Hey, writing this as a massive Amphibia fan that sorta just happened across this review.
I definitely understand most of your conclusions about it based on what you watched, since you only watched half of the finale. Amphibias series finale was split into two episodes, “All In” which is the heart of the finale and “The Hardest Thing” which serves as more of a victory lap and tying up loose ends.
Since I’ve never read your blog before, I don’t know what your stance on this is, but I do know that most of the intended depth of the finale was put into part one while all the goofy bits they wanted to throw in for fun were reserved for part two.
I definitely encourage giving it another shot, at least with the full finale instead of just the second half. Amphibia is easily one of my favorite tv series of all time, but the second half of its series finale certainly doesn’t paint it in a good light on its own.
There can often be a judgment call when trying to decide what constitutes a "finale". Do both parts of a two-part finale count? What if the two parts were broadcast a week apart? What if they were broadcast as a TV movie but split into two parts on streaming, or vice versa?
Of course, it's even more difficult to answer such questions when you're trying to avoid reading anything about the show. My brain seems to have a direct port for words; I instantly absorb them without making any effort to read them. It is exceedingly difficult just to click through to an episode in a streaming service without accidentally glimpsing the blurb describing the episode, and the merest glimpse is enough to read and understand it. I've gotten better at deliberately looking at a part of the screen that I know the blurb won't be on, to avoid that.
But that also means that I can't *afford* to look up what part of the finale is actually the finale. If I try to look it up, I risk accidentally seeing a synopsis of the episode, and learning everything about it.
So really I just take the last "unit" that the streaming service calls an "episode" and hope for the best :)
If you're right about the structure of Amphibia's finale - and I have no reason not to believe you, because I have no way of knowing - then it makes sense that this episode doesn't represent the best the show has to offer. But that's the risk I take with every finale...
it's always nice to read your blog, but unfortunately this is yust a finale that makes no real sense or carries any waight if you didn't watch the series, kinda like I feel about the Star Wars rebels finale, but ^2. Setting aside animation (that I liked in the show) and the music (that I really liked in the show) your conclusions are perfectly understandable, coming from your point of view, but a lot of what happens really relies on everything that came before to gain meaning and cap off an amazing series with an amazing finale. I will not go into boring and usless detail about it, but the finale getting 9/10 on accessibility shows how little it gave away about the characters. "The good guys are good. The evil guys are evil. Some minor characters might have formerly been on one side or the other", for exemple, the main character's (human) friends have spent most of the series being the villains, and yes, stopping the core was indeed the only time they saved Amphibia, which never needed saving before that conflict emerged, all of this, togeder with a surprising layer of themes, is, of course, completely unfathomable from the final episode alone, that consists of nothing but payoffs and a denouement. The series is mostely a commedy, and a good one at that, so I think that you should give it a try with your kids anyway, but that's just my opinion.
It's always nice to read you, and I wish you a good day.
You know, I did get the tiniest suspicion that one of her friends used to be a bad guy, but it wasn't strong enough that I felt confident mentioning it. That's very interesting.
And you've made me curious now: if saving Amphibia was only the plot of the final episode, what was the rest of the series about?
season one was About Anne getting to know her frog family, adapting to the new envarioment and being accepted by the frogs, it ended with one of her friends finding her and a confrontation between the two. Season two was about Anne and her frogs travelling to the capital of Amphibia at first, upon getting there she meet again with the other friend of hers, now living with the king. After some episodes spent in the capital the king told them how they could reactivate the music box to get back on hearth, kikstarting a quest that lasted till the end of the season. In the end of season two a lot happened all at once, suffice to say, the king come out as evil and took the music box, Anne found out for the first time about the powers and got stranded on Earth with the frogs, while her friends stayed in Amphibia, the first having a change of heart after stabbing Anne in the back one too many times and the other beng taken prisoner (later possessed) by the core and the king. Season three was about Anne reconnecting with her parents on Earth and looking for a way to return in Amphibia, while guiding her frog family through the human world, that being accomplished at halfway through the season, the last episodes are spent with Anne reconnecting with her former friend and building up to a confrontation with the king that had turned Amphibia in a toxic wasteland in order to build an army and invade Earth
Hey, writing this as a massive Amphibia fan that sorta just happened across this review.
I definitely understand most of your conclusions about it based on what you watched, since you only watched half of the finale. Amphibias series finale was split into two episodes, “All In” which is the heart of the finale and “The Hardest Thing” which serves as more of a victory lap and tying up loose ends.
Since I’ve never read your blog before, I don’t know what your stance on this is, but I do know that most of the intended depth of the finale was put into part one while all the goofy bits they wanted to throw in for fun were reserved for part two.
I definitely encourage giving it another shot, at least with the full finale instead of just the second half. Amphibia is easily one of my favorite tv series of all time, but the second half of its series finale certainly doesn’t paint it in a good light on its own.
There can often be a judgment call when trying to decide what constitutes a "finale". Do both parts of a two-part finale count? What if the two parts were broadcast a week apart? What if they were broadcast as a TV movie but split into two parts on streaming, or vice versa?
Of course, it's even more difficult to answer such questions when you're trying to avoid reading anything about the show. My brain seems to have a direct port for words; I instantly absorb them without making any effort to read them. It is exceedingly difficult just to click through to an episode in a streaming service without accidentally glimpsing the blurb describing the episode, and the merest glimpse is enough to read and understand it. I've gotten better at deliberately looking at a part of the screen that I know the blurb won't be on, to avoid that.
But that also means that I can't *afford* to look up what part of the finale is actually the finale. If I try to look it up, I risk accidentally seeing a synopsis of the episode, and learning everything about it.
So really I just take the last "unit" that the streaming service calls an "episode" and hope for the best :)
If you're right about the structure of Amphibia's finale - and I have no reason not to believe you, because I have no way of knowing - then it makes sense that this episode doesn't represent the best the show has to offer. But that's the risk I take with every finale...
it's always nice to read your blog, but unfortunately this is yust a finale that makes no real sense or carries any waight if you didn't watch the series, kinda like I feel about the Star Wars rebels finale, but ^2. Setting aside animation (that I liked in the show) and the music (that I really liked in the show) your conclusions are perfectly understandable, coming from your point of view, but a lot of what happens really relies on everything that came before to gain meaning and cap off an amazing series with an amazing finale. I will not go into boring and usless detail about it, but the finale getting 9/10 on accessibility shows how little it gave away about the characters. "The good guys are good. The evil guys are evil. Some minor characters might have formerly been on one side or the other", for exemple, the main character's (human) friends have spent most of the series being the villains, and yes, stopping the core was indeed the only time they saved Amphibia, which never needed saving before that conflict emerged, all of this, togeder with a surprising layer of themes, is, of course, completely unfathomable from the final episode alone, that consists of nothing but payoffs and a denouement. The series is mostely a commedy, and a good one at that, so I think that you should give it a try with your kids anyway, but that's just my opinion.
It's always nice to read you, and I wish you a good day.
You know, I did get the tiniest suspicion that one of her friends used to be a bad guy, but it wasn't strong enough that I felt confident mentioning it. That's very interesting.
And you've made me curious now: if saving Amphibia was only the plot of the final episode, what was the rest of the series about?
season one was About Anne getting to know her frog family, adapting to the new envarioment and being accepted by the frogs, it ended with one of her friends finding her and a confrontation between the two. Season two was about Anne and her frogs travelling to the capital of Amphibia at first, upon getting there she meet again with the other friend of hers, now living with the king. After some episodes spent in the capital the king told them how they could reactivate the music box to get back on hearth, kikstarting a quest that lasted till the end of the season. In the end of season two a lot happened all at once, suffice to say, the king come out as evil and took the music box, Anne found out for the first time about the powers and got stranded on Earth with the frogs, while her friends stayed in Amphibia, the first having a change of heart after stabbing Anne in the back one too many times and the other beng taken prisoner (later possessed) by the core and the king. Season three was about Anne reconnecting with her parents on Earth and looking for a way to return in Amphibia, while guiding her frog family through the human world, that being accomplished at halfway through the season, the last episodes are spent with Anne reconnecting with her former friend and building up to a confrontation with the king that had turned Amphibia in a toxic wasteland in order to build an army and invade Earth