Take the oath. Join the adventure. Or...
I got so caught up in proving I was smart enough to win, I couldn't see what I was about to lose.
Anne, Marcy and the Plantars travel to an ancient temple that could hold the key to getting Anne and Marcy home, but only if they can survive the temple's deadly challenges!— Marcy Wu
Full Recap
Anne and the Plantars are enjoying the morning having chocolate pancakes, made from choco-bugs, when Sprig suddenly makes everything awkward by reminding everyone about the events two days prior. While Anne has forgiven Hop Pop about hiding the Calamity Box, they still find it difficult to discuss certain things with each other. Thankfully, this is broken up by the arrival of Marcy who announces that she has information on the first temple they must venture to to recharge the first Calamity Box gem. She explains that the temple is full of deadly traps and that no one has been able to surpass them. This actually excites Marcy, but Anne tells her that she has a habit of getting "lost in the zone" and tunes out everything else, much to her safety. Marcy brushes this aside as they arrive at the temple, via her sparrow steed, and are surprised to find what looks like an outhouse nearby the place.
Upon entering, and after Anne and Hop Pop exchange an awkward conversation, the group end up in a large cube shaped room where Anne discovers what looks like a puzzle cube. Upon holding it, the barer gets encompassed in a magnetic bubble. She gives the box to Marcy who uses it to solve the puzzle. However, whenever she messes with it, it causes the room to turn and alter, harming Anne and the Plantars. Marcy manages to solve it and the door opens up with Marcy excitedly rushing into the next room and disregarding her friends' well being. The next room has a floor of colored tiles. The group quickly learn that the pink tiles are fire traps and blue tiles are spike traps. The green tiles are safe, but there is only two of them. Marcy jumps onto one and beckons someone else to hop on the other.
Anne and Hop Pop both calmly argue with one another about who should jump on the green tile. While Hop Pop claims he should do it to redeem harming Anne, Anne feels she should do it as Hop Pop has suffered enough. Anne forcibly does so and manages to land on the tile, opening the door to the next room. Anne and Hop Pop continue arguing up until the next room which contains a chess-like game called flip wart. Marcy just so happens to be an expert at the game, but upon setting up the pieces, Polly falls through the floor and ends up as the actual flip wart piece on a bigger board. Realizing that they are to be the actual pieces, Sprig and Hop Pop are also transferred to the big board while Anne is transferred to the opposing side, much to everyone's shock. Marcy uses her skills to try and avoid harming her friends, but the game cheats and Anne ends up harming Hop Pop.
As Anne unwillingly chases Hop Pop across the board, Anne finally breaks down. She is not mad at Hop Pop anymore, but wants to have time to herself. Hop Pop understands telling her to take as much time as she needs. Realizing that she has put her friends in danger, Marcy tries to forfeit and rushes the board before using Sprig as a projectile and destroying her own piece, ending the game. Marcy believes that she has lost her chance at recharging the gem. The temple leads them out with glowing green arrows. However, the group discover that the arrows are leading them to the outhouse. It turns out that the outhouse is actually the recharging station and that Marcy learning humility was the test. Marcy places the gem on the pedestal and the green energy is recharged into it, with the green also draining from Marcy's eyes. The gem proceeds to point them in the next direction as the group plan to take a break for the time being before heading to their destination.
Back in Newtopia, General Yunan tells King Andrias that political situations are worsening, the Toad Lords plan on meeting and Grime is still on the loose. Andrias gets a message that Marcy was successful in her mission, and he ominously leaves the throne room and a confused Yunan behind. He goes down a tunnel into a strange room where he informs someone that the prophecy is being undone and that "we will have our revenge"; the recipient is revealed to be a large multi-eyed creature.
*Cue happy credits music*
Upon entering, and after Anne and Hop Pop exchange an awkward conversation, the group end up in a large cube shaped room where Anne discovers what looks like a puzzle cube. Upon holding it, the barer gets encompassed in a magnetic bubble. She gives the box to Marcy who uses it to solve the puzzle. However, whenever she messes with it, it causes the room to turn and alter, harming Anne and the Plantars. Marcy manages to solve it and the door opens up with Marcy excitedly rushing into the next room and disregarding her friends' well being. The next room has a floor of colored tiles. The group quickly learn that the pink tiles are fire traps and blue tiles are spike traps. The green tiles are safe, but there is only two of them. Marcy jumps onto one and beckons someone else to hop on the other.
Anne and Hop Pop both calmly argue with one another about who should jump on the green tile. While Hop Pop claims he should do it to redeem harming Anne, Anne feels she should do it as Hop Pop has suffered enough. Anne forcibly does so and manages to land on the tile, opening the door to the next room. Anne and Hop Pop continue arguing up until the next room which contains a chess-like game called flip wart. Marcy just so happens to be an expert at the game, but upon setting up the pieces, Polly falls through the floor and ends up as the actual flip wart piece on a bigger board. Realizing that they are to be the actual pieces, Sprig and Hop Pop are also transferred to the big board while Anne is transferred to the opposing side, much to everyone's shock. Marcy uses her skills to try and avoid harming her friends, but the game cheats and Anne ends up harming Hop Pop.
As Anne unwillingly chases Hop Pop across the board, Anne finally breaks down. She is not mad at Hop Pop anymore, but wants to have time to herself. Hop Pop understands telling her to take as much time as she needs. Realizing that she has put her friends in danger, Marcy tries to forfeit and rushes the board before using Sprig as a projectile and destroying her own piece, ending the game. Marcy believes that she has lost her chance at recharging the gem. The temple leads them out with glowing green arrows. However, the group discover that the arrows are leading them to the outhouse. It turns out that the outhouse is actually the recharging station and that Marcy learning humility was the test. Marcy places the gem on the pedestal and the green energy is recharged into it, with the green also draining from Marcy's eyes. The gem proceeds to point them in the next direction as the group plan to take a break for the time being before heading to their destination.
Back in Newtopia, General Yunan tells King Andrias that political situations are worsening, the Toad Lords plan on meeting and Grime is still on the loose. Andrias gets a message that Marcy was successful in her mission, and he ominously leaves the throne room and a confused Yunan behind. He goes down a tunnel into a strange room where he informs someone that the prophecy is being undone and that "we will have our revenge"; the recipient is revealed to be a large multi-eyed creature.
*Cue happy credits music*
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Marcy accidentally calls Polly and Sprig "Penny and Sprout".
- Booby Trap: The second challenge is a floor with colored tiles. Stepping on the red tiles triggers a flamethrower, while stepping on the blue ones gets one crushed by a mallet. Only the green tiles are safe, there are only two of them, and one person has to be standing on each one at once for the room to be solved.
- The Bus Came Back: General Yunan finally returns, having survived being knocked into the river by Sasha and Grime back in "Toadcatcher".
- Chekhov's Gun: The "outhouse" seen early on turns out to be where the first gem of the music box needs to go in order to be recharged.
- Continuity Nod: "Flipwart" was first mentioned by Grime in "Reunion" when he was complimenting Sasha's intelligence. It is finally revealed here to be a chess-like game.
- Conveniently Timed Distraction: Marcy's message to King Andrias arrives just in time to cut General Yunnan off before she can tell Andrias that Grime is working with a human.
- De-power: When the gem is being charged, the green glow in Marcy's eyes drains, implying she's losing the power likely imbued into her by the gem.
- Easily Forgiven: Zig-Zagged and Deconstructed. It's clear from the beginning of the episode, that although Anne claims to have forgiven Hop Pop for lying to her about hiding the Calamity Box, she still is uncomfortable about the deception. Anne eventually admits that learning about Hop Pop's deception and his reasons for doing so means that she isn't as much of the honorary Plantar she thought she was, eventually causing friction between them. Played straighter by the end of the episode though. Although she's still upset about Hop Pop's actions for lying and hiding the Calamity Box from her, Anne begins the road to forgiving him as she accepts his apology for putting a lot of pressure on her when he kept asking her what he needed to do in order to fix things between them.
- Eldritch Abomination: King Andrias' master is some kind of colossal 13-eyed mechanical creature that has the potential to spell doom for all of Amphibia.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Played for Laughs. Polly calls Anne a traitor when she is forced to play in the opposing side of the giant checker board.
- Extra-Long Episode: This is the third episode of Season 2 to be 22 minutes long, and the fourth one after "Reunion", "Marcy at the Gates", and "The Shut-In!".
- Extremely Short Timespan: Every event in the flashback where Marcy was "in the zone" while giving Anne a hard time, just happened in a span of single day.
- Eyebrows Burned Off: After Anne dodges a fire trap, she quips that she thinks she lost an eyebrow.
- Foreshadowing: When Anne questions whether they should go through with the flipwart game since it'll be dangerous, Marcy's response is "You wanna get home, right? Then we've gotta play, or we'll never recharge the stone." This foreshadows The Reveal in "True Colors" that Marcy doesn't want to go back to Earth and had the box recharged with the intention of going on multiversal adventures forever.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: While Anne has forgiven Hop Pop for hiding the music box, the anger and betrayal she felt is still present, not helped by Sprig bringing it up at every opportunity. Also, Hop Pop knows that Anne is still feeling angry and hurt with him and wants to make it up to her. When he asks her what he needs to do in order to fix things between them, Anne doesn't know but does tell Hop Pop that she needs time. Hearing this, Hop Pop understands Anne's confusion and encourages her to take as much time she needs, which is a start in patching things up between them.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Anne and the gang enter the temple lobby, the wall partially shows an ancient mural of three familiar figures fighting a dangerous creature.
- Giant Flyer: Marcy arrives at Wartwood on a giant sparrow named Joe.
- Glowing Eyes: Marcy's eyes flash green again in this episode. The glow drains from them as the gem is being recharged.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Stinger reveals that Andrias is working for some...thing. He implies that unlocking the temples plays into the revenge scheme of him and his master.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: By the end of the episode, it's revealed that the charging station for the gem was the weirdly conspicuous outhouse at the entrance of the Temple, the Temple directing them to it after Marcy passes the third trial.
- Human Chess: The final challenge of the temple is a life-sized version of Flipwart, a game that is very reminiscent of chess. Anne and the Plantars are forced to be pieces in the game, with Anne getting assigned to the opposing side and made to attack Hop Pop.
- Immediate Sequel: This episode continues from "After the Rain", with Marcy arriving the next day to inform Anne and the Plantars that it's time to go to the first temple to power up the first gem.
- Innocently Insensitive: Marcy spends a majority of the episode lost in her zone, which unintentionally puts her friends in danger several times, and ignores Anne and Hop Pop's constant bickering and does nothing to resolve it. Justified, as she does not know the reason why the two are fighting and was never told why when she asked. But she did clearly promise them that wouldn't let them down, and she is horrified after seeing how much pain she inflicted onto the Plantar family but mostly to Anne, who still has an emotional breakdown following her fight with Hop Pop from the previous episode, as she immediately snaps out of her zone, and willingly throws the game to save the frog family, and her best friend.
- Sprig also has a few moments of this, such as bringing up the events of the previous episode, unintentionally making Anne and Hop-Pop feel uncomfortable around each other.
- Interspecies Romance: Joe Sparrow briefly shows off for Bessie, who blushes in response.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Marcy isn't all too happy after seeing the trouble she has caused due to her arrogance and being too focused on doing her job, which results in Anne yelling out loud to call for her attention.
- No-Harm Requirement: This turns out to the true goal for passing the temple's Hidden Purpose Test for any group that enters. The temple presents anyone group that enters with a game of Human Chess that uses a portion of the party as living chess pieces. In reality, it's Unwinnable by Design because the Black side's Wart will dodge any attempt to checkmate. The real goal of this test is to realize that the well being of one's comarades is more important than trying to win an arbitrary contest and the one controlling the white pieces needs to realize this and figure out to concede the game before their friends get too badly hurt and kill each other. Fortunately, Marcy realizes in time she was too focused on winning and with some help from Sprig, manages to flip her one Wart king. This stops the game before Anne is forced to kill Hop Pop and the temple directs her to the chamber where she can charge the green gem of the box.
- Rage Breaking Point: Hop Pop is remorseful and apologetic with Anne for most of the episode, right up until Anne implies Hop Pop doesn't consider her family, at that point he becomes angry and starts to argue back with Anne.
- Rubik's Cube: International Genius Symbol: The first challenge involves a Rubix cube-like puzzle. For added difficulty, the pieces also move out of the box shape. The room shifts in the same way the cube is manipulated, tossing Anne and the Plantars every which way while Marcy is too focused on the box to notice. Marcy solves it intuitively in about a minute.note
- Rule of Symbolism: During the Flipwart game, the Plantars are put on one team, while Anne is put on the opposing team. To be a little more specific, the Plantars are put on the white team, while Anne is on the black team. And since Anne feels like she isn’t really part of the Plantar family given that Hop Pop lied to her about the Calamity Box. Therefore, she feels like the literal Black Sheep of her adoptive family.
- Secret Test of Character: The last challenge of the temple turns out to be this. The Flipwart game is unwinnable because the opposing Wart can't be flipped, and the true test is to be willing to quit for the good of your companions before the game forces them to kill each other.
- Sequel Hook:
- Anne decides to take a break before going to the second temple, which won't be for five more episodes.
- General Yunan mentions that all the Toad leaders seem to be gathering.
- Andrias is revealed to be carrying out the orders of another, who seeks to "undo" a prophecy of some sort and get revenge on those who wronged them.
- Shaking the Rump: During the Flipwart game, after cheating Marcy's capture attempt, the temple's wart piece shakes and slaps its rump to further taunt her.
- Shout-Out:
- The promotional image is a reference to The Queen's Gambit, also about a young, female chess prodigy.
- During the Montage of Marcy being too focused on her work to notice everything around her, one scene shows Anne and Sasha in a play as Peter Pan and Captain Hook.
- The game Marcy is playing during said montage is a parody of Flappy Bird.
- The last puzzle is like the Wizard Chess scene from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone except the moral is the exact opposite.
- The "One Hour Later" time card looks a lot like the time cards from SpongeBob SquarePants (minus the vocal narration of course).
- Title-Only Opening: This is the first episode of Season 2 to have the theme shortened to only the show's title, and the third one after "Toad Tax"/"Prison Break" and "Reunion".
- Unwinnable by Design: The final test is impossible to win, due to the opposing side's Wart evading all attempts to flip it. The only way to end the game is for Marcy to flip her own Wart before her friends are forced to kill each other.
- Visual Pun: The outhouse is tied to the temple, making it a think tank.
- Wham Episode: It turns out King Andrias is working with some kind of Mechanical Abomination, seeking "revenge" and plotting to "undo" a prophecy.
- Wham Shot: When Marcy recharges the green gem, her eyes flash green... and are then drained of said green. This might have something to do with the gems losing their power.
