#not what he seems

Continuing with Amphibia liveblog.

I watched “Escape to Amphibia.” It may not be fully fair to compare it to “Not What He Seems” in Gravity Falls - especially since I haven’t finished Amphibia, and especially since different shows will have different narrative desires. I’m going to compare them anyway. I hope people forgive me for comparing apples to crab apples.

“Escape to Amphibia” appears to be the major action turning point, the drama, the reveal, the showdown where lots of which has been built up breaks loose. We’ve been waiting long for the return to Amphibia. Here it is. That’s similar to “Not What He Seems,” where everything breaks loose, and we get the season-and-a-half built up reveal of what Stan is hiding and who the Author is. Functionally, it seems these two episodes intend to operate the same way.

However, “Not What He Seems” comes off better from a satisfaction standpoint. This is because it’s the buildup of mysteries that we’ve always had. Literally from Episode 1. We’ve wanted to know who the Author is. We’ve wanted to know what Stan is up to. GF has always promised that this would be in the scope of the show. Fans are at their wit’s end to get the explosion and reveal.

But that isn’t the case with Amphibia. We didn’t get introduced to Mr. X, a major antagonist of S3, until S3. We didn’t expect an urban-centered showdown with a group of friends we’d never met ‘til S3. So it can’t compare to the excitement, investment, relief, and thrill of “Not What He Seems.” It doesn’t feel as natural or as much of a payoff.

Now, both shows introduce FBI agents late in the game. GF works because they aren’t main antagonists. They don’t overdo their presence. Their simplicity is their strength. They’re more “background” and means to an ends (rather than the flamboyant personality and direct, ongoing antagonist Mr. X is).

In GF, the FBI reinforce what the heart the show has always been - character relationship investments (Stan, Dipper, and Mabel’s love and trust). They add tension to the mysteries central to the show. But Mr. X is both too colorful a personality, distracting us from the emotional tensions Amphibia introduced us to (Anne, Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly’s love for each other, which wasn’t touched in “Escape to Amphibia”), and Mr. X is too “basic” - a straightforward villain type. So the FBI becomes more intrusive to the narrative of Amphibia, rather than reinforcing the emotional centers.

To be clear, Mr. X would be a cool character in other shows. I could see him in many cartoons where people would fall in love with him. I would, too! But he doesn’t match the tone of a show that was initially about the rural, daily lives of talking frogs.

And to be clear, the group coming together to bust the frogs out of the FBI compound was fun. It was cool to see everyone we’d befriended in S3 become relevant. It also highlights the diversity Amphibia S3 has intentionally included (ex: racial diversity, and intentionally placing women in scientific positions). The diversity feels natural and nicely done. For instance, Amphibia has always been a story where women are central and important, and they set it up that way with Anne and her two girl friends. I loved that. The trio of characters isn’t the overdone “two boys and a girl” cliche that drives me batty. It’s about three girls, which feels very real to me. I am always stoked when children’s media have girls’s relationships highlighted and central.

Now. Despite this being a complete tonal shift, I admit I loved the Star Wars vibe when Anne fought the FBI agents with the pseudo-lightsaber. It just looked cool. Black suit. Red saber. Heck yeah. Also, it feels more relevant, not just because Anne and her parents sparred earlier in the episode (so dorky! so pure!), but because we’ve seen Anne fighting with swords before. It’s an established skill she has. It’s a skill she’s grown in Amphibia, though if the show had shown the learning curve more, this moment might have been even MORE satisfying. But it was fun! It hit at guilty pleasures, so I couldn’t complain.

The moment where Anne opened the portal with her blue powers was epic and cool (the blue powers I’ve always liked, btw - well-established magic in this world, plus tying back to the music box we’ve always known about and wanted to learn about). And when the frogs stared out at a changed Amphibia, it was heartbreaking. It shows there’s no going back to the idyllic norm of S1. That makes me sad because S1 is what got me invested in the show, but it’s extremely well-done, and I give kudos to the writers for shoving wrenching emotions in.

If I read this episode right - and I’ve only been writing qualifiers to be careful - it’s a good analogue to “Not What He Seems,” and maybe I can write a more confident, robust analysis later.

P. S. Sprig with his red hair tuft and beanie - his human clothes - were always real cute.

P. P. S. I ship Hop Pop x Avocados.