The Shut-In!

"The Shut-In!" is the eleventh episode of the second season of Amphibia, and the fifty-ninth episode overall.

It premiered on October 17, 2020.

Synopsis
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
Anne, Sprig and Polly go around Wartwood visiting various townsfolk in a Halloween-style outing asking for supplies for the annual Shut-In, a tradition where all the residents lock themselves in their homes to escape the dangers of the annual blue moon which, as legend says, turns frogs who gaze at it into monsters. After locking themselves in their house, Hop Pop tells the kids that the next step is to tell scary stories, and adding that they must be true. Polly attempts to tell the first story describing the events of their escape from cannibal frogs, but they stop her and Anne decides to tell a story about a girl much like her.

Phone-Mo
In Anne's story, Anna (a stand-in for Anne) is a student at Saint Joe's School, a place that was "like [Anne's] school" with her two best friends Twig and Molly (human stand-ins for Sprig and Polly). As they meet up in front of the school, their other two friends, Haddie and Broadie (human analogs 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 a cat-like creature playing around as it is being watched by a few kids. To Anna's surprise, the video has zero dislikes.

During lunch, Haddie tells Anna that Broadie has disappeared and believes the video is behind it, but Anna dismisses the possibility; as soon as Anna leaves, Haddie's phone suddenly turns on and it sucks Haddie inside. At her home, Anna gets a phone call from Twig informing her that Molly has also vanished. Anna admits to watching it and looks back at the video, where she sees the kids in the video are her missing friends. Anna tries to throw the phone away, but the creature manifests and transforms into a repulsive monster. Right before the beast can devour her, Anna states that it is not as cute as she thought and the monster recoils. Realizing its weakness is criticism, Anna throws negative comments and dislikes at it, causing the monster to explode into boba and it releases everyone from the video.

Anna vows not to give into peer pressure anymore; Twig then enters and mentions a new hamburger place that has opened on the haunted side of town. The friends happily leave, unaware of the boba hatching into baby versions of the creature as soon as they leave.

The Plantars find the story terrifying and Polly attempts to have another go at telling a story. However, the story is about the mind-controlled townsfolk, which inspires Hop Pop to tell the next story.

Dead End
In Hop Pop's story, a young Hop Pop would drive Bessie for fares and possessed a large head of hair that he was proud of. One day, he picks up a mysterious frog named Mr. Littlepot who has more than one stop to make, though Hop Pop insists he was willing to wait until the end for Littlepot to pay up. When they arrive at the first stop, the home of 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 then drove to the house of an old lady where Hop Pop spots a slaughter snake entering her home. Littlepot disappears as the noise of the woman screaming can be heard and reappears, demanding their last stop to be Plantar Farm. Hop Pop finally deduces Littlepot is death himself and begs for his life. However, Littlepot reveals he came for Hop Pop's hair, which he then slashes it and takes it for himself, much to Hop Pop's horror.

The kids do not find the story scary, though Hop Pop does warn Sprig that it could happen to him. Polly tries to tell another story, but since it is about Anne's first encounter with the Plantars, Sprig decides to tell the next story.

Skin Deep
Sprig and Ivy are playing Bugball together when the ball rolls neck-deep in the woods. As they go to retrieve it, Ivy tells Sprig the story of the Seamstress who skins frogs and takes them for her own. The young frogs stumble upon an abandoned cottage and deduce that their ball is inside. They find the ball, but the Seamstress catches them, and she is shown to be a hideous combination of frog skins. The kids fight the monster 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.

Anne, Hop Pop and Polly are shocked at the story when they suddenly get a knock on the door. Sprig incautiously answers it and sees a hideous face. However, it turns out to be Ivy wearing a burlap mask as a prank she and Sprig pulled. Ivy then heads off, being careful not to look at the Blue Moon thanks to her mask. Afterward, the family notices Polly is gone and she left a note saying she went off to look at the Blue Moon. Everyone runs outside to find Polly staring at the Blue Moon, but she appears to be unaffected. Polly is sad she did not come up with a story, though the family assures her that looking at the Blue Moon was scary enough and she should be proud of that. As they head inside, however, Polly suddenly transforms into a werewolf-like beast. She happily runs inside to tell the family who react in terror as the Screen Fiend, Mr. Littlepot and the Seamstress appear laughing at the camera.

Cast

 * Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy, Anna
 * Justin Felbinger as Sprig Plantar, Twig
 * Bill Farmer as Hop Pop Plantar
 * Amanda Leighton as Polly Plantar, Molly
 * George Takei as Mr. Littlepot
 * Jill Bartlett as Haddie
 * Jack McBrayer as Broadie
 * Katie Crown as Ivy Sundew & Vending Machine Girl (credited as additional voices)
 * Kaitlyn Robrock as Felicia Sundew, Mr. Hopkins' Caretaker (credited as additional voices), & Elderly Farmer Woman (credited as additional voices)
 * John DiMaggio as Stumpy

Additional voices

 * Zeno Robinson as Elderly Student & Skateboarder
 * Matt Braly as Seamstress, Red Eyed Frog & Gourd Carver
 * Connor Andrade as Knight Helmet Frog

Trivia

 * This is the second of the four 22-minute specials in the second season, and the third of the series.
 * This is the first episode of the series to be non-canon. Episodes that are non-canon allows the writers to break rules and make an alternative continuity. They can be more violent and cartoony compared to normal episodes that are canon.
 * Structure wise, this episode resembles The Simpsons's Treehouse of Horror specials, as well as Regular Show's Terror Tales of the Park. Both Treehouse of Horror and Terror Tales of the Park are non-canonical, three-part anthologies centered around the horror genre and always air during Halloween. These specials and this episode all are Halloween specials.
 * Even before the episode aired, Matt Braly confirmed that the episode is non-canon. If the episode was canon though, he thinks that it would take place after the events of "Return to Wartwood".
 * Additionally on Disney+, this episode is listed after that episode.
 * This episode shows that Sprig and Ivy are a step further in their relationship, by showing Ivy kissing Sprig on his cheek, though it happened inside Sprig's story.
 * Wally's birthday is shown taking place on "Shut-In".
 * This is the first episode since "Dating Season"/"Anne Vs. Wild" where the airing number doesn't match with the production number, and is also the first special to do so.
 * Polly mentions "A Night at the Inn", "Children of the Spore", and Anne (from "Anne or Beast?") as her scary stories.
 * This is the fourth episode to use a different credit sequence.
 * The credit sequence is similar to the credit sequence of the first season, suggesting that the credit sequence is only for episodes that take place in the Valley.
 * This is the final episode to air in 2020.
 * The intro uses a Halloween theme song like Blood Moon on Big City Greens.
 * This is the second time Hop Pop appeared on Earth. The first was a frog looking like him in "Reunion". Here, he is a plush.
 * Anna's plushies are made by a toy company called WHY? on the tag.
 * A charm with the character Jack McBrayer voices looks like Toadie.
 * Most of the major characters have less dialogue than other episodes.

Allusions

 * YouTube: Anne's "Phone Mo" title has an ironic logo in the "O".
 * The app Anna uses to watch the video looks like YouTube.
 * She even comments "Wow, not a single dislike or negative comment. Weird..."
 * The like and dislike buttons are hearts (one whole and the other broken).
 * Anne pressing the dislike button over and over wouldn't be possible; this is probably a bug in the app, like the real app itself.
 * TY Babies: Anna's flamingo and Gila monster plush look like TY Beanie Baby toys by the looks of the heart-shaped tag on their left leg and tail.
 * : Anna states the iconic quote of the titular character "What's the sitch?" after Twig calls her the second time. Kim's middle name incidentally is Anne.
 * : The Screen Fiend emerging from the phone references Samara emerging from the television of the 2002 film.
 * : The Screen Fiend's spawn hatching from the boba pods might be a reference to the Gremlins hatching from the cocoon.
 * : Mr. Littlepot's appearance is strikingly reminiscent of Mr. Dark, the main antagonist of the 1983 Disney film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's horror novel of the same name.
 * : The Seamstress sewing frog skin might be a reference to the film's antagonist, Leatherface.
 * : Polly's transformation into a werewolf towards the end of the special is based on the classic horror film.
 *  (When day break creepypasta) - Polly transforming after looking at the moon is what people say happened to some in the creepypasta story "S.C.P. 001- When day breaks".