Edit: To Add Some More Positive Thoughts About Season 3B - Tumblr Posts
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.