The Shut-In!

Amphibia
"The Shut-In!"

Season 2

Number 11

Episode information

Production code

440A-223

Written by

Todd McClintock
Michele Cavin

Storyboards by

Alexandria Kwan
Eddie West
Inbal Breda
Cassie Zwart

Directed by

Joe Johnston
Jenn Strickland

Original airdate

October 17, 2020

*Amphibia* Episodes
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"A Day at the Aquarium"	"Night Drivers"

"The Shut-In!" is the thirty-first episode of Amphibia. It aired on October 17, 2020.

Synopsis[]

In this special extended episode, which is on Halloween, Anne and the Plantars protect themselves from the dangers of the annual Blue Moon by locking themselves in the house and entertaining each other with the scariest stories they can think of.

Plot[]

In the town of Wartwood, it is the annual Blue Moon Shut-In, Amphibia's version of Halloween. Just like the holiday, kids go door to door demanding protection from creatures in the night such as hatchets and flamethrowers. Despite Anne calling it a holiday, right down to seeing jack-o-lanterns, the Plantars insist that it is a tradition and not a holiday as nobody is necessarily celebrating anything and are simply trying to survive the night by blocking themselves in. After locking themselves in the house, Hop Pop tells Anne, Sprig and Polly that the next step is to tell scary stories, again claiming it is not a holiday, and adding that they must be true. Polly attempts to tell the first story, but when it becomes apparent that she is describing the events of "A Night at the Inn", they stop her and Anne decides to tell the story about a girl who went to a place that was "like [her] school".

Phone-Mo[]

Anna (clearly a stand-in for Anne) is at Saint Joe's School where she meets up with her two best friends Twig and Molly (human stand-ins for Sprig and Polly) to watch internet videos. Their other two friends Haddie and Broadie (human stand-ins for Maddie and Toadie) arrive informing them of a video that is said to be haunted. While Molly decides to watch the video with them, Anna and Twig resist peer pressure and move on. However, Anna decides to watch the video in private and sees that it is strange cat-like creature being adorable while other kids laugh at it. Anna notices that the video has zero dislikes.

Haddie approaches Anna and tells her that Broadie has disappeared and believes that the video is behind it, but Anna throws caution to the wind. As soon as she leaves, Haddie is suddenly sucked up by her phone. At home, Anna gets a call from Twig telling her that Haddie and Molly have disappeared and thinks the video really is cursed. Anna admits that she watched it and her phone begins playing the video. She sees that the teens laughing are Molly, Haddie, Broadie and another teen who has been there for 35 years. The creature hops out of the phone and, after Anna tries to ward it off, materializes as a bigger and scarier version of itself with play and pause symbols for eyes. As the creature plans to devour her, Anna states that it is not as cute as she thought and the beast recoils. Realizing the only way to defeat it is to criticize it, Anna gives it numerous dislikes and a negative comment, blowing it up into boba.

Anna's friends are all freed, as well as the older teen who leaves. Twig rushes over and sees that everyone is okay and then mentions a new hamburger place that has opened on the haunted side of town. The friends happily leave, but as soon as they do, the boba turns out to be eggs that hatch baby versions of the creature.

The Plantars find the story truly terrifying and Polly attempts to have another go at telling a story. Unfortunately, it is of the events of "Children of the Spore", which inspires Hop Pop to take the reins of the next story.

Dead End[]

Years ago, a young Hop Pop would drive Bessie for fares and possessed a large head of hair that he was proud of. He picks up his current fare, a mysterious man named Mr. Littlepot who has more than one stop to make and promises to pay him for them. The first stop is Old Man Hopkins who had come down with a case of red leg. Littlepot steps off goes inside the house and leaves after the sound of Hopkins collapsing can be heard. They next head to an old lady's house where Hop Pop spots a slaughter snake which could kill a frog instantly. Littlepot disappears as the noise of the woman struggling can be heard and reappears demanding that they head to the next stop. Hop Pop finally deduces that the man is death himself and is shocked to see that the next place is the Plantar farm. Hop Pop begs for his life, only to learn that Littlepot came for Hop Pop's hair. He slashes it and takes it for himself, much to Hop Pop's horror. Hop Pop concludes that this was how he lost his hair.

The kids do not find the story all that scary (if not messed up), though Hop Pop does warn Sprig that it could happen to him. Polly tries to tell another story, but when it becomes apparent that she is referring to the events of "Anne or Beast?", Sprig finally decides to take a stab at telling the next story.

Skin Deep[]

Sprig and Ivy are playing bugball together when the ball flies into the woods. During this, Ivy's hat falls off and reveals her large bushy hair of which she is ashamed of showing off, though Sprig does not mind. They head into the woods to find it and Ivy tells Sprig the story of the Seamstress who skins frogs and takes them for her own. They find a house and a broken window and deduce that their ball is inside. They manage to find the ball, but they are caught by the Seamstress who is revealed to be a large monstrosity of frog skins. They fight it off and rip off the skin, revealing her to be a glass frog. Ivy briefly empathizes with her, but the kids beat her up and burn the shack down and escape. Sprig tells Ivy that he likes her hair and they run away together laughing.

Anne, Hop Pop and Polly are shocked at the story when they suddenly get a knock on the door. Sprig naively answers it and sees a hideous faced creature. However, it turns out to be Ivy wearing a burlap mask and was part of a prank she and Sprig cooked up. They tell her to not look at the Blue Moon and Ivy runs off with the mask on her head, bumping into things. Soon, they realize that Polly slipped out of the house to stare at the Blue Moon, but she tells them that it is unimpressive and is sad she did not come up with a story. They tell her that looking at the Blue Moon was scary enough and to be proud of that. As they head inside, Polly suddenly transforms into a large hairy beast. She happily runs inside to tell the family who of course react in terror. The Phone Creature, Mr. Littlepot and the Seamstress (who's frog skins are also revealed to still be alive) appear outside the house and give a group laugh at the camera.

Cast[]

Trivia[]

While this episode aired after "A Day at the Aquarium", it does not chronologically take place after that episode. Instead the episode takes place after the events of "Night Drivers / Return to Wartwood".
- Matt Braly revealed that the episode was supposed to be "evergreen" and be non-canon, but due to rewrites it is canon with the rest of the series.^[1]
The episode's format is similar to The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror specials, the Phineas and Ferb episode "Terrifying Tri-State Trilogy of Terror" and the Gravity Falls episode "Little Gift Shop of Horrors".
This is the only episode in the show to be non-canon.
Mr. Littlepot physically resembles Mr. Dark from the 1983 Disney film Something Wicked This Way Comes.
The episode features a Halloween variation of the theme song as well as a variation of the end credits that depict skeleton versions of Anne and Sprig.
The episode takes place during One-Eyed Wally's birthday.
In Anne's story, Anna has a stuffed animal version of Hop Pop.
- This along with several other stuffed animals have heart tags, a reference to Ty Beanie Babies.
Human versions of Sprig, Polly, Maddie Flour and Toadie appear in Anne's story. Oddly, this seems to imply that Anne sees Toadie as a friend of hers.
Toadie's head made a cameo appearance as Brodie's phone accessory.
Red-Leg disease was mentioned before in "Contagi-Anne".
The events of "A Night at the Inn", "Children of the Spore" and "Anne or Beast?" are mentioned.
Hop Pop implies that his baldness is genetic and may pass down to Sprig.
Ivy kisses Sprig on the cheek, however with it being a story Sprig told, it is unknown if it is canonical even though Hop Pop says that the stories must be true.
Glass frogs are indeed clear all through, however they can also have solid lime green backs. This is actually an evolutionary advantage as their translucence can allow them to camouflage under the right conditions. Contrary to the episode, they do not possess sharp teeth, nor do they steal frog skins.
Anna says Kim Possible's catchphrase "What's the Sitch".
- Her ringtone is the Amphibia theme song.
This is the final episode to air in 2020.
This marks the second time George Takei guest star in a Disney channel show starring Brenda Song. George had guest in the episode: "Starship Tipton" from The Suite Life on Deck which also star Brenda.