop’s acting career could have been left on the sidelines in
favor of the potential character development.
Now, a lot of the heavy elements like Anne’s inner turmoil about the
situation and Sasha and Marcy’s parents have been documented in a tie-in book
called “Marcy’s Journal.”While the book
itself is very good for fans, it doesn’t feel right that they have to purchase
it in order to get these extra details; what if they can’t afford it; what if
they’re not interested in reading books? If the
matter was brought up onscreen, it should be shown onscreen.It’s even more baffling when Sasha and Marcy
themselves get single starring roles back in Amphibia that also show hints of
what’s to come; and they’re both season high points.Sasha comes to realize the fault in her old
ways, and officially sides with the town of Wartwood to really start changing
for the better by defending them from Andrias’ army; and Marcy is rescued by
two of Andrias’ advisors ready to take him down, only for her to end up
possessed to be a vessel for a being called The Core.One would think that if they get such
standout performances in Amphibia, they would definitely be a priority on
Earth, but obviously, that’s not the case.All of this shows that the storytelling for the first half of Season 3
is not perfect, but in spite of these gripes, it’s still good overall.Things like the heart, basic structure of the
sequence of events, and of course the work with the characters are enough to
keep it engaging.
While the tone of this season isn’t
that great in following up on the end of the previous one, it is used well in
transitioning from the first half to the second half.The middle of the season serves as an
effective bookend to the time on Earth as Anne and the Plantars return to Amphibia.All the characters
they met during this time all come together to see them off in their own portal
to that other world in endearing and exciting style.The action to save the Plantars from Mr. X;
Anne overcoming her anxieties over pulling everything off; and the trust and
reassurance from her parents make this moment feel very noteworthy as the end
of one part of the season and the start of another.
Once Anne and the Plantars reach their destination, a new setup to
follow for a long stretch of time unfolds.They discover that Sasha has set up a resistance against King Andrias in
a secret area of the Plantar home.From
there, the focus is on this interesting concept with its interesting
post-apocalyptic setup; the huge cast of characters together; engaging growth for
the main characters; and giving attention to former one-off characters,
revealing the importance of what didn’t seem relevant in the past.While the resistance direction is fitting for
this part of the season and does a lot of interesting things, it does have a
few issues with its execution.The most
notable one being how much of it feels like padding in the grand scheme.There’s some sort of formula to the different
parts of the resistance arc of characters going around getting the one-off
characters on their side.It’s great to
see the likes of Barry the candy man,Apothecary Gary, and Tritonio again and
know there was a point to them, but it’s not enough to feel the drabness of
their recruitments.With a big looming
threat, the audience would want to get going with the action as soon as
possible. By focusing on these adventures that are mundane by comparison, the
wait for the big things to happen can get a tad frustrating.
Some of them even make big plots out of incredibly
minor things; Sprig and Ivy’s relationship proves to be poorly executed mostly
through how it’s rarely acknowledged throughout the main show and then suddenly
it’s the center of a cartoon; or how many side characters get a time to shine
in taking on barbarians, but what they do doesn’t have a huge impact on the
story at all.Even major plot-related
adventures feel like a drag like the small arc of seeking out wisdom from the
mother of olms.It takes two whole cartoons to get to her important message and it feels like it didn’t have to go on
for so long.It starts with an escapade with a pair of olm siblings who first appeared in Season 2 and having to deal
with a very stubborn community who punished them for one mistake.By the time it’s resolved and the group can
see Mother Olm, this cartoon is over and they have to move onto another
one.The past adventure feels mostly
pointless overall, but even the following one keeps dragging along.Mother Olm has trouble remembering an
important message, so there’s a major gross-out adventure into her head to help
her remember it.Not only that, but
there’s a lot of talk about Hop Pop feeling self-conscious about his old age,
something that was never a big deal to him in the past, further bring a
dragging feel. Fortunately, a point to all this is made when they finally do
get the message exploring the nature of the Calamity Box stones, so it wasn’t
all for nothing.
Plus, there are still
notable things to be gained throughout this resistance arc.There’s meaning to the many different classes
of amphibians of frogs, toads, and newts, coming together for a common cause
and symbolizing an era of peace.Every
part of this arc focusing on that feels like a major culmination throughout the
show and brings a satisfying feel when it reaches a true turning point by
season’s end.Sasha continues to prove
to be a character changed for the better by putting in the effort to be a
humbled and more considerate leader, trying not to give into a lust for
control.Thanks to Anne’s guidance,
she’s able to stay strong as leader but also hold onto the best parts of her
old self.The most engaging part of the
arc though is actually a break in the resistance with a flashback to the
younger days of King Andrias.It’s an
effective emotional tale of how he had great friends, but drifted apart from
them when he became king because of the influence of his father.This would in turn bring about the divide
between amphibians and be the center of Andrias’ dark actions in present
day.Unlike most of the resistance arc,
this is the kind of engaging story to serve as build up to the real grand
events to make the end of the season and series especially satisfying.Speaking of which, the actual finale arc is a
topic all to itself.
Most of Season 3 feels like it was trying
hard to find ways to bridge the gap between the next big events, explaining the
less engaging stories.However, it’s the
big events that really show off the crew’s storytelling talents, like they’re
the parts of the season they really wanted to get to.This especially shows in everything that
makes up the finale, a fitting culmination for every long part of the
preparation process of the resistance in the making.With all classes of amphibians together, they
all finally set out to take on the common enemy.Through the sheer size of the force, there’s
a huge telling sign of how exciting things will be from here.
In addition to the solid action from the
resistance itself, there’s also something to be said about many heartfelt
elements at the center.Anne and Sasha
contemplate how their and Marcy’s friend dynamic can still be saved after
everything considering how Marcy put them in their situation to begin
with.Agreeing to be understanding of
Marcy makes for a compelling motivation to get to her and save her from her
dark state of affairs that sideline her for most of the season.The finale only intensifies when the dark
forces capture the main heroes and most of the resistance is left behind, which
by the way also makes the drag of the resistance arc sting more.
What doesn’t sting is how the finale goes
from here as it makes its way to Earth for the final battle.Among even more characters joining the fight
and bigger action pieces is a common theme of learning to make hard decisions
to do what’s right.Sprig needs to
contemplate letting Anne go; the entire Plantar family faces their biggest fear
of giant herons to save Anne’s parents; Sasha faces memories of her old self to
realize she’s changed; Marcy learns she can’t force her friends to do what she
wants and has to accept moving away from them; and Anne begins following her
own choices and seeing her own virtues which is in turn passed onto Andrias
who’s eventually moved to just let himself be defeated.All of this thematic character culmination
feels very in line with the direction of the series, and is executed in an
engaging way.
It even holds true into
the real end of the series when there’s one more threat to face with The Core
taking control of the moon and sending it towards Amphibia.In the midst of a big action highlight where
Anne, Sasha, and Marcy come together as friends and absorb all the power of the
calamity stones to stop it, there’s a huge culmination for Anne.Continuing to value herself and follow her
own decisions, she takes on all of the power to stop The Core and save
everyone, the big point being that she willingly sacrifices herself.It’s a hard choice, but indeed the right one
for the greater good, and all from Anne’s care for those around her.In addition, this care ultimately rewards her
with the chance to live again (unless more than her body was copied) and even
passes on sage advice to an actual god.These moments really allow the arc of the main protagonist to come full
circle in a meaningful way.
Then, for
one last show of emotion, circumstances lead everyone to realize that the
stones have enough power for one last trip.This means that the human girls’ time with the citizens of Amphibia is
officially over, and they all have to let go.Along with Anne’s role in the final battle, this is another huge showing
of the theme of doing the hardest thing for the right reasons.While there is a lot of emotion from the
separation of worlds, it’s a decision that fits what the show set out to do
perfectly, right down to showing how better everyone is after the fact.Parts of Season 3 are far more interesting
than others, but with all the passion, emotion, and creativity put into the
finale arc, it’s clear that the big finish is the most interesting.
For all its tonal imbalances and
padding, the final season of Amphibia
is still very strong overall.Even at
its less interesting parts, there’s something meaningful to take from it.Not to mention, when it does hit a high
point, not only is the season at its most engaging, but those works stand as
some of the best of the series.With an
exceptionally-crafted finale arc to go with it, everything is brought to not
only bring everything in this season together, but serve as a strong sendoff to
the whole show.In all, it leaves the
audience impressed with just how engaging a talking frog show (or really any
show that sounds weird on paper) can really be.
Highly Recommended
And that brings us to the end of
another series.It really goes to show
that even ideas that don’t seem like they’d have much to offer can leave a big
impact.A show about the funny escapades
of a girl in a frog world has truly evolved into something exciting and
thought-provoking.This is where the
blog parts ways with it, but for those who have read the “Marcy’s Journal”
tie-in book, maybe someday there will be more to explore with this show.For now, it’s good to know that Amphibia exists for what it is; a
timeless work of animation showing true appeal in the most unlikely of places.
Keep checking out this blog for more reviews of DuckTales and Ed Edd n Eddy (whenever I can get to them these days), and as always:
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