#also. you'll never guess which non canon pairing i'm obsessed with :)

[cherrymoonvol6]

some thoughts on the owl house

disclaimer: during my watchtime, the following things happened:

i was drunk (not enough to not remember anything, but enough to maybe not remember everything correctly)

i was tired/sluggish

my internet sucked (so some episodes i had to watch through almost unbearable stuttering, and i skipped one altogether [the body swap one in S1])

but none of these things happened for ALL episodes, and the further i watched the more invested i was. also, this will cover every episode up to the latest one released (for the future). so here it is. Some Thoughts about the owl house incoming:

OVERALL: after going through the first few episodes, i somehow ended up getting reminded of undertale. but maybe not for the reasons you might think: yknow, two stories involving a human accidentally breaching into a world full of magic and fantastical creatures, with no easy way of getting out. but it wasn't for those structural reasons, and more like the fact that TOH seems to be a deconstruction of the tropes it's presenting, just like undertale deconstructs the usual RPG and plays with its tropes to tell its story.

i find this change refreshing because even if it's not a new idea, i like that the fish out of water has such high expectations for what she'll experience in this new world. and i was surprised when they kept that angle as the show went on: i was yet again reminded of toby fox when luz is presented as a writer (yknow, giving the protagonist a trait/skill of their creator, just like how kris plays the piano in deltarune). there are a lot of aspects about it that are very thought provoking and greatly enhance the experience.

another thing is that i was pleasantly surprised to see that not only the show was willing to put through its complicated world and make it central in the story, but also that almost every thing introduced in the show wound up being important and building the bigger picture. like, the last stretch of the second season was just crazy to watch, and i was amazed and so, so happy that the show took its time to get there in the end. i see the hype and i agree, basically.

that’s not to say i don’t have my issues with some things. what i don’t think i will be going over in the sections below i’ll say here: i think the show is decidedly unsubtle. not necessarily a bad thing, but it ruins the potential of certain moments. there’s stuff that i like, some examples being: the light glyph being integral to luz’s presence in the show (since luz means light in spanish); how amity has brown hair just like her dad yet is dyed green to match her mom’s; hunter’s name; the owl beast appearing in eda’s dreams; uhhhh that’s all i can name off the top of my head. i think in some cases the messages are delivered clumsily due to the lack of subtlety, but i also think the show gets better about that as it goes along - i consider it a S1 problem, mostly.

there’s also the elephant in the room about the show being shortened for reasons we don’t know about in the slightest. man, fuck disney lol. below, there’s a lot of places in which i would’ve wanted to say certain thing needed more time to develop or other things feel rushed/incompleted and i’ve omitted most of them because i understand this is a limitations the writers weren’t aware of and had to restructure the whole final season of the show into three 45 minute episodes. i therefore offer my sympathy and won’t criticize the show for that. i’m sure a lot of people have talked about those things (the break-neck pacing of some plot-lines and other stuff being introduced in a not-so-seamless way), so you won’t need me to repeat what you people already know.

even with all of those things in mind (and the criticisms that you’ll find in the rest of this post) i loved the owl house and i’m very happy i took my time to watch it. i’m not really the kind of person to watch movies and shows very candidly - in fact, the first time i decided i would watch TOH i was drunk and just forced myself into it. i am pleased to have done it because this is a great show and i wish i could’ve grown up watching something like this - esp considering the main character is a bisexual latina girl of color, just like me. i hope further shows in kid and tween channels follow this standard and all in all i love it enough to feel very invested in these characters and the major plot beats of the story.

LUZ: i really like luz!!! i just think hopeless optimistics that are actually hiding a lot of guilt and trauma are incredibly compelling characters and a lot is done with it in the show. i love her design and her quirks and how the show recognizes and uses them: one of my favorite moments in the show is that one part in escaping expulsion where amity asks the abomination butler who took her spot, and when the abomination turns around you can see the kitty face luz molded on him and that’s it. no need to say her name or anything, amity (and us, the viewers) immediately know it’s luz. gah! what a great moment.

i also love the way the show slowly reveals luz’s insecurities and hardships. she’s just so layered and you get to see every part. luz’s revelation in FTF is also something that resonates so intimately with my own problems and i get teary eyed just thinking about how well-setup that moment is and how it’s allowed such a big space in the episode. if you allow me to go on a little tangent, i find it fantastic how much they did with camila in such little time. it’s so great that we’re allowed to peak into her world and see how she never felt anything was wrong with luz, but instead of leaving it at that (she’s redeemed now you guys :D), they make camila recognize her mistake in such an honest and heartfelt way that directly impacts with luz’s narrative journey through all seasons in TOH. it treats both characters in such a humanly way… gah, it’s fantastic.

however, i'll say that my favorite dynamic in the show is probably luz and eda. i just love that since the very beginning they were both pushing at each other’s mindsets, and challenged each other in ways that allowed them to question their worldviews and change. there’s also the way eda ties into luz’s revelation that she just wants to be understood: i believe they both agreed to stay together because freaks stick together, making it so that eda and luz’s connection is so special because eda allows luz to feel understood. but yeah, i don’t wanna list examples because i feel like if i start i’ll never finish - source: trust me bro, yknow how it is. they’re fantastic characters already but they add so much to each other through their relationship.

EDA: honestly, there’s not really that much i can say about her. eda already ties in the fantasy trope deconstruction by being presented as this bad bitch channeling some manic pixie dream girl stuff - and just like luz, the show takes its time to deepen her character and make her a lot more complex. i don’t think it succeeds in every part (i go in more detail while talking about raine) but they get almost everything right and that’s enough for me. she’s at her best when she’s interacting with luz but also she has such great dynamics with every other character that pops up (although maybe i wasn’t the biggest fan of her interactions with lilith at the beginning, but it gets better and then it gets good).

HOOTY: i love him to death. what a little bastard. god won’t let him die.

KING: i am mixed on king, though considering everything i do have a positive stance on him. i don’t really like the trope of animal-type characters behaving like dogs [toothless from HTTYD the movie and the horse from disney’s rapunzel come to mind], and while king’s character gets more complex as the show progresses, that doesn’t really ever go away. the kid antics don’t help either. however, the S2 episode where king takes everyone to his “land” was an instant favorite - even midway through my first viewing, i knew i would love it. king’s tragic backstory def comes as a surprise and the show really capitalizes on that, and i love how plot relevant he becomes out of nowhere. i loved him in FTF and i’m very pleased with the direction his character took in S3.

AMITY: boy, does disney love their rich mean girls with overbearing parent(s). well i'm just not so invested, personally. i perked up for a bit in certain episodes, because it seemed like the show was bringing back its deconstruction of fantasy world tropes/characters when they equated hecate with amity. like, luz being motivated to befriend her because azura did so with the mean girl in her world? that's VERY interesting. and you don't know the squeal that i let out when luz starts crushing on amity, JUST because she pseudo-cosplays a powerful witch!!! and this sort of continues as luz builds an image of amity in her head that is not that accurate to her actual persona - and how that is presented as an obstacle for them getting together, culminating in the point where amity outright says that she’s not as cool as luz thinks. for a moment, i was enthralled waiting for the show to do anything with it. but sadly, after the initial hype, their relationship becomes a recycled jumble of miraculous ladybug-esque blushing interactions (and thank god it wasn't for THAT long), and then luz's secrets and amity's fear of not being good enough.

i guess my problem is that there's nothing that being together really adds to their characters, and their dynamic isn't that interesting otherwise. once amity rekindles her friendship with willow and enters luz's friend group, that's most of it resolved. the conflicts that arise in their relationship are way more personal and i believe they're dealt better with other characters (luz's guilt with eda, and amity's insecurities with alador and her sibs). i don't think their dynamic is bad per se (for example, i loved that they brought back amity's fear of rejection in the hooty episode, it's a really effective heart-wrenching moment), but maybe some conflict in their get-together through amity's mom could've been a good way of dealing with that problem in a way that doesn't feel that divorced from the main story (especially since amity’s mom has minimal screen time in the show) while also keeping their relationship plot-relevant. but honestly, i don't blame canon for not giving me a ship i can really enjoy. i'm extremely hard to please.

it also seems like the show kinda forgets about amity’s privileged status once she stops being a bully. in fact, it makes it seem like she’s actually just as powerless as the other kids in the main group, especially through odalia. i would’ve loved to see those aspects impact not only her presence in the group but her relationship with luz, too, because IMO it would never be anything other than interesting and it would add a lot to her character. however, i am led to think that this is less of an aspect that couldn’t fit in the story due time restraints and more of a thing that the writers genuinely think amity is in a good spot re: her character development, which is something i talk about more in the willow section. and speaking of willow...

WILLOW: i like good-natured characters who are good just for the sake of being good. therefore, i like willow, but i like her in the way that i think she’s a great addition to the cast and she has fun dynamics with both luz and gus. however, just on her own, willow is kinda meh.

i enjoyed the bullying (you know, as a narrative tool) for like four seconds when luz said [gasp] witch drama!!! and then never again. like, i don’t think whatever the show is trying to say with the “half-a-witch willow” is ever done good. and for how many jabs this show throws against harry potter, is astounding how similar the half-a-witch and muggle terms are. i would even say the half-a-witch thing is worse because i don’t even understand what “half-a-witch” is supposed to mean. the child of a witch and a demon? being less powerful than a “regular” witch? if the show ever explained it, it did it once and quick enough that it never stayed on my memory. moreover, if the half-a-witch thing is meant to point at willow being neurodivergent, then it makes the development of that plotpoint a lot clunkier.

the show then makes the argument that the “half-a-witch” claim is untrue because willow is actually a really powerful witch, and i am yet again reminded of hermione and how hp butchered the point of the “muggle” bullying. this is something that greatly infuriated me in the episode where willow is trying to prove to amity that she can take care of herself, because the problem isn’t that amity just needs to see how powerful willow is: the point is that anyone could be in willow’s place, and amity would be just as condescending. therefore, the solution isn’t to make amity realize that this particular person is strong enough to protect herself. it should be that amity shouldn’t be treating anyone like this in the first place! yet because willow = hermione, the argument is that willow shouldn’t be bullied/looked-down upon because she’s very strong, actually, just like hermione shouldn’t feel bad about being called a “muggle” because she’s smarter than some full-blood wizards (or whatever the term is). this misunderstanding of bullying is something that i hate because, as someone who was bullied in school, the knowledge that i was “superior” to those bullying me never made my situation better. however, that’s exactly how it happens for willow: boscha’s team bonds with her for being such a cool not-quidditch player (i’m sorry, i genuinely cannot remember the name of the sport lol), people in the school come around willow because suddenly they notice she’s Cool, and amity stops belittling her because willow is really cool, guys. you’ll notice i have a real grudge against the amity/willow plotline because it annoys me that the resolution is that amity will make an exception for one (1) person, when it should’ve been a moment of growth in the sense that she’s straying away from the way her mom raised her and actually seeing value in each person around her, instead of just considering willow part of the elite comparable to people like her (powerful witches).

[let me say, though, that i do like that willow’s self-confidence grows due to the influence of her friends, because that’s something they got right and it doesn’t feel right to not acknowledge it too.]

anyways, it’s a missed opportunity that not only would’ve been a great character moment for both girls, but also would’ve re-established amity and willow’s friendship in a genuine and pointed way. i’ve seen that a lot of people don’t think amity was truly redeemed for the years in which she bullied and belittled willow, but i do think that the moment where amity turns her back to boscha and joins willow’s non-quidditch team out of her own volition was a great narrative beat to determine that she was genuinely on her side, and to me, that was enough. however, it’s unrealistic to think that their dynamic would be smooth sailing from that point onwards, and i was pleased to see that the show recognized that and made it a plotline in a future episode. however, as i said, it was an instance where they correctly identified the problem, but the resolution was not good. okay, that’s enough of amity, going back to willow…

for how much criticism i have for the whole “half-a-witch” stuff, i think willow’s character gets so much more in FTF, and it’s one of the reasons why i think it’s such a great episode. i was so happy when they brought back the fact that willow’s emotional turmoil is tied very closely to her witch plant powers, since it served as a plot device to make luz and willow meet but was ignored for the rest of the show. i cannot even be too mad that it came so late because it was very well done IMO. i really love when media explores the stories of characters that are put into certain roles and aware of it: an immediate example is luz, actually, since she’s so aware that she’s the protagonist of the story (and again, it’s how the show pokes fun at or subverts some fantasy tropes), but skam españa season 2 does that with cris, making a point to give a full season to the character that is the “funny party girl” in her friend group (REALLY great season, please everyone go watch skam españa). in this case, willow is the mom friend that is crumbling under the pressure of being there for her friends while also dealing with her own trauma for her own situation. i also really like that is hunter who reaches out first, because it’s also a great character moment for him. this was a thing the show understood perfectly and developed beautifully in an episode filled with people coming to terms with their own mistakes, all while trying to be there for their loved ones (luz obviously, camila, willow and hunter as the main ones). it’s a shame that it comes so late in the show because that would’ve immensely helped in making me like willow’s character in the beginning and middle of the show. half-a-witch willow, more like half-a-character willow amirite [gets booed off the stage].

GUS: i think gus is a perfectly balanced character and i like him a lot. he’s just very endearing and charming, but also has some depth in him that make for very compelling scenes - the one where hunter and gus bond for the first time comes to mind. i also adore that the main trio (luz, willow and gus) are all witches who are constantly put in situations where they feel like they must prove themselves to everyone else, as well as that happening in completely different ways (luz dealing with a completely different set of magic logic since she can’t cast conventional wild magic; willow and her “half-a-witch” deal as well as her emotionally-triggered plant powers; and gus being a gifted kid living up to those standards at the same time that he deals with studying a type of magic that a lot of people find useless). it’s good for them to stick together because they can understand each other in a way the world may never be able to - and once again we’re back at luz’s FTF revelation being a main theme for a lot of the cast of characters in the show. tldr, gus Good - and even better when paired with other characters.

HUNTER: my first reaction to hunter's (real) introduction in the second season was "oh. he has a personality??" i wasn't yet aware if it was a negative or a positive thought, but it was certainly not what i was expecting. what i thought of it afterwards is that maybe this was the simpler way of setting hunter apart from all the other emperor's coven NPCs that had been introduced so far - in hindsight, that doesn’t even apply because none of the guards are shown as being a force to be reckoned with, and they’re the butt of the joke in multiple occasions. then, i realized that my puzzled reaction was because i was expecting the golden guard to be more like the winter soldier. honestly, i still can't decide if making him act like that in the beginning was the best idea. during the episode of his first official appearance (s2e2) he didn't feel like a threat at all. he just seemed a little incompetent and like he was just amused by the characters and didn't have real intentions to hurt them. i think stuff like darius' introduction works much better in that regard - we get to see how powerful and ruthless he can be, while also showing a lot of personality and being humorous. i'm just not sure what the goal was at the beginning, or that it was done all that well.

of course, because it all leads up to hunter joining the main group, it makes sense that the guy has to have a likable personality. but i have this feeling that the show is trying too hard to get the point across about hunter just being a kid, and so we get him being incompetent instead. IMO, the VA's performance and hunter's physical appearance work just fine (luz even says hunter looks like he could be a student at hexside, which i want to believe is a callback to that one scene in spiderman 2). like, i don't know. i like hunter as a character and he adds a lot to the cast, but i wish some things had been done a little better with him.

however, there are a lot of ways in which i think hunter is a fantastic character in a way that fits really well with the whole deconstruction stuff i talked about earlier. i adore that final frame in the hunting palismen episode, where hunter is looking out this tiny window in a huge tower, confined in a tiny space while his animal sidekick rests in his hands… like holy shit, hunter is literally paralleled to rapunzel, a damsel in distress if you will. i genuinely love those moments and i eat them up every single time lol. there’s other stuff like hunter flinching when belos leans in to flick his hair out of his face: it’s such an effective storytelling tool in a short gesture. like, their relationship is absolutely clear from that gesture alone: how dismissive belos is of hunter’s feelings and worries, how he won’t think twice about humiliating him like that, and how hunter genuinely fears belos - as well as hints that he might have been physically abused by his uncle at some point. in that same line of thought, i like how that is followed through in FTF (i have a real boner for this episode i know) because of course hunter doesn’t know how to deal with that sort of grief. everything that happened in thanks to them is so incredibly fucked up for him and he’s just stuck in the anger stage, unable to move forward because he doesn’t know how. he devolves into such a practical view of the issue (this is all belos’ fault → we must find him and kill him) and it makes so much sense once you think about all the times his feelings were dismissed by his only parental figure (it even happened during thanks to them when hunter keeps writing off his suspicions as “paranoia” and apologizes for it to luz). and like, ugh, the way it comes back around when he helps willow out of her own spiral of grief, in the same way he projected his feelings on both amity and gus in S2. i just love that he’s so determined to be there for other people and how those are the first instances in which he allows himself to open up to others: by helping his friends when he sees them struggling. it’s such an effective way to communicate how loving and compassionate hunter truly is. like, i love how genuinely pained he sounds when he tells willow to never call herself “half-a-witch” again, unable to even repeat the term to her face. he’s such a good boy. i am holding him gently in my hands.

speaking of willow... i’ll guess you’ll notice that in the willow section i didn’t mention at all the romantic nudges towards hunter, and it’s because of two reasons. 1) i will talk about that Here and 2) hunter does nothing for willow as a romantic partner.

so yeah, as you could tell, not the biggest fan of their romance. i am partial to hunter crushing on willow because i think it does something for hunter: it allows him to have teenager experiences that he’s missing out on as the golden guard, and it further humanizes him compared to belos. to me, the problem is that the moment hunter crushes on willow, their get-together in canon is inevitable because of fucking course lol. furthermore, willow is easily the person who hangs out with hunter the least, and while he gets to have very defined dynamics with luz, gus and even amity in that one episode, i’m pretty sure he doesn’t interact with willow in any meaningful way besides getting paired with her on fight scenes. in fact, the only point in which they have a meaningful connection is in FTF, literally the second to last episode of the show. and it baffles me that the moment is decidedly non-romantic/found-family esque with gus being included in the resolution (not even as a third wheel: he's integral to it), only for the show to be like “mwahaha! get baited idiot” and have willow blush at hunter for no absolutely fucking reason (and hunter’s reaction is also decidedly not romantic either: he breaks down crying at willow’s words, as a parallel to the aforementioned platonic resolution from earlier). see, for all the problems i have with lumity and raeda, they have chemistry and reasons to be into each other, but i cannot say any of that for huntlow.

this gets worse when i think about the roles of everyone in the main group, and how hunter and gus’ brotherly moments don’t feel forced despite gus being the only one who can fill the role of “young sibling” in the main group, whereas it’s so obvious that hunter is crushing on willow because everyone else is either taken or not age appropriate. and you know, that doesn’t have to be a problem, that’s my point. again, it baffles me that hunter and willow meet halfway through season 2b, yet after that episode they barely exchange lines (i am struggling to remember if they even talk to each other), and the only indication of the romantic endgame is that hunter keeps blushing at her while willow is extremely oblivious and seems to do things out of her own goals of being a good witch and person, and not because she wants to connect with hunter. thanks to them also makes a point of having drawn out moments building on hunter’s relationships with luz and gus, and like… why leave willow out of them when being together is a point in the near future? like, this relationship definitely feels the most carelessly put-together, as there is NO narrative justification at all of why willow would suddenly fall for hunter - again, from a character resolution focused on willow learning to be vulnerable in front of her friends.

to me, the easiest fix to all of this is to have hunter crush on luz instead. hold on, let me cook. that way, we still have the point of hunter experiencing teenager stuff like crushing on people, yet we make sure that it doesn’t happen because luz is already taken and so instead hunter will eventually get over his crush while still caring for luz as a friend, and we avoid a pointless love triangle too. that can also tie with the main plot as luz is a direct parallel to evelyn (as hunter’s first real connection to wild magic, like evelyn was for caleb), yet the show can subvert that trope expectation of hunter and luz becoming lovers by recognizing that they’re both teenagers and hunter gets to have a life outside a romantic connection, going back to TOH being a deconstruction of fantasy tropes, yadda yadda.

also! i was surprised to see so many people disliking the fact that flapjack dies. i’ll say i digress. flapjack’s life being in danger works as a way to up the stakes in the fight, and i also consider it a poignant nod to flapjack being a symbol of evelyn and caleb’s romance and his “betrayal” to phillip - that, with the added bonus that belos feasts on palismen, makes flapjack’s death almost inevitable. i don’t know how i feel about hunter acquiring flapjack’s powers, though. on one hand, i like that evelyn and caleb’s love is surviving through belos’ failed plan to take revenge on their actions inheriting the palisman’s power: the fact that it manifests physically is a huge fuck you to belos and important to the narrative. on the other hand, i liked that hunter joined the league of “powerless” witches along with eda, lilith and luz - and i thought that was the direction they were going with when hunter uses luz’s glyphs in the belos’ brain episode. the whole glyph stuff mixes well with the story of caleb and evelyn, too, because hunter gets access to a kind of magic that he can make use of (unlike regular wild magic), and i also like the fact that he’d be using the same kind of magic his uncle found about first and used for his evil deeds, this time in the hands of his grimwalker nephew who will use it for belos’ downfall. but i guess hunter can get back his super-speed/teleportation stuff since it’s already part of his fighting style, sigh.

BELOS: uhhh good antagonist. great character. love whoever his VA is. very compelling. great foil to both luz and hunter. “twist villain” done right. not a lot to say tbh tho.

LILITH: first of all, love her design - and love how she stops dyeing her hair during FTF and we can finally see her natural hair color: it's a more effective way to show how far she's grown while also not hammering that fact to the viewer over and over again (cough cough amity). however, she suffers from the same problems most of the coven antagonists do, which is that she's hardly presented as a fearful contender and they're the butt of many jokes. it's not as bad as hunter but it's not as great as darius: she's clearly a force to be reckoned with, but whereas darius becoming a key player in eda's team is something i genuinely didn't see coming, the fact that eda and lilith have this bickering dynamic since the very start made it hard for me to envision her being a real threat. i liked her inclusion in the s1 dynamic, and her sharing eda's curse it's an effective narrative beat to apologize for her misdeeds and genuinely stick to eda's side. likewise, i like that her decision actually has consequences: she can't use magic again, she experiences a lot of side effects, etc. i also really appreciate that she's the only character who genuinely likes hooty because same. her dynamic with hooty is very lovely and became one of my favorites in the show, to my own surprise. 

RAINE: personality wise raine reminded me a lot of willow, and i almost wanna say that their character was way more well-executed than willow’s. i’ve always been a sucker for characters who are naturally good and kind to others, without being twist-villains, and raine is no exception, but they’re also a key player in the plot near the end of S2 in a way willow really isn’t, besides just being luz’s friend.

honestly my biggest disappointment with raine is their relationship with eda. it has all the right ingredients: people who loved each other sincerely back in a simpler time, now finding each other again while they’re on opposite sides of the narrative conflict. as well as them being torn apart by their character flaws (in this case, the responsibility falls mostly on eda but still works). but man, the fact that they just meet again and they immediately fall back in this easy-going dynamic… what’s the point of all that backstory, then? it’s weird that raine seems to hold no grudges against eda for what she did all those years ago. it makes me wonder why they haven't interacted with each other at any other point, since they don’t really hold any animosity towards the other. i would’ve LOVED if they capitalized on their backstory to make them resentful to each other. off the top of my head: have eda resent raine for joining the coven and climbing to the top, maybe have her believe that they’re doing it just to spite her. or have raine be mad at eda for being so irresponsible and nonchalant about it, and show them being conflicted about their love for her and their duties while they work for the emperor. i also don’t like how the show just doesn't allow any kind of conflict to linger between them. like, there’s this part where raine finds out eda has a family, giving space to make them go through some feelings of betrayal and jealousy, or maybe mourn the life they could’ve had together, but it’s such a non-moment and nothing comes of it. i thought i would love their dynamic, but it’s pretty half-baked. still i like raine as a character. after hunter’s introduction not fulfilling my winter soldier expectations, i didn’t know if to give the brainwashed plotline to raine would work. i was pleasantly surprised when raine turns out to be faking their submissiveness, as it shows how smart and resourceful they are, and i like how that capitalizes off their non-threatening appearance.

#the owl house #toh #my reviews #mine #uhhhhhh i'll also tag #anti huntlow #because i do talk about it for a good portion #also. you'll never guess which non canon pairing i'm obsessed with :) #(you probably will)