Tear Jerker / Amphibia Season 3

"No... please..."^note And things are only going to get worse for Marcy after this point.

The New Normal

• While Sprig is excited about this new world, Hop Pop is cautious, because they know nothing about Earth apart from what Anne told them, and Polly is fussing over Frobo. Polly tearfully promises Frobo that Earth has advanced technology, so they should be able to fix him.
• In the middle of Sprig's fascination with human mailboxes and cars, he sincerely asks Anne if it's okay to call her parents "Mom and Dad" or if it's too soon. It's a reminder that Sprig may be happy to see this new world, but he still has holes to fill.
• Everyone is sad at the thought that Marcy might have died. Hop Pop saw what happened before his very eyes. Whether it's to avoid falling apart emotionally or because she knows somehow (her reasoning is, verbatim, "she's just gotta be"), Anne says she's not considering that possibility, and she has to believe that Marcy is alive, as is Sasha. She also tells everyone that they're keeping it a secret about what happened with Andrias, as well as her plan to return, save her friends, and stop the king. Anne rightly suspects her parents would never let her return to the dangerous Death World that is Amphibia now that she's finally home, especially if she were to let slip that it just went through a Day of the Jackboot.
• It's brief, but Anne lists Marcy alongside Andrias and Sasha as former friends who've betrayed them, showing that she's still deeply hurt about the revelation that Marcy selfishly tricked her into getting trapped in a Death World, even if she acknowledges that Marcy didn't mean for things to turn out that way, or deserve to (apparently) die because of it.
  • After the battle against the Cloak-Bot, she includes "making up with her best friends" on her to-do list. This implies that she feels guilty about leaving Sasha and Marcy behind on Amphibia, on a bad term no less. Her goal was to return home with them, without exception.
• Anne leads the Plantars to her home. She asks them to hide, and hesitates before knocking on the door. Soon the knocking becomes banging, as Anne is desperate for this for her parents to be home so she can see them again.
• Mrs. Boonchuy is shown despondently stirring batter when we first see her, with the camera focusing on photos of a younger Anne around the house, making it clear she's deeply missing and worried for her absent only child. Upon seeing Anne standing on her porch, she drops the batter and embraces Anne without a word, tears in her eyes, as she's overcome with emotion upon seeing her baby girl safe, and her husband does the same when he notices her. Anne joins in, relieved to be home after half a year.
• Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy's reaction when Anne filled them in on three-quarters of the truth. They are relieved to have an explanation and are reassured that Anne didn't run away. Then there's the kicker: both parents are terrified their daughter will disappear again if they let her out of their sight. As a result, they become overprotective of her. Not to mention, no one has answers on what they're going to tell Sasha or Marcy's parents.
• Anne is seriously worried that the government would experiment on the Plantars.
• Already shown in The season 3 sneak peek, Anne gives the Plantars a comforting hug, clearly promising to stand by them for as long as they're in her world, just like they helped her in Amphibia. Given how disorienting it must be for the Plantars to be stuck in an alien world like Earth, it's both sad and heartwarming that for all the unfamiliar surroundings, they still have the familiar bond with Anne to rely on when they're separated from everything they've known their whole lives.
• During the quarantine song, it's mentioned that some of Anne's clothes had been sold, meaning at that point, the Boonchuys had lost hope of her ever coming back.
• There's a very brief moment in the family car where Anne's dad turns around and says, "Not so fast, you three!... I mean, you four!" It's clear who he's reflexively used to reprimanding back there, but those girls are gone.

Turning Point

• The episode begins with King Andrias stabbing Marcy with his Laser Blade, only this time it's from Sasha's P.O.V. Just like Anne, the only thing she can do is to scream her name. Not only does she watch one of her best friends (seemingly) dying, but she comes to the realization that her Heroic Sacrifice was All for Nothing. Of course, while she did overhear what’s going to happen to Marcy, she has no way of knowing where Anne actually ended up.
  • Sasha seeing Marcy getting stabbed is Harsher in Hindsight when you realize in the episode "Marcy at the Gates", she said "One of these days, she's gonna get herself killed". Well, now that Marcy's been fatally wounded, she might regret saying that.
• Once they arrive in Wartwood, the citizens start to praise Sasha and Grime for being entrusted by Anne to be the temporary guardians, causing Sasha to almost collapse in her own guilt.
• While Wartwood's citizens are asking what's going on, Ivy asks where Sprig is. Her boyfriend is Trapped in Another World due to an Extradimensional Emergency Exit, and Sasha has no way of knowing that said world is Earth. Who knows what she's thinking when Sasha finally tells the truth? And who knows how she'll react when Sasha eventually tells her that Andrias threw him out of a window, and she can't thank the girl who saved his life because she was stabbed in the chest?
• At the beginning, Sasha refuses to enter the Plantars' house, opting to sleep in the barn instead out of fear of what she may find out. She even calls herself trash. After Grime pushes her to face up to her fears, she goes into the basement where Anne used to sleep, and finds her journal, where Sasha reads the events from the "Battle of the Bands" episode, her bangs covering her expression as she looks through the happy memories Anne made without her, and is clearly torn over the friendship she'd squandered through her controlling actions, wondering if she'll ever get to see Anne again. In particular, Anne described how awesome all of them were being together again, and said that she could trust Sasha and that she was glad that everything worked out. This causes Sasha to break down crying, finally realizing the magnitude of her manipulations and actions.
  Sasha: Oh, Anne. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have tried so hard to be in control again. In the end, where did it get me?
  • Even worse, given Anne didn't plan to return to Wartwood after she left, the journal was clearly left for the Plantars to have something to remember her by, given the possibility that Anne might not have been able to return easily to Amphibia.

Thai Feud

• At first glance, Sprig's attempts to be part of Anne's family, especially to be accepted by Anne's mom, sound very annoying, until you remember that in "Hopping Mall", he stated he doesn't remember what is like to have a mother, since his and Polly's mom died when they were very young. He's desperate to have a mom again.

Adventures in Catsitting

• Hop Pop's desperation to prove that the Plantars can be more than freeloaders can get rather depressing.
• The Plantars' reaction when they encounter an Earth heron. Sure, it's not a giant killer heron like on Amphibia, but clearly, Sprig and Polly are still very traumatized from the memory of herons eating their parents.
• The vet gets confused when Hop Pop mentions a 40-year old frog. Looks like they've found out frogs on Earth don't live very long.
• Mr. Boonchuy's explaining why the Plantars will never owe them anything, despite them feeling like freeloaders. In the five months Anne had been gone, he had no idea if Anne was fine or not, and to hear that the Plantars took her in and kept her safe and sound without expecting anything in return would make any father feel indebted to them.

Fight at the Museum

• Anne's mental health has been taking a drop thanks to a combination of lack of sleep and trust. When Dr. Jan offers to help Anne and the Plantars with the Amphibian pot, Anne's paranoia, thanks to being betrayed by her human friends and Andrias, causes her to not trust Jan and try to steal the pot instead.

Temple Frogs

• Mrs. Boonchuy reveals to Anne that the Thai community came together in the Boonchuy's time of need. For five months, no one truly knew if Anne was fine or not, so much so that it's suggested that Anne's parents were so devastated that they couldn't run their daily lives much. Everyone came together, making sure they were fed, their source of income was not compromised by running their store, and generally keeping them together. After Anne hears this, she realizes how much the Thai community really came through for her parents and how her absence truly was a very long time, and is ashamed for trying to leave the gathering so early.

Fixing Frobo

• Polly is shown to still be working on repairing Frobo's body, determined to get her best friend/surrogate adopted little brother back, even enlisting the help of some human friends from Anne's online feed for advice on engineering, but between her age and the complexity of Frobo's systems, it's clearly an uphill struggle for her. Losing Frobo has clearly gotten to Polly, and when Anne and the other Plantars justifiably worry about her doing more harm than good by trying to fix Frobo immediately, she gives them a What the Hell, Hero? for basically wanting him to stay dead.
• Anne tries to tell Polly gently that it may be best to wait until they're back in Amphibia to find a robot expert to fix Frobo. They don't know how to fix him safely, and Polly doing it on her own could burn the whole house down. At least a specialist may be able to replace his limbs. Polly yells at her, saying that she can't wait that long for her best friend to come back to life.
• The scene where Polly gets Frobo working again, only to find out that he lost his memory during the start-up, and is now a loyal drone of King Andrias. Polly begging Frobo to remember her while falling to their doom makes it more heartbreaking.
• Frobo's Heroic Sacrifice in shielding Polly from the crash damage results in him getting smashed to bits again. Doubles as Heartwarming. Mercifully, his head is still awake this time, and it talks to Polly.

Anne-sterminator

• Anne is consumed with guilt for keeping secrets about what happened in Amphibia from her parents, even to protect the Plantars, and is about to tell them when the Cloak-Bot shows up.
• Mrs. Boonchuy is revealed to have a Room Full of Crazy where she worked out the stress of Anne's disappearance by doing things like making multiple dummies of her and a number counter for the days she was gone. It really drives in how the Boonchuys thought that Anne ran away and were worried sick about her.
  • The sign on the door says Anne was away for 89 days. That's about three months, and Anne's been away for five. This pretty much confirms that she eventually did give up hope.
  • Anne's bitter line upon seeing a dummy dressed as a doctor, implying her mother is an Education Mama:
  Mrs. Boonchuy: A mom can dream, can't she?
  Anne: Why do I get the feeling I'm not living up to your expectations?
• Even the Cloak-Bot is pitiable here. Once its self-destruct function is activated, it becomes visibly distressed in its efforts to eliminate its target. Even if it succeeded at its task, there was no way of averting its fate.
• Mrs. Boonchuy berating Anne in the junkyard can really hit home for those who have been told off by a parent.
  Mrs. Boonchuy: ANNE SAVISA BOONCHUY! What is going on?!
  Anne: What do you mean? There's a giant robot trying to kill us. I thought that was clear.
  Mrs. Boonchuy: Yes! But why, Anne? Why? Is there something you want to tell us?
  Anne: Mom! Take it easy!
  Mr. Boonchuy: (trying to calm his wife down) Honey, maybe we should hear her out.
  Mrs. Boonchuy: NO! She's lying to us! You've done something, haven't you?! That's why that thing is after us!
  Anne: It's complicated!
  Mrs. Boonchuy: I knew it! We were wrong about you--you're still the same irresponsible little girl who used to cut class! When are you going to grow up? When are you going to stop getting in trouble? When, Anne?! When?!
  Anne: I DON'T KNOW, OKAY?!

Mr. X

• Anne is relieved that the robot is gone, and she just wants to take her friends to the movies. All she needs is one normal day, a break from portal research, and to forget about the trauma and having to come clean to her parents that a newt king wants her head on a platter. Then she gets dozens of texts from her mom warning her that the FBI is looking for her and her friends. Mr. X, on seeing Anne matches the "string-bean" photo, pulls out a stun gun. She understandably runs for it, grabbing the frogs in her arms.

Sprig's Birthday

• Anne's guilt when she finds out it's Sprig's birthday, and is worried she forgot. The Plantars tell her she didn't forget, but they just didn't tell her because birthdays are small occasions in Amphibia. That doesn't make her feel better, though.
• When Sprig says this is the third-best birthday ever, Anne takes offense, as she sees this as a sign that she's not doing a good enough job of giving him the best birthday of all time.
• It's subtle, but Anne's behavior throughout the episode is very similar to how Sasha manipulated her on her birthday. You'd think she'd have learned by now. Though, in her defense, she comes across as a much more genuine friend than Sasha did.
• You can’t help but feel for the poor guy who tries to propose to his partner. The guy’s efforts towards a heartfelt proposal went down the drain because of Anne and Sprig’s antics on the scary clown hot air balloon, and his partner ends up thinking it was some sort of sick joke. One can hope that his partner clears it up.
• We finally find out what his second-best birthday ever was: the day his parents gave him his hat and goggles. Anne admits that it's hard to top that.

Olivia & Yunan

• Oh boy, where do we even start? Why, with a sad Lady Olivia Forced to Watch all the natural beauty of Amphibia she swore to protect being turned into a Polluted Wasteland by Andrias' armies. This is the last straw for Lady Olivia.
• Olivia and Yunan discuss how are they going to stop Andrias, both sharing a Broken Pedestal expression. If Yunan is saying that she can't put up a fight against a newt king, things are serious.
• The first thing Marcy says as she wakes up? Calling Sasha and Anne's names. This girl really misses her friends so much.
• During the Lotus-Eater Machine sequence, the trio are forced to face their worst nightmares. Special mentions go to Olivia, who sees her mother telling her she failed to protect Amphibia, and Marcy, who sees Anne and Sasha disowning her for stranding them in a Death World. In the latter's case, it's even more heartbreaking because, despite Marcy being smart enough to realize that this is an illusion, she is still a scared 13-year-old kid who made a horrible mistake that she has every reason to believe her friends hate her for, and the only thing she can do is to beg for their forgiveness, even calling her plan of sending them to Amphibia "dumb."
  • While Yunan's fear is pretty silly, in the flashback, we see school kids pointing and laughing at her. It's no wonder she was traumatized.
• The ending. Olivia and Yunan fail to rescue Marcy, who ends up strapped in a throne and possessed by the Core as its living host. Her attempts at freeing herself and screaming don't help, either. Doubles as Nightmare Fuel.
  • King Andrias admits that he really liked Marcy, and he even tried to talk the Core into finding another host. Unfortunately, his master rejected his pleas, and he must obey its orders. As the Core is about to corrupt Marcy, Andrias looks away with a frown.
  • Just imagine how Sasha and Anne will react when they inevitably discover Andrias did this to her. Whether or not they've forgiven her for stranding them in a Death World yet by the time they encounter Darcy, they're both 13-year-old girls about to face an incomprehensible level of shock and grief with the potential to drive adults, never mind barely-teenage kids, past the Despair Event Horizon. Worse, the embodiment of that shock and grief will be trying to kill them, preventing the poor girls from processing the horrible thing they've just found out happened to Marcy. And keep in mind, the former will likely blame herself for this being able to happen since her own actions turned her discovery of Andrias' true nature into a Cassandra Truth, and the latter is especially likely to handle this horribly because she is, at the time of this episode, a Stepford Smiler who could easily be driven into a Heroic BSoD at best when she finds out... at worst, well, let's just say unfathomable grief resulting from a friend being essentially murdered by the Big Bad and barely controllable Super Modes do not mix.

If You Give A Frog A Cookie

• Despite finding Earth fascinating, the Plantars have become really homesick since they've been away from Amphibia for a few weeks. Anne tries her best to make them feel more at home by making them a mini-swamp and bug cookies. They even make a mini-Wartwood (which Anne finds to be a really unhealthy coping mechanism). However, none of this does enough to mitigate the homesickness, and they end up resorting to guilt-tripping Anne as a way for her to get them home quicker, only for them to be put in danger by a mad scientist and cause said mad scientist's Beleaguered Assistant to get herself fired saving them.
  • What's more, the fact that Anne reflexively ends up asking the mini-swamp's Wally figurine for advice once the Plantars leave seems to hint Anne herself is missing Wartwood and the frogs there that she bonded with, because it just means that much to her.

Froggy Little Christmas

• At the end of the episode, we see Anne writing letters to Sasha and Marcy's parents. The fact Sasha's parents have two separate letters establishes that they no longer live together, seemingly confirming speculation that Sasha's a child of divorced parents and that's where her Control Freak tendencies and decision to stay in and rule Amphibia stem from.
• In addition to the above, the letters promise to bring Sasha and Marcy back, but even ignoring the possibility that Sasha will refuse to return to her broken home, Anne made that promise completely unaware of what Andrias has done to Marcy. Her reaction upon finding out was going to be awful to begin with, and thinking she made a promise she couldn't keep will only exacerbate the unimaginable grief she may be weeks, perhaps even mere days, away from experiencing.
• For extra points, Anne is almost killed on Christmas Eve.

Escape to Amphibia

• It isn't until they nearly have the portal working that it really hits Anne that she'll be separated from her parents again if/when she manages to get back to Amphibia. She finally breaks down when locked up with the rescue team. Her parents reassure her that they trust her to make the right decision, and it won't be goodbye forever.
• Saying goodbye to the Boonchuys must have been harder for Sprig and Polly, considering that they were the closest things to Parental Substitutes they've ever had since their biological parents died when Wartwood was raided by herons.
• The moment when Anne manages to open a successful portal. Just as she's about to jump through, she sends a Longing Look at her parents. Only when they encourage her can she take the literal leap.
• Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy give their blessing for Anne to leave, complete with packing her a backpack of emergency supplies and saying they love her. The minute the mantis smashes the portal? They go Papa Wolf and Mama Bear on Mr. X for his stupidity, berating him for assuming that the Plantars were hostile and never simply talking to them. It turns out, they were just putting on a brave face so Anne wouldn't worry about them.
• Anne is overjoyed to be back in Amphibia, but quickly realizes the Plantars are eerily quiet... because they've noticed the wasteland Andrias has turned their home into and are simply staring in horror. Ash is raining from the sky, a stream has turned green^note likely from industrial chemicals and/or algae; the following episode confirms the former in the distance, smoke billows from parts of the ground, and there are stumps where there used to be larger plants. Anne can only join her surrogate frog family in despondently staring at the carnage and audibly wonder just what happened while they were on Earth.

Commander Anne

• Wartwood Swamp, the little town Anne lived in for so long it's practically her second home, is in ruins, and its inhabitants have been forced to move into the Plantars' secret basement.
• Sasha is so worried that she'll mess things up again with Anne if she stays the leader that she repeatedly refuses to take back the position, despite it being clear that she's vastly more qualified for it than Anne right now. In fact, Anne even starts to wonder if the whole thing is some kind of new manipulation. Sasha does think Anne probably hates her, but Anne makes it clear that’s not true.

Sasha's Angels

• Although Sasha knows that her team can handle themselves when they get captured, Anne still can't help but worry despite her reassurances.

Olm Town Road

• Lysil and Angwin were banished from Proteus after their arguing caused them to fail in their guard duties. Sasha clearly empathizes with them.

Mother of Olms

• Hop Pop gets some mockery for his age, and it clearly sticks with him throughout the episode.

The Root of Evil

• Hop Pop ends up going back to help Gary and company because he feels guilty for leading Andrias's forces to the village.

The Core & The King

• Marcy is still inside "Darcy", but while some aspects of her personality, like her favorite food, love of video games, and clumsiness still bleed through, Darcy tells Andrias that she's locked up tight inside her own head. Andrias seems less than happy to hear of this.
• Andrias's father was an Abusive Parent constantly pushing his son to abandon his friends and focus more on the duties of rule and conquest. Even as part of the Core, he doesn't give his son much respect.
  • Andrias is mentally connected to the Core through his Cool Crown. For 1000 years, he had to live with the preserved mind of his father and ancestors, whom are all implied to share the same opinions, condemning him for his mistake in trusting others costing them their way of life as the once-great Magitek society they'd built withered away. In the present, the Core, controlling Darcy, notices Andrias' wistful looks at the damaged portrait of himself, Leif, and Barrel together, and mockingly teases him that it's maybe not the only one that needs to let go of old memories. When Andrias later burns the portrait, the Core allows the preserved mind of his father to emerge briefly to give him a backhanded So Proud of You compliment. Andrias might be a cruel king who has ravaged the land he ruled over for 1000 years and has hurt the heroes in a shocking manner, but this episode makes it clear that underneath all that, he's still a young man desperate to make his family proud of him, just like Anne... except for Andrias, his family legacy is preserved and willing to use his emotional dependence on it to make him unquestionably loyal to it over all else.
• Leif betrayed Andrias because she had a vision that, if the music box continued to be used as a tool of conquest, Amphibia would be doomed.
  • It clearly broke Leif's heart to go to such extremes as stealing the key to the music box whilst Andrias was hugging her in a moment of emotional vulnerability after briefly blowing up at her from the pressure he was under from his father and his royal duties, but with the invasion of Earth due to start the next morning, she had no time to come up with another solution, and was too fearful of the cost of doing nothing and standing idle, leaving her no choice but to steal the box and apparently banish herself to Earth along with it in order to keep it and their world safe from Andrias' family's ambitions. Even then, it only delayed their plans.
  • The worst part is, her attempts to save Amphibia from the hubris of its corrupt and power-hungry rulers have so far been All for Nothing — the vision has, to date, been a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, and there are heavy implications that extends to the Colony Drop. The strip-mining of Amphibia only makes sense as a result of Amphibia losing the box and thus access to other worlds, forcing Andrias to use Amphibia's own resources to rebuild his army of Mecha-Mooks. Plus, the Ominous Floating Castle prevented Marcy from grabbing her friends and fleeing to the Dry Swamp or some other part of Amphibia far from Newtopia before activating the portal, which was likely the intent behind launching the castle — with a Giant Flyer like Joe Sparrow being the only viable way of getting in or out of the castle, escaping with the box the way Leif did would be difficult at best, and doubly so when the escapee has to bring plus ones along. While Leif did at least give Amphibia's people a hope of salvation and destroy the fascistic societal brainwashing that helped Andrias' ancestors enjoy support for their conquests, her intent was to avert the horrors she saw, not cause them to come to pass, and the latter is unfortunately happening.
  • Andrias' anger over Leif's betrayal was so much that he actually extended it to the frog species as a whole, noting that they would need to be 'kept in line'. Throughout the series, it's been demonstrated that frogs are on the bottom of Amphibia's pecking order, and now it's revealed that Andrias did this deliberately as a means of striking back against Leif and all those who might be connected with her for her grievous betrayal of his trust. One can only imagine the tragedy that will ensue if and when it dawns on him that Sprig's resemblance to Leif is no coincidence... in other words, that she's an ancestor of Anne's Found Family.
  • Fans noted a couple of blushing scenes implying that Andrias had a crush on Leif. If he did, that makes everything that happened even more heartbreaking and the possibility of him realizing the Plantars are her descendants even more terrifying. Even if it hadn't ended as horribly as it did, it would have been a Mayfly–December Romance, and that King Andrias would have been even more vulnerable to the Core's influence the moment Queen Leif died.
  • Although, there might not have been as great an age discrepancy, considering the reveal that Andrias is a cyborg, converted to carry out the Core's plans. Considering Andrias looks much better than his father ever did on-screen, it's possible the only reason Andrias lived as long as he did is because of those enhancements — he speaks of having to "sacrifice" to live that long, which might make it all worse. Andrias could have been The Good King for real, having a normal lifespan with Leif and Barrel and finally ending the cycle of destructive world-hopping imperialism.
• Barrel's heartbroken expression when Andrias orders him to protect the wastelands.
  • Barrel's warhammer being stuck in the Narwhal Worm where Grime and Sasha find it greatly implies that he eventually perished fighting off the native monsters of Amphibia to protect others without ever reconciling with Andrias. Unlike with Leif, Andrias breaking off their friendship was all a choice he made on his own, believing that his father was right and that his friendship with Barrel was nothing but a hindrance to what he needed to do to uphold his family's ambitions. Barrel's only 'mistake' was being unwilling to harm his friend when he cornered her, unable to choose between his friends, and just like Marcy would later experience, this ultimately pushed both away from him through their opposing choices, while he wanted nothing more than to simply continue being their friend.
• Speaking of Marcy, both Leif and Barrel bear some resemblance to her in this situation. Leif was an adorable, goofy, intelligent Nice Girl faced with a situation that led her to grievously and impulsively betray her friends, while Barrel failed to stop Leif because he was terrified of losing his friends, preventing him from choosing between them at a crucial moment. Unlike with Marcy, who merely thinks Anne and Sasha outright hate her for what she did and there's no hope of reconciliation, Andrias genuinely did, and possibly still does, hate Leif and Barrel for their role in the Calamity Box disappearing, meaning there genuinely was no hope of reconciliation.
• The credits play over the slashed portrait of Andrias, Leif, and Barrel as it burns in the fireplace.
  • What sounds like a chair moving across the floor can be heard over the fire, suggesting that Andrias is sitting down to watch the painting until it completely burns up. Whether or not it's because he really does miss them and regrets what happened, or he's seething in his anger towards them for the betrayal and himself for his failure, we'll never know.
• The fact that Andrias' friendships with Leif and Barrel, which lasted for years and were clearly very genuine and supportive, broke down in a single day. So little time changed all of their lives for the worse, and permanently poisoned any good memories they had together.

Newts In Tights

• In Tritonio's backstory as an orphan, he trusted a group of kid thieves, only to get thrown aside when he was no longer useful to them. Afterward, he decided to simply avoid getting close to others.

Fight or Flight

• Domino 2 is captured by Andrias' robots and enslaved by a collar to generate power, much to Anne's concern. Even worse, her babies were left behind.

The Beginning of the End

• Prior to their adventures in Amphibia, Anne and Sasha made only a token effort to engage with Marcy's interests, leading to her being Lonely Among People. Anne believes this contributed to what she did, as she likely feared they would have made no effort to keep in touch with her if she couldn't be physically present.
• While she doesn't outright hate her, Sasha is still furious with Marcy for stranding her and Anne in Amphibia and admits to Anne that she doesn't know if she can forgive her. It takes Anne pointing out that she forgave both her for her villainous actions and Hop Pop for burying the Calamity Box for Sasha to realize it's worth at least giving Marcy a chance to say sorry.
  Sasha: Okay, so let's say you're right, and we've been taking Marcy for granted. That doesn't change what she's done!
  Anne: It's not about what she did, Sash; it's about why she did it.
  Sasha: So I'm just supposed to forgive her, like it's easy?!
• It's a little bit subtle, but when Anne and Sasha are introduced to Darcy, Darcy dubs Anne as "dumber than a bag of rocks". If you remember back in "Scavenger Hunt", Anne sees herself as a dumb person whenever she's around Marcy, and because the Core took over Marcy and has access to her memories, they have absolutely no problem with using Anne and Sasha's insecurities to taunt them.
• Olivia and Yunan are freed from their brainwashing. Only a few minutes later, they are recaptured and about to be recollared again (together with the rest of the team, sans Anne).

All In

• Sprig is clearly in denial over how much things have changed, stating that he can't wait for things to go back to the old Monster of the Week format with him and Anne having adventures together. Hop Pop tries to gently break it to him that things will probably never be the same, but doesn't have the heart to go through with it.
• The herons Andrias and the Core are using in their attack. They're the very same herons that killed Sprig and Polly's parents, triggering traumatic flashbacks in the Plantars. Keep in mind, Polly was too young to remember what happened that day, and she has to come to terms with it now. And then they go after the Boonchuys, which luckily breaks the frogs out of their funk.
• Grime ends up losing an arm pushing Sasha out of the way of Darcy's attack. What makes this particularly heart-wrenching is that Grime is the closest Sasha has ever had to a father figure, and losing him would have been devastating, considering her own parents just weren’t in her life. Thankfully, he survives the ordeal.
  Grime: (weakly) Listen to me, Sasha. Before I met you, I was nothing. Just a bully in a tower. But you, you inspired me to be so much more. And if you can do that, you can do anything. You can do this.
• Just as it seems like Anne might win against Andrias, her powers finally hit their limit, and she collapses.
• The piece of paper Sprig found turns out to be a letter Leif left for Andrias, and when Sprig reads it to him, he ultimately loses all will to fight and just collapses, the Core having to force him to keep fighting, and once Sasha defeats Darcy, he just lets Anne hit him with her powers, devastating his body. The fact this is presented as literally the only other option he has left if he no longer wishes to serve the Core and conquer Earth sells how isolated and broken Andrias ultimately is at the end, by the fallout of his friendship with Leif and Barrel and from the 1000 years he loyally served the Core to atone for his 'mistake'. The fact that only Anne seems to realize he let her win to stop him from being a monster anymore underscores the tragedy of his situation, that he could only find redemption in a 'hero' striking him down.
  • He doesn't just collapse, he breaks down sobbing, saying that there's no hope for him after everything he's done. Keith David's performance is just heartbreaking.
    Andrias: All this time, I thought you had forgotten me… (choking up) like I tried to forget you. My dear friend… (falls to his knees and sobs) But you're too late. The things I've done, the pain I've caused… THERE'S NO GOING BACK!
    • And the Core's response to his painful Heel Realization? Deriding him as a pathetic weakling who still can't follow their orders right despite everything, and then attempting a Villain Override on him to force him to finish the fight, showing how it ultimately only saw him as an unthinking tool for its ambitions and not a person in his own right. Andrias has demonstrated throughout the series that despite everything he's done of his own free will, he has it in him to be a good person deep inside, but his connection to his poisonous family legacy leaves him with nothing at the end, costing him the love of his subjects, the respect of his advisors, and the sincere friendship he had with Marcy. You really can't help but pity him for the Self-Inflicted Hell he was guided into by the Core and his Blind Obedience to it.
      Darcy: Andrias! Stand up and fight, you pathetic excuse for a king! We are all you need! We are all you'll ever have!
    • Andrias, the Tragic Villain of the story, is publicly struck down and his defeat lauded by everyone who sees it, unaware of the small sacrifice he made at the end to try and do the right thing at last in his 1000-year-long lifespan. Meanwhile, Darcy, the actual director and instigator of the invasion, gets 'killed' out of sight in a private fight with Sasha and Grime, with nobody ever aware of the true power it had over their king and over Amphibia, only having gotten to know of its existence just recently. Andrias will be remembered as a hated pariah and would-be conqueror on Earth, despite his more sympathetic qualities and the fact he was manipulated for most of his life into becoming nothing but the brutal enforcer of the Core's will, with it even attempting a Villain Override on him when his desire to make his family proud finally gives in under the weight of all he'd sacrificed for such a meaningless goal. For all that he made his own choices in serving the Core, you can't help but lament how unfair his situation is, as he lies broken and defeated in the ruins of his Powered Armour, his only thought is the well-being of Marcy, the only true friend he's ever had in the span of 1000 years, protesting nothing else about his injuries and treatment.
    • What makes the whole thing worse is how close the timing of Andrias' Heel Realization is to his crossing of the Moral Event Horizon. Every line he's crossed, every villainous action he's taken that firmly established him as a thoroughly despicable villain, worthy of becoming the tyrant conqueror the Core desired to mold him into, he didn't truly cross into true evil until "True Colors". It's clear that the Core and Andrias accelerated their plans for the Earth invasion fast after that point, with everything that occurs over the course of season 3 — the strip mining, the enslavement of Amphibia's inhabitants to work in his factories, the unprovoked assaults on any settlement that isn't already serving him, the multiple attempts on Anne's life, helping to turn Marcy into 'Darcy', invading Earth and all the casualties that came with that — it all happened in a matter of months after that point. For 1000 years, Andrias wavered despite himself, still melancholically reminiscing over his past failed friendships despite the self-hatred he felt towards himself for 'failing' his family legacy and being desperate to 'atone' for it. Everything he's done was fueled by that desperate need for validation from a being that truly cared nothing for him, which Andrias is hinted to have realized deep down, but still recommitted himself to his duty out of the belief that it was the 'right' thing to do and the desperate lies he told himself that Leif and Barrel never truly cared for him and moved on. Hearing that Leif didn't, and realizing that Barrel likely never moved on either, breaks Andrias, because he more than anybody understands how far he's fallen in such a short period of time. If Anne and the Plantars had investigated the family tunnels more, and/or if Hop Pop hadn't hidden the books with the warnings of the Calamity Box from Anne, the letter might have been found sooner, and Andrias could have found out the truth before he stepped across the line and turned against his master before the damage was truly done. Alternatively, if Andrias had chosen to open his heart to Marcy when she offered him true friendship and defy his master at that point, he never would have crossed the line. But, as he himself laments, it's simply far too late. He's spent 1000 years slowly turning into the monster his family created him to be, and he missed his chance for redemption by a matter of months.
  • To add a final touch of tragedy to Leif's letter, the end of her flashback shows her in her old age surrounded by her children and grandchildren, with a portrait of her elderly husband on the mantlepiece. After everything she went through, afte losing both her closest friends in the worst possible circumstances, Leif outlived her husband.
• While Darcy is taking on Sasha and Grime, she has no problem taunting the latter for her former Control Freak tendencies. And Grime retorting that Sasha is the "Queen of Manipulation" doesn't help at all.
  • Or one could interpret this as Marcy telling off Sasha about her attitude towards her and Anne prior to her Heel–Face Turn.
• Marcy rejecting her perfect reality by coming to the simple conclusion that Anne and Sasha simply don't like the same things she does. She's audibly sorrowful, but she's completely aware of how wrong it was to drag them to Amphibia, and is willing to pay the price of their friendship if she needs to. Aldrich responds by leaving her all alone in the dark, telling her that eventually, her personality will be erased. Aldrich even pointed out earlier that even if Marcy's friends would win and defeat the Core, it still won't change the fact that Marcy's parents still intend to move away due to new jobs (which would still drive Marcy and her friends apart); even Marcy herself admitted that her parents' decision was inevitable.
  • There's another, even more heartbreaking dimension to this. Just before she was possessed, Marcy fell for an illusion of Anne and Sasha rejecting her despite knowing beforehand it was an illusion, because she was convinced, they hated her. The reason this illusion fails is because the idea that they would accept her to any degree after what she did to them simply makes too little sense to the poor girl for the illusion to keep hold of her, never mind the idea that they'd be sycophants.
• Anne and Sasha breaking down in sobs over Marcy's body, begging her to come back. Although it becomes less sad when their tears wake her up.
  • It's then followed by Marcy's apology to Anne and Sasha, weeping as she does so.
    Marcy: Anne... Sasha... (Starts crying) I'm sorry. I was so scared about moving away. The thought of losing you was just so big. I was afraid that if we weren't together, we wouldn't be friends anymore.

The Hardest Thing

• Anne ends up making a Heroic Sacrifice to save Amphibia. Luckily, the entity behind the stones made a copy of her that is essentially the same just before her death and revives her, but she still died, devastating everyone.
  • Especially Marcy. On top of having to mourn one of her childhood friends at only 13, the poor girl must be blaming herself for her death and going through severe self-loathing. She was the one who got the trio stranded in Amphibia, and that one impulsive, selfish mistake has ended up leading to her oldest friend's death, even if it is a Disney Death.
  • Sasha too. After pushing Anne away with her control freak tendencies, she finally makes amends with Anne, only to lose her again, this time because she wasn't strong enough.
  • Sprig may have it the worst. He hears from Sasha and Marcy that Anne is planning to do something that could kill her, even if this would defeat the Core, and he goes to try to talk her out of it. He begs her not to do it, saying "You're my everything. You changed my life," but she's already past the point of no return. He and Frobo then have to carry back her burned and disintegrating body before she dies in his arms.
    Sprig: (clearly in denial) Come on, Anne. You'll be OK.
  • While not as pronounced, even Grime is shown to be tearful over Anne's death (also overlaps with Heartwarming given how much he himself has grown to respect Anne by season 3 despite starting off on bad terms in season 1).
  • Although Anne still comes Back from the Dead and doesn't seem to have Come Back Wrong, the vague language of the Calamity Stone entity about 'backing her up' makes it an Ambiguous Situation over whether or not the Anne that returned is REALLY her transferred into a new body, or if she's merely a copy of the original. Even Anne herself Lampshades that she's probably going to suffer existential angst down the line over what exactly she is now.
• The moment where the girls have to say goodbye to the ones they have formed the closest bonds with throughout the series.
  • Marcy bids farewell to Olivia and Yunan before her goodbye to Andrias, shocking him greatly. After all he’s done, he can only muster a “Take care, kiddo." He doesn't even look at her as he says so — he knows he doesn't have that right. It's a bittersweet reminder of the true friendship that might have been if Andrias had only opened up his heart sooner.
    • During the Where Are They Now segment in Amphibia's epilogue, though Andrias has managed to find some happiness as a farmer helping to undo the environmental devastation he caused, his eyes are visibly milky and cloudy, which Matt Braly confirmed was a sign of his vision beginning to fail as the effects of ageing caught up to him, due to him refusing all future implants/repairs to his life-extending cybernetics, willing to spend whatever time he has left healing the land as much as possible and quite possibly looking forward to being Together in Death with his absent friends. Whilst quite a bittersweet ending to his life, it also means that, unlike the other goodbyes shown, his final exchange with Marcy was most definitely the last time either of them saw each other, and Andrias will never be able to truly reconnect with Marcy again, even if travel to Amphibia becomes possible in the future.
  • Sasha and Grime try to keep it cool for each other, but they both break down in tears over each other. Sasha also tells Grime to find Percy and Braddock and tell them goodbye for her, meaning they never made it to the final battle and Sasha never truly got to make up with them.
  • And of course, Anne saying goodbye to the Plantars. She tells Polly she was the little sister she never knew she needed, and Hop Pop tells her he is proud to call her his granddaughter. Finally, she says goodbye to Sprig. And before she walks through the portal, he runs to give her one last big hug.
    Sprig: Goodbye, Anne. I'll never forget you.
    Anne: And I won't forget you either, Sprig, which means that we will never be apart. Not really. Nothing will ever change how much you mean to me. Not time, or space, or being worlds apart.
    • Sprig's aforementioned goodbye is downright heartbreaking. The poor frog has tears pouring down his face as he's twisting his hat in a vain effort to keep it together. This was the same friendship that kickstarted the entire series, and the same one that drove Anne to her most emotional points the finale, so the absolute emotion of this entire goodbye is mirrored with Sprig's reaction to this.
    • HP, with tears in his eyes, tells Anne that if she ever wants her old room back or something to eat, she can just stop by. Even though he's the one who's tried the hardest to get Sprig to accept that Anne would be leaving them when the time actually comes, he's still having trouble coming to terms with the fact that they have to say goodbye, most likely forever.
• Marcy still ended up moving away after the girls returned to Earth. Anne and Sasha ended up drifting apart and becoming less close in high school, though they did stay in contact to the point where Sasha is well aware of what Anne does for a living now. Luckily, the ending implies that their reunion for Anne's 23rd birthday will help them rekindle their friendship, complete with taking a new "BFFs" photo.
• Anne's last line of narration, summing up Amphibia and its themes. Doubles as heartwarming.
  Anne: Change can be difficult, but it's how we grow. It can be the hardest thing to realize you can't hold on to something forever. Sometimes you have to let it go. But of the things you let go, you'd be surprised what makes its way back to you.
• While the ending has more sweet than bitter in its Bittersweet Ending, the show ends with the girls having been cut off from Amphibia. There's no indication that they'll ever find a way back or see their families and friends there again. It's sad to know that as important as the place was to everyone, the journey ended, and those goodbyes above were final ones. ^note That is, if Dr. Frakes' portal machine was never perfected during those 10 years to the point where it was possible to traverse dimensions.

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