Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Agony of a Witch - (The Owl House Season 1 Episode 18) - 'Toon Reviews 42

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Agony of a Witch

The past set of episodes have been very nice character-driven stories, but as Season 1 nears the end, the care developed for many of them takes a heavy direction.  One of the biggest plot elements comes back to the forefront, and takes much of what we’ve grown to love to new emotional heights, whether we’re ready or not.

To be fair, there were a few mentions in the last episode on how time has basically run out for Eda to join the Emperor’s Coven, meaning Lilith must resort to more drastic measures.  The start of the episode even demonstrates this with her enlisting a whole army to attack the Owl House to get to Eda.  However, even at that, Eda is always ready for defense, suggesting that nothing Lilith does will bring her down.  During this time, there’s also a formal explanation for why Eda is so against joining the Emperor’s Coven.  She knows that the Boiling Isles’ ruler, Emperor Belos, is tyrannical when it comes to how witches use magic, especially if its’s 'wild'. Given the general idea that everyone should use their natural gifts in their own way, Eda’s feelings towards this whole thing feel much more in the right than Lilith’s ever were. 

Suddenly, attention turns to Eda’s curse, something that also hasn’t been touched upon for a while, as well as Luz realizing how it’s getting worse.  Being hit with such a shocking reveal, she taps into her natural desire to help others and sets out to do what she can to fix Eda’s curse once and for all.  Luckily for Luz, there’s field trip to the Emperor’s Castle on this day, and it apparently includes a look at ancient relics that belonged to the most major covens.  Hearing that one of them is a powerful healing hat, Luz believes she’s found the answer and cure that Eda desperately needs.

As Luz splits from the group to get to the relic, steps are laid out to provide very welcome information on the Emperor’s rule.  As a tour of the castle goes on, there’s talk of an era called the Savage Age where witches were deemed to wildly use magic.  This can be seen as a reference to using all kinds of magic at will instead of one, again like how Eda operates.  When Emperor Belos took over, he established the coven system, limiting witches’ abilities, and only giving absolute power to a select few who are able to join his coven.  It’s an unsettling use of power for sure, but the fact that most students feel that anything other than this is the wrong way of using magic makes it almost feel like propaganda.  Even those closest to the Emperor get full glimpses of his frightening rule.  There’s a moment where he talks to Lilith, criticizing her failed efforts to capture Eda, and giving a dark foreshadow to what happens to witches who don’t join a coven.  Given that at one point he takes what looks like a severed palisman and absorbs its magic to maintain his power and strength, it’s clear that it can’t be good.  For that, stakes are raised for coven-less witches brought in at the start of the episode, Eda, and even Lilith who could lose her position to the Emperor’s Coven if she fails again.  In Lilith’s case though, the following events don’t make this possibility seem too grim.

Eventually, Luz, with the help of Willow and Gus, finds the relics and is all set to take the healing hat for her good cause.  Once that happens though, Lilith gets especially nasty by using Eda’s attachment to Luz as an opportunity.  She confronts Luz and her friends vigorously, and then holds Luz captive as she sends Willow and Gus to deliver the ransom message to Eda.  Speaking of Eda, during all this time, despite her curse worsening, all her moments are spent doing something nice for Luz out of gratitude for coming into her life.  This moment is the most demonstrating of her caring side amidst her laid back mannerisms, as well as the pureness of her relationship with Luz.  It’s really meaningful to see it made perfectly clear that this human has left this much of an impact on her.  However, it also makes what happens next all the more heartbreaking.

After learning that Lilith has captured Luz, Eda appears to fight her sister for the human’s freedom.  The ensuing witch’s duel is a major highlight here, featuring creative spells, dynamic angles, and incredibly smooth animation all throughout.  This isn’t the first time the show has pulled off something so stunningly animated, but these instances never disappoint, especially when they stand for something huge.  They’re one of many things that make this whole series as great as it is in fact.  On standing for something huge, the biggest element to this duel occurs when things between Eda and Lilith get especially heated.  Eda, being much wilder in her magic than Lilith, is more powerful in the duel but Lilith keeps pulling Luz into the line of fire to make Eda draw back her attacks.  As things are kept evenly matched, Eda announces how she’s the stronger witch, prompting Lilith to inadvertently ask why she was so easy to curse.  In other words, it’s finally revealed that Lilith was the one who cursed Eda many ages ago, and it’s messed up that someone like a sibling would cause this kind of suffering.  Eda’s understandably enraged, but the audience can’t help but wonder what Lilith could have gained from this.  Deeper reasons for Lilith's actions are revealed later on, but since she was still willing to hurt others, and is even drop Luz over a drawbridge without regret, they barely matter.  

On that note, Eda uses much of her magic to save Luz, but that only accelerates the curse.  She doesn’t care though, for Luz’s safety matters much more to her.  Sealing the emotion is a speech saying that she’s going away, possibly forever, and it’s all from the heart as you’d want to see from someone laying down their life for others.  So the curse takes full control of Eda and, as a total beast, she’s finally in the grasp of Lilith and the Emperor’s Coven, leaving the most chilling atmosphere of the series.  Not letting up on the emotional weight, the episode ends with Luz returning to the Owl House without Eda, visibly stripped of all determination and hope.  Devastating would be an understatement for this moment with how far the story was willing to go for its likable cast.  Even if you probably could have seen this coming, it’s still shocking that it went through with much of the worst possible outcomes.

However, this is what’s needed to set up what’s to come.  The audience has spent so much time growing to love its characters, and now with bad things happening to them, investment is an inevitable outcome.  With its foreboding lore, highlighting spectacles, and likable cast, the story really stands out as monumental, dark as it is.  That said, I believe that no matter how dark things are, that only builds up enough hope for everyone involved to find a way through all hardships.

A+

Fan Art

The Ranking

1.      Enchanting Grom Fright

2.      Agony of a Witch

3.      Understanding Willow

4.      Lost in Language

5.      Adventures in the Elements

6.      The Intruder

7.      Covention

8.      Escape of the Palisman

9.      Wing it Like Witches

10.  The First Day

11.  I Was a Teenage Abomination

12. Witches Before Wizards

13.   Something Ventured, Someone Framed

14. A Lying Witch and a Warden

15.   Sense and Insensitivity

16.  Hooty’s Moving Hassle

17.  Really Small Problems

18.  Once Upon a Swap

The next Owl House review is for the Season 1 finale to resolve the dark outcomes of this episode and pave the way for a lot to look forward to in the future.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is something much more fun and light-hearted, "The Big Bugball Game" and "Combat Camp" in Amphibia.

If you would like to check out other Owl House reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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