Farewell, Newtopia! Amphibia Midseason Finale
Amphibia Season 2, Episode 10A/10B Review
If there’s anyone out there who’s not watching Amphibia, then they are doing themselves a great disservice. It’s one of the best cartoons on TV right now, and last night’s midseason finale reaffirms that for the umpteenth time. Not only did it give us plenty of callbacks to past adventures, but the show gave us some of the biggest clues about the overarching mysteries to the show. The secrets behind the Music Box; the powers that the human trio seem to possess; and hints as to what King Andrias’ plans are. They all get touched upon, and I ate it up!
In fact, I’m dedicating part of this post to just going over all the hints and clues we got. Hop into the adventure, people, because this is going to be amazing!
The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers
Its the night before King Andrias tells Anne and the Plantars what he and Marcy managed to learn about the Music Box. So, Anne and Marcy decide to invite Sprig and Polly over for their first sleepover! The quartet vow to do whatever it takes to stay up all night, whether it’s by causing mischief around the Palace, or coming up with the scariest dare they can think of. So what do they do? They decide it would be a great idea to head into the basement that’s been locked off from the rest of the Palace! Nothing could go wrong with that, right?
Yeah. Spoiler alert: they wander into a crypt and get attacked by these ghosts whose mere touch can melt things like acid.
I won’t lie: I’ve seen the idea of the haunted crypt before, and it’s a good thing that it never gets old. What’s new is how these ghosts look: they remind me of these deformed, otherworldly jellyfish. It if weren’t for the fact that they melt things by touching them, they’d be cute. I also like the way that the gang managed to defeat the ghosts. They used a bunch of mirrors to make the ghosts solid and proceeded to wallop them all and lock them in the basement.
On a side note, I think that we should point out Anne and Marcy’s actions in this episode. When Anne first came to Amphibia, she had a skewed idea on the concept of friendship thanks to Sasha’s toxic influence. Season One more or less saw her overcome that, but we see that Anne and Marcy are still influenced by Sasha’s controlling behavior. Case in point, they remember not to do dumb things on a dare.
A Day at the Aquarium
Picking up right after their sleepover, Anne and the Plantars meet with King Andrias and he confirms what we already knew. The music box is magical, can take people to other worlds, and recharging it is the key to getting home. Thus, it’s clear that the next step is to return to Wartwood and get the box. There’s only one problem, though: Marcy thinks it best that Anne stays in Newtopia, meaning there’s a chance she may never see the Plantars again before she goes home.
None of the Plantar family takes this revelation well, and they try to spend what may be their last day together at the aquarium, trying not to think about the fact that it may be their last day together. Here’s how well it goes over.
This episode serves as a testament to just how close Anne and the Plantars have become. The Plantars are essentially her surrogate family, with Hop Pop even calling Anne her “adopted granddaughter” in an earlier episode. She’s practically a big sister to Sprig and Polly at this point. So, the separation anxiety is real. And it doesn’t help that everything they see at the aquarium reminds them of their adventures.
Which is another great thing about this segment: all the call backs to their adventures in Wartwood. There’s even groups of coral that resemble things from past escapades!
In the end, the Plantars get involved in their normal shenanigans and get thrown out of the Aquarium. As they go to leave, though, Marcy realizes just how attached Anne’s gotten with them, and ultimately lets her go back with them to Wartwood, leading to an emotional reunion that almost left me in tears. And that msuic
The Bigger Mysteries
Now that all that’s out of the way, let’s dive into what I really want to talk about: everything that we learned about the mysteries of Amphibia!
Who’s In the Painting?
While the bulk of what we learned came in the second half of the episode, there’s one moment in the first part that I think is worth mentioning. While the kids are running from the ghosts, they find this old, torn-up painting. As they run by it, the camera lingers on this one shot:
If I’m right about this, then that fragment of the painting shows a younger King Andrias. Or at least one of his ancestors. As for the other being there, are they a frog or a toad? My first thought is that it was a younger Captain Grime or something. I don’t know, but something tells me that this is going to be important later on.
The Calamity Box’s Secrets
As I said before, this episode confirmed what many already suspected: the Calamity Box was designed to transport people to other worlds. Andrias’ ancestors used it thousands of years ago to travel to different dimensions, only for it to somehow end up on Earth. And those gems on it? They’re the key to its power, and have to be recharged at three separate temples in Amphibia.
What was most interesting to me wasn’t the box, though, but the gemstones on it. Take a look at the symbols and writing underneath each Gem: “Mind”, “Heart”, and “Strength/Will”. Each one corresponds to one of the three girls: Marcy is the mind, Anne the heart, and Sasha the strength and will. As I stated in my review of the season premiere, it appeared that Anne got some sort of power from the blue gem on the box. That power manifested itself as blue eyes when Anne was in trouble. When we saw Marcy save Sprig, her eyes glowed green.
In anime, glowing eyes are a sign of hidden powers. 
It all adds up: Anne, Marcy, and Sasha got magic powers from the Calamity Box. As to why, we don’t know.
Was the Box Abandoned for a Reason
So that music box is important, after all. And dangerous 
We know that the Calamity Box allows for interdimensional travel, but there’s still something that we don’t know yet: Why did Hop Pop’s book say it was dangerous? And why was it left on Earth?
If you’ll look at the page in King Andrias’ book, you’ll see the diagram showing how the Box can transport someone to other worlds. Amphibia’s in the center, surrounded by five other worlds, including Earth. But while the other four connect to Amphibia, Earth isn’t. That can’t be a mistake.
My conclusion: the Calamity Box was deliberatley abandoned on Earth in order to cut it off from Amphibia. The only reason anyone would go to such drastic measures would be to prevent something sinister from happening. Now that the Box is back in Amphibia, though, whatever calamity someone was trying to prevent may already be in motion.
Then there’s King Andrias. On the surface, he seems like a jolly giant, but I don’t fully trust him. Marcy’s introduction episode showed us that he knows more than he’s letting on. He has some sort of big plan in place, and it involves the Human Trio and the Box. As to whether it’s for good or evil, I don’t know.
The Story’s About to Change
I don’t when Amphibia will return with new episodes (aside from a Halloween special), but I do know this. When it does, I’m expecting some serious stuff to go down in the process. There’s a storm coming to Amphibia, and Anne and her friends are going to be right in the center of it.
THAT IS AWESOME!!! This is the kind of mystery and world-building that only the best shows can pull off! I am so glad I got into this show, and I can’t wait to see what the writers do with it next.
I Give “The Sleepover to End all Sleepovers” and “A Day at the Aquarium” a 4/5 and 4.5/5 each.
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Newtopia is Awesome!
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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Putting the “Pop” in Pop Culture!
