I hope everyone had a nice, safe, and healthy Christmas and if you don’t celebrate the holiday, hope everyone had a nice, safe, and healthy day and that being said, onto number 7 of the Top 12 Countdown of 2021...I finally got to watch the show, can y’all now leave me alone with the comments about when I’m going to watch the show or maybe talk about it. So coming in at number 7 of the Top 12 Countdown and just like with Attack on Titan, a random occurrence has stepped into the list in the form of, maybe you heard of it? Amphibia with “Olivia & Yunan”.
And I know what you’re thinking, REALLY?! This episode made it on the list? Don’t you like “True Colors”? Now don’t get me wrong, “True Colors” is an amazing episode for the year, if not, the series so far, and that episode has everything. I mean you have the drama, the action, the betrayal, the whole shebang from top to bottom. Sasha and Grime overthrowing Andrias from his throne and taking over Newtopia only to find out that Andrias is the big bad and show his true colors to Anne and the others. Anne unlocking her calamity powers when taking on Andrias after witnessing Sprig being yeeted. Hell, Marcy getting stabbed at the end of the episode...it was a roller coaster of an episode and one I’d enjoyed. But so does this particular episode in “Olivia & Yunan”. That too was a roller coaster ride of an episode, especially with the ending. Sure, you wanna call it recency bias because it just came out over a month ago, but then again, I don’t see y’all calling me a homer for putting in “Manic Pixie Crap Show” from Bob’s Burgers on the list.
But besides all that, other than “True Colors” where I expect a lot of people coming out to say that the episode was snubbed from the countdown, this was one of the episodes from this year that I enjoyed. And much like with “True Colors”, it started with a flashback and what is pretty much a continuation of Marcy’s theme song takeover with her and Olivia looking at the view of Newtopia and the scenery outside of the city where we get some background on Olivia and her role for the kingdom other than being Andrias’ aide. Revealing to be some sort of environmentalist because she’s from a long line of newts that are sworn to protect the environment surrounding the city. Note that this is pre-True Colors because the land seems to be untouched and also Marcy just got into the city with a broken leg due to her clumsiness. So it would make sense that months later after the events of the episode is where you have Olivia being upset overseeing what was once a beautiful and lushest land that was protected for centuries now going down the drain with everything being industrialized.
And I might as well just talk about “True Colors” for a bit since I’m losing y’all already. It’s class. It’s an amazing episode to close out the show’s second season and as I said in the introduction, it was a roller coaster of an episode from start to finish. Much like with this episode, we had a flashback to the start of the episode with Marcy and the moments leading up to the start of the series with her, Anne, and Sasha being transported to Amphibia with Marcy finding a book about the calamity box and later the item itself after running away from her home after finding out that her dad got a job out of state and might be forced to be moved away.
It was a betrayal bonanza with Sasha and Grime calling the shots first with them taking the calamity box from Anne and a potential takeover of Newtopia courtesy of the toad army and I got to give props to the animators for the animation and direction with the rematch between them and it was glorious, though overshadowed by Anne’s fight against Andrias with her unlocking her calamity powers and gone all Super Saiyan, get it? Super Saiy-Anne? I’ll see myself out. But it was amazing to watch that in action. Anne kicking some serious ass when unlocking her powers for the first time after seeing Sprig being yeeted after finding out that Andrias happened to be a lying piece of shit and Marcy getting a blackeye on her relationship with Anne and Sasha...oh yeah…
Marcy got stabbed at the end of the episode. The most shocking and WTF to date when it comes to the series but once we head back to the main topic, I think a certain scene may have one-upped that by a hair. And yes, people are still mad at Disney for pulling some bullshit by taking the episode out from its original air date and didn’t even notice that the online release would go as planned. Yeah, imagine if something like The Owl House or any other Disney animated program like...I don’t know...The Ghost and Molly McGee, you would expect fucking riots to pop up from fans. And while “True Colors” has the action, drama, and suspense mixed into a sandwich that was the episode, “Olivia & Yunan”, especially at the middle and endpoints of the episode is where you get some suspense and also some horror.
Olivia and Yunan pretty much had enough to deal with Andrias’ shit after being appointed to their new jobs and also witnessing Andrias talking to himself, mostly him talking to his master and trying to convince them that there should be another way for getting his master to have a new host. Which we all know what happened by the end of the episode. But besides that, Olivia and Yunan want none of that and could be ready to send an “up yours” note to him and defect. But for that, they need someone who could help them. And that person being none other than Marcy Wu.
And they did once strolling through deep in the castle’s caverns filled with spirit fish and a chained up grass being who gave Yunan a flower as a token of friendship is where the duo take Marcy out of her stasis tank with the label pretty much serves a huge red flag if you translated it from Amphibian text, translating it to “host”. Thanks to the internet for that. And knowing that Marcy has been there for a while, it does make sense for her to struggle to regain consciousness, as well as her ability to walk like you’re finally free from a cast after a broken leg but need to go rehab to regain your ability. Just as those two prepare to make their move with Marcy is tow is where the walls with the eyes attached to make sure that ain’t happening by scanning them and sends them to a virtual world and their deepest fears.
With Olivia, it’s her coming to terms with her late mom, who is pretty upset over what happened to the land that she was supposed to protect and her letting her guard down and letting Andrias to do Dicky McGee’s acts to the landscape and make Amphibia look all industrialized. Nothing scary than any fear on the planet like disappointing a parent and Olivia with that scene is the prime example before going to straight nightmare fuel. Yunan on the other hand pretty much resorts to a gag because why not. Her being afraid of a grubhogs because she had one experience with the animal back when she was young. Like really? That’s what you’re afraid of? So yeah...Olivia’s fear, that makes the most sense with her fear because you go back to the beginning with her being sworn to protect the land and she failed to do that once Andrias goes all industrial revolution. Yunan...yeah. Nothing more than just jokey jokes, but what do you expect coming from a Disney program.
But then we get to the Marcy bashing with her getting the worse treatment by envisioning her dealing with Anne and Sasha in a hallway and proclaiming that they don’t wanna be around her. Still having that betrayal still fresh in her mind of her running away from her problems and dragging her friends along once Anne opens the box. Though a subtle little detail in that hallway with the locker having a poster for what assumes to be a prom invitation with yellow and blue balloons, in which a portion of the fans, being the Marcanne shippers, thinks that Marcy wants to ask Anne out for the dance. Blue being Anne’s calamity color but most of the time likes to wear the color yellow from her shoes to the jacket. And it wasn’t long enough for Marcy to find out that it’s all an illusion. Virtual reality. A genjutsu. That causes her, Olivia, and Yunan to get their act together and take out each eye that is attached to the walls and freeing them from the grasp. Ready to make their escape...
Only for The Core to step in and put Marcy in a chair for her to be strapped and Andrias coming in to witness what’s about to come. The Core needs a host and it looks like Marcy fits the bill because according to Andrias, the Core needed someone who is the smartest, the wisest, the youngest (putting it in there because that’s what old beings want), and the only person who can ever beat Andrias in Flipwart. Hence, the Core chooses Marcy to be their host as the helmet comes crashing down and tubes attached and jabbing her arms and legs...y’all already know where this is going.
Yep, out goes Marcy and enter Darcy as the credits to the episode stated. And I not gonna with you, this was the most what the fuck moment out there for the entire series. Especially onto Marcy, who pretty much had gone through enough shit in a span of a season from her not wanting to move out of state to betraying Anne and Sasha’s trust, getting impaled by Andrias’ sword & getting placed in a tube in a comatose state, only to be sent into the shadow realm & and the Core taking full control. Marcy’s scream when the machine was activated was terrifying to hear and the imagery, despite it’s only her shadow that was being shown, it feels like you’re hearing an inmate screaming on death row via electric chair. Haley Tju, the voice actress for Marcy, did a phenomenal job with that scene. Hearing the pain and agony just as Marcy is being assimilated. And the ending with Darcy now taking the helm with just a single sentence and the ten eyes glowing from the helmet as the scene goes to black to wrap up the episode was chilling to the core and man, despite the few flaws in the episode, especially with the start and middle portion of the episode, the ending is what sold me the episode to put it onto the list.
I know that people are still going to call me out over “True Colors” being snubbed, I gave it my thoughts on the episode. It’s a phenomenal episode but so does this one. So I guess I was torn when creating the list on what to do with this exact spot in the countdown, potentially even higher if it weren’t for a few shows that also filled up the slots. Also, I apologize for being a total noob in talking about all of this. I did watch the show but this is also the first time I even talked about it that is outside of my range.
But besides all of that, both “True Colors” and “Olivia & Yunan” are great episodes. It’s just one of them has to be selected and even though Yunan’s fear was nothing more than a gag that may have downplayed the episode a bit, the ending with Marcy being assimilated into the Core sold me the episode and the shock and horror from that scene was terrifying but also fantastic by adding in that suspense and horror aspect to make it a good episode in my opinion. As for if Marcy is gone for good? Yeah...no. I don’t think she’s dead. I said that she’s been assimilated. As in that she’s still there, but I could possibly imagine her being locked up deep into the hivemind or something. Something like OK KO when TKO took over KO and locked him up and ended up creating a partnership from hell with Venomous/Shadowy Figure. And I feel like if there’s someone who would help Marcy regain her body from the Core, it has to be Anne because of why not. Don’t know how, don’t know why. I sorta agree with a video I saw on the episode, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
But that’ll do it for the number 7 spot in the Top 12 Countdown of 2021. Do you think that this episode should be higher, lower, or just stay put on your list for the year? Put it in the comments below. Which episode and series will it be number 6? You’ll have to wait and find out as the countdown continues. Follow me over at Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff and all that jazz. And y’all should probably know the drill by now…
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