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Yesterday’s Lie
It’s always exciting when a major element of the big picture a series reaches a huge turning point, so this episode already has a strong hook. It allows for real progress for Luz finding a way back to the human realm and enhances said progress with interesting twists, creative setups, and genuine emotion.
Thanks to several random ingredients including the ever-powerful titan blood, Luz is able to create her own makeshift portal. It’s not as well put together as the old portal for sure, but it does bring some significant results. Her intent is to use the portal to go to the human realm to see how her mom, Camila, has been getting by without her before eventually introducing her to the demon realm. In an interesting turn of events, the portal actually doesn’t work the way she expects it to right away. Instead of going straight to the human realm, Luz is sent to a strange area filled with dark muck and floating cubes, and it has a creative way of working. Whenever she says someone’s name, she appears inside a reflective surface they’re nearby and can spy on and talk to them. This is certainly a strange and unusual circumstance, being in an area like this with reflections being Luz’s only way of talking to others. It practically makes sense for her to have come in with a rope around her waist so the main Owl House gang can pull her out should the portal close and threaten to trap her there. In spite of the implications of the risk of being here, Luz takes advantage of this setup and before long, she proceeds to check on Camila, which in turn brings another huge twist.
Connecting to a reveal at the end of an earlier episode this season, Camila is unaware of the fact that her daughter has been in another realm for so long. This is because someone has taken the form of Luz, and is living with Camila in her daughter’s place. Her previous appearance made it seem like her intent was dark and foreboding and that she shouldn’t be trusted. However, while someone posing as Luz was known before, the real twist is that there’s more to this character than how she first appeared, which is common for much of this show’s cast. Luz makes her way into a reflection nearby this figure, and quickly gets to know her true nature. Circumstances lead them into the old shack where Luz first wound up in the demon realm in the first place. Luz’s double gets caught in a trap set up there, and while Luz helps her get out, she grows characteristics of a demon. Her name is Number 5, also known as Vee, and from her and Luz’s first few conversations, she proves to be highly sympathetic. She truly meant no harm in posing as Luz, but went along with it because of how nice Camila was to her when she met her. Now that she’s grown demon features, Vee is worried about what her true form will mean for this newfound relationship. Since magic is the only way Vee can keep up her fabricated form, she’s stuck like this unless she can find some to consume. Luz fortunately has some ideas of where to find some thanks to Eda constantly coming to this part of the human realm, so they work together to track them down. Along the way, there are very interesting ways of revealing aspects of both characters’ backgrounds.
With Luz, areas of her character are subtly touched upon and expand previous brief explores. It first shows up when she’s initially eager to help Vee so she can continue living in her place while she continues living in the demon realm until she can properly show it to her mom. That’s a first major clue that even though Luz cares deeply about her mom, it doesn’t necessarily mean she wants to make the human realm her home again. An even bigger instance occurs when she and Vee come across a group of teens. Luz is visibly worried about Vee approaching them, fearing that they’re going to make fun of her. Much like her worries about love matters a few episodes back, the implications are strong that Luz was constantly bullied for being herself in her old realm. Intensely thinking of Vee being teased indicates that instances of this bothered her a lot. It only makes her living in the demon realm all the more relieving. However, Vee is not like Luz in this regard as she gets along with this group of teens very well, especially since they’re the ones she met when going to that summer camp in Luz’s place. It turns out that the camp was nothing more than a boring institution that the others even describe as a prison. It’s because of Vee that it was manageable for all of them, and Vee herself feels like one of the group. Technically, Luz could have ended up like this too since these teens are also fantasy lovers, but her anxieties make it clear that such an outcome would not have been as easy for her. During this encounter, the kids are revealed to be playing magic cards, but not just any cards; they’re Hexes Hold’em cards that Eda was once obsessed with. With a lead on magic, Vee and Luz track the cards down to a local museum, and while they await answers, a heart-to-heart talk brings bigger information on Vee.
When Luz relates an earlier moment with the teens where Vee was given a fortune about running from her past to her own running away, Vee reveals several emotional truths to her. To her, Luz didn’t seem to have any good reason to run away since she had a good life in the human realm, including a mom who loves her. Vee, on the other hand, had many more hardships where she came from. From her demon characteristics, her true classification is a basilisk, worm like creatures who can take on different forms and get by through consuming magic. Such a creature had run rampant before, causing near-devastation to the students of Hexside, making their intent seem malicious. This in turn brings a huge instance of things being more than they seem. Basilisks apparently went extinct, but were somehow brought back by Emperor Belos to see how they consume magic. In other words, all instances of magic consumption were things all basilisks including Vee were forced to do. With the aforementioned incident at Hexside in mind, their nature is especially given a huge new perspective. It’s like Belos truly has no regard for the well-being of his subjects as long as he gets what he wants. Anyway, Vee is one of a few basilisks who openly opposed hurting others with her consumption and managed to escape Belos’ authority, but feared being found again. It was only when she found that Luz, a human, had entered the demon realm when she discovered a way out for good. She managed to get through Eda’s old portal, wound up in the human realm, met Camila, and the rest is history. Not only is all of this very interesting, but it helps Vee stand as a strong character and another great example of making a character seem one way, but turn out to be much deeper. It’s what’s needed to make the audience want her to find happiness by keeping what she’s found while living in Luz’s place. This show of sympathy is even stronger when this pursuit of happiness is later challenged.
While at the museum, Vee gets a scent of magic needed to transform back into Luz all the way. When following it, she and Luz discover dark truths about the museum’s curator, Jacob. His office is filled with several torture weapons and graphs related to several outrageous theories. Not to mention, he’s revealed to have set up several traps around town seen throughout the episode, including the one in that shack that caught Vee. In fact, that trap was caught on camera, making it easy for Jacob to uncover Vee’s true form as a demon, so he traps her in a cage. Seeing Vee trapped after hearing how much she deserves a better life as well as a victim of Jacob’s absurd demon theories, Luz knows that she has to get her mom to help. She calls Camila’s name and appears in a reflection of her phone, and it’s here where Luz, at last, tells her mom the truth about the demon realm where she’s been for all these months. As noble as it is for Luz to finally be this open and honest with her mom, a significant layer to the connection of this mother and daughter is revealed. Camila is largely unfazed by what Luz tells her, and while she agrees to go to the museum and help Vee, she thinks it’s all part of a fantasy game Luz is playing. It makes sense given how strange this sounds, but her insistence on her beliefs despite Luz saying otherwise gives the impression that for all their love, they don’t fully get each other.
Anyway, Camila meets up with Jacob, and the encounter brings even more big reveals, most of it vital to the nature of demons. Jacob’s fascination with them comes from recounts of two brothers who disappeared to a strange realm of them during the 1600s. Considering that this is around the same time as Philip Wittebane’s days there, it’s interesting to know he had a brother who by the way had a familiar-looking cardinal. This reveal has been Jacob’s drive to spend his whole life trying to uncover actual demons and prove they’re real, and now with Vee in his custody, he pretty much has.
It’s also at this point where Camila’s initial perception of all this being a game is swiftly debunked when she sees Vee’s true basilisk form. She’s understandably shocked that this creature has been living as her daughter for months, but Luz insists that she’s a good sympathetic soul. All the while, Jacob goes on and on about conspiracy theories, unwarranted judgements on demons, and hopes of getting his account verified. Then he goes way too far when he gets out tools needed to dissect the poor creature.
Thankfully, at that moment, Camila sees Vee as a good creature after all, even considering her strong and brave, and directly confronts the crazed curator. Taking the situation seriously at last, she sets Vee free and takes Jacob out with a swift whack of a sandal. So all seems well with Vee freed and safe, able to get the magic she needs to fully transform again, and officially welcomed to stay with Camila. Yet the episode doesn’t stop there, as it has one more big thing to throw at the audience, reshaping the tone of the series going forward.
A big thing to Camila’s character is that in spite of not fully getting her daughter, she’s still very loving and caring as a mother. Her good nature and disposition alone is clear, especially since that’s what convinced Vee to go along with posing as Luz for so long. Even her past act of sending Luz to that camp doesn’t keep her from overall loving the fantasy side of her daughter, as little moments in this episode show. Above all, what she did to save Vee shows that she can be an active and productive player in serious situations, which Luz rightfully praises her for. Even with all these virtues though, there’s one huge truth to this matter all staged in an emotionally powerful way.
With Luz projected at Camila in the ultimate reflective surface of falling rain, Camila shows that beneath her good healthy attitude, she’s understandably very frightened. The fact remains that her daughter is in another world and can only communicate to her through reflections, almost like she’s losing her which is absolutely horrifying. Luz is quick to reassure her that she is making progress on finding a way back to her, and for a moment, this seems to make things better with Camila seeing how much Luz has grown. Then Luz states how staying in the demon realm was her best decision ever, and Camila’s fears take over again in unexpected ways. She takes this that Luz chose to stay in that other world because she hated living with her, which is not true. Considering Luz being on good terms when talking to her mom and how it’s established that she’s genuinely been trying hard to get back to her, she certainly did not hate her. If anything, her mom may be the only good thing about the human realm to her. The thing is, Luz does try hard to explain that what Camila thinks is not the case, but there’s a problem; time is not on her side. At the worst moment, Luz’s makeshift portal starts closing, so she’s pulled back just as her conversation with Camila is getting tense. Seeing this as her daughter leaving her again, in fear and desperation, Camila begs Luz to promise her that when she comes back to the human realm, she’ll stay there. With time so tight and her love for her mom so strong that she can’t bear to leave her more distressed than she is, Luz basically has no choice but to agree to the promise.
In addition to the staging and the technical elements from music to voice acting, this whole scene is easily the emotional centerpiece of the episode. A big reason for this is the implications of how things will go because of this promise. Luz has built a new healthy life for herself in the demon realm with lots of great connections with a found family and true friends, one of which she found love with. Now she’s in a position that when she gets a working portal and steps through it, she has to leave this life behind forever. It’s clear that going without the people she’s met here will be painful for her and threaten to cause them all the same pain that Camila got. It’s no wonder that the episode ends with Luz telling Eda, King, and Hooty that Camila’s looking forward to meeting them when in fact Luz never even told her about them. The whole thing is a lose-lose situation that Luz will clearly have a hard time figuring out what to do going forward, all from being roped into a promise built on a misunderstanding. Still, while big action pieces and imminent danger are a good way to raise the stakes, it’s welcome and more relatable that this episode does this in a personal emotional way.
The strengths to this episode are all about its interesting twists to the story and backgrounds to the major players. They all make it clear that there’s a passion and vision behind this whole series and use the care behind it to its advantage. Setting the story up to threaten the main character’s source of happiness in such a personal manner turns out to invest the audience more than ever. As a great animated work should do, this episode invokes an emotional response from present events, and makes everyone watching anxious for more.
A+
Fan Art
Series Ranking
1.
Knock,
Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door
2.
Enchanting Grom Fright
3.
Eda’s Requiem
4.
Yesterday’s Lie
5.
Agony of a Witch
6. Hunting Palismen
7.
Echoes
of the Past
8.
Escaping
Expulsion
9.
Understanding Willow
10.
Lost in Language
11.
Adventures in the Elements
12.
The Intruder
13.
Covention
14. Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances
15.
Eclipse Lake
16.
Through
the Looking Glass Ruins
17.
Young Blood Old Souls
18.
Separate Tides
19.
Escape of the Palisman
20.
Wing it Like Witches
21.
The First Day
22.
I Was a Teenage Abomination
23.
Witches Before Wizards
24.
Something Ventured, Someone Framed
25.
A Lying Witch and a Warden
26.
Sense and Insensitivity
27.
Hooty’s Moving Hassle
28.
Really Small Problems
29.
Once Upon a Swap
The next Owl House review covers the direct aftermath of this episode where Luz tries to look for hope in her promise situation during the big Coven Day parade.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews, experience "The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers" and "A Day at the Aquarium" 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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