Labyrinth Runners - (The Owl House Season 2 Episode 18) - 'Toon Reviews 48

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Labyrinth Runners

As this season starts getting incredibly intense with its story and what the characters go through, this episode turns up with a very interesting setup.  For one thing, it does not feature any Owl House inhabitant at all, not even Luz.  As a result, suspense is built up for what has become of them while the main story unfolds.  Regarding the main story, it stands out by fleshing out a vast array of supporting characters by setting them up for even bigger action moments to come.  These characters are none other than the students of Hexside.

For starters, current events set up not just the student body, but really how the whole environment of the school has shaped up as an entity all its own.  More students are shown to be taking up more tracks instead of sticking to one, showcasing growth from the concept’s introduction in Season 1.  It also means defiance to the entire coven system with everyone exploring all types of magic when many witches have sigils that seal off all but that of their assigned coven.  Unbeknownst to everyone, the sigils are actually designed to do much worse than that.  Speaking of which, the promise for change also comes with some concern over current events.  As Luz tries to send out messages of the bad things she’s learned via Amity’s Tamagotchi device, it’s hard for others to understand them out or get an idea of where she even is. 

Things like these are only small signs of Hexside growing to become something bigger, but the real driving force towards that is seen through some characters’ arcs in this episode.  The main character here is Gus in a starring role that does great justice for his personality.  There’s an establishment of an emotional background to him right at the start with a flashback.  Being a child prodigy, he was able to pull off many impressive projects at school, but that led to kids claiming to be his friend taking advantage of him.  The instance of that shown in the flashback even drives him to tears, lamenting over being dumb enough to fall for these tricks.  It gives a whole new meaning to his constant desires to be seen as a great which have mostly been used in comedic scenes before now.  On a magic-level, he also had a tendency to get lost in his own thoughts, and combined with his illusion magic, his thoughts would be projected as a full-on illusion.  

It should also be noted that this moment was when he first met Willow who taught him a breathing exercise to calm his thoughts down.  In addition to this being a very nice start to this prominent friendship, there’s also a connection to her through Gus getting glowing eyes when he’s lost in his thoughts.  This would also explain the reasons for whenever Willow’s eyes would glow too.  The flashback sets up a lot of details to make Gus stand as a character better than ever, and it leads to even stronger justice for him in the rest of the episode.  Further regarding Willow, bits of the episode also feature welcome development with her and Amity rebuilding their friendship.  Through it all, it’s clear that Amity is loyal to her commitment to be a better friend, putting genuine care into her interactions with Willow.  However, she seems to hold onto beliefs that Willow is weak and needs protection.  She’s good at not coming off as harsh to Willow like she did in the past, but it still doesn’t give Willow the respect she deserves, a clear issue to work through.  These character moments easily go well together with the signs of revolution within the school, and they fit well with the rest of the story.

While everyone is still thinking of what’s up with Luz, Gus discovers what’s become of Hunter.  After running off after his excursion into Belos’ mind, he’s been hiding out in Hexside, the safest place in his way of thinking.  Just after finding him, all the students are called for an important announcement.  The head of the illusion coven, Adrian Graye, has arrived and appears to support the newfound sense of rebellion at Hexside.  Warning of the emperor wanting to put witches in covens before the Day of Unity, he claims to protect everyone with fake temporary sigils to fend off any coven scouts.  

Gus, analyzing the situation carefully, deduces that it’s all a trick into putting real sigils on students, and quickly exposes it.  Then, when Adrian is about to enforce a sigil on him, Gus once again gets lost in his thoughts, and his illusion magic enforces them throughout the school.  It’s turned into an elaborate labyrinth of memories where no one can tell what’s real and what’s an illusion, especially Gus with one good eye and one glowing eye.

From here, the episode is a mad scramble for all the students to get to safety from the coven scouts and protect their rights to magic of their choosing.  It’s a frantic tone to keep up with the action, but the character dynamics are as strong as ever.  Gus and Hunter stand out the most as the latter is quick to save the former when things look particularly hopeless.  Gus wonders why Hunter just saved him from being put in a coven considering their last meeting while Hunter avoids giving clear answers, at least at first.  An encounter with coven scouts, still referring to him as the Golden Guard, puts Hunter into a panic as it reminds him of the trouble he’s in with the emperor.  

After they escape them, Gus soon becomes Hunter’s best moral support.  Using the breathing exercise he knows, Gus calms Hunter down while Hunter finally opens up about how what and who he followed for his whole life turned out to be so bad.  Gus offers words of reassurance, saying that even though there are people who can take advantage of others, there are good people too, like his own friends.  This healthy communication gives Hunter the confidence he needs to move forward not just in the current situation, but in becoming a force that’s actually trustworthy and loyal. 

On the subject of friendships, significant focus is also on Amity and Willow and how they try to work things out as they run for their lives.  They run into coven scouts a lot and have to fight them back.  The thing is, even when Willow holds her own well, Amity continues to use words to make it feel like Willow’s actually not as strong as she seems.  Again, it’s clearly not malicious, but still gives the wrong feeling that doesn’t do Willow justice.  

Soon, Willow has enough of this and calls Amity out for unknowingly repeating what hurt her in the first place.  This causes Amity to speak honestly that everything she’s saying and doing is because she wants to protect her after just getting her back as a friend.  It’s here where her motives are at her most understandable if they weren’t clear enough already.  In response though, Willow makes it clear that instead of protection, what she really wants is for Amity to see her for who she really is, especially regarding strength.  It takes a while to see Amity’s response, but when it comes up later on, it’s very satisfactory.  Interestingly, Amity isn’t the only one to not fully get Willow.  While Gus and Hunter are still making their way through the illusions, they find who appears to be Willow, acting like a damsel in distress relieved to see Gus.  She also acts in fear out of Hunter being with him, and while that would make sense on a surface level, it gives no regard to actual events of the series.  The thing is, Gus falls for this ploy and believes this is the real Willow.  As a way of showing the genuineness of his care for her, Hunter is the one to call the bluff, pointing out his time with her on the flyer derby team where she was captain.  Shortly after, Gus is caught by Adrian and the coven scouts while Hunter is retrieved by the rest of the flyer derby team and brought to the student body.  This turns out to be exciting setup for how everyone gets out of this situation and bring the many arcs of the episode to solid conclusions.

When Hunter is brought before the other students, he explains what’s happened to Gus and informs them of the danger.  In another instance to prove the genuineness of another friendship, Willow is the first one to trust Hunter and convinces everyone that he speaks the truth.  What’s more, when everyone sets out to face the opposing danger, Amity finally shows confidence in Willow, believing that the coven scouts are no match for her.  On Willow’s end though, she finds a compromise by admitting she could use the help even if she is capable.  Given what’s been seen of Amity and Willow throughout the episode, the way the issue of strength and self-worth is worked out is very fitting.  Some might understandably say that it would be stronger if it took more than a short B-plot to resolve it, and maybe it being the main plot of its own episode would be a better route.  With how interesting things between Amity and Willow's friendship has proven to be, it would have been better to see its storyline last longer.  Nevertheless, the bits of it that actually are present work well for the circumstances.  

It also ties well into an exciting climax where all the students of Hexside go out and face the coven scouts with an awesome display of magic on all fronts.  It’s honestly a very worthy and appropriate follow-up to all the chases of the first act, serving as a turning point in the coven’s pursuit of this innocent school.  Of course, Amity and Willow, coming to an understanding, stand out a lot as they combine their abomination and plant magic to beat back some scouts.  It’s very symbolic of them coming together as friends again, all thanks to healthy communication.

Within this display of action, Hunter buys the time to track down Gus about to be branded with a sigil once and for all.  Adrian plans to silence his never-ending illusions of his thoughts once and for all with the aid of a special mirror. Gus, panicking again, makes his thoughts stronger than ever to the point where they overwhelm Adrain himself.  It must be reminded that Adrian is a coven head, and this young student is basically besting him at his own brand of magic.  

This doesn’t negate the fact that Gus is still in great pain from his thoughts, but Hunter, having listened to his words, knows how to get through to him.  Through viewing what’s going on in Gus’ head, Hunter sees just how much being tricked is harmful for Gus.  Again, all the times he tries to present himself as great and inspiring feel like a desperate attempt to reassure himself from falling for tricks.  Right now is especially embarrassing for not even being able to see that what looked like his best friend was a fraud.  Hunter is shown to have grown from what Gus taught him as he knows precisely what to do.  He relates Gus falling for jerks all his life to himself following the emperor his whole life.  With the addition of those breathing exercises, Gus is able to escape his own thoughts while Adrian is trapped in his.  In the end, Gus is left with the ultimate accomplishment of beating a coven head, and Hunter earns the trust in Hexside.  He also proves beneficial in really preparing these talented passionate students for big things to come as the last scene shows him begin to tell everyone about the Day of Unity.  After seeing nothing but these students proving their worth and strength for the whole episode, there’s a rewarding feel to come from them entering this fray.

With signs of growth in the many character moments and how the supporting characters become very relevant to the main plot, this episode is admirable as it is.  Following a string of very stressful reveals and plot points, this is the kind of reassurance necessary.  By the end of it, the cast earns great appreciation as the tide of the current major conflict starts to turn.

A

Fan Art

Series Ranking

1.      Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door

2.      Reaching Out

3.      Hollow Mind

4.      Enchanting Grom Fright

5.      Eda’s Requiem

6.      Follies at the Coven Day Parade

7.      Yesterday’s Lie

8.      Agony of a Witch

9.      Elsewhere and Elsewhen

10.   Hunting Palismen

11.  Echoes of the Past

12.  Escaping Expulsion

13.  Understanding Willow

14.  Lost in Language

15.  Adventures in the Elements

16.  The Intruder

17.  Covention

18. Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances

19.  Eclipse Lake

20.  Through the Looking Glass Ruins

21.  Labyrinth Runners

22.  Edge of the World

23.  Them’s the Breaks, Kid

24.  Young Blood Old Souls

25.  Any Sport in a Storm

26.  Separate Tides

27.  Escape of the Palisman

28.  Wing it Like Witches

29.  The First Day

30.  I Was a Teenage Abomination

31.  Witches Before Wizards

32.  Something Ventured, Someone Framed

33.  A Lying Witch and a Warden

34.  Sense and Insensitivity

35.  Hooty’s Moving Hassle

36.  Really Small Problems

37.  Once Upon a Swap

The next Owl House review mercifully catches us up with the main protagonists and how they approach the Day of Unity and recent big reveals.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Bessie and MicroAngelo" and "The Third Temple" from Amphibia.

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

The Second Temple / Barrel's Warhammer - (Amphibia Season 2 Episode 17) - 'Toon Reviews 49

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

The Second Temple

Following a run of slice-of-life adventures in Wartwood, focus is back on traveling to temples to recharge the music box’s stones.  It’s here where a theme is established where both the temple and the procedure follows a virtue of one of the human girls.  They also allow for a variety of settings with this second temple being located in the arctic plains.  However, when following the illumination of the first stone, there doesn’t appear to be a temple.  So Anne, Marcy, and the Plantars find that things aren’t coming as easily to them as they could be since have to follow a vague clue on how this temple represents heart.  

Fortunately, they find help in the return of a familiar face from Season 1.  It’s a mystical vendor of the Bizarre Bazar, Valeriana, and while she seemed like a mere one-off character before, she’s more interesting here.  She represents an ancient order who once held that very music box.  For the group to find the temple and recharge the box’s stone, they must prove that they’re worthy.  Through the process, Anne is understandably protective over the music box and can’t help but be suspicious.  

Finding the temple leads to some challenges that bring out good heart where Anne’s actions put care and loyalty for others first.  They’re attacked by a giant cardinal attracted to the caterpillar fur coats they’re wearing, so Anne throws away hers so it will go after that instead.  She notices an avalanche coming towards a nearby igloo and drops everything to rescue people who might be inside, though it’s empty.  As considerate as these actions are, since they set back the mission, Valeriana berates her and the others.  Anne doesn’t take this well, and after a tirade where she insults Valeriana’s order for not giving any credit, Valeriana transports her to a structure in a gorgeous astral plain.  

Here, another confrontation serves as an insightful reflection as Valeriana takes the music box, and Anne has to fight her to get it back.  While fighting, Valeriana points out more examples for why Anne is unworthy of the temple with accurate examples of wrongdoings throughout the series.  Most of them are minor offenses, but not the fact that one of the reasons Anne and her friends ended up in Amphibia is that Anne stole the music box.  Anne sees her point, but comes to her senses when Valeriana is about to fall off the structure, and Anne saves her.  She also admits that even if she did make bad choices, she has recognized the right thing to do as a result, and always owns up to them.  There’s something reassuring here, showing even if people do the wrong things, that isn’t the same as being a bad person.  Valeriana then reveals that the entire arctic and its obstacles were the temple the whole time, and Anne getting through them means she is worthy after all.  Backed by more beautiful visuals and staging, Valeriana proceeds to use the temple’s energy to recharge the stone.  Even in this process though, Anne’s heart is strong as ever when she hears cries for help from her friends.  She takes the stone that’s mostly but not fully charged and heads back to help them.  The others turn out to not be in danger at all which leaves Anne relieved, but this course of events leave major implications.  Unlike Marcy’s stone, Anne’s stone is not charged all the way, and that point is made clear in the last shots of the cartoon.  

This in turn brings many mysteries as to what this means, mysteries that will be uncovered in time.  It only helps to come from an insightful story with a dynamic cast, striking locations, and thought-provoking themes.

A+

Barrel’s Warhammer

Among the major plot points of the series, one that’s been left hanging for a particularly good while has been Sasha and Grime’s planned toad rebellion.  At this point, it’s only been built up with one full cartoon and a brief mention alluding to it in another.  It could be said that it’s been taking its time to reveal itself though, because when focus goes back to that plot point, it delivers with welcome details and exciting developments.  Fortunately, that’s the case with this cartoon where more on the rebellion and the effects of making it happen are revealed.  

It begins with a huge meeting of all the toads who run the many Toad Towers throughout Amphibia with Sasha, Grime, and their associates Percy and Braddock, presenting their plan.  With flash and charisma they explain that they use brute force to keep lower subjects in line, they should go further by using that to overthrow the king and take over Amphibia.  The toad officials are won over by the presentation, but feel they don’t have the means to properly execute it.  This along with mention of how Anne and Marcy are working with King Andrias and thriving without her drives Sasha to aggression.  She interrogates the other leading toads to tell them what it will take for them to follow her plan, and the oldest toad gives her an answer; Barrel’s Warhammer.  It’s a destructive weapon that belonged to an old toad warrior now guarded by a mysterious beast whom no one was able to escape.  

Desperate to thrive and achieve control after hearing of what’s become of her other friends, Sasha pulls out all the stops find the hammer.  At the same time, she shows genuine effort to be a good friend, particularly when Percy and Braddock show great fear in taking on this dangerous task.  Sasha promises them that if it’s too intense for them, they’ll bail.  

At first, the quest seems easy enough after all as they find the Warhammer.  Then they discover that they can’t just pull it out, for it’s stuck on the outer shell of a giant narwhal, the beast said to be guarding it.  As it awakens, Percy and Braddock signal to bail, but Sasha flat out refuses their feelings since they're so close to victory.  There would be some reason to this, but it once again turns out to not be easy.  Sasha’s attempts to retrieve the Warhammer incites the narwhal to rampage at extremely intense speeds as the beast proceeds to careen towards one of the Toad Towers.  In spite of Percy and Braddock’s pleas to stop and even Grime trying to talk her out of it, she ignores them all, only focusing on brute strength and frustrations of her friends’ success.  In doing so, Sasha not only pulls the hammer out, but she and Grime are able to use it to beat the narwhal and get it to stop just as it reaches the toad officials.  

Having completed her end of the deal, Sasha successfully recruits all the leading toads, ensuring the rebellion after all.  However, there’s a cost to all this with Percy and Braddock feeling betrayed by Sasha.  They can’t just ignore that they were put through something dangerous and Sasha just didn’t care.  They leave her behind, wanting out of her plans if this is how they’re going to be treated if Sasha fights just to get what she wants.  This in turn leaves Sasha with an intense mix of emotions.  She’s getting close to control, but just lost more friends, something she said she didn’t want to do.  It’s a complex place to leave her character, but that’s what makes her so fascinating.  

Along with welcome plot development and great action pieces, this show of character leaves a strong impact.

A+

Fan Art

Series Ranking

1.      Hopping Mall

2.      Reunion

3.      Marcy at the Gates

4.      Toad Tax

5.      The First Temple

6.      Barrel’s Warhammer

7.      Anne vs Wild

8.      The Domino Effect

9.      Toadcatcher

10.  Prison Break

11.  The Second Temple

12.  A Day at the Aquarium

13.  Anne of the Year

14.  Contagi-Anne

15.  The Shut-In

16.  Best Fronds

17.  After the Rain

18.  Family Shrub

19.  Hop-Popular

20.  Anne Hunter

21.  Wally and Anne

22.  Children of the Spore

23.  Friend or Frobo

24.  A Night at the Inn

25.  Handy Anne

26.  Scavenger Hunt

27.  Lily Pad Thai

28.  Dating Season

29.  Anne or Beast?

30.  Combat Camp

31.  Little Frogtown

32.  Cursed!

33.  Snow Day

34.  Civil Wart

35.  Maddie and Marcy

36.  Stakeout

37.  Croak and Punishment

38.  Taking Charge

39.  Flood, Sweat, and Tears

40.  Bizarre Bazaar

41.  The Plantars Check In

42.  The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers

43.  Wax Museum

44.  Return to Wartwood

45.  Sprig Gets Schooled

46.  Swamp and Sensibility

47.  Trip to the Archives

48.  Toad to Redemption

49.  Anne Theft Auto

50.  Hop Luck

51.  New Wartwood

52.  Ivy on the Run

53.  Night Drivers

54.  Quarreler’s Pass

55.  Hop Pop and Lock

56.  Plantar’s Last Stand

57.  Fort in the Road

58.  A Caravan Named Desire

59.  The Big Bugball Game

60.  Fiddle Me This

61.  Truck Stop Polly

62.  Family Fishing Trip

63.  The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar

64.  Girl Time

65.  Breakout Star

66.  Grubhog Day

67.  Cane Crazy

68.  Lost in Newtopia

69.  Sprig vs Hop Pop

70.  Cracking Mrs. Croaker

The next Amphibia review features a cute story of the Plantar's snails as well as Anne starting to become more comfortable with herself, and all the human girls finally reunite to face the third and last temple.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Labyrinth Runners" from The Owl House.

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