Even though I really wanted Anne and/or Sasha to be the ones to break Marcy from the control and the fantasy land, i can’t help but acknowledge how important it was for MARCY to be the one to do it.
Marcy needed to understand that manipulating Sasha and Anne into coming with her was wrong even if she just wanted her best friends to finally listen and make her happy. She seemed sorry in Yunan & Olivia, but she needed more than that.
Marcy and only Marcy in her fantasy world acknowledging this was so important, because it shows that Marcy has grown, that she is sorry. She realized that forcing her wishes on her friends isn’t the right thing, even if it was going to be the first time ever.
So…so listen. I have a wild last minute theory after the most recent episode of Amphibia “All in”. That cliffhanger with the moon really got me thinking.
Clearly The Core is still moving around and pulling strings/making a last ditch effort to destroy everyone. We saw the helmet scamper off. But that alone implied it still was receiving some sort of signal or something. After all, Darcy did shout “I’ve lost connection” and freaked out at Sasha that she doesn’t know what she’s done. Connection? Connection like a wifi connection? The helmet was still attached to Marcy. And considering the extensive use of computers and technology, heck the sound Darcy made when deleting memories even sounded like a Mac restarting, it wouldn’t be too odd to think maybe Darcy was referring to a signal. After all, even with PC’s that use Ethernet cables to hook directly to the wifi, the wifi is still receiving it’s info from a signal. So if we picture Darcy as the PC and the Helmet and cord being the Ethernet cable and wherever the cable connected to being the wifi…where was the signal coming from? My theory? The moon.
What if. What if this entire gosh darn time. The “core” or “the unnatural thing that doesn’t sleep” WAS the Moon. Remember all those eyes depicted in the mural.
Yes yes I know the beast is a metaphor for the worst versions of themselves. But that only applies to the beast. Not the ever looming and watching eyes in the corner. But what if those eyes are also a sort of metaphor. They give another meaning too, besides it obviously alluding to the numerous eyes on the metallic version of the core and the helmet. It also could be a metaphor to the fact it’s always watching. After all. If you go back and really rewatch Amphibia and it’s key moments. What’s always there? Always there, always WATCHING and present? Awake during the NIGHT?
The
God
Damn
MOON
IT’S LITERALLY EVERYWHERE! Remember those two key shots in the season 2 intro when Marcy and Sasha were depicted in oddly villainous ways? What was right behind them in those moments? THE MOON.
It’s even in the season 2 poster! Right up there next to Andrias!!! As if it were A CHARACTER!
It has been right in front of us the entire time and it has always been watching, always awake during the night, because it basically IS THE NIGHT. And what does the prophecy refer to our three girls as? Stars. Stars come to expel the night. Should they fight or embrace the fall, their choice will determine all. Well guess what? The night is falling. Literally.
Ok let’s talk about how the divorce trio corresponds to the calamity trio.
It seems like Andrias is wit, Leif is heart, and Barrel is strength, but the colors are off. So I thought about it and I think the colors correspond with their role in the group and their character. And then there’s mother olms comment on “the worst version of ourselves”. The divorce trio is the worst version of what our girls could have become.
In this episode the parallels between Anne and Andrias were explored. They both take the easy way out and follow others because they don’t have faith in themselves. Andrias is what could have happened to Anne if she hadn’t learned to love and apply herself: he is someone who ignores his own feelings, doesn’t care about right and wrong, allows himself to be manipulated and controlled, and doesn’t express his true self.
Sasha and Leif are the betrayers. Sasha was the first to betray Anne and Leif betrayed Andrias. Sasha had been manipulating Anne and Marcy their whole friendship. From Andrias’ perspective, Leif manipulated and lied to him. We know that Leif did was she did because it was right, but Andrias and Barrel saw it as her destroying the relationship. Leif was forced to run away and never see her friends again. That’s what could have happened to Sasha if she didn’t improve herself: she would have lost Anne and Marcy.
Marcy and Barrel are the mediators of the group. They aren’t the decision makers, they’re followers, and they seem to spend a lot of time stuck in the middle of the conflict between the other two group members. In the end, Barrel’s choice paralysis of not knowing who to follow is what led to him being alone. He could have left with Leif or stayed by Andrias’ side, but since he was caught in the middle he ended up with neither. We don’t know exactly what happened to him afterwards, but hopefully he found his own voice. Marcy is not going to be happy in this relationship if she doesn’t stand up for herself. She’s on a path to expressing her own self and taking an active role instead of following Sasha and Anne, getting caught in between them, and losing herself to the shadows.
Real talk, I wasn’t so sure the writers were gonna find a way to make me feel sympathetic towards Andrias. As I feel a lot of modern animated shows try a bit too hard to make their lead villains sympathetic.
But this scene, this scene fucking broke me.
Leif telling him that despite all that happened between them, she’d never forgotten about their friendship. While also telling him not to close himself off from the rest of the world.
It wasn’t “You let me down and I hope you come to your senses.”
And it wasn’t “You’re a better man than your father.”
It was just her being honest about the way things turned out.
What makes it even more heart wrenching is that, Andrias is right. There is no turning back, what’s done is done. He gave up everything that truly mattered to be apart of The Core. And for what? Nothing.
Keith David is a phenomenally talented actor, but the fact that he was able to seamlessly deliver such a raw, grounded performance without it devolving into melodrama was nothing short of incredible.
My favorite thing about Amphibia is just how unapologetically cheesy it is. Uh hell YEAH these characters gain the will to go on from their favorite song!!! hell YEAH the main character uses the power of friendship!! oh, what? cringe? on the funny frog show? yeah ok.
An Amphibia analysis? On this blog? It's more likely then you think. But in all seriousness I wanted to look a bit closer at this short lived villain to see why she was so fudging scary.
Darcy technically is first properly introduced in The Core and The King, but her menace and wickedness only truly starts to be felt in The Beginning of The End. Where she lure everyone in with a fake music box to capture them, and when Anne and Sasha yell at her to give their friend back she says this.
"Your friend? Don't be silly. Your not friends, and examining Marcy's memories it's doubtful you ever were."
It oddly enough is shown to affect Sasha more than Anne, with the Blonde having a pained and guilty look on her face. Darcy then proceeds to show the entire resistance that their leaders have been captured causing them to retreat before the castle heads to earth.
She almost fudging stabs Anne right there before Anne tricks her, causing all of them to be locked up. But she fully intended to murder Anne with a knife Michael Myers Style.
And she only shows all of her monstrosity in All in, The finale for this twisted creation.
Sasha and Grime sneak onto the castle after having escaped to destroy the shield generator protecting the castle, of course being a step ahead, Darcy is there waiting to stop them wielding a giant scythe like the grim reaper.
She proves to be a massive challenge, Grime telling Sasha to go for the generator while he distracts Darcy, Sasha makes a run for it but Darcy seeing through the plan throws her knife hitting Sasha in the heel making her fall before rushing up to her ready to go for the kill with her scythe.
Grime barely is able to push Sasha out of the way, but loses his fudging arm in the process, the whole thing. Darcy bursting into laughter as Sasha tries to help him "Seems He's disarmed. Get it? Disarmed!"She jokes chuckling and laughing like a Maniac.
Sasha eventually is able to sever her connection to the core while she is distracted. Freeing Marcy and ending the Nightmare Darcy was.
Darcy, The Reaper
I meant it when i made the grim reaper comparison. Darcy exists due to a twisted love of the past, Both Marcy's love of her friends and the other minds of the core, and their adoration of their mighty kingdom.
And with that passion twisted in on itself makes Darcy, come to end all is good and leave nothing behind to regrow from. No world, no connections it all must end if it tries to change.
The core exists as a whole because the old rulers of Amphibia refused to let things change, trapping minds forever for later use.
Darcy is scary because she isn't a bitter old king, she's a monster made of denial and lashing out. She truly is a the dark version of Marcy, all her love and intellect bent towards a sinister goal. Not just a shadow clone but a dark and evil reflection of what she could be.
But she isn't, and she never will be again thankfully.