"The New Normal" is the forty-first episode of Amphibia, and the first episode of season three. It premiered on October 2, 2021.
Synopsis[]
Anne and the Plantars get transported to Earth and try to adjust to a wild new environment, but the Plantars must pretend to be normal cityfolk, while Anne must hide Andrias' invasion from her parents. Meanwhile, Andrias sends a dangerous and deadly enemy to Earth to hunt Anne down.
Plot[]
Anne and the Plantars find themselves in the middle of traffic on the streets of Los Angeles. Scared, they immediately run to safety and take in their surroundings. Anne decides that they need to head back to her place as she had been gone for five months and her parents are worried sick. Not wanting to freak them out, Anne has the Plantars hide so that she can ease her parents into telling them everything; however, she decides to keep King Andrias' invasion, Sasha and Marcy's betrayal, and her Calamity powers a secret until they feel trustworthy enough of her. Unsurprisingly, Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy are happy to see their daughter return after so long. However, the moment is ruined when the Plantars, misinterpreting a bird cawing as Anne's signal, reveal themselves, shocking the Boonchuys.
Anne puts together a presentation explaining what she has been doing all this time (but left out the events of "True Colors" because she didn't want to cause more panic), while the Boonchuys are amazed that she went through so much, they are unsure about wanting to keep the Plantars with them. Scared that someone will take them and do something terrible to them, Anne insists that they stay and the Boonchuys finally agree. Meanwhile, in Amphibia, King Andrias is keeping Marcy alive in a suspension tank and orders a silver drone, dubbed Cloak-Bot, to go to Earth and kill Anne as she is in the way of his plans. Additionally, he asks it to pick up a copy of a book series that Marcy got him into, much to the drone's confusion. As it arrives, it uses its cloaking device to stay hidden.
The Boonchuys continue to pamper Anne and she has finally had enough. She demands that she be given space, yet also wants to go to the market so that she can show the Plantars around. The Boonchuys are shocked as Anne never liked going to the market, but Hop Pop explains that Anne has significantly matured and that he trusts her. Anne disguises the Plantars as they head to market and see the food that it has to offer including the pungent durians and the delicious noodles. Sprig spots the Cloak-Bot as it nearly chokes Anne, but they manage to distract it and run. Not wanting to alert her parents, Anne and the Plantars pretend like nothing is amiss.
Anne and the Plantars fight the Cloak-Bot and realize that it too is trying to remain discreet and trick it into running into a freezer. The Plantars freeze and the drone attempts to attack them. Enraged by this, Anne unleashes her blue gem power and destroys a chunk of the robot who flees. Upon escaping the freezer, Anne collapses and the Plantars use a durian to wake her. The Boonchuys, none the wiser, commend Anne for being mature as she and the Plantars remain quiet about the incident. Anne decides that she does not want to use her powers as it severely weakens her. Elsewhere, the Cloak-Bot is recuperating and decides to double down on its efforts to kill Anne.
Cast[]
- Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy
- Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar
- Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar
- Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar
- Brian Sounalath as Mr. Boonchuy
- On Braly as Mrs. Boonchuy
- Keith David as King Andrias
- Troy Baker as Cloak-Bot, Noodle Vendor
Additional Voices[]
- Lex Lang
- Clancy Brown
Gallery[]
International Premieres[]
- October 3, 2021 (Canada)
- December 22, 2021 (Singapore)
- January 7, 2022 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand)
- January 26, 2022 (Latin America)
- January 29, 2022 (Spain)
- February 7, 2022 (Portugal)
- February 23, 2022 (United Kingdom & Ireland)
- March 16, 2022 (France)
- April 4, 2022 (Germany)
Trivia[]
- This episode takes place after "True Colors", Anne is finally home.
- This episode aired exactly five months after "True Colors".
- Anne and her mother's reunion is similar to Della Duck and Scrooge McDuck's reunion in the DuckTales episode "Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!".[1]
- A sneak peek of the episode was shown during the San Diego Comic-Con 2021.
- After Anne explains everything to her parents (aside from the events of "True Colors"), her father refers to Amphibia as "Amphibiland", which was both its and the series' name in the original pilot.
- It is revealed to have been five months since the events of "Anne or Beast?".
- This episode aired the day after the Southeast Asian versions of Disney Channel and Disney Junior shut down on October 1, 2021.
- This episode reveals the season 3 outro. It gives Anime-like vibes, which features Anne and the Planters in an anime sequence.
- This is the fifth episode to not play the theme song.
- This episode was not put up on all digital platforms until October 7, 2021, almost a week after its original airdate.
- As part of Asian heritage the show made importance in showcasing Asian cuisines:
- Noodles- East Asian food.
- Durian- Native fruit to Asia.
- The title also has a double meaning in real life:
- "The new normal" is also a term referring to how society lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Anne mentions King Andrias, Marcy and Sasha’s betrayals:
- King Andrias reveals himself as an evil tyrant and wants to conquer Earth and the other worlds.
- Marcy is revealed to have tricked Anne and Sasha to go with her to another world behind their backs and showed lack of empathy by taking Anne and Sasha away from their families and their life back home.
- Sasha, Grime and the toad army tried to take over Newtopia and Amphibia (this was the second time Sasha betrayed Anne's trust).
- Marcy's Journal: A Guide to Amphibia features extended scenes cut from the episode:
- Anne discovers Marcy's journal in her backpack.
- Anne and her parents decided to not tell Sasha and Marcy's families on what happen to Sasha and Marcy.
- Anne learned that Mr. Wu postposed his job proposed until Marcy return.
- Anne also had trouble sleeping as she didn't take Marcy getting impaled by Andrias well and fears that Sasha and Marcy may not be alive.
- Sprig and Anne were out on the porch together when Anne had trouble sleeping and had hot coco.
Allusions[]
- Sprig greets Anne’s parents the same way George greets Ursula's parents in George of the Jungle: "Hello Mr. & Mrs. Ursula."
- In the background, a blimp that says "Good Day" can be seen. This is a reference to the Goodyear blimp.
- This was the first episode showing Marcy’s return. She was revealed to have been placed in a tank to be healed, just like Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.
- Despite Marcy’s facial expression while being unconscious, she appeared to be sad since that last event in "True Colors".
- The titular character of Pac-Man appears on the tallest building in the view of the city.
- One of the magnets in the market is a duck with a hat and bow tie, referencing Donald Duck, while the red color in the hat and the bow tie are a nod to Donald's nephew, Huey.
- Another one of the magnets in the market is a mustached man with the letter "P" on his overalls and hat, referencing Mario from the Nintendo game series.
- Another magnet bears a resemblance to Lloyd Nebulon from the One Saturday Morning series Lloyd in Space.
- During the montage, Sprig is reading a book called "Monday Cat", a nod to the comic strip character Garfield.
References[]
External links[]
- The New Normal at the Amphibia Wiki
