Amphibia Season 2 Thoughts/Review

Amphibia Season 2 Thoughts/Review

The second season of Amphibia had a hefty task to undergo. It had to massively expand the world, introduce Marcy, sneakily weave in hints to her truth that would be revealed in True Colors, set up the toad rebellion with Sasha away from Anne, hint at the full story of Andrias and the core, introduce much deeper lore, and completely shatter the status quo by the end. And yet it managed to pull it all off. It felt like everything came together this season.

The biggest change from season 1 to season 2 is just how serialized the series became. Season one was very episodic for the most part with story, plot, and lore progression sprinkled throughout but never the main focal point with Reunion serving as a turning point in the series in this regard. 

The season doesn’t completely pivot away from the structure of the first season. It still contains episodes that have the adventure of the week nature of the first but even in those episodes it keeps sight of its end goal and keeps the plot moving forward for the most part or at the very least doesn’t distract from the plot. 

This is best shown in episodes that may seem like what some people would consider “filler” episodes on paper when just hearing the synopsis but in reality are some of the most important or emotional episodes of the series such as Hopping Mall or Battle of the Bands. 

Battle of the Bands in particular is incredibly integral to the plot and character development in the series. This may be one of the most important episodes for Sasha’s character arc.

Battle of the Bands sets up Sasha’s capacity for genuine change, not just doubt in her own actions. We see how much she cares about this friendship and that she is capable of giving up control and making the right choice for them.

Without this episode Sasha’s change of heart and redemption later in the series wouldn’t work. And it all occurs in an episode where a toad warrior wins a music competition by playing a 3 hour harp solo.

This integration of development into most of the episodes makes it so that the season constantly feels like it is headed somewhere with all the hints towards this destination weaved in organically throughout. This serialization allows for so many character arcs to be built up within the season and leads me to my next point. 

This season is the one that juggles the screen time of all three of the calamity trio best.

Every girl gets the screen time necessary to hit all the points they need to complete their individual arcs this season. Marcy becomes part of the main cast for a large chunk of season 2 and, while Sasha doesn’t appear much, she is given solo episodes from her perspective that show her struggles and journey after the fallout of Reunion. 

Their arcs as individuals and as friends play into the themes of the show perfectly. This show is centered around change and growth and so much of this season is challenging the way people fight against change. 

Sasha and Marcy’s attempts to fight change are precisely why everything came crashing down in the finale. Sasha was desperate to regain control and force things back to the way they were and Marcy wanted to escape reality so that things wouldn’t have to change between the trio. Both of these come back to bite them.

In Sasha’s bid for control she shatters whatever trust she had built with Anne and due to this can’t get Anne to listen to her when she tries to reveal the truth about Andrias. This directly leads to their second fight, her capture, and Anne handing Andrias the box. 

Marcy’s desire to keep the trio from growing apart leads to her deceiving Anne and Sasha and bringing the box right to Andrias. This gives him the ability to regain his former “glory” and causes her fantasy to come crashing down in the worst way possible.

This season emphasizes that the trio is fascinating and complicated and tragic all at once. They do care about each other. So many of their actions this season and in True Colors alone prove that they do but their individual flaws and Sasha and Marcy’s reluctance to accept change clouds it, leading to terrible mistakes and betrayals that can’t be taken back.

This complexity wouldn’t be displayed nearly as well if we didn’t get to spend time with the trio before everything falls apart. The three episodes leading up to True Colors that explore their dynamic are vital to getting their care for each other, the tragedy of their friendship, and the hope for Sasha and Marcy to get redemption across. 

A lot hinges on the trio’s friendship because their actions and dysfunctional relationship is what drives things and forces change in the story and world so if you aren’t invested in the trio (both as individuals and as a friend group) many of the big moments in the series wouldn’t work.

I also want to once again give props to how the show uses the opening to allude to future plot points about the trio.

Marcy’s reveal is hinted at in the moment that replaces the photo in the rain. Sasha and Anne are fighting while Marcy looms over them facing away and holding the music box. The ominous lightning strikes once again which hints at Marcy’s truth that Sasha and Anne are unaware of and that all three of them have conflicting end goals for their journey in Amphibia this season.

Marcy looms over Anne and Sasha. Her presence is felt throughout Anne and Sasha’s personal journeys in Amphibia, the good and the bad, because she is the reason they are there. Marcy is the one in control/possession of the box. There’s the implication that she knows more about it than she is letting on. She is facing away which makes it seem less like she is the looming presence and more like it’s her actions or knowledge of the box that is.

Things like this make going back to watch the season really fun because you can catch how all the pieces were there for Marcy’s reveal to make sense but none of them were obvious enough to spell it out for you before the fact. 

Amphibia’s world is also opened up to us in season 2. It manages to find the perfect way to introduce this brand new world without overwhelming the viewer.

Anne and the Plantars haven’t been outside of the valley and Newtopia is established to be far away. The audience gets to experience all these new places and all the new lore with the characters and it doesn’t feel unnatural and stilted. Instead it feels like it has a natural wonder to it that matches each character.

One of my favorite shots in this season is the first time the fwagon came over the hill and the world beyond the valley came into view. That shot was mesmerizing and really encapsulated just how ambitious I think this season was. 

There aren’t many series that have created that same awe over just how big their world is that Amphibia captured in this single moment. That awe is what season 2 excelled at. It expanded the world so much and yet made sure you really got a grasp on the nuances that each faction of the frogs, toads, and newts had. No one part of Amphibia felt the same. 

Newtopia, Wartwood, and the toad towers are all wildly different even in their color palettes and the music used when in each location.

When we are with the Toads the color palette leans more towards reds and the music sounds more intense such as the rock music that plays when Sasha is riding the narwhal worm or the theme that starts off Prison Break and Barrel’s Warhammer. They are very distinct and help give these places their own personality.

When in Newtopia everything feels grandiose with the color palette of blues, whites, and golds. The music is full of brass instruments that exude an air of royalty and greatness in contrast to the rough and tumble intensity of the rock themed music of the toads and the more humble feeling of the softer string instrument focused music used in relation to Wartwood and the frogs. (I’m not great at talking about music but I’m trying to get across how different each location feels musically)

Since we’re on the topic of music I want to gush about just how great the soundtrack for Amphibia is.

While I think season 3 is the musical peak of the series, this season is phenomenal as well. 

One of my favorite things TJ Hill does is the way he makes Sasha and Marcy’s themes go through multiple different renditions to show what point they are at in their respective arcs. The instrument choice and volume reflects what kind of turning point they are at within their respective arcs. 

My favorite scores in the season have to be the orchestral rendition of No Big Deal when Anne activates her powers and the score that plays when Marcy’s truth is revealed. I could listen to these on repeat if given the chance. TJ Hill is very talented and I wanted to take the time to give him a proper shout out.

I’ve spent so much time gushing about the season that I think it’s about time I got to the finale.

True Colors is what I still believe to be Amphibia’s best episode. 

Everything in the season felt like it was building up to this.

The toad rebellion, Sasha’s change of heart, and Andrias’ betrayal have all been building in the background of this season. Even the more shocking events such as Anne’s powers, the truth behind Marcy’s actions, and the cliffhanger of Anne and the Plantars back in the human realm have been built into the season with all the pieces there for the audience to put things together.

Anne’s stone not charging all the way and the hints at the girls’ calamity powers through their feats that occurred while their eyes flashed their respective colors gave enough for the audience to know something big would come of these moments but not enough to give away exactly how they would manifest or when.

The same can be said for Marcy but her reveal is even hinted at as early as the first time the opening plays this season in the moment that replaces the photo in the rain like I explained above.

These hints are carried into her character throughout the season in episodes like Scavenger Hunt, where Marcy admits that she struggles to make friends, and The First Temple, where Marcy’s tunnel vision blinds her to the consequences of her actions. 

The biggest hint is in A Day at the Aquarium when she stands there alone long after Anne leaves with the Plantars in a very striking visual portrayal of her loneliness and isolation (both major factors in her decisions with the box) and directly following this moment she is given a proposition by Andrias that we don’t get to hear. This looms over the end of the season leading into True Colors and added another layer to what was going on with Marcy away from Anne.

There was so much there that hinted towards Marcy’s reveal but just like with Anne’s powers it’s something that was still shocking because the specifics weren’t clear. Many people theorized that Marcy would betray Anne, but none that I know of got how she would betray her friends right. It was a masterful reveal.

Even Anne ending this season back in the human realm had all the pieces there. So much time was spent charging the box and making their way through the temples that it was obvious that someone was going to end up back home and having it be Anne, our protagonist, makes the most sense.

Even with all this build up all of these reveals still manage to give me chills to this day despite the fact that I know how they will work out and I think that’s the mark of a good twist. If it’s ruined by knowing what will happen it wasn’t a great twist in the first place.

True Colors is one of the best season finales I’ve seen for a cartoon and it caps off what I consider to be the best season of Amphibia. It manages to improve on almost everything from the first while not getting bogged down in the pacing and tonal issues of the third (I still love both those seasons as well). It’s an all around great season.

Extra thoughts

These are my rambles that I omitted from the review above but found worth sharing. You can easily skip these if you want.

One of my favorite things about the finale is that it makes it clear that Marcy’s actions aren’t clear cut. They can’t be placed into a neat box of good or bad. Marcy didn’t make her decisions out of malice, but desperation and fear. She’s afraid of losing the only friends she has and based on how Anne and Sasha ignored Marcy’s interests prior to Amphibia it felt like a matter of when their friendship would fall apart after Marcy moved not if from her point of view. Marcy didn’t think through the consequences of her actions with the box. As a result, she took Anne and Sasha away from their lives for over half a year and they were dropped into very dangerous situations. She also hid that she planned on going on more adventures with them rather than returning home and ensured that Andrias got a hold of a fully charged box. Marcy’s choice is a complicated situation that can be understood from all sides. 

The trio’s friendship is also a very complicated situation where all of them had flaws and made decisions that ultimately lead to this point. Some were more toxic and damaging than others (Sasha’s manipulation and control freak tendencies) but no one person is painted in black and white. Marcy isn’t evil. Just like Sasha isn’t irredeemable. just like Anne isn’t blameless. They are people.

True colors has some spectacular animation with the standout scene clearly being when Anne activates her powers. The change in fluidity and style (as well as the clear DBZ inspiration) makes it so that the raw power of Anne’s new form can be felt. 

I kind of wanted to elaborate on what I mean by Sasha and Marcy’s themes changing to show where they are or shifts in their arcs. I’ll use Sasha’s theme as an example. In the first season Sasha’s theme sounded like it was played on a music box. Each note was sharp and precise just like her and her manipulation, but when she is reintroduced in Toadcatcher her theme that plays at the end starts out soft, almost reflective as Sasha touches the scar and thinks about Anne, before it crescendos near the end as Sasha states things aren’t over between her and Anne. The notes blend together and the instrument changes, it’s not as precise and more driven by emotion, more ominous. The way the music plays out shows a shift in Sasha and her plans and not for the better.

For Marcy’s theme I feel like it’s a lot more self explanatory. Just listen to her theme that plays during her introduction and her theme that plays during the reveal in True Colors. There’s a stark contrast that anyone can notice. Her theme is very upbeat and energetic in the first one while in the second one it is slowed down significantly and uses brass instruments/an organ. Both of these choices make the tone much more ominous at the beginning as the music crescendos before the music softens once more, but keeps the much slower and deeper rendition of the melody, and brings that air of tragedy that this moment entails. It’s brilliant. (again, I wish I was better at talking about music)

Part of the tragedy of Marcy’s character is in her contrast. When she’s around Anne and the Plantars or Andrias (usually) she’s upbeat, happy, and energetic but the deep seeded loneliness she has slips through when she’s alone which is made the most clear at the end of A Day at the Aquarium. 

The Ghost and Molly McGee Season 2 Thought So Far

I can’t believe I haven’t talked about The Ghost and Molly McGee yet. I have multiple drafts in my docs and on tumblr but I could never really get my thoughts across as well as I would like but I’ve decided to just put my thoughts out here because I really do enjoy this show.

The ghost and molly mcgee is one of those shows that shocked me with just how much I enjoyed it. I think that’s purely because it doesn’t fall into the tone of show I usually lean towards. I usually gravitate towards shows like Arcane, Invincible, Amphibia, and The Owl House to use recent examples. Shows that are very bittersweet (or in Arcane’s case straight-up tragic) and know how to gut punch you with emotional moments. I feel seen in certain aspects of these shows and the hard truths they portray that many people have experienced but that isn’t what I need all the time and the Ghost and Molly McGee perfectly fits what I need outside of those types of shows.

It’s a show that champions joy and connections and it sees the best in people. In a time that seems to be filled with hate and is hard to experience day to day, this is the type of show I need to unwind and feel a bit more hopeful.

The Ghost and Molly McGee had a phenomenal first season. It was an amazing introduction to the characters, world, and themes of the show that ended on a bang with Molly vs the ghost world. I had a lot of excitement heading into the next season, but was unsure of where the show would go from that explosive finale and I can safely say that the second season is off to a great start. 

I love the introduction of the Chens and how their profession of being ghost hunters comes into conflict with their friendship with the McGees. It's an interesting dynamic that adds a level of tension to Molly and Scratch’s adventures that wasn’t present in season 1. There wasn’t much of a threat of anyone discovering Molly’s friendship with Scratch or exposing their escapades, especially after Libby was brought into the fold, so I really like the decision to add threats on the human side of things.

The Chens themselves have a lot of potential as characters and are already interesting foils to the McGees. Most of them don’t have much development yet and they are very similar to the McGees in terms of personality, but the show has already set up very interesting plotlines for them. 

Ollie in particular has a lot of potential due to his discovery at the end of “I Really Wanna Dance with Some Ollie”. He made the conscious decision to not tell his mother that he discovered that Molly is friends with Scratch which sets up an interesting conflict in his character and it adds depth to his actions and bond with Molly. 

Right now he is a copy of Molly in many ways (as are all of the Chens with the McGees) but it’s only a few episodes into season 2 so there are a lot of opportunities for growth.

I also really like June and love that she’s canonically autistic. The Ghost and Molly McGee is great when it comes to representation. It is very racially diverse and I appreciate that it has background/normalized lbgtq+ characters and is now including main characters that are intentionally and explicitly neurodivergent. Representation matters. I’ve written about why I believe representation is important before so I’ll spare the essay but I believe that people being able to see aspects of themselves not depicted as frequently in media in characters on this show, especially this show’s age demographic, is a good thing.

Another development I really liked is what the show has decided to do with the ghost world, specifically the chairman. The idea that Scratch is forced into a role of authority after the events of the finale is really interesting. There are so many directions they can take this idea and it’s a really good way to force Scratch out of his comfort zone and get him to grow. This also expands on the lore in regards to the ghost world which we still know little about. I look forward to the ways in which this can explore Scratch’s character and give us more insight into the show’s lore.

Scratch gets some very poignant character moments even outside of the chairman development  in these episodes with the best example being “A Soda to Remember”.

“A Soda to Remember” is my favorite episode of the batch that dropped because of how it juxtaposes Scratch’s character and the glimpse of his past with the wacky antics of the episode. There’s a palpable melancholy to the flashback at the end of the episode that works so well considering the overall tone of the show. It builds a lot of emotion and intrigue around it that makes the episode and Scratch’s arc in it hit a lot harder.

Episodes in The Ghost and Molly McGee almost always end on an optimistic note so that final scene strikes a unique emotional cord within the show. This technique was used sparingly in the first season with it only occurring in the episode “Out of House and Home” when the McGees lose their house and when Scratch is taken back to the ghost world in “The Jig is Up”. The show knows when to slow down and allow these emotional moments to sit which is part of why I enjoy it so much.

This actually might be the plotline I am most interested in seeing explored in the future.

Overall I think the second season of The Ghost and Molly McGee is off to a great start!

Amphibia Season 1 Re-watch Thoughts/Review

Amphibia season one was really fun and had an amazing finale. The choice to be an episodic comedy series works wonders for this season and I believe makes Reunion and season two hit all the harder. 

This season falls into a few of the usual trappings that almost all first seasons do but its biggest strength is that it knows what the series is about at its core and it focuses on that.

This show knows what themes are at its heart. Amphibia is about friendship, change, growth, and becoming your best self and that’s what the first season is just on a smaller scale than the second and third.

It allows for a gradual build up to the huge scale of the third season. The first season keeps the focus on Anne’s growth and how she learns self-love through her relationship with the Plantars. And it slowly opens the world to us by introducing one of the toad towers in Prison break, halfway through the season, then Reunion opens up how much the events of the season have effected the rest of the valley. 

All these actions that felt like they were occurring in a vacuum have wide reaching consequences. This is bigger than we initially thought. And that final shot in season one before the “End Part I” showed up on the screen where we see Anne and the Plantars overlooking the valley while hugging perfectly encapsulates how the world has now opened up to them. That the scope we saw in the first season will be widened exponentially.

The show needed this gradual build up. Suddenly making the show about all of Amphibia during this season wouldn’t have worked and expanding the view beyond Anne’s growth would have made it so that moments later in the series wouldn’t have felt as earned. 

I believe this was a good choice for the show but also a big reason why Amphibia was so underrated for so long. A lot of people looked at the more episodic problem of the week formula that the first season followed and didn’t think twice about it until the finale came along and shattered the status quo. It wasn’t noticeably serialized right out of the gate.

This is an unfortunate issue because it is based on first impressions. Something like the Owl House is an obviously serialized show from episode 1. Everything flows into one another and that draws in an older crowd easier than the seemingly episodic formula that Amphibia had out of the gate. 

There were hints of serialization in “Anne of Beast?” and “Best Fronds” but as early as “Cane Crazy” the show started with the problem of the week formula, which I want to emphasize once again was a good choice for the show because it really emphasized its themes of change and growth, but that also caused some people to not give the show a fair shot.

The choice to have the season air over the course of a single month also stunted Amphibia’s ability to garner a following. There wasn’t time for people to talk or speculate about the show episode to episode because a new one was coming out every day. 

Episodes that likely would have gotten fans talking and speculating about the finale like Prison Break, Bizarre Bazaar, and Anne of the Year weren’t given any time to breathe so this could happen.

It was just an unfortunate choice that caused Amphibia to be underrated going into its second season (which is phenomenal).

There are some genuine drawbacks from the episodic formula that Amphibia used in its first season though. Some episodes become formulaic because they use a similar structure with a basic life lesson being learned in almost every one. The interesting and unique world and how it was used could save some of these episodes from falling into tedium but not all of them.

It also takes a while for anything about the lore, Sasha and Marcy, or plot to really come into play which can become frustrating, especially for people that have never seen it before but were drawn in by what they’ve heard about it online. 

It can be a bit slow with divulging information with Sasha not being formally introduced until the episode Prison Break which was 10 episodes in and nothing about the Calamity Box explored until Bizarre Bazaar which was episode 15. 

There are long stretches that don’t expand on these very important and interesting plot points. This can exacerbate the flaws in certain episodes and make the pacing feel off or slow at times which is something the show greatly improves upon when season 2 comes around. This structure and slow build up isn’t for everyone.

This was what initially kept me from watching it when this season first aired (I regret this choice). Interestingly the thing that sold me on watching the show the first time around was the opening. Specifically this shot: 

This moment in the opening never failed to intrigue me. It was a hint of the themes this show would grapple with and how all the events seen are because of this broken friendship. There is genuine care between the people in the photo which can be seen by their closeness and the writing around the edges but it is literally out on a limb in the middle of a storm. It’s struggling to hold on and brings an air of tragedy to their current situation.

The lightning strike provides an even more ominous tone to the moment. The rain alone could have just made it seem tragic, friends torn apart by circumstance, but the lightning strike is what tells you there was something off/toxic about the friendship even before Amphibia. 

It never failed to make me wonder what exactly that was and it kept me watching to see what the reality behind it would be. This comes around in a big way with Sasha.

In Sasha’s introduction she is shown to be cunning and manipulative. There is genuine care for her friends but it is overshadowed at this point by her flaws.

It starts to paint a picture about what Anne’s friendships were like at home. This portrayal of toxic friendship and outgrowing connections is one of the things I think the first season does best in retrospect.

The first season makes it so that Sasha's (and Marcy’s) influence can be felt on Anne long before she even speaks through things Anne says and does. 

This makes it so that even though Sasha’s screen time is limited and she and Anne don’t interact until the very end of Anne of the Year the audience can understand why their clash in Reunion is so important for Anne’s character.

This is a great but subtle build-up to the finale.

Reunion is a fantastic and very interesting episode. It is in many ways the most formative episode of the series. It creates the mold that Amphibia’s finales follow moving forward.

For example, it makes the decision to bring the audience back to the day Anne, Sasha, and Marcy get whisked away to Amphibia and provide context for what led Anne and Sasha to that point. This is an important part of True Colors, All In, and The Beginning of the End as well.

It also starts the trend of what I’m going to call Amphibia’s “wham” moments with Sasha letting go of Anne’s hand. This is continued in the other season finales with Marcy getting stabbed and Anne’s death.

Lastly is how the episode addresses change and the ways people fight against it. The series as a whole tackles change but the finales are where the trio and their issues with accepting change come to a head.

Leading up to Reunion Sasha has had her negative traits encouraged by amphibia- they allowed her to flourish at toad tower- and as a result she hasn’t grown and changed in the same way Anne has. Anne landed in Wartwood with the Plantars and has had her old mindset challenged constantly which led to her growth. This growth allows her to stand up to and best Sasha.

This is repeated in True Colors, where Sasha and Marcy’s bids to fight against change cause things to come crumbling down for them, and in The Hardest Thing where the core (a being that can’t let go of the past) is taken down by Anne because of the calamity trio’s growth and acceptance of change.

These similarities make it so that all the finales feel like they build on one another. This creates a cohesive through line in the series.

Overall I think this season built a solid foundation. There are instances of the show struggling to find its footing and it does become repetitive in some areas, but it’s really fun and has a strong heart.

Extra Thoughts

This is more of a deleted scenes/excerpts of analysis that didn’t fit in my review.

Reunion also plays into Amphibia’s overarching themes of change. The way it interweaves present day with flashbacks to what led Anne and Sasha to opening the music box really showcases this. Sasha is practically unchanged. She landed in toad tower where her negative traits are encouraged and cause her to flourish. Whereas Anne has grown so much because she landed with the Plantars in Wartwood and has had her mindset challenged constantly by those around her. The clash between Sasha and Anne can be seen as a clash between accepting change and staying stagnant with accepting change (Anne) coming out on top.

There’s an interesting parallel between Toad Tax/Prison Break and Reunion. Toad Tax has Anne stand up for what’s right instead of taking the easy path and submitting to “bullies” to gain the Wartwood citizens’ respect. Prison Break introduces Sasha’s toxic traits and shows how they help her get free and flourish at toad tower. This is exactly what their conflict is about in Reunion.

I love how Anne’s heritage is explored this season in Lily Pad Thai. The exploration of Anne’s culture is one of my favorite things about the series.

The use of someone to lean on in the finale is really interesting because on the one hand it stands out in a jarring way because the show doesn’t use non-diegetic licensed music at any other point in the series but on the other hand it fits really well thematically and provides insight into Sasha and Anne’s mindsets during this moment. 

The music in this season is the weakest of the 3 but that doesn’t mean it’s bad by any stretch. It is more washed out because of the sound mixing and not given the chance to shine until the finale. Reunion has a very good score with my favorite part being after toad tower falls and Anne makes eye contact with Grime. It’s tragic and foreboding and it’s the first time this season that the score is allowed to be the loudest part of a scene. This decision makes it so that this scene is given a different feel to all the ones that came before. It’s a transition in the music just as much as it is in the series. The music paired with the look clearly indicate that the conflict is far from over. This is just the beginning.

The only other episode where the music is allowed to shine is Prison Break. TJ Hill goes all out giving toad tower a completely different feel from Wartwood and I believe the music/title card (”far, far away from Wartwood”) is in part a Star Wars reference/homage (I could be wrong).

The dark humor of this show is amazing. Hop Pop is the one primarily used for this type of humor this season and gets the best jokes because of it.

Sasha doesn’t embrace or even really have to accept the changes that living in Amphibia naturally brings unlike Anne. After she is released from prison she gets herself plumbing and makes the toads make human cuisine. She forces things to be like they are back on earth (the parts she likes anyways). 

I know Reunion isn’t the first episode to use flashbacks in the series, Best Fronds is actually the episode that has that honor, but the way Reunion uses the flashbacks is what is brought back in True Colors, The Beginning of the End, and All In. 

I really like going back to the beginning of a series like this to see how all the characters changed as the show went on. Watching Anne in this season right after watching season 3 kind of smacks you in the face with just how much she changed (in the best way. It reminds you of just how far she’s come). It’s a lot easier to remember in a fair amount of detail just how much someone like Sasha or Grime has changed because of their limited screen time and massive character growth in that limited time. But Anne is the main character so her change is more gradual and can blend together because of this. I just like this aspect of re-watching a series.

In defense of Gwen in Across the Spider-Verse

Okay. First of all: This post is gonna be super long and have tons of spoilers so if you don’t want to get spoiled for Across the Spider-Verse then don’t read this post. I have seen way too many people hate on Gwen because of her actions and her behavior towards Miles in Across the Spider-Verse. I’ll show you why that hate completely misses her arc in the movie and her true intentions/relationship with Miles. This post will also delve into Gwiles/Ghostflower since that is a big part of what shapes her intentions.  Many people say Gwen betrayed Miles and doesn’t really care about him. They say Miles shouldn’t forgive her and that she is a snake for what she did. I’ll show you why the opposite is true by going through the events of the movie in cronological order: The movie literally starts off with Gwen talking about Miles. She is drumming away, which is, mentioned by herself, a way for her to cope with her feelings. That opening from Gwen is a small glimpse into her head. We see how she feels and what she thinks. The interesting thing is that it’s basically Gwen broadly narrating the events of the entire movie. We even see glimpses of future scenes in that intro. The line of narration that is most important here is Gwen saying “I didn’t want to hurt him. But I did. And he is not the only one.” This shows us IMMEDIATELY that Gwen did not intend to hurt Miles AT ALL. Quite the contrary. It also shows that she is AWARE she hurt Miles. She knows she fucked up. That is going to be important later on when she needs to make the tough decision regarding Miles/The Spider Society. 

Keep reading

I felt like adding to this list just to make fun of how consistent the characters I project onto is.

Me: There is definitely not a pattern to the characters I project onto.

The characters I project onto:

Amphibia Season 3 Thoughts/Review

Season 3 of Amphibia is easily the most divisive season among the fanbase. There are a lot of different reasons for this but I think it primarily comes down to tone and pacing.

The reason why the issues with tone and pacing are so prominent is because of how it followed up True Colors. True Colors came in and seemed to promise that things would never be the same. It created a scenario for Anne and the Plantars that was very desperate. Sasha was left in Amphibia, Marcy had been stabbed (and for all they knew was dead), Amphibia was in imminent danger, and earth was going to be invaded next.

All of this should have created a massive sense of urgency and worry, but this doesn’t carry over very well into many of the episodes. The tonal whiplash that occurs when you watch True Colors and The New Normal back to back is massive. It goes from that gut punch of an ending to Anne being excited that she has wifi for the first time in months so quickly that it’s almost as if the characters forgot what happened.

When the show does address the sense of urgency the characters should have it is always on Anne’s end. Anne is the one staying up researching how to get back, Anne is the one trying to drop everything for new leads, Anne is the one losing sleep over the situation. The most the Plantars show on their end is homesickness. 

They are frequently the ones telling Anne to be careful or calm down which seems odd because they should have very pressing and important reasons for wanting to get back beyond missing their home.

In season 2 the heroes’ lack of urgency made sense. They didn’t know about Andrias’ plans, the core, or Sasha’s toad rebellion. The episodes where they explored Newtopia or visited towns on their travels fit much better because of their gap in knowledge and like I said previously those episodes usually found a way to keep the story moving forward or have important character moments so that they rarely distracted from the plot.

In season 3 there’s too much hanging over the characters’ heads that they know about for it to feel organic watching the episodes back to back. 

This isn’t to say that what happens on the earth half of the season is bad. The content is actually very enjoyable. Watching the role reversal between Anne and the Plantars is fun and we get to see even more of Anne’s culture and home life which is always a welcome addition.

The exploration of Anne’s family and culture is one of the best things about the first half of the season. The Thai Temple episode (Temple Frogs) in particular is one of my favorites. 

It has Anne displaying the urgency that some episodes were missing while also addressing how Anne’s parents struggled during her time away and how their community kept them afloat. This strikes a balance that makes almost everything that happens feel important on an emotional level without losing sight of what this half of the season is building towards.

This is also the case with the Christmas episode.

This half of the season doesn’t all take place on earth either. The perspective shifts back to Amphibia for a few episodes as well and they are two of the best episodes to come out of this half of the season. 

Turning Point and Olivia & Yunan serve as much needed glimpses into what is happening in Amphibia and handle the fallout of True Colors more directly.

In Turning Point Sasha takes responsibility for her actions throughout the series and decides to work towards being a better person with every action moving forward. She uses her strengths for good to fight against Andrias and protect the people and starts her redemption.

In Olivia & Yunan we see the crushing guilt Marcy is dealing with in the wake of True Colors and how she’s not doing so hot after being STABBED THROUGH THE CHEST. She is then possessed by the core in an honestly horrifying scene and loses all autonomy. 

In both of these episodes the course of the show is irrevocably changed and so are Sasha and Marcy. These episodes set up their arcs and roles heading into the endgame of Amphibia. 

This makes these episodes stand in stark contrast to many of the episodes surrounding them. They are darker in tone and have a sharp focus on what they are trying to do. These episodes are more in line with what I believe people thought this season would be heading into it. This helps make these what I believe to be the best episodes of this half of the season.

These episodes also break up the earth portions of the season and help the pacing immensely on re-watch. 

The first half of the season ends on the Christmas episode Froggy Little Christmas which, while a fun episodes that refocuses on the conflict with Andrias, shouldn’t have been the midseason finale. Escape to Amphibia should have been. It is the actual end of the earth portion of the series and feels like the beginning of the end in a way that the Christmas episode couldn’t capture (understandably).

So much about the episode is a bookend to this chapter of Amphibia and it has a lot of parallels that harken back to formative aspects of Anne’s character and the show as a whole. My favorite ones are this one 

and this one 

The first parallel is very reminiscent of Sasha during the third temple and I think that is intentional. Sasha’s redesign has her incorporate blue into her armor along with the red which symbolizes how Anne has changed Sasha and how she is incorporating the lessons she has learned throughout Amphibia and Anne into herself. This shows that the effect on each other is mutual. Sasha was not a good friend to Anne before this point but her good traits (when not taken to the extreme) have rubbed off on Anne and in some ways inspired her like she said in “The Third Temple”.

And the second parallel is very effective because it is put into stark contrast with the first time Anne and the Plantars come over the hill and see the rest of the valley for the first time. It takes the wonder and awe that was present the first time and twists it into shock and horror. It really hits home just how long Anne has been away and just how much True Colors effected Amphibia.

I want to take a second to mention how great Anne’s parents are. They really were the MVPs of the earth portion of the season and this episode.

It’s refreshing to see Anne and the Plantars back in Amphibia and this marks the start of the second half of the season which is the hardest to talk about in regards to the series as a whole in my opinion.

The second half of the season is complicated because it’s probably the most inconsistent part of the series. It contains some of the best content of the entire show and of any animated series airing at the time but it also has lows that mess up the pacing and ultimately end up feeling directionless at times.

The second half of the season starts out strong with Escape to Amphibia and Commander Anne but doesn’t maintain that momentum. The episodes primarily focus on the rebellion gaining forces to take on King Andrias but this doesn’t culminate in a satisfying way. 

The only episode we get to see the army fight is The Beginning of the End, but then they quickly become irrelevant after Sasha and Anne’s plan fails and the invasion of earth begins. This makes the majority of episodes in season 3B ultimately feel like they weren’t building towards anything. 

At least in 3A a lot of the people Anne and the Plantars impacted on their earth adventures come together to help them take on the government and get back to Amphibia. It makes it feel like there is some semblance of an end goal.

But with 3B the important players aren’t any of the amphibians they get to join their cause and it is entirely focused on the calamity trio, Andrias, the Plantars, and Grime. The army doesn’t play a part in stopping Andrias’ invasion when they get to earth or taking down the core.

It’s odd because these episodes bring back so many characters and plot points from the first season and makes it seem like it’s all coming full circle. That everything that happened in the beginning is going to come around in a big way and be the reason they will win in the end.

It built a certain expectation that it didn’t fulfill which hurts the episodes a lot on re-watch. 

These episodes do manage to flow better than the episodes in the first half of the season (at least to me) though because the setting and characters are ones I’m familiar with and invested in which always makes them at the very least enjoyable to watch. 

Episodes like Grime’s Pupil and Sasha’s Angels have all the issues I mentioned above but because they feature new relationships between characters I know and love and are centered around the conflict I am more emotionally invested in they always manage to hold my attention more than certain episodes in the first half and remain fun. 

There are episodes that didn’t do this nearly as well like Mother of Olms, which promised so much more than it actually ended up delivering on that it left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth when I first watched it. It’s better on re-watch, but it’s episodes like this coupled with the overarching narrative problems that leads to an uneven stretch of episodes.

There are some very good episodes sprinkled into this run with the clear standout being The Core and The King. 

The Core and The King is a fascinating look into Andrias’ past and why he is the way he is. It adds so much nuance to his character and actions in True Colors. It is held back a bit by the fact it isn’t a half hour special episode and thus can’t spend the time necessary to attach the audience to the characters of Leif and Barrel, but it still believably portrays the actions and relationships that it focuses on. The best relationship exploration of the episode is easily that of Andrias and his father, which recontextualizes his allegiance to the core and dedication to his mission.

This episode adds a level of tragedy to Andrias and his relationship to Marcy that retroactively elevates their relationship in season 2 and the betrayal in True Colors. There’s a level of regret and genuine care that feels like it’s simmering just below the surface that plants the seeds for the flashbacks in All In and makes their entire journey together really bittersweet.

This leads us to the finale three episodes (essentially one big finale), but before I talk about those I want to address how this season handles the calamity trio.

I’d say this is a mixed bag and it’s understandable why people have such conflicting opinions on this particular part of the season. This is where the trio are at their most important. The emotional climaxes of almost all 3 parts of the finale depend on them.

They are the ones the final battles come down to. There is so much riding on their growth and the audience’s emotional connection to them that they needed focus this season.

Sasha and Marcy have had limited screen time coming into this season but it was handled well in regards to the story and themes the show was trying to cover. In the third season they both still have limited screen time but the way that screen time is handled is vastly different between the two.

Sasha is the one that comes out far better in regards to this. She completes her arc and gets her redemption. Her perspective and change is put on full display.

There’s even a subplot that has Anne and Sasha go through an awkward transitionary period in their friendship that has Anne’s doubts and frustrations with the past surface. These moments are used to show Sasha’s change and work in regards to their overarching relationship. It feels earned that their friendship comes back together stronger because of who they are now as people and all the trials they’ve gone through. 

Sasha’s arc is one of the best handled in the series. A few things could have been tightened up, such as her gaining the trust of the Wartwood citizens, but overall it had a strong core that it never lost sight of.

It also culminates in a powerful way within All In.

But that isn’t the case with Marcy. Marcy is benched for a lot of this final season due to her possession. The idea behind Darcy is very intriguing and they could have been one of the best Disney villains to come out of a cartoon in recent years, but they were underutilized so the emotional impact of them was limited to mainly The Beginning of the End (which was fantastic).

This choice made it so Marcy was put into stasis and couldn’t realize her own development that started in True Colors. It makes for an emotional reunion in The Beginning of the End and All In but it makes it so Marcy’s arc feels shortchanged in comparison to her friends.

There’s also the fact that due to the crews strained relationship with Disney and S&P after the True Colors fiasco they weren’t allowed to address Marcy getting stabbed. This was a major moment that should have had massive repercussions moving forward but due to this handicap it fizzled out into an afterthought that hurt Marcy’s character arc and diminished how well her importance to Sasha and Anne could be displayed.

Even with the show struggling to juggle the calamity trio and their baggage (particularly Marcy) with the lighter tone they were encouraged to have and some of the directions they chose to go in the final three episodes hit almost all of the beats they needed to for the conclusion to their arcs and the journey of the show to be satisfying.

The final three episodes of the show are great and have some of the most emotional moments of the series. They were allowed to be darker and address the more difficult topics and themes the show had set up. It’s a shame that many of these very fascinating issues and conflicts were pushed back to the final few episodes, but the way they are dealt with here are for the most part fantastic.

I’ve talked in depth about each part of the finale on here already but to sum it up they manage to make the themes and character arcs set up in the story and pay them all off. There are a few issues I have with each of them here and there but for the most part they are a fitting send off and provide one of the best conclusions to a series I’ve seen in quite some time. 

The Beginning of the End expands on the pre-amphibia trio dynamic in regards to Marcy in a poignant portrayal of her isolation that elevates the tragic reunion between the friends at the end and is easily the episode that best utilizes Darcy.

All In puts the changes each of the trio have gone through during their journey in Amphibia on full display, allowing them to have a quiet reconciliation that touches on the care and impact each have had on one another.

The Hardest Thing manages to be a heartfelt goodbye to the series and world of Amphibia as a whole and keeps a sharp focus on the main themes of the story. This is the episode I have the most issues with of the three but it still manages to close out the series on a bittersweet note that makes sure the impact of these adventures can be felt on the characters even ten years later.

These episodes aren’t perfect (I go into greater depth on the episodes in the linked posts) but they are still some of my favorite of the series and remind me why I love this show so much in the first place. 

I feel like this came off rather harsh. I wanted to take a more objective look at the series season by season and address some of the legitimate issues while explaining its strengths and expressing what I personally loved about it. I don’t know if I got the balance right but I want to express that I really do love this show.

Amphibia is such a great and fun series. It wasn’t perfect but nothing is. It’s been almost a year since the show ended but I still miss it. I really came to love the characters and world this series created. I hope others got the enjoyment that I did out of it.

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Extra Thoughts

I really love where the trio end the series. In a way it hits harder considering where I am in my life. It’s pretty obvious that none of the trio really loved themselves prior to their journey in Amphibia but you see how each have grown into their own and are happy with where they are. They’ve found callings that help them express themselves and what they learned and it hits you that they’re okay. That things changed and they lost things and people but they kept those memories and eventually reconnected. I really like that. 

The jobs each of the girls end up with after the time skip are so perfect for each of them. 

I realized I never said this in any of my previous re-watch thoughts/reviews but Anne is a great protagonist that goes through so much development and growth. Her arc of learning self love and worth is amazing. I just felt that needed to be said.

I’m mixed on the decision to keep the reveal of the new Sasha a secret until Commander Anne. One the one hand it does succeed in what it was attempting to do. It does shock the audience with how much Sasha has changed just like it does Anne. But on the other hand I wish we had gotten to see that change in greater depth. It felt like a bit of a missed opportunity. It wouldn’t have needed a ton of screen time, in fact I think having at least a single episode showing Sasha growing into the role of commander of Wartwood while working on being a better person could have helped the awkward pacing of the first part of the season and establish the dynamics of the resistance.

One issue I didn’t touch upon above is how the show struggles to keep the Plantars relevant in the second half of the season. Many episodes just have the Plantars be present but don’t give them much to do, if they give them anything at all. In fact, Polly gets no focus or development in the second half of the season. 

There is one part in Escape to Amphibia that doesn’t really sit right with me and that’s the scene where Sprig tells Anne it couldn’t hurt for them to wait a bit longer before returning to Amphibia if she isn’t ready. I understand what the writer was going for with Anne not being ready to say goodbye to her parents again and face a war that may have already claimed her friends, but it once again undercuts the desperation of the situation. Almost as if the characters and show believe the conflict in Amphibia is put into stasis because Anne and the Plantars aren’t there which hurts the storytelling and tension of the season. Once again not taking the consequences of True Colors as seriously as they should.

Marcy and Sasha’s parents should have been seen at least once in the series. I could go into a hundred reasons why this would have been the better move but plenty of people have talked about it before and in greater depth than I could. It was definitely wasted potential and felt weird to tease them twice (Froggy Little Christmas and All In) only to never see them in the show.

This season is what I believe to be the musical peak of the series with fantastic and emotionally charged tracks that I listen to. I love the entirety of the score for All In but my personal favorite one of this season has to be the sad rendition of Marcy’s theme that plays over the credits of The Beginning of the End. That track is a gut punch. (TJ Hill has released most of the tracks on his youtube channel)

I do really enjoy the development that Polly gets in the first half of the season. She was the only Plantar that felt like they had tangible development which is once again disappointing because I do genuinely like the Plantars.