The gang's back together. For better or worse...
Anne and Marcy need the help of an old friend to survive a volcanic temple that holds the final key to returning home.
Full Recap
TBA...
Tropes:
- Befriending the Bullied: Sasha became friends with Anne and Marcy after she (tried to) defend them from two bullies on the playground.
- Bishie Sparkle: Sasha upon greeting the girls after saving them from the lava worms.
- Bully Hunter: The flashback in the beginning of the episode shows that Sasha would go after bullies who picked on kids. She wasn't very good at it, but A for effort.
- Call-Back: Sasha says "We came as soon as we heard," and Anne questions the "we" part, just like in "Anne of the Year". Cue Grime entering the scene.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Zig-zagged; while Anne, Marcy, and Sasha aren't too bothered by the heat of the volcano besides some sweating due to being warm-blooded humans, Grime and the Plantars are severely dehydrated.
- Cooperation Gambit: Sasha and Grime help solve the temple because Marcy can get them into Newtopia and to the king.
- Deus Exit Machina: Even though the Plantars bring Frobo on the mission, he is told to stay with the exhausted Joe Sparrow while they clear the temple, so the only thing he actually helps them with is opening the door. Ironically, because of him being both a robot impervious to heat and having the greatest physical strength of the group, he would have been perfect for helping them solve the temple. But because Marcy and Anne had tackled the tricker Wit and Heart temples first, they overestimated the complexity of how the Strength temple would challenge them, leading them to leave Frobo behind as Joe's carer because he's mentally not much smarter than Polly.
- Dramatic Irony: Both Marcy and Sasha have motives for going back to Newtopia — Sasha as part of her attempt to stage a coup with Grime, Marcy for her as-yet unrevealed "deal" with King Andrias — but neither is aware of the other's plan, and Anne is unaware of both.
- Easily Forgiven: Double Subverted. Sasha initially acts like Anne should accept her apology for what happened at Toad Tower and is insulted that Anne clearly doesn't trust her. When Anne calls out that Sasha's been emotionally manipulating her for years, Sasha acknowledges that she hasn't been a good friend. That admission goes a long way for Anne to genuinely give Sasha another chance... without realizing Sasha didn't actually apologize for being a bad friend either.
- Early Personality Signs: The flashback shows this for each of the girls: Sasha defended the other two when they were being bullied, Marcy knew the make and model of a specific aircraft despite being a toddler and was much shier than Anne, while Anne was the one who asked Sasha to stay and play.
- Even Evil Has Standards: After Grime reminds Sasha of the plan, Sasha is starting to have second thoughts of whether she wants to go through with the invasion. At the very least, she seems to not have it in her to hurt Anne during the ordeal.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: A flashback shows how Anne and Marcy first met Sasha as children.
- Exact Words: Sasha explains to Anne that she and Grime were forced on the run after the fall of Toad Tower and it gave her time to think. While certainly true, it leaves out how the two bounced back and what they're up to now. Likewise, Sasha acknowledges that she's been manipulative and a bad friend, but never actually says she's sorry for it.
- Foreshadowing:
- Sasha and Grime make no mention of the rebellion they just got going (not even amongst themselves), the first hint that Sasha's motives aren't as altruistic as she claims. She also looks doubtful at the last moment of the episode, suggesting she might question what she's doing.
- While Sasha is fighting the stone guardian, the music played is a slowed-down remix of her song, "Heartstomper".
- Note how Marcy sounds rather nervous and quizzical when letting the girls know they should wait until they meet King Andrias before going home.
- Graceful Loser: The guardian offers a thumbs-up to Sasha for winning their battle.
- Gravity Screw: The guardian of the temple is able to increase the gravity of his arena, such that eventually only Sasha can remain standing.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Sasha cuts several lava worms in half and does the same to the guardian for her finishing strike.
- Handicapped Badass: Even when severely weakened by dehydration, Grime is able to fight past the worms.
- Internal Reveal:
- Sasha finds out that Anne still has the Calamity Box, as well as learning about the three gems needing to be recharged in order to get the box to work and send the three girls back home.
- Marcy meets Grime for the first time.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The episode starts with a flashback showing how the young Anne and Marcy first met Sasha.
- Nonchalant Dodge: When a younger Sasha tries to fight the teens for taking young Anne and Marcy's swing, she attacks them with a flying kick only for them to slightly move out of the way and miss and fall face first. When Sasha tries to charge at them again, they just slightly move out of the way again and she falls face first into a sandbox. The teens didn't even need to dodge a third time because Sasha charges at them again but trips and falls to the ground before she even got close to them. At that point, the teens just left because it was getting weird for them.
- Rock Monster: The guardian of the temple is a huge rock monster that Sasha has to fight.
- Secret Test of Character: Though a more straightforward one than the others, the temple isn't testing for just physical strength, but mental strength in the challenger's ability to persevere.
- Sequel Hook:
- Marcy suggests they hold on until visiting King Andrias, which won't happen until the big finale the episode after the following two.
- All three gems are now powered up. However, Anne still doesn't realize her gem doesn't have all its power yet...
- Sasha and Grime have set in motion a plan that involves getting themselves into Newtopia, but she seems to have some regrets about it.
- Shed Armor, Gain Speed: Sasha chucks her cape and heavy boots to be able to fight the guardian in the increased gravity.
- Shout-Out:
- The volcano is reminiscent of Mt. Doom of Mordor, and the glowing inscription around the entrance resembles the Door of Durin leading to the Mines of Moria. Joe Sparrow carries Frobo and the Plantars to the volcano, alluding to the common fan claim that Frodo should've flown on the Great Eagles to Mordor.
- There are a couple to Dragon Ball Z during the third trial, such as the increased gravity room, a favored way for the Saiyan heroes to train, and when Sasha removes some of her armor it makes craters, much like the weighted clothing reveal scene Piccolo and Goku have both done numerous times.
- When Marcy reads the text, she says that the champion now knows what it takes to "go the distance".
- The hammers in the first room look similar to the Megaton Hammer in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The hammer was similarly found in a volcano temple.
- Squee: Marcy does this upon seeing Sasha again.
- Totally Radical: Unlike the riddling inscriptions in the first two temples, the third temple's instructions are full of "gym-going frat boy" slang like "bruh" and "Do you even lift?". This clues Anne on rather quickly that the temple is about strength.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Months before this episode premiered, the promo for the second half of Season 2 revealed the events that would happen.
