Get the popcorn, and an tissue or two, for the highly-anticipated conclusion of Amphibia.
The Hardest Thing
After last week’s extended episode clocking in at nearly an hour, it was a bit surprising to see the final episode of Amphibia clocking in at 29 minutes. That said, they used the time to their advantage to fill in every moment of the final episode, “The Hardest Thing,” with action, emotion, and closure. Perhaps, even a spin-off opportunity or two has been planted as well.
We pick up where we left off last week, with Andrias and the invasion being stopped before Sprig commented that the moon appears to be getting closer. That’s because the core helmet, previously worn by Darcy before Sasha cut the cable, took off and into the Amphibia sky. Andrias tells us (sadly and regrettably) that there have been a few pet projects before him and the Core is enacting an essentially poor sport last ditch effort to smash the moon into Amphibia, ending all life on the planet since it didn’t win.
Of course, a final battle of such magnitude will have to take much more supernatural ability, compared to the themes of unity we saw last week when the resistance army took down Andrias. Yeah, we saw some of the stone’s powers when Anne took on Andrias, but this is a whole moon coming at Amphibia! We need all three of the stones, so sure enough, Sasha and Marcy join Anne and get fully charged by the music box and live out the prophecy as told by the olms.
Mother Olm was on hand as well, sharing that the prophecy was more of a cry for help one day, as opposed to the perception that everyone will be okay since it’s an all-knowing tell-all of the future. That said, Anne is held back by Mother Olm who tells her that she may need to call upon the power of all the stones, but the person who does that may sacrifice their own life while doing so. Blatant foreshadowing. I like it. The girls fly up into the sky and take on the core and the moon. With these cool anime powers comes a full anime-style battle sequence, all set to the tune of “No Big Deal” from an earlier episode featuring Amphibia’s battle of the bands. Don’t believe me? Listen to this and then go back to the fight scene.
Clearly the three girls are winning the battle, as the Core decides to address King Andrias, who is on the ground and doing nothing to help his father’s side of the battle. After a bit of guilt-laying that we expect to see from Aldrich and the Core, Andrias sends a fleet of Frobots up to the moon. Grime, who was nearby and tried to stop him, asked what he was doing, with Andrias replying simply, “what I must.” OH TWIST! He ordered the Frobots to help the girls in ensuring the moon reverses course! Then, he crushes his crown in his hand, something he should have done a long time ago. Redemption!
The Core gets stronger and starts accelerating the moon faster, wearing out the robots, as well as Sasha and Marcy, who aren’t used to their powers like Anne is. Anne realizes what she must do and calls upon the stones. She explains to her friends that she likely won’t survive this and sends them safely back to the ground before she asks the stones for help, giving her great powers to stop the Moon-Core and exploding it to bits. She comes back to earth, like an old stone, and has just enough life left in her to say goodbye before turning to dust and blowing away.
Roll Credits.
Only joking of course, but there is an act break (and commercial depending on how you watch) and the series isn’t going to end like that. We then see Anne in another dimension on a floating rock with a little frog like house that she enters filled with pictures of her friends and family…and oddly, a colorful iMac from circa 1999. There, she is receiving messages from an interdimensional being that becomes aware that the colorful computer is no longer hip and cool, and makes itself something more recognizable to Anne….Domino! Hey, remember when Anne said Domino was the alpha and the omega, the key to traveling interdimensionally?
Domino explains that Anne did perish, but as the creator of the stones after all this time, Anne was the only one who used them for good. Therefore, it made a copy of Anne, who we see here and now, and offers her a job to take on their job of making sure the stones are protected. Anne gives quite a bit of exposition about how she has grown as a person, reflecting on her time in Amphibia, and says that she’s only 13. Domino agrees and says they’ve waited thousands of years to retire, what's another 70 or so years, and sends Anne back to Amphibia.
While everyone is mourning, Anne reappears steps away from where she disintegrated and re-greets everyone who is happy to see her. The three girls are ready to live out their lives alongside the residents of Amphibia when they see something glowing in Anne’s pocket. It’s three new stones that based on Marcy’s quick study of them, will have just enough power to get them home and will unlikely be able to get them back ever again. So, even though they were ready to stay, they know this isn’t their home and must go back to Earth. That means it’s time for a goodbye. Marcy says an emotional goodbye to Lady Olivia and Yunan, but more emotional than anything in the episode so far (at least to me) was Marcy saying goodbye to Andrias. Despite everything that happened with Andrias’ turn as the villain of the season, the two were friends at one point and this goes back to that. Marcy says goodbye to Andrias, which seems to catch him off guard, and he simply says “goodbye kiddo” while standing alongside Lady Olivia and Yunan.
Sasha and Grime share an emotional, but largely comedic goodbye where the two strongest warriors in all of toad-dom can’t stop crying. It’s Anne and the Plantars who are saved for the end, leaving not a dry eye in the house. Hop Pop even calls Anne his granddaughter. Anne also shares a moment with Sprig, leaving him her cell phone full of photos and memories. The group all hug as a family and say that if they’re meant to find each other again, they will.
The three girls head through the portal that was opened by the music box, and instead we the viewer are jumped into the near future in Amphibia. Panning over the fallen robots that have now been turned to homes, we see the residents all living together in harmony once again. Toads, Newts, and Frogs all beside each other. We even see Andrias outside in his yard. Then we land on Polly, now with legs and hair, a full frog, running through town gathering everyone for some kind of ceremony. We also see Sprig in his room drawing while going through photos on Anne’s phone. As he heads down for this ceremony, his girlfriend Ivy mentions that a new continent has been found in Amphibia and needs to be explored. in town, the residents have all gathered and new statue of Anne is unveiled. The best part of the statue? The plaque at the bottom that reads “We Miss You, Girl!”
We then flash forward to 10 years later on Earth, where the girls are now in their early 20s. We see Marcy arriving at LAX and being picked up by Sasha where they catch up. Remember, Marcy was being forced to move so she missed out on high school with Sasha and Anne. Sasha explains that in high school they were still good, but they grew a little distant since they found other friend groups. Sasha is now a psychologist and Marcy has web comics. While those jobs are perfect for them, they agree that they both love what Anne is up to. She is a herpetologist with an amphibian exhibit at the local aquarium. There, she is introducing students to a frog named after an old friend, Sprig.
As the students leave, Anne sees her old friends carrying birthday gifts for her. We hear a bit of a closing narration from Anne, saying sometimes you let things go, but the important things will always return. The words “The End” appear, and an extended version of the end credits roll (for real this time) where we see the Plantars home and other Amphibia landmarks. We then close on a new photo of the girls as adults, still labeled BFF. There are also drinks that correspond with the stone colors as well seen in the closing shot, and just before we fade to black, the word “Complete” appears in Thai in the corner of the screen.
You can catch the final episode of Amphibia now on Disney Channel or the DisneyNOW app. You can also look back on earlier seasons and episodes on Disney+.