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Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances
You know a new season of a show is doing a lot right when it gets down to business of expanding upon what was previously established. It’s like the series itself knows exactly what it’s audience wants to see. Some could say that the show is merely rushing things, but to me, no perspective is objectively right or wrong. If you ask me, I’d say that how fast things come isn’t an issue with how well-executed and impactful the big moments and reveals have been. The ones this episode presents are no different. It covers a lot about the past and background of present characters, introduces new ones, and leads their story threads in compelling new directions.
Much like the previous episode, one of the key subjects here is backstory. In fact, a major backstory for Eda kicks things off, in the process broadening the world and lore of the series. It follows her when she was just a teen, having only recently discovered her curse. It’s here where it’s revealed exactly what Eda sees whenever the curse enacts. She suddenly appears in a dark void and for some time is chased and tortured by an owl beast, the original one implanted into her soul. It only disappears when she wakes up, but she’s always left with the knowledge that she turned into that beast in reality. Already, you can tell the benefits of this episode as it broadens the context of many established things like Eda’s constant blackouts and the meaning of the void she often sees herself in.
Even that’s not all when it comes to reveals. The flashback shows that Eda was instantly put into the care of many covens to try and treat the curse, but apparently no treatment could eradicate it. One prominent figure here is a newly revealed member of Eda’s family, her mother Gwendolyn. You can tell she was very dedicated to her daughter’s condition, wanting to do anything to cure it. However, there’s also an air of darkness to this impression as she’s shown to have berated the present healer who said the curse may never be able to be cured. Not to mention, she just balked at the idea of methods merely good to ‘keep it at bay’ instead opting for harmful methods like cutting the curse out. It was even enough to have young Eda flee away from home, thus leading her to stumble across her old portal to the human realm just lying around in the ground. Her showing no hesitation to go straight through the portal as her mother came looking for her is a telling sign of a strain in family relationships. Right away, the episode shows immense promise in what it reveals, develops, and what it sets up from first impressions of newly introduced characters. What’s more, the potential is further realized with what the rest of the episode offers in present day.
Following Eda getting ready for the day, checking in on Luz’s attempts of finding a way to the human realm, and reassuring Lilith who starts feeling the effects of the curse herself, this routine soon clashes with memories of the past. To everyone’s surprise, Gwendolyn suddenly drops in for a visit with exciting news for Eda. From the signs of her old age and claims that she’s been hard at work at this for 30 years, Gwendolyn seems to have strong motherly dedication, even after such a long time. Along with a very enjoyable personality and spunk, she really demonstrates some good appeal. However, aspects like her earlier shown willingness to dark methods and brushing Lilith off when she greets her leave enough suspicion of how much she should be trusted. For that, when she says she finally as a cure for Eda’s curse, there’s a good cause for complicated feelings on the matter. It’s great that Gwendolyn genuinely wants to help her daughter, but her earlier suspicions have it make sense that Eda would be quick to send her away. Plus, according to Eda, Gwendolyn comes every year saying she has a cure for the curse, but nothing ever works, making for a good cause for a lack of trust. Still, given the magnitude of her condition, it’s also understandable that others would be willing to take a chance with Gwendolyn’s methods.
Luz, in particular, has always been sympathetic of Eda dealing with the curse, and that empathy has her go along with Gwendolyn’s attempts. Interestingly, she relates to Gwendolyn’s cause on a personal level, connecting her rift between Eda to her rift with her own mother in the human realm. So, she teams up with Gwendolyn, and willingly follows her lead to a mysterious wizard going by the name of Wartlop. To further show her dedication to Eda, Gwendolyn is shown to have spent all these years travelling across the Boiling Isles to uncover rare treasures. These treasures are the key to an ancient tome of Wartlop’s said to hold the cure for Eda’s curse. From the majestic appearance of the wizard and his wise sounding words, one could be right to believe that Gwendolyn has the right idea.
Later on though, this turns out to be the basis for her faults as a character. As she and Luz follow the tome, its strategies don’t seem to do any good in healing the curse, and only cause Eda harm. Demonstrating solid judgment and wit, Luz ignores Gwendolyn’s claims of only the worthy being allowed to look at the tome and seizes it. Through deducing random treatments tied to random ailments, Luz instantly recognizes that Gwendolyn’s been following a scam this whole time, and wishes to call these stunts off. Gwendolyn, however, is too invested in what she dedicated many years to, and understandably refuses to believe that the treatment is a fake, even with the odds against her. If that’s not enough, she’s not shy to voice her disdain for the elixirs Eda uses to calm the curse because they don’t even get rid of it. All throughout, it’s interesting that Gwendolyn never comes off as unlikable. She stubbornly holds onto what’s revealed as a lie, but it’s clear that these traits come from a place of love. She’s deeply flawed, but her intentions make her understandable, investing the audience, and giving enough hope that she can see sense.
That said, ignorance to facts isn’t the only fault in Gwendolyn’s character. As her introduction showed, while she’s quick to help Eda, she’s neglectful of her other daughter. There’s a lot of emphasis on this fact through what’s seen of Lilith upon her mother’s arrival with talk of a lack of attention leading to absolute dread and disdain. She even brings down King’s hopes of ever getting to know his own parent. Frankly, it’s impressive how much character Lilith is able to express from just laying down on the couch eating ice cream that feels way more like a stand-in for something else. If that’s not enough, Lilith’s negative emotions over her mother aren’t just played for laughs. The stress and disdain from her line deliveries are so huge that they tie into something darker and heavier. As Eda warned earlier, the curse the sisters share intensifies when stressed, so Lilith ends up facing a flare-up of it as a result of her tirade. To make matters worse, Gwendolyn has cleared out every bit of elixir Lilith could be using to calm the curse. So, just as Eda succumbs to the curse and turns into a monster after finding out what Gwendolyn was doing, Lilith does the same, turning into a monster of her own for the first time. The issue of the curse was bad before, but with two mindless beasts, who on the inside are just Eda and Lilith running from their own internal beasts, it’s much darker.
The situation now majorly intensifying, Gwendolyn is left to contemplate over her role as a mother. At first, she doesn’t see that she’s been flawed this whole time, with Luz leaving to the conclusion that she still needs time. However, it’s through Luz leaving that gets Gwendolyn to start getting a better understanding. She decides to see for sure if Wartlop really is a scam after all, and through visiting his lair, she discovers that all this time, he was just three demons in a trench coat. Personally, if that’s the truth behind Wartlop, that is one impressive cover-up. Upon realizing she’s been following a lie, Gwendolyn sets into motion a grand way of redeeming herself as a mother. She faces the demons, exposes them, the uses her magical abilities to intimidate them away, and she has a very powerful threat all things considered.
To further show that she’s understood the fault in her actions, Gwendolyn even takes full responsibility to calm the curse within her daughters. When they’re at their worst, she does the right thing by approaching them not with force, but with love and understanding. With Eda, she admits that she was wrong to try and force the curse out when Eda found a way to at least tame it, ultimately making it worse. In addition to calming Eda, on the inside, this showing of motherly love appears to make her powerful as her internal demon gets smaller and loses control. For Lilith, Gwendolyn gives a sincere apology for neglect despite seeing Lilith as self-sufficient. Though Lilith doesn’t control her curse as well as Eda, she’s still calmed enough for her and Eda to get their needed doses of elixir. That’s what makes Gwendolyn so endearing. She may have done flawed practices and her mindset might be hard to follow, but it’s clear that she means well in everything she does. Through wanting to do well, she’s capable of realizing her faults, and even in her old age, she does whatever it takes to make up for them. For the grand spectacle that comes from the resolution, you can’t help but find her admirable just from doing her best.
The most rewarding thing to come from a dark story setup such as this is some sort of positive conclusion. That’s very much what comes from the conclusion to this episode thanks to Gwendolyn’s overall development. Eda becomes more open to having her mother in her life again, and even seems to understand that she was trying her best. Lilith has an even bigger development to her own arc where after spending so much time at the Owl House, she chooses to go home with Gwendolyn. It’s sudden after staging made it seem like she’d be a mainstay through appearing with the main characters for so many episodes, but it’s a smart move regardless. In order to truly grow and develop, going home to catch up and reconnect with her mother is really the way to go since Gwendolyn’s neglect was a major cause for her grief. Gwendolyn even shows no hard feelings towards her after hearing that Lilith initiated the curse in the first place. In fact, she regrets not knowing about it sooner so she could offer some assistance.
Luz deserves praise here too, for it was because of her Gwendolyn was able to see a light or sense, and actually realize her faults. That’s just another reason why it was such a good thing for her to come to the Boiling Isles, and why it’s pretty emotional that she’ll have to return to her realm someday. Speaking of which, Gwendolyn even offers major setup for some of the events of the following episode. There’s lore from reveals that a human lived on the Boiling Isles ages before Luz, and a substance called Titan’s blood that has human world things leak to the demon realm. Luz is even directed to learn about it at the library which also has something that the man who lived here left behind before mysteriously disappearing.
Paving the way for what’s coming immediately after this episode is a smart move already, but even here, this episode goes an extra mile. Luz expects that she’s completely missed her assigned summer camp, and that means her mother in the human realm is worried sick about her since she never went there. Just after she ponders this, there appears to be proof of this point with the scene cutting to Luz’s mother crying. In a bold staging move, just as the scene sets you up think she’s crying over Luz, it’s actually over something completely unrelated. As it turns out, Luz’s mother is still unaware of where her daughter’s really been all this time. The last seconds of the episode feature what appears to be a doppelgänger of Luz in her mother’s presence, as if nothing changed from the original plans. Hiding her in the shadows is a moody yet ingenious way to show that what her mother believes is truly not what it seems. Plus, lots of questions are left to ponder; how did this doppelganger get here; why is it here; how is it so convincing? Answers to all those questions will appear in time, just so you know. As you can see, in addition to answering questions, this episode leaves just enough to keep up the intrigue and keep the overall series fresh and better than ever.
There’s no doubt that this episode is another winner for the series. In fact, it’s much more rewarding than one may think. Through defining its characters so well, giving many compelling developments to them and their world, and keeping things exciting for the future, everything comes together. Big things are being done this season, many of which fans have anticipated for a while, and it has the right leadership behind it to keep up its promising appearances.
A+
Fan Art
Series Ranking
1.
Enchanting Grom Fright
2.
Agony of a Witch
3. Echoes of the Past
4. Escaping Expulsion
5.
Understanding Willow
6.
Lost in Language
7.
Adventures in the Elements
8.
The Intruder
9. Covention
11.
Young Blood Old Souls
12.
Separate Tides
13.
Escape of the Palisman
14.
Wing it Like Witches
15.
The First Day
16.
I Was a Teenage Abomination
17.
Witches Before Wizards
18.
Something Ventured, Someone Framed
19.
A Lying Witch and a Warden
20.
Sense and Insensitivity
21.
Hooty’s Moving Hassle
22.
Really Small Problems
23.
Once Upon a Swap
The next Owl House review indeed follows up on Luz learning of an old human living on the Boiling Isles while also giving strong development to her relationship with Amity. However, the most focus is on Gus exploring magic outside his area of expertise on an adventure with students from another school.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews, Amphibia Season 2 really gets going with "Quarreler's Pass" and especially "Toadcatcher."
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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