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Amphibia Season 2, Episode 7A/B Review

It’s been a long and arduous journey, but Anne and the Plantar’s have made it to Newtopia. And they found out that Anne’s friend Marcy is the city’s protector in the process. Given what we know about the rest of Season Two, it’s safe to say that we’ll be staying in Newtopia for some time. Which is fine by me, because it looks like an awesome city. After getting a glimpse of it at the end of last week, this week’s episode sees us dive face-first into Newtopian life.

Scavenger Hunt

While showing Anne and the Plantar’s around the city, Marcy gets a strange message from the King of Newtopia. By strange, I mean that it’s written as clues to a puzzle that Marcy has to solve. It sounds weird to us, but based on Marcy’s reaction, this is the sort of playful thing she and King Andrias do because she likes puzzles. Thus, she drags Anne and Sprig around the city trying to decipher the puzzle and keeps impressing everyone with her smarts. Everyone, that is, except for Anne.

Having known Marcy for a long time, Anne’s always felt a little inadequate to Marcy’s brains. Now that the two are reunited, all that insecurity starts coming back. And, given that this is Anne, leads her to getting into trouble when she tries to prove herself. Guess she still needs to work on that aspect of herself, though.

As it turns out, though, Anne has skills that Marcy does not possess: Anne is a people person. She’s able to befriend others very easily, as we saw in Wartwood and again in Newtopia. Three people she just met all come to help her when she’s being attacked by a sewer gator. Afterwards, Marcy even admits that she’s always admired Anne’s social skills, something that she knows she struggles with.

It’s been speculated by some that, given her quirks, Marcy may be on the Autism spectrum. As someone who’s on the spectrum myself, I recognize many of the signs in her. But I also recognize the desire to improve my social skills because of it. So, I get where you’re coming from, Marcy.

In the end, Anne gets over her insecurities and winds up solving the last clue for the message: Bring me the Plantars.

The Plantars Check In

After finally meeting King Andrias, Anne and the Plantars have the chance to get settled in Newtopia as they plan their next move. Lucky for them, Andrias gives them his royal credit card with unlimited funds and books them in the best hotel in the city. But while the others take the chance to relax, Sprig takes the card and enjoys the hotel.

I’m sure that at some point in our childhoods, many of us got to go to a fancy hotel. A hotel that just blew away our child-sized brains at how awesome it was. This segment has Sprig essentially doing what most kids would if they were free to explore said hotel and had the funds to enjoy it all. I know I would have.

Predictably, though, Sprig almost loses the card, and it winds up in the hands of Bella, a bellhop voiced by fellow Gravity Falls alumni Kristen Schaal. Better known as Mabel Pines. In contrast to Mabel, who sees everything in a positive light, Bella’s tries being positive, but finds it hard given her job. So she tries to use the card for herself, the two fight over it, and they end up on top of an indoor ferris wheel that makes them realize that this whole thing was stupid. Fortunately, the spirit of kindness triumphs in the end when Sprig stands up to Bella’s boss for her, calling her the hotel’s best employee and threatening the guy into giving him a raise. It’s little moments like that that keep me from losing faith in humanity. Or Amphibians, in this case.

A Good Start to Our Time in Newtopia

Overall, while I don’t think this episode moved the plot forward very much, I still found myself enjoying it. It helped to establish what kind of place Newtopia is. Since the city will be the setting of the show for the next several episodes, it’s important to flesh it out.

Perhaps the most important thing we got from this episode was our official introduction to King Andrias. At first glance, the guy seems like a jovial giant, acting very playful and casual with Marcy, Anne, and the others. However, given what we heard him mention last episode, I’m still suspicious about him.

In addition, this episode all but confirmed something that I had suspected about the Calamity Box. Andrias seems familiar with it, so it must be the key to getting the girls home. Furthermore, he’s the one who points out the fact that jewels on the box are colorless now. This only gives more weight to the idea that when Anne, Sasha, and Marcy got sent to Amphibia, the box imbued them with some sort of magical powers.

What this means, I don’t know other than that we’ll be seeing Wartwood again before the season’s out. For now, though, I’m looking forward to seeing what Newtopia has to offer our heroes.

I Give “Scavenger Hunt” a 3.8/5 and “The Plantars Check In” a 4/5

So did anyone catch Polly’s line about what would have happened if the Plantar’s had found Marcy instead of Anne? Ten bucks says that’s going to inspire some fanfics down the road!

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One Piece Chapter 988 Review/Recap

Two weeks ago, the Alliance of pirates, ninjas, samurai, and Minks began their raid on Onigashima. Thanks to the Beast Pirates spending the night partying, they got caught completely off guard. As a result, the Scabbards and the Minks separated Kaido from his army just as the full moon rises. But can the Alliance face down the might of two Yonko? After this chapter, I know they can.

Recap

Picking up where we last left off, the Scabbards and Minks face down Kaido in his dragon form atop Onigashima. However, Kaido’s no longer alone. Reinforcements arrive in the form of Numbers. At their head is none other than Jack, the man who tortured the Minks to find Raizo. Mad beyond measure at the sight of their tormentor, the Minks proceed to transform into their Sulong forms and take on Jack and the Numbers while the Scabbards face Kaido himself.

In the banquet hall, chaos erupts as the Beast Pirates try to get their bearings. Shinobu tries, and fails, to free Momonosuke. However, Sanji manages to free the Kozuki heir using his Germa Suit. King manages to blow his cover before he can slip away, but he manages to throw him to Shinobu before getting ready to take down Queen.

As for Big Mom, she’s beyond pissed at the fact that Luffy’s managed to crash three parties for her, so she’s not going to let Luffy leave the island alive. She’s so busy trying to kill Luffy, though, that she doesn’t notice that Nami managed to swipe back Zeus when she wasn’t looking.

Unfortunately, Zeus can’t defy Big Mom since he’s made from her soul, and Big Mom shifts her focus to killing Nami. That is, until Brook and Franky come in on the Franky Rider, cut Zeus in half, and faceplant on Big Mom’s face.

Nice.

Review

So, am I scared about the fact that Luffy and his crew and allies are going to have to face two Yonko at once? Not in the slightest. Big Mom and Kaido may possess inhuman strength, but they’re not gods, and they can be brought down. In the last chapter, we saw that the Scabbards were able to injure Kaido. It may not have been much, but if you look at his reaction, you could tell that, for the briefest moment, he felt fear. Which is smart, because we know that he’s going down.

As for Big Mom, it looks as though she’s not going to let Luffy and the others pass until she’s been taken down for good. Fortunately, Luffy has trained to penetrate another person’s Armament Haki, and his Future Vision improves his reaction time. As a result, I think that Luffy can fight Big Mom on more even footing.

There may have been a time when the mere sight of the Yonko would scare us, but that time has past. I don’t know what will happen next, but it won’t matter, as long as it involves Luffy winning. The Yonko will fall at Onigashima!

I Give “Sorry to Keep You Waiting” a 3/5

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The Owl House Episode 18 Review

So, I went ahead and watched the new episode of The Owl House on the DisneyNOW App on my phone hours before it would air on TV. I’m glad that I did, because I would need the extra time to process what I just saw. Heck, I’m still trying to process everything! But that’s not going to stop me from writing a review of what may be the biggest episode thus far. If you haven’t seen it yet, then turn back now, because this will be filled with spoilers. Spoilers, and tears, because this episode gets very sad as a witch loses a teacher.

Emperor Belos’ Endgame

This episode marks the first appearance of the ruler of the Boiling Isles, Emperor Belos, played by Matthew Rhys. And what we see of him filled me with a mixture of fear and revulsion. He’s every bit as imposing and intimidating as many of the show’s characters have made him out to be. Given how this and the previous episode show that he was the one who started the Coven System in the first place, though, that’s to be expected. What disturbed me about him, though, is the fact that we him cut open a palisman and then pour its magical essence into his eyes, seeming to restore his power.

This scene actually reminded me of another villain I’ve seen: the Skeksis Emperor from The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance on Netflix. In that show, the Emperor would drain the life essence out of people so that he may drink and sustain his own life. Could Emperor Belos be doing something similar in this case to maintain his magical power? At the moment, this is just a theory, but it may explain why he wants all the witches of the Boiling Isles to submit to him. That way, none can oppose his rule and he can keep killing Palismans for himself. Either way, that man is dangerous and Eda seems right to not want to work with him.

A Witch’s Breaking Point

As we see in this episode, Eda’s curse is slowly starting to overcome her. With the elixir’s no longer working, she has to refrain from using large amounts of her magic just to keep it in check. It’s gotten to the point where Luz is beginning to worry about her. While Eda tries to brush her concern off, its evident that she appreciates how much Luz cares about her.

As a matter of fact, this episode makes it a point to show how much Luz has come to mean to Eda and King. Eda can’t help but feel proud of how much she’s grown since she stumbled into the Boiling Isles. And the way she says it is a lot like a parent speaking about their kid. I truly think that by this point, Eda sees Luz as a surrogate daughter.

Likewise, I’m sure that Luz feels the same way regarding Eda, as this episode shows. After learning her class is going on a field trip to the Emperor’s Castle, Luz’s first instinct is to slip away. Her ultimate goal is to find an artifact that can cure Eda’s curse. With help from Gus and Willow, she does find something, but we’ll never know if it would have worked. Lillith catches them in the act and captures Luz to lure Eda to the Castle. And Eda. Is. MAD!

A Shocking Revelation and The Loss of A Witch

In the battle that follows, we see just how powerful Eda truly is, and that her title as “Strongest Witch on the Boiling Isles” isn’t just for show. Even as the curse is threatening to take over, Eda still manages to keep Lilith on the defensive. In fact, the only reason Lilith even gains the upper hand is because she uses Luz as a literal human shield. It’s a cowardly move that disgusts Eda, but she still manages to protect Luz and back her sister into a corner. Then, in a fit of jealous rage, Lilith drops the biggest bombshell of the series thus far: she was the one who cursed Eda.

While we still don’t know why she did it, right now it looks like she did so out of jealousy. The ‘why’ doesn’t matter, though, as this revelation pretty much kills any sisterly bond the two had left, and sends Eda into a rage. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the woman so mad before! In the end, though, it’s not enough. Thanks to Lilith, Eda has to use too much of her magic to save Luz. In a moment that I think will leave most fans crying, Eda only has time to give a heartfelt goodbye to her beloved student, letting her know having Luz in her life meant the world to Eda.

A moment later, Eda’s in her cursed owl form, captured by Lilith, and Luz can only watch. The last thing we see is Luz being comforted by King and Hooty as she breaks down crying.

A Game-Changing Episode

I’m just to come out and say it: this episode came close to leaving me in tears. It was just the right combination of dark moments and shocking revelations to do so. And just to hammer home how serious things are, the end-credits lack the normal scene of Luz walking around the Boiling Isles. Instead, all we get is a look at the Emperor’s Castle in silence as the credits roll. The last time I saw Disney do that was three years ago with the Season Two finale for Star vs. The Forces of Evil. From the way the audience is left reeling to the silent credits, I got the exact same feeling. It wasn’t fun to have to relive.

Then there’s the fact that Lilith was the one who cursed her own sister. Whatever reasons she have had doing that, it’s still messed up on so many levels, and left me feeling disgusted with her.

With only one episode left in the season, I think we all know what Luz is going to do: she’s going to break into the Castle, rescue Eda, and find a way to remove the curse. Now, we’ve seen Luz go from a novice witch to someone fairly proficient in magic over the course of the season. And as we saw at Grom and the Grudgby match, she’s very creative with how she uses magic. But can she hope to take down Lilith, or even the Emperor himself? I don’t know, but I’ll be rooting for her all the same. Next week, Luz is going to go to war!

I Give “Agony of A Witch” A 5/5

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