Some Long Overdue Thoughts on Amphibia

 

"It's over. It's finally over."

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So... it's been a very long time since I've written about Amphibia, huh? I feel bad, perpetually, about it. I know the coverage I did for over fifty episodes of the show, spanning almost two years, was something that quite a few people really enjoyed, even people who actually worked on the show, and I still think about that. And that fed into a lot of guilt, because at a certain point... I didn't know what else I could say about the show anymore. And so I didn't. But now, having seen the full arc of the show, I thought I'd re-emerge from the shadows and share a few final thoughts about Season 3 and the series in general.

Up until the finale, my thoughts remained on the same track that fed into my dissatisfaction with covering Amphibia. What I love about being able to write about a show is the chance to examine the ebb and flow of a show that is always trying to explore, deconstruct, and reconsider its identity. I love those sorts of growing pains, and that was something that made Amphibia so alluring to me early on: it was far from a flawless show. It was indelibly charming, as it continued to be to the very end, but it also wasn't a show that had the most singular identity, and it relied all too frequently on basic formulas in its writing whenever the narrative didn't call for something more involved, which was often. "Reunion," then, was this amazing game-changer for me, because it felt like Amphibia was stepping up... but Season 2, in all of its very cautious refinements, didn't really maintain that momentum. 

That takes us to Season 3, hot off the heels of yet another phenomenal season finale ("True Colors"), with the status quo changing in a particularly exciting way by severing Anne from the rest of her friends and sending her and the Plantars back to Earth. It's an amazing conceit to revitalize the show, as well as making a case for how much Anne has changed since the last time she was home, but the show, again, doesn't always make the most of that. There are some particularly wonderful outings, sure—I think back on the episodes that explore Anne's evolving dynamic with her parents the most—but even with stakes rising, Amphibia was keen to deploy superfluous fare, and the rotating door of new supporting characters going in and out of relevancy within the narrative made it feel unclear how individual developments should be weighted and taken. 

Up until this point, I remained frustrated. There were always those inklings of brilliant potential, and at the drop of a pin, Amphibia could do something truly moving and amazing... but then it would just return to the standard fare, never bad but rarely rewarding. I think in my reviews I've talked a lot about Amphibia's search for an identity, and it's hard for me to say, even three seasons deep into the show, if it ever really found a unique one. It feels like a lot of how Amphibia presents itself, in the style of its writing, human, and overall narrative, was carefully crafted around the most amicable traits of its contemporaries. While that's perhaps somewhat cruel to say, it remains hard for me, even now, to find a way to describe Amphibia that makes it sound truly singular, and that lack of a selling point I could use beyond "Yeah, it's pretty good" just hung over me. That's not a bad sentiment to have at the start of the series, and I was excited to see where it could grow from there... but the show never really pushed past that. It preferred to keep things cool and complacent, its risks too calculated for their own good.

I actually tried to write something about the show around the midway point of Season 3, and I got pretty far into it, but it felt like an untenable situation—I just wasn't happy. I didn't know what more to expect from the show or what more to ask of it, and I sort of gave up on being anything but pessimistic, even though I continued watching. But here's the thing: that final stretch of Season 3, while still not perfect... it gets there. It really does. The show recognizes the significance of where the narrative is at and the tension surrounding everything and it stops messing around. We still have some struggles over what's essential and what isn't—for instance, a lot of time goes into assembling an army that we then barely see in the final two episodes—but the things I valued most about the show started to assert themselves. Most significantly to me, we saw candid moments between Anne and other characters, especially Sasha, that imbued the narrative with a certain humanity that's always been Amphibia's greatest asset. Those moments of reconciliation reaped the greatest benefits from how carefully choreographed of a show this is; Amphibia keeps its tabs on literally everything, and that means it can swing things around and surprise you at a moment's notice with impeccable nuance. 

It was in that vein that the series finale, "The Hardest Thing," absolutely stunned me, and it's why I'm writing all of this in the first place. I was so scared that Amphibia would end the show by doing something predictable, since predictability has always been one of its greater struggles. I was scared that everything would wrap up in some big, mega-happy ending where everything is okay, where none of the tension meant anything, where nothing truly changes and so nothing is truly felt. But none of that happens, because again: Amphibia keeps its tabs on literally everything. It's seen how its characters have grown, the connections they've formed, the pain that they've gone through and the different worlds that they're torn between, and in "The Hardest Thing's" final half, it wields that in a truly moving and bittersweet way. 

Years after the events of the series, Anne, Sasha, and Marcy have all moved on from their lives with the new things they've learned about themselves. They're not as close as they once were, especially Anne, and I think that mirrors reality in a really curious and thoughtful manner. People change overtime, and in Anne's case, she finally knows who she is. Sasha and Marcy always sort of have, and they've simply taken that knowledge and pushed it in a positive direction (Sasha is a therapist, and Marcy has a successful webcomic), but Anne... she's finally figured out what she wants. And all she wants is to work at the aquarium as the resident "frog lady," paying dues to her past but making the most of her present. Likewise, back in Amphibia, everyone continues to honor Anne and she remains in their memories, but the world has continued on. After all, even if the story of Amphibia is the story of their time together, it was only really a few months of all of the characters' lives. Things continue to happen in life, and the show reflects that back.

Is the finale so amazing that it completely undoes all of the difficulties I've had leading up to that point? Of course not. I don't know how much this show will endure, but that's also a lofty expectation to have of any show. For all of the ups and downs I've had watching the show, though, the moments of joy and frustation... it's the perfect way to end my journey with Amphibia. 

End of ramble.

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