Much like with the temperatures across the country as of this moment, we enter the single digits of the countdown for this year. And going into the number nine spot on the Top 12 Countdown of the year of our lord 2022 is a show...yeah, a lot of people wished that this season would’ve gone a little longer than being fucked and have three 45-minute episodes to fill in the gap instead. And this is one of those 45-minute episodes from the show’s third season...because it’s the only one that aired from the third season because the second episode is set to air in January and the episode after that, being the series finale...sometime later going into 2023. This is The Owl House with “Thanks to Them” with the number 9 spot.
Tell me if you heard this one before. An animated show that is made for kids (with most adults watching it because why the fuck not) where the genre happens to be an isekai. Its second season ends with the antagonist getting what they want, the land becoming fucked up, and the hero and their friends being sent to the protagonist’s home dimension to set up the third season. That’s not me exaggerating. That happened before with Amphibia last year at the end of the show’s second season and going into the third with Anne and the Planters being sent to the human realm from Amphibia after Andrias enacted his plan and turned the place into an industrialized hellscape. The exception between the two shows is that no one got freaking stabbed at the end of that season. Because if Amphibia did it with the first half of their third season, why not The Owl House? The only difference between them is because...well...Disney screwing around with the show resulted in it getting canceled with a shortened third season with three 45-minute episodes. And this is why Bob Iger had to come out of retirement and clean up the mess that was caused by Chapek.
Much like the first half of Amphibia’s third and final season, you have Luz and her friends being transported into the human realm after the Boiling Isles turned into a hellscape courtesy of the Collector being freed from its prison, holding King hostage by convincing him to play a game called “The Owl House”. Mind you that this was after Belos used the Collector to unleash the draining spell to commit mass genocide during the Day of Unity. But besides that, Luz is back home in the human realm but Amity, Willow, Gus, and Hunter, they’re now without a home and that leads to the end of Season 2 and going into the start of Season 3 with them taking refuge into the Noceda household with Camila and Vee. And of course, making it their mission to get them back home, beat the Collector, and save the Boiling Isles. Not knowing that a certain someone refuses to go away and infiltrated the human realm.
But as Willow, Amity, Gus, and Vee venture across town to find some clues that could help them to create their own portal, something that they alongside Luz and Hunter attempted to create throughout the past few months, speaking of those two, the episode had them as the center focus. Especially with the shit that they had encountered since the events of “Hollow Mind”. With Luz, it’s her carrying a huge burden on her back after finding out that she helped Belos, who was once Philip Wittebane, to find the Collector. And also partly to blame for causing the Day of Unity thanks to her helping Belos to pretty much doom everyone in the demon realm. Worrying about how her friends would react if they were to find out about the mess that she caused. And then you have Hunter, who can’t live with the fact that he’s a clone of Philip’s brother Caleb, a witch hunter. Learning that Caleb fell in love with a witch and pissed off his older brother enough for Philip to...well... kill him. Grimwalker as I say because he is a clone of Caleb. So, two people who had burdens on their backs in the episode...or should I say three people because here comes Camila.
Remember at the start of the series and the events of “Yesterday’s Lie” where we all thought that Camila was concerned about Luz being herself and thought that sending her to camp would be the best for her? Thinking that Luz wants to stay in the demon realm in the final few minutes of “Yesterday’s Lie” was the audience thinking that Camila may have driven Luz away for her to come up with the decision to stay behind? Well...apparently, that’s not the case. Instead, Camila had no issue with Luz being creative and imaginative and being herself. In fact, she’s a proud mother who likes to see her kid happy despite the public’s opinion of Luz’s actions in a negative way. Defending Luz for her wanting to be herself, but that’s not going to stop public pressure for her to mess things up. As it was revealed that Camila was once in Luz’s shoes in expressing herself but gets constantly bullied in high school. Not to mention, having a hard time being a single parent since Luz’s father Manny died.
Revealed that he died due to a terminal illness that resulted in the Nocedas moving to another location where they’re close to a hospital as seen from Luz’s video diaries that Camila accidentally stumbled upon while the whole shit with Belos is about to go down. Also revealing that Manny was the one who introduced the Azura books to Luz as his last gift from him before passing on. Revealing that Luz being a fan of the series was all thanks to her late dad as she and Camila move on to their lives after Manny’s passing. A lot to take in for the revelation train for Luz and Camila for this episode. Especially towards Camila with her struggling to be a single parent. Revealed that her sending Luz to camp was because of pressure from the public due to her being bullied in her younger days and reeling from Manny’s death. It’s tough for the Nocedas. It’s tough for Luz. It’s tough for Camila. Even though it’s a 45-minute episode in a shortened season, Dana and the writers did at least play their cards right with the Nocedas in this episode. More than enough for Camila at the end of the episode to go with Luz and her friends to the Boiling Isles as a helping hand. And that was after seeing a video of Luz making her decision to step back from her original idea of staying in the demon realm because of what she did. And with Camila joining the battle in the next episode...should be interesting to see her in action. As well as her first visit to the demon realm. And also putting aside the notion that Camila and Eda may have crossed paths...yes, people have that in mind when Eda ran off to the human realm. And hopefully the next episode, again, if they play their cards right, solve that answer.
Of course, we get to Luz and man, a few months after the events of “King’s Tide” and she went from a happy-go-lucky teenager who stumbled into the demon realm and one day becomes a witch as if it’s her story to someone who may have doomed her friends’ home because of something she wished that she hadn’t done or didn’t even notice that was going to help someone who hates witches using the Collector to unleash the draining spell on the Day of Unity. A burden that worries her because of the fear of her friends’ reaction to her accidentally helping Belos to get what he wanted. Sure, she helped the others to blend into the human realm during the time skip while trying to construct a homemade portal. And sure, she and Hunter got along really well since their first encounter in a brother-and-sister type of relationship, even came out and say that he’s family to her and should be free from Belos’ clutches, but Luz still can’t handle the fact that she may have been partially to blame for what happened in the demon realm.
To the point where she filmed her video diary and decides to rescind her decision of wanting to stay in the Boiling Isles once the Collector is dealt with. A decision that quickly dropped thanks to Camila at the end of the episode. And even though she finally got the truth out of her system, mostly thanks to Belos, despite the reaction from the others being shocking but also not too upsetting. I mean yeah, they would be upset over the revelation and also mad at Luz for keeping it hidden, as well as being partially responsible for destroying their home. But no negative reaction to the revelation. Wouldn’t say the same about the others back home once we get to the next episode. It’s beyond anyone’s guess.
Hunter is also on the docket after learning that he is a grimwalker and a clone of a witch hunter who fell in love with a witch, and also Belos once tried to kill him at the end of Season 2. And much like Luz, he is worried about what the others might say about his origins. But unlike her, despite keeping his origins a secret from everyone, it seems that he is getting along with the others well throughout the episode. Whether it's him getting along well with Gus to have a brotherly connection, finding a found family with the Nocedas as Luz proclaimed him as family, or to cater the Hunter and Willow shippers, getting a haircut by her and telling Hunter to be himself when thinking that he’s about to tag along to find some clues while dressing up as someone from the Starship Enterprise...that and also wanting to check out the series that Hunter is currently reading, it feels like Hunter for the first time in his life, feels like a free man. No longer serving Belos or being gripped under his control or demands and for once, despite hiding his origins from everyone unless your name is Luz (and Gus according to some fans because of him going through Belos’ mind), you kinda feel glad that he finally found some sanctuary. Being around the people he’s around with the most through thick and thin felt like he was being welcomed, as well as being safe alongside his palisman Flapjack. Looks like everything is coming up Hunter...until Belos decided to fuck it all up. In the fourth act of the episode, possessing him in the graveyard on Halloween night to make his return in front of Luz with him saying, “I’m back, bitches!”
Oh yeah, let’s address that elephant in the room. Belos’ return. Because we all thought that Belos in “King’s Tide”, after turning himself into a corrupt monster due to him consuming one too many palismen, was demolished by the Collector. Splat into mush and guts like he’s a housefly after being swatted by a fly swatter. Thinking that he died. But instead, he’s still around. And that is mostly because of one scene from “King’s Tide” with a drip of his...well, his remains dropped onto Hunter’s shoulder and stowaway into the human realm. Waiting to make his return throughout the episode until he finally decides to make his move once Halloween arrives. Once the others found a clue that could help them to get back into the demon realm. That clue ends up being titan’s blood. And that is enough for Belos to make his resurrection. Mind you that this was after learning about Belos’ past when he was once Philip Wittebane when he and his younger brother Caleb came into town in the early days of the colonial era, becoming witch hunters for the town. Professionals at best before Caleb fell for a witch named Evelyn and you already know where this is heading. Oh yeah, the name Evelyn...no surprise that the witch that Caleb fell in love with was a Clawthorne when taking him to the demon realm. Might as well treat this as a Clawthorne bargain sale where anyone in the past is a Clawthorne.
But Belos isn’t going away for some time as he plays a big role, back as the antagonist for the second episode of the show’s final season. Making his way to the demon realm. Taking over Hunter before Hunter regains his conscience and fights his supposed uncle to get out of his body. And oh yeah...killing off Flapjack. A major death in The Owl House this season alone (so far) and it has to Flapjack who had to deal with a massive blow. Hunter almost knocked on death’s door but he gets to live to see another day thanks to Flapjack giving up his own life to fuse with Hunter for him to stay alive. Setting up shop for the next episode and mind you that this was after everyone duking it out on Belos. Beautifully animated of course. And even though we only got two episodes left in the season and the series overall, they at least played their cards right.
Of course, other than the things that I mentioned throughout the article, it’s not a bad episode. Not going to forget that little side plot of Willow, Gus, Amity, and Vee going around the town for them to search for some clues that would be their ticket out of the human realm, leading them to the museum, under the management of one of Vee’s friends, to find what they were looking for. It’s an alright side plot. Mostly with Amity, Willow, and Gus exploring the human realm for the first time the same thing Luz had to endure the first time she visited the demon realm. So that was a nice touch.
And the intro with the time skip was interesting also with how Luz and the others were doing during the months with Amity, Willow, Gus, and Hunter setting up shop and exploring what the human realm had to offer while trying to build a portal back home. From Luz coming out to her mom with a video montage showing photos of her and Amity being together to everyone putting on new clothes to blend in. Even Vee had to blend in with a human form of herself. No longer donning the Luz look now that the real Luz is back in the human realm. The rain scene, the portal building attempt, the gang trying to give Luz and Camila some food that they made as a thank you, there’s a lot to list but it’s a nice little start to what is about to come for the episode. A full six months since the events of Season 2 and even though we already got it from the New York Comic Con panel back in October, it was a nice montage to showcase how much they came...or rather, how everyone spends their time on Earth.
Besides that, it’s lore-building for each of the characters. Mostly on Luz and Camila with their backstory since Luz’s return to the human realm. It’s not a bad touch coming from the writers since we want to know more about them. Despite being a shortened season and everything having to be crammed into each 45-minute episode, as long as they play their cards right, then you’re going to get people intrigued. And the stuff on Camila with her having a nightmare of how she got pressured into sending Luz into camp after negative responses from the public about Luz’s behavior and again, Camila had no issue with her daughter expressing herself. Hell, she brought a box filled with Luz’s stuff that Vee threw out back in and took a look at the swan origami that Luz made in “Yesterday’s Lie”. She even volunteered to help Luz and her friends to take on Belos and the Collector after coming across the video diaries that she made.
At least the whole issue with Luz and Hunter carrying burdens on their backs with Luz accidentally helping Belos to get to the Collector and Hunter being a grimwalker are now out of the picture...well, to Luz’s friends. Still think they have a lot more on their plate once returning to the Boiling Isles. Just be glad that Luz has everyone to be around if she can get the help she can get to take down Belos and the Collector. As well as getting her issues out of the way. And even though Hunter may have lost Flapjack, his palisman and pretty much his first friend, at least he finally found a group where we can be accepted and feel safe. Being freed from the shackles by Belos and is now ready to put his obstruction and his reign to an end. And we only got a few more weeks until the next episode on January 21.
And that concludes the Number 9 spot in the Top 12 Countdown of 2022. What do you think about this episode? Should it be higher, lower, or stay put on your list? Put it in the comments below as we prepare to go into the Number 8 spot of the Top 12 Countdown. Which episode and series will be taking the eighth spot? Find and see sometime tomorrow. Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Mastodon, and Instagram for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. And y’all should know the drill by now...
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