True Colors (Amphibia)

"True Colors"
Amphibia episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 20
Directed by	Kyler Spears and Jenn Strickland
Written by	Michele Cavin and Jenava Mie
Production code	220
Original air date	May 22, 2021
Running time	24 minutes

"True Colors" is the 20th episode and the finale of the second season of the American animated television series Amphibia, created by Matt Braly. The episode was written by Michael Cavin and Jenava Mie and directed by Kyler Spears and Jenn Strickland.

"True Colors was originally supposed to be released May 1, 2021, but was delayed due to a scheduling shift. On May 2, 2021, the episode was accidentally leaked on iTunes but was quickly taken down. The episode premiered on May 22, 2021, after an Amphibia marathon.

Plot

In a flashback, Marcy stumbles upon a book in a library, detailing information on the Calamity Box, which she dismisses as needlessly fictional and unimportant. She receives a text message from her parents asking for them to talk to her about something important. Later that day, Marcy runs from her house in tears and finds the Calamity Box from outside a window in a thrift shop. She then sends a text to Sasha about acquiring it as a gift for Anne's Birthday.

Six Months later, Anne along with Marcy, Sasha, Sprig, Polly, Hop Pop, Grime, and Frobo arrive at Newtopia to give King Andrias the Calamity Box so he can send them all back home. When they arrive, Polly starts to feel an itchy sensation on her butt while Anne, Sprig, and Marcy talk about how their adventures are almost over. Marcy asks if she wishes that the adventures could last forever but Anne denies it. When everyone meets King Andrias in the throne room, Anne prepares to give him the Calamity Box but suddenly Grime steals the box and gives it to Sasha. They attack the King and his guard and assembles the Toads to initiate a hostile takeover of Newtopia. Andrias submits his position to Sasha in defeat after she threatens to destroy the box if he doesn't, claiming that she doesn't want to go home and has instead decided to stay and rule over all of Amphibia. As Sasha tries to play nice with Anne and Marcy, Anne, hurt once again by her betrayal, denounces Sasha as a friend and immediately cuts ties with her.

Sasha tries to send Anne, Marcy, and the Plantars back home with the music box, but it doesn't work. Instead, she sends everyone to the dungeons until she can figure out how the box operates. General Yunan then arrives and saves everyone, leaving the dungeons through a secret passageway led by Lady Olivia. In a hiding place, Anne rallies up everyone to fight back against the Toad Rebellion. Marcy, Lady Olivia, and Hop Pop head out to free King Andrias, while Polly, Frobo, and General Yunan fight off against the Toad Soldiers. Meanwhile, Anne and Sprig try to close the gate before reinforcements for the Toad army arrive at Newtopia. Meanwhile, Grime gives Sasha a new sword as a gift. Sasha then starts to wonder if Anne was right about her being a horrible person and claims she doesn't know what she wants anymore. Grime tries to cheer her up by pulling down a tapestry of King Andrias to "redecorate" the throne room. The tapestry reveals to both of them a hidden mural of Andrias using the Calamity Box to cause chaos. Realizing that Andrias is not what he seems and after noticing Anne and Sprig are trying to close the gates, Sasha and Grime leave to try and stop them.

While Sprig deals with Grime, Sasha tries to warn Anne about Andrias. Anne, still being furious with her, decides against listening to her and continues to close the gate herself, only to be provoked into a duel with Sasha. They fight resulting in Anne overpowering and ultimately defeating Sasha, while Sprig easily defeats Grime. Polly, Yunan, and Frobo defeat the Toad Soldiers while Marcy, Olivia, and Hop Pop free the king who calls in his guard to arrest the Toad Soldiers, ending the invasion. In the throne room, with Grime and Sasha tied up, the King arrives and declares that he's ready to send the girls home. Against Sasha's warnings, Anne gives Andrias the Calamity Box. Andrias then reveals that his once-glorious Kingdom was left to be displaced and forgotten when the Calamity Box was stolen under his watch by those he once thought were his friends. He wishes to restore his kingdom's glory by using the Calamity box to rule over not only all of Amphibia but of all worlds, revealing that his ancestors were glorious conquerors. He then puts the box on a pedestal which powers up his castle, causing it to lift off from the ground and into the sky. He also reactivates several robotic factories that built soldiers for world domination.

Marcy then speaks to Andrias saying that it wasn't part of the plan, but Andrias states that he lied to Marcy in order for her to bring back the box fully charged. Andrias then reveals to Anne and Sasha that Marcy purposefully stranded them in Amphibia. Marcy admits to her actions and confesses that Andrias was going to take them all with him to explore the new worlds together. She further reveals that on the day of Anne's birthday, Marcy was told by her parents that her family was moving away. Marcy, not wanting to be apart from her friends, decided to use the Calamity Box to keep them together in Amphibia. She tries to defend herself by emphasizing how their adventures had changed both Anne and Sasha and how it gave Anne her beautiful friendship with Sprig, but Anne can't help but feel hurt by this revelation.

Anne declares that Andrias needs to be stopped, regardless of any mistakes she and her friends have made. Anne then frees Sasha and Grime who fight by her side along with Marcy, Yunan, and Olivia. In the ensuing fight, Frobo is destroyed and Polly grows legs to fight against the king's forces. After Andrias throws Sprig out a nearby window to his supposed death, Anne, in a fit of despair, regains connection to the blue gem from the Calamity Box which gives her magical powers. She uses her newfound abilities to fight off Andrias but faints as a result of the power being too much for her to handle. Sprig then reunites with Anne after being rescued by Marcy. As Sasha and Grime fight off Andrias, Marcy uses the box to send Anne home with the Plantars as a means to compensate for what she's done, but is stabbed in the back by Andrias and apologizes to Anne for her actions.

The box upon falling from Marcy's hands, transports Anne, Sprig, Polly, Hop Pop, and Frobo's remains to Los Angeles.

Reception

When the episode was initially leaked, a group shot during the climax showed a generic green-skinned newt with a beret instead of Lady Olivia. This was corrected when the episode was officially aired,

Response

The episode received universal acclaim. Tony Betti from Laughing Place describes the season finale like this. "While many fans of Amphibia were expecting the season finale, “True Colors,” to be more about the anticipated betrayal by Sasha Waybright, we got more than we anticipated and some pretty decent cliffhangers that have us looking forward to the third season of the Disney Channel series."

Release

Originally, the episode was supposed to air on May 1, 2021, but was delayed due to a scheduling shift.

On May 2, 2021, the episode was accidentally released on iTunes, hours later it was deleted from the site. Shortly after the delay and leak on iTunes, a surge of fans took to social media to express their resentment towards Disney's treatment of the show with support being displayed from other showrunners and viewers alike.

In the duration between the iTunes leak and the episode's premiere, Matt Braly uploaded several videos on Twitter of characters telling fans to not watch the leak, with their voice actors in character passing the message. It started with Grime, then was succeeded by Maddie, Loggle, Felicia, Hop Pop, and finally Curator Ponds. Curator Ponds' message references the Gravity Falls scene where Stan Pines says “Oh this...this is beautiful” that achieved memetic status.