Amphibia (TV Series) Escape to Amphibia (2022) User Reviews

The Lowest of Highs

[hridouane · 6/10 · 19 March 2022]

I think the only moments I thoroughly enjoyed here were Jan and Terri stealing the generator and the final 60 seconds of the episode. This episode seemed to fall into common tropes, and things that have already been discussed during 3A.

Although there are other things I want to mention, I feel like they should be obvious, this was one of the lackluster episodes of the show as an entirety, and I hope the crew steps up their game with the rest of the season, without Disney to ruin it for them.

Amphibia Season 3 Critique: It's Getting Worse

[joeysehn · 1/10 · 22 March 2022]

So, with that out of the way; here's why I think the reasons for considering this season unbelievably flawed go beyond excess filler episodes, and unfortunately, the most recent episode only suggests a increase in these flaws.

Part 1: Personally, I HATE THIS

This part will have some subjective issues and some objective issues. I'll be sure to call them out, as we get to them!

Subjectivity: The dialogue feels significantly worse in this season. I have no idea what it is, but the characters in past seasons delivered jokes really well, and even sounded like real people in many places. This season, idk if a certain writer left the team, or what, but in my opinion, if that's the case, it shows from simply the feel of the dialogue and joke delivery *insert example here* Objectively: Episode 301; the very beginning of this season was SO lighthearted, after the traumatic experience of Anne seeing her friend stabbed through her chest with a flaming sword. While I can excuse them not making Marcy's death permanent, what I can't excuse is ignoring the effect seeing your best friend die before your eyes would have on you. If that's too dark of a theme for a kids show, then so is having someone die in such a brutal matter (which btw, I think death of lovable people and the consequences/trauma it comes with is a GREAT theme to explore). True Colors made the viewer ready for a huge change in the way this story was told, but episodes 1-8 of this season basically ignore the events. Not just in the tone of the show, or in the fact that there are filler episodes throughout; but also in the attitudes of the characters.

They should all be frighteningly aware that their home is in danger, yet there isn't a single scene where the planters worry about their old friends.

Anne's best friends are in danger, yet there's no hint that she told her family about what happened to either of them until EPISODE NINE! Now, facing the consequences of waiting that long would have been great. Seeing anything from Sasha or Marcy's parents would've been great. Seeing more concern for the state of Amphibia and the well-being of Anne's friends from herself and the planters-that all would've been nice, too. But at the very least, in the plot they decide to randomly switch to instead, I'd just hope they could be consistent with that. Mainly, in the ways it connects to the world of Amphibia.

But... Subjectively: this most recent episode makes me genuinely feel like they don't care about making their characters intellectually consistent, or make their motivation make sense; they seem to only care about the emotional resonance between Anne and her parents. Which is a fine plot thread to have; although since the parents voice acting just isn't that good, it doesn't work for me as well as all the other emotional moments throughout Amphibia Season 1 and 2 (Anne and Marcy's Reunion, Sasha and Anne's fight, and Sprig talking about his parents are all examples of moments that actually made me cry. Season 3 is yet to do so).

But yea, as I said, the reason for Return to Amphibia being the episode that made me basically certain that this show is going in the direction I was worried about, was because of the final line; Anne asks, "what happened here?" After seeing the not-so-great shape of Amphibia.

So like, after everything that happened in True Colors, did she just expect to come back and everything to be fine? Maybe that line was said that way because she thought Andrias fell out of power? Well, one episode ago he was attacking her and the planters so that doesn't make much sense, either. No, this moment is just another example of how the writers treat True Colors as if it's an episode that never happened (to the main character of the show.) While the idea that this moment is an example of the show treating True Colors like it never happened could be called a subjective opinion, the fact that the writers pretend like Anne never experienced True colors is objective. Jeez, this section is getting complicated... But OBJECTIVELY: True Colors only happened to the world of the show, and the characters unawareness of it is more of an excuse for filler episodes, then anything else. Filler episodes can be great! ATLA, Gravity Falls, The Owl House, Amphibia Seasons 1 and 2, all have filler episodes that add to the plot, characters, and world, in ways that enhance their arcs, instead of spitting on the way previous seasons developed their characters. An episode not being 'plot relevant' should not be an excuse for an episode to make the plot inconsistent.

On top of this, I was about to really like the improvements that Escape From Amphibia made to some of my problems that I haven't mentioned yet, including the government agents not discovering the planters for so long, even though a picture was taken of them, right when they went through the portal. And I could've given the episode like a 8 out of 10 if the last line was simply changed to something like, "What has Andrias done?" So, it shows that Anne is at least aware of the main villains existence-like, maybe she wasn't expecting him to go so far, so that was the reason for the line, "what happened?" But when I first heard that line, all I could say back was, "True Colors happened, and the writers made you forget about it."

Part 2: What Could Have Been

I always loved the title of Joshua Fagan's video on True Colors: Subverting Escapism; and I want to go even further with the themes he talked about, right here. Hey Josh, I doubt you're watching, but rewatching your video inspired me to make this one, so...hey, again!

Regardless, the journey of Amphibia 1-2 concluding with True Colors revealed a theme of the show, that I truly believe the writers wanted to explore. However, I fear the network may have had other plans for the show.

This theme can best be summarized with the words, "Subverting Escapism." Amphibia was a show with lighthearted jokes, and a plethora of filler; but at its core, it took the themes of growth and trauma very seriously, for a time.

Anne's fight with Sasha was still haunting her all throughout the second season, up until the moment that she saw her, again. Marcy's betrayal was worse then Sasha's, and ended with Anne thinking she was dead. This moment subverted escapism. It escaped the concept of escaping from reality, by forcing its viewers and characters to face the brutality of reality.

...I know it's a show about talking frogs, okay?

But even those frogs have realistic emotions and generational traumas! Heck, fight me on this, comments: That two minute clip of Sprig revealing the story of his mom, was just as emotional an exploration of generational trauma as Encanto!

But nowadays, Amphibia is sacrificing real emotions for nothing but humor. I mean, when was the last time Anne and the frogs had a genuinely emotional moment, with each other?

Yeah! It was with Hop Pop, on the chess board, in Marcy's temple-Season 2b took its emotional plot threads seriously, in like seven different episodes.

But even in the episodes where Season 3 tries to, like Olivia and Yunan, something feels off about the characters. Again, like just listen to this Marcy line: "as well" line Versus this Marcy line: find really cute season 2 Marcy line And tell me there's no difference in the quality of dialogue. It's a simple but genuinely story breaking problem, when the characters that we've come to care about have so many moments when they don't feel like themselves. That's not to say they never do, in season 3, but there's like at least one moment per episode when they don't. And when they do, the only people I can really credit are the animators and voice actors.

Probably the most heartbreaking scene in season 3, and one that expands upon Amphibia's "Subverting Escapism" theme is Marcy's brief scream. It's surrounded by a sorta mediocre Andrias speech, *Insert subpar evil laughter here* but the actual Darcy conversion itself is super powerful, and...also, not.

Because throughout this whole episode, all you can think about is the scene where Marcy was impaled through the chest, and wonder; is anyone gonna mention that? Or are we gonna just put this girl through more and more torture, and that'll be it? That's how we subvert escapism?

But Amphibia was already successfully subverting escapism in late season 1. Because when things like Darcy and Marcy's death and kids going missing, when they happened in season 1; they had consequences. But, am I the only one worried that these consequences won't carry the same weight?

I just feel like I'm going to hear Anne find Darcy and say, "Marcy, what happened to you?" without even a moment of being happy or surprised that she's okay. It's little details that seeing the silhouette of her friend, from the distance, calling out to her with teary eyes, and murmuring out the words, "I thought you were dead," only to find out the truth is worse. But now, the only way they could effectively pull off that scene, while also fixing the big season 3 problem, is by giving Anne like a whole ass monologue, that Darcy doesn't turn around for; too be fair, the contrivance of Darcy allowing Anne to speak wouldn't matter to me nearly as much as everything else that's happened this season. But yea, the ratings for season 3A are just proof that you shouldn't always trust IMDb reviews.