Watching and Dreaming (The Owl House) - 'Toon Reviews Shorty

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The time has finally come to look into the last work of one of the most noteworthy Disney animated TV series of the past few years, The Owl House.  Despite said popularity, as many regular fans and readers probably know, it was suddenly cut short just as it was entering its prime.  This was indeed a very unpleasing blow to such an appealing show as well as the fans that have been following it.  The only reason given was that it didn’t fit the brand, whether it meant as a move to step away from serialized shows in favor of episodic ones or its content.  From watching the show, the great quality of the storytelling, the world-building, the emotions, and the characters put it well in line with the best works of Disney.  In that regard, this should mean that it does fit the brand, but then again, those executives apparently don’t have the same mindset.  However, considering the great quality, it’s clear that despite the circumstances, Dana Terrace and her crew have managed to run the show very well.  This is further proven by the quality of the previous two specials meant to serve as parts of one big finale, and delivering on basically all the aforementioned strengths.  This special MC Toon Reviews Shorty will cover the last part of the finale which effectively delivers on everything that makes this show what it is:

Watching and Dreaming – (The Owl House Season 3 Episode 3)

(April 8, 2023)

As each special is basically a part of one huge whole, this one effectively continues the trend of them all working together as an entire movie.  This feel is proven practically immediately as it wastes no time in following up on the end of the special that came before it.  To recap, after much emotional turmoil, that special ended on a mostly hopeful and uplifting note for the story and characters.  Luz had overcome much of the internal turmoil that’s been majorly lowering her self-esteem; her palisman, Stringbean the shapeshifting snake, had finally hatched; and she and her friends had arrived at the lair of The Collector, a child of the stars who had turned the Boiling Isles into their play area and its people into puppets.  Now, unknowingly under the influence of the dastardly Belos, The Collector is moved to act against Luz and the others, and their retaliation is the very first scene of the special. 

Luz and the others’ moment of peace is majorly disrupted as her friends, girlfriend, and mother are whisked away by cosmic puppet strings. Luz herself, however is placed in a most peculiar situation from the others, and all of it happening so fast is a good match for how sudden and shocking all of this is meant to feel.  In fact, this situation is something all three members of the main Owl House trio face.  They all find themselves placed in dark scenarios depicting their deepest fears and regrets expressed throughout the series.  

With Eda, she's caught and imprisoned as the cursed Owl Beast form despite being in her more practical harpy form, and disowned by her family, including Lilith in her old Emperor’s Coven role.  

The reason relates to how she’s apparently clawed out the other eye of her father Dell like she did during the curse's early days, which by the way was not her fault.  

King experiences firsthand what his Titan brethren must have gone through when he finds himself in the presence of some old foes, the Titan Trappers.  These are fitting looks for the internal turmoil of these characters in question, but the one to get the most attention in this regard is Luz.  As her internal struggles were given a great deal of coverage in the specials that came before this, it’s fitting to see Luz put through basically a visual interpretation of them.

Reflecting her apparent guilt over things that went wrong, many of which were partially due to her mistakes, Luz finds herself in a dark scenario in the form of a very dark figure.  

To put it specifically, she’s placed in Belos’ old throne room and even dressed as Belos himself.  

Surrounding her are dark reminders of many atrocities he committed during his reign as emperor, the most striking one being many Boiling Isles citizens petrified.  This setup is very visually telling of the bad things that have happened and Luz feeling responsible due to having involvement.  However, the worst part of what Luz facing all this is how she witnesses others react to it.  

It starts when she spots her ever-loving girlfriend Amity call her out for being responsible for all these dark things by helping Belos meet The Collector.  Luz had previously feared her friends would hate her for this, and now she’s actually living this fear.  It’s made even worse coming from someone she’s close to who stated she could never hate her, not to mention that Amity is now set on taking her down.  

Things only get worse for Luz as she runs into her other friends who are enduring their own grief and hardship as a result of recent events.  Willow expresses how life got worse for her after meeting Luz when she felt it would get better all stated in a manner similar to her inner self.  

Gus does a passive-aggressive standup act where he brands Luz as a hypocrite for still failing to reunite him and the others with their families.  

Hunter is probably the most heavy-hitting member of this group as he lashes out at Luz for having lost his palisman, Flapjack, while helping her, and Luz gets to keep hers.  It’s the most believable way Luz can be blamed for these things as it’s in line with what happens with most people when they’re grieving.  On the subject of being believable, it actually doesn’t take long for Luz to realize the truth about what exactly is going on.

The reality of all this is that Luz, as well as Eda and King, are in living nightmares centered around their different anxieties, and the way Luz discovers this is very interesting.  Like in one of the earliest episodes, she allows herself to think clearly and see that even if what she’s experiencing seems real, it isn’t.  It all comes down to how much she truly knows the likes of Amity who challenges her to a “witches battle.”  Luz recognizes this as an attempt at a quote of a favorite fantasy series of theirs, "The Good Witch Azura," and is quick to point out the inaccuracy of one little detail of that statement; it’s actually “witches dual,” not battle.  Knowing that Amity is more detail-oriented with this sort of thing is what ultimately gets Luz to realize that the figures here are not actually her friends.  In an even more pleasing move, she shows confidence that her real friends would never actually attack her, a welcome shift in mindset from earlier specials.  

Sure enough, this declaration is enough to bring Luz’s real friends to her.  The reason they appeared this way is because they’ve been turned into puppets to be used in this nightmare game setup by The Collector to keep Luz, Eda, and King from meeting.  Now that they have full control thanks to Luz calling them out, they’re able to guide her to figuring out what to do next by telling her to wake up from this nightmare.  

Amity in particular is key to showing Luz the way by telling her the first thing one does when waking up is to “turn on the light,” all while handing her a light glyph.  It would be very fitting to cite this as an example of how Amity is the light in Luz's life just like how Luz proved herself as the light of Amity's.  Also, in many respects, turning on the light turns out to have a lot of thematic meanings for the rest of the special.  For the whole series, it’s been shown that no matter how bad things get, there’s always a light to everything.  This first instance of the concept at play proves this in several ways.  It not only helps wake Luz up from the nightmare, and later Eda and King upon activating the light glyph. It also plays into the lore detail of how Titan magic (glyphs) cancels out Collector magic.  

This is further proven later on in the Archives storing all the puppets when Amity, still having a bit of sentience from her encounter with Luz, as a puppet etches a light glyph on the floor.  This in turn manages to turn herself and the rest of Luz’s friend group back to normal.  For more relatable symbolism, turning on the light is also apparent in Luz’s demeanor as she gets the confidence and hope needed to save everyone.  Releasing herself, Eda, and King from their nightmares certainly helps in bringing about the most positive outlook she’s had in a while.

After a long time of the series' main trio being apart, it’s nothing short of rewarding to see Luz, Eda, and King back together.  The moment they finally see each other again is full of endearment, found family love, and clear symbolism of the idea of finding the light in the dark.  Their general interactions, happiness of reuniting as well as meeting Luz's palisman , and one-of-a-kind dynamic not seen in a long time, is simply that wholesome.  This makes for a great start of this dynamic taking up the spotlight for the rest of the special, fitting for the grand finale.  

However, as this special proves, for every light moment, there are still dark obstacles to overcome as proven from the figure The Collector continues to take influence from.  

While they believe that they’re interacting with the living puppet form of Eda’s love interest, Raine Whispers, the truth is that they’re once again being manipulated by Belos.  As they lament to him about how the nightmare plan didn’t work on the trio, there’s very welcome development fitting for how The Collector has been portrayed throughout the show.  At first, it was easy to assume the worst in them when they took part in murderous acts like the Day of Unity.  However, every moment with them afterwards made it seem like they were just a misguided child with their talks of wanting to play and make friends feeling very genuine.  In fact, this special is where it’s flat out stated that making friends was The Collector’s intention this entire time.  It’s further proven when Belos suggests that The Collector just destroy the trio, and The Collector objects, outright stating their desire to be their friend.  

In the process, innocently unaware of the true identity of who they’re talking to, The Collector reveals very pressing details on the subject of Titans. There’s talk of how King is naturally unaffected by The Collector’s magic and that the Titan that makes up the Boiling Isles still has some life to it via a beating heart.  Said beating heart has been apparent for a while since the earliest looks at the castle, and here, it starts getting a major payoff as Belos gets a huge idea from these reveals.  He convinces The Collector to go down and show Luz, Eda, and King their favorite games in person, and while they’re gone, he enacts his next move in his dark master plan.

The Collector ultimately heeds the advice and goes straight down to Luz, Eda, and King where their desire for friendship proves even more genuine.  It would be appropriate for them to be spiteful and vindictive at the three based on current events, but they’re actually confused by why they, specifically King, aren’t playing along.  

Through interacting with the trio, it becomes clear that there are a lot of big things The Collector simply doesn’t understand.  Relating back to one of their earliest appearances where they seemed to revel in the idea of the Day of Unity wiping everyone out, what’s revealed here shows a more complex meaning.  The Collector acted excited about that because they have a mindset that mortals can always be fixed like broken toys.  With this in mind, a point is really driven home that above everything, The Collector at their core is just a child who has a lot to learn about the world.  Nevertheless, their mind is still on playing games and showing them to the group they want to befriend.  

This in turn leads to a short yet amusing sequence of magical cosmic takes on favorite games from Pac-Man, to marbles, to Jenga.  These big versions of all these games certainly make for creative challenges for survival, but through the clever thinking of the main trio, they manage to get through them all.  

In a fitting turn of events, it’s not really them who’s worn out from all the ongoing games, but The Collector themselves who can only sit in a corner all sad.  

From here, there’s a large display of Luz’s natural kindness and empathy as she steps in to try and get through to The Collector.  Sure enough, her approach to them reveals many notable factors behind The Collector’s nature.  

They were the youngest in a group of siblings called The Archivists who constantly looked down upon them.  

The last straw was when they convinced The Collector to go down into the world and play hide and seek with a group of baby Titans.  

From the looks of things, The Collector got along with those Titans very well, making for a major backstab when The Archivists apparently took the Titans away out of fear of their power.  The Collector was left all alone, and that's not even the biggest sting of betrayal.  After this mean stunt from their siblings, they were desperate to find another friend, and they ultimately did by finding the egg of the last Titan, King. 

Sadly, it only led to King’s dad, the Titan that makes up the Boiling Isles, to hide the egg and then seal The Collector away.  Naturally, all this suffering from many, including their own siblings, has fueled The Collector’s obsessions, and understanding their background brings fitting sympathy.  For that, it’s appropriate that Luz, Eda, and King easily relate to The Collector knowing all this detail.  Luz especially can tell that it’s not really endless games and fantasy The Collector wants, but to be understood and have friends that like and accept them as they are.  It’s this warm and caring demeanor that shows her off as such an endearing character serving as a light for many.  Making it really stand out is how her good qualities she herself hasn’t given credit in a while are now practically the heart of the rest of the special.

After hearing The Collector’s backstory, Luz, Eda, and King take them to different places in the Boiling Isles to show them how they became friends.  It’s a nice simple wholesome moment that looks into familiar locations, but the heart of all this is the main trio’s dynamic.  Them being together again has already been rewarding, but as they talk about past events and memories, their heartfelt bonds just become more apparent.  This is especially reflective in The Collector visually feeling bad that they don’t have what the trio has when it comes to making friends.  

As for the most substantial place they visit, it would definitely have to be The Knee, a snowy location where Luz famously connected with the Boiling Isles themselves.  The following conversation there even brings more apparent context to that moment.  The Collector can see that not only has Luz made great friends with Eda and King, but given all the glyph magic she knows, this also means she’s gotten along well with the Titan himself.  There’s always been a feeling that Luz has had a connection with the Titan, something the likes of Belos have only lied about, but now it has a whole new meaning.  Not only that, but the reveal can also be considered setup for major events to come later on, and on the subject of Belos, all these nice moments are soon majorly threatened.

During all this time, Belos, having the newly revealed information about Titans in mind, has gotten a new idea on how to finish the witch hunt he started.  Having Raine Whispers in their puppet state as a body, he makes his way to the aforementioned beating heart of the Titan located in his old throne room.  Raine tries their best to fight back his possession, further demonstrating how these puppets can have some sentience, and their perseverance is indeed strong.  

Sadly, just when it looks like they’ve taken Belos out in his unstable form, he does succeed in getting to the Titan’s heart, leading to the ultimate possessing.  

With his influence, he transforms the Titan corpse into a monster with a power that can take out anything it touches.  This course of action is big enough to get the attention of many, and Luz, Eda, King, and The Collector are no exception.  

While everyone wonders how they can possibly stop a force like this, The Collector believes they have the answer.  Remembering something Luz had told them about how kindness and forgiveness helped her make friends with former enemies, they try that out on Belos.  They go up and act all friendly to this big hulking destructive monster, nicely emulating the kindness Luz had shown them. 

Of course, Belos is too far gone in his beliefs to be moved by that, and expectedly aims to attack The Collector instead.  

Luz, naturally wanting to help others, doesn’t hesitate to rush in to protect them just as the blast is fired.  

What’s more, even if The Collector’s tactic didn’t work, she still applauds them for trying, seeing that they really did mean well despite not getting the context.  It feels like she’s come a long way in beating herself up for things going wrong and that the lessons she picked up on the matter have actually stuck this time.  While this is very good for her, all of this is disturbingly overpowered by the effects of her being caught in Belos’ blast.

Just when it seems like Luz was unaffected by the attack, it turns out she got hit the slightest bit.  However, that little hit is all that’s needed for a strange magical fungus to consume her entire body, destroying her.  It’s a very frightful circumstance for sure, and just when Luz was starting to feel good about herself again too, and all The Collector, Eda, and King can do is watch in horror.  

The experience is very painful for Luz too as she can tell this means yet another separation from her found family, and one just after she reunited with them.  The thing is though, she’s so dumbfounded by the legit shock of being caught in this that she’s at a loss for words, and with that, she’s completely reduced to light particles.  The fact that this demise was unintentional makes the shock value really effective as well as the major emotional effects that come from it.  

There is no holding back in how sad what just happened truly is as a good amount of time lingers on Luz’s lights passing by and many people’s reaction to it.  While people who see them can’t tell exactly what happened, it’s clear that they can tell it was something big from their reactions.  

In this sequence, the most striking image of all is the reaction of Luz’s mom Camila trapped as a puppet in the Archives.  Further showing sentience in these mostly immobile puppets, Camila can only shed tears as the light particles pass her by.  Realistically, she can’t tell for sure that Luz is gone, but it does show her sense something happening, and her being terrified for Luz since she can’t be there for her.  After all, being there for Luz is the whole reason she joined her in the first place.  It very much brings to mind how she felt upon first learning Luz was in a completely different realm.  The truth is it's hard to tell if she really knows Luz's fate, but those tears from a mostly non-sentient puppet are still especially sad since the audience knows of the loss.  

Then there is the reaction of those who saw the whole thing.  Eda and King are no doubt devastated by the loss of Luz.  They had spent so much time trying to keep her safe despite how bad they’d miss her in the past times they separated.  Then she came back to them and reformed their family, and now they’ve seen her disappear for good, leaving only her witch hat and now inactive palisman behind. 

Their efforts were in vain, and the only way they can react now is with absolute rage. The loss is enough for Eda to lose control of her Owl Beast curse, and King unlocks a feral Titan state.  

As for The Collector, their childlike understanding is given a much needed reality check, as they believe that Luz just disappeared or broke like a toy.  However, when they try to fix her with their magic, expectedly, nothing happens.  It’s here where they come to understand the permanence of death where when mortals are broken or disappear, they can’t be fixed or come back.  In other words, Luz is really gone, and The Collector has learned a very important, but indeed, the hard way.  

Speaking of being gone, the effects of Luz’s demise go even farther as the light particles are seen passing from life into a completely different realm.  Once they hit a liquid substance, they transform into Luz’s form.  Now as a spirit, all she can do is helplessly sink through these waters.  All the while, she comes to realize that her last words should have been to thank Eda and King as they had done to her when the trio split up in the past.  She lost her chance to do that with everything seeming like it’s all over, and now she’s bound for the afterlife.  

Thankfully, the theme of turning on the light in the dark comes in at its fullest force as this major sadness slowly starts turning around when something reaches in and grabs Luz.

She’s pulled up to a surface above the water where she meets a figure largely resembling King, and even more resembling the entire Boiling Isles.  He’s the spirit of the official Boiling Isles Titan and King’s dad, and it’s here where Luz’s connection with him gets some very welcome context.   In addition to the hints of such a connection from Luz recognizing his magic, this moment also directly pays off the brief glimpse of him at the start of previous special.  Having Luz actually meet this revered God-like entity gives a very rewarding atmosphere to reflect how far she’s come.  For how powerful and worshiped the Titan is, he’s actually very laid back and casual and offers pleasing warmth and care when interacting with Luz.  He first explains about the realm Luz has ended up in which is actually a place that’s been frequently seen in the past.  It’s referred to as the “space in between,” the midpoint between a lot of places.  Its past appearances have shown it as between the human realm and the demon realm, but apparently this also applies to being between life and the afterlife.  Luz being pulled out of that water has essentially saved her from true death, currently leaving her in what’s basically limbo.  

Anyway, as the Titan talks about how he’s used this space’s floating cubes to watch over King while he’s been trapped down here, he gives notable praise for how kind Luz has been to him.  Luz, however, can’t help but doubt her own worth again after what just happened.  She finds it hard to believe that she can be considered kind when she had murderous thoughts of The Collector straight up attacking Belos.  That’s not even mentioning the constant problems that come from her attempts to help each other.  The almighty Titan tries comforting her by relating to how she feels by admitting that he trapped The Collector here, and by extension himself, without properly understanding them.  Still, Luz thinks that both of them are just like Belos in that regard as he constantly claims to be doing what he’s doing to save humanity like how they try to help their loved ones.  Luckily, this doubt ultimately doesn’t manifest into anything bigger, fitting for Luz being with a practical deity.  The Titan explains that she in fact is NOT like Belos because despite what he says, his cares for saving humanity are simply not genuine.  All he really cares about is looking like a big hero where everything he does is right, and he lacks regard and compassion for anyone who gets hurt as a result.  The fact that both Luz and The Titan actually care when their efforts to help and protect fall apart shows that their intentions are very genuine.  This clarification is soon revealed to be a big turning point in Luz’s way of thinking with all that happens next.  

When The Titan starts feeling the effects of Belos’ possession of his beating heart in life, he officially turns what could have been a true tragedy into a necessary evil.  He opens up the possibility of Luz coming back to life the moment he asks her if she’s ready to stop Belos.  

Not only that, but he also offers her the means for her to do it in the form of his power composed of a web of glyphs along himself.  The biggest strength to this direction is that he doesn’t offer the power to Luz because she’s a chosen one, but because he can see how good she is and she’s the one who ended up here.  Basically, any good witch could have gotten this power to turn the tide in Belos’ attack, and Luz just happened to be it.  

However, it’s all entirely up to Luz whether she gets the power or not, and after all trauma and doubt she’s faced, she ultimately shows great growth from all this by accepting the power.  It should be noted that the power is only set to be temporary, but it doesn’t stop the noticeable pride of the moment with Luz accepting herself as a true good witch.  

Then this endearing talk with the Titan ends as he heads toward his own true death by sinking to the afterlife at last while emitting a bright light that seems set to resurrect Luz.  This entire scene is the perfect turnaround from the earlier major hit of sadness as from here, the mood goes from depressing and hopeless to hopeful and thoroughly uplifting; a true demonstration of the concept of finding the light in the dark.

The first positive turn comes immediately after all this, unfolding at the Archives where Luz’s friends successfully turn Camila back to normal with the light glyph.  The first thing she asks when back to normal is if they know where Luz is, showing that despite her earlier tears, she still has hope for her daughter’s well-being.  

All the others can respond with is major uncertainty and fear for the worst. Amity especially stands out with her fear, as partners in a relationship most likely would be the most worried for their significant other.  

She’s practically about to break down until Camila steps in, giving an inspiring speech about Luz while also providing Amity nice care and affection the youngest Blight never got from her own mom.  Though Camila is still clearly scared and worried for Luz, she claims that Luz is too stubborn to be beaten by anything that’s happening now.  One can only imagine that this is what she kept telling herself from when Luz was away from her to when she finally returned to the human realm.  Her words prove effective as they calms down all tension and even gets everyone to not worry too much about Luz and hold onto hope.  She’s also able to keep it together enough to offer everyone a solution of using glyphs to free the puppets from the Archives when they’re too exhausted to use their magic.  It’s very demonstrative of how great a mother figure Camila truly is with everyone showing their own light in what is a dark scenario.  Plus, everyone becoming hopeful for Luz and confident in pulling off what they can do at this moment is very appropriate.  This is, after all, the moment that comes right after Luz’s resurrection that lets the audience knowing that she truly is going to be ok.

Speaking of which, the next big positive turn comes from a shift in focus to Eda, King, and The Collector.  As Eda and King still avenge Luz in their feral states, The Collector struggles with their newly discovered feelings of grief.  They’re legitimately shocked and confused as to why they can’t stop crying over the loss of the one person who understood them and showed them kindness.  It’s a major revelation about the complications of life as they realize how their actions have consequences, and they become desperate to keep all others from going away.  

However, all the extreme sadness from what all three experienced earlier is soon made up for the best way it possibly can.  A sudden bright light appears when things get very intense with Belos, leaving a figure standing in a cloud of dust.  Then as Stringbean comes alive again and a multitude of colored glyphs appear, the dust settles, and out of it appears no one other than Luz.  

Blessed with the power of the Titan, which is basically the Boiling Isles themselves, she stands alive and strong with in a new form with characteristics of the Titan himself.  It’s a very cool design with an unexpected color scheme from someone meant to be the savior of everyone, but it’s still unquestionably Luz.  

In fact, it’s especially emotionally satisfying that her mannerisms as well as the basic fact that Luz is alive again is all that’s needed for Eda and King to break from being feral.  Seeing that they haven’t lost their found family member after all and reacting as happy as can be to that is the most perfect fit for the scenario imaginable.  Now the main protagonists are able to take on the climax with the most positive state of mind possible.

Indeed, the climax is a huge highlight to this entire special, going all out with the good feelings that come with it.  It wouldn’t normally expected that a very intense and threatening fight sequence would have such positivity, but it works based on the context.  Facing off against Belos is a found family unity that was thought to be truly broken forever after just coming back together, but ended up reforming anyway.  Practically nothing could feel better than that.  The family bond is even at its strongest as Luz, Eda, and King work together to counteract the purging Belos manipulates the Titan’s body into causing.  Through it all, as Luz works her newly given powers, Eda and King offer welcome support to guide her to use them effectively like loving family members would do.  Some might even call this a strong bonding experience; it might just be the most heartfelt fight sequence one could find just about anywhere.  

Apart from being built on found family love and their uplifting chemistry, the climax is also big on great thrills and excitement that never let up.  It all moves at a brisk fast pace that easily grabs the audience’s attention with a lively musical score edited to a montage of various instances of the tide of this situation turning.  

In addition to Luz, Eda, and King fighting strong against Belos, there’s also Luz’s friends making progress in saving the puppets through glyph magic. During this time, The Collector pleasantly surprises them by using their powers to keep them and the Archives safe from the ensuing battle, leaving rewarding feelings on all fronts.  

There’s truly a lot to love about this climax, and it all comes to a very grand finish as Luz, Eda, and King finally head for the source of the destruction, The Titan’s heart.  Among more quick shots of everyone’s part, including the rescue of Raine and their subsequent intimacy with Eda, the strength of the climax’s end lies with Luz.  

It’s here where her arc reaches its long-awaited and satisfying end.  Once majorly misunderstood to the point where she couldn’t help but be let down by her mistakes and not notice her strengths, all that has changed.  Instead of removing herself from the situation and feeling she’ll make things worse, she’s confronting it head on knowing the truth about her own morality.  With confirmation of the genuineness of her desire to help from an all-powerful magical being in mind, Luz fully embraces her good qualities.  After so long of her not realizing them, she confidently stands as a true good witch, and that is at its most apparent with her final blow at Belos, in gloriously animated fashion too.  

Working hard to yank him off The Titan’s heart, Luz recites a very personal monologue from the Good Witch Azura series, the very one that started off the entire series albeit revised slightly.  It’s often been used by her to live out her fantasy, but given the direction of her arc, the confidence in her delivery is very symbolic of her finally realizing her own goodness.  Moreover, it especially shows when she reaches the full extent of her power which allows her to overpower Belos, and rip him from the heart.  

With that, the climax ends on one huge show of power and calms down immediately after, the darkness of the past events defeated by a reassuring light.  Once daylight comes, it feels like a new era of peace has been reached for this magical realm of witches and demons, all from the work of a true good witch and her found family.  

As a matter of fact, said good witch has one more moment of really embracing her best self in a final moment to really end Belos’ for good.  Being pulled off the Titan’s heart has allowed his mucky form to revert back to his original one as the ancient seventeenth century human he used to be, Philip Wittebane.  He has the gall to try lying to Luz again with a fabricated story about how he was cursed to do all those terrible things.  

However, Luz believes none of this, and responds to his claims by just standing in front of him and giving him a disgusted look.  She even remains this way when a sudden burst of boiling rain comes and reduces Philip to gunk again while he begs her to help.  It’s very honorable for Luz to see that for people as bad as this man, the best attention to give is no attention.  

Still, Eda, King, and Raine have more active approaches in responding to Philip by stomping him into oblivion, the most appropriate thing to do with scum.

With all this, the reign of terror over the Boiling Isles is officially over, and it’s impossible not to feel the effects of the ever reassuring peace that result from everything.  They’re all shown in several scenes demonstrating different ways how the characters and their world get pleasing closure and satisfying payoffs.  

Even a moment of the Titan’s power leaving Luz has great satisfaction to it.  For one thing, its depiction being of a spirit of the Titan means King gets to see his dad at last.  This is then followed by Luz, now in her regular form and still alive, able to really cherish that after what they just went through, even death, she, Eda, and King remained together.  

To show that them being together is enough, they mark this accomplishment by just lying down beside each other taking in the peace.  

All around them are other signs to assure a bright future.  The Collector, further showing major growth, turns all the puppets in the archives back to normal, leading to Luz’s friends getting back with their families.  

The most standout character in this regard is Hunter. After not having any loving family before, gets officially taken in by two former coven heads who have shown fondness of him, Darius and Eberwolf. It’s a sign of great health knowing he’ll have a bright future amongst people who actually care about him.  

The same can be said for the Boiling Isles themselves with signs of an effort to rebuild them as shown in a montage.  Of course, there are some people too stuck in their ways to change like the most conniving former coven heads, but it’s made clear that the opposition isn’t too big a challenge.  After looks at other characters reuniting with loved ones and the Boiling Isles set to be in a better state, the main trio is shown to get even more endearment.  

This is especially true for Luz who gets even more reunions after she, Eda, King, and Raine settle back into the Owl House.  The Collector shows up with Camila, Amity, and Lilith making for great relief and happiness all around.  It’s particularly great for Camila and Amity who get to see Luz alive after being so worried as well as know that Camila’s hope that Luz would be ok have proven to be correct.  There’s even a welcome kiss on the lips between Luz and Amity in full view this time for good measure.  

In this moment is Camila finally meeting Eda and King, and while they don’t share any words, Camila welcoming them both in an embrace confirms them as part of Luz’s family.  This is a sure way to guarantee the three weirdos really sticking together.  

The Collector also shines in this moment with what they decide to do for themselves.  They don’t receive any scorn for what they did and are even welcomed as a friend, but even so, they feel like they have a lot of growing up to do.  That’s already a big step in maturity for this child of the stars, and in line with their development.  It could easily be backtracked since what they learned about death could be lessened by Luz coming back to life, but they’re smart enough to see the complexities of things.  In the end, they decide to return to the stars and grow up on their own, but not without leaving on good terms with everyone, especially King.

In all, it’s a clear well-deserved happy ending all around, though to keep things in a more grounded believable sense, there’s also talk of a loss of all this.  Luz notices that her moment with the Titan resulted in him passing on for good to the afterlife.  Because of that, there’s nothing to power the glyphs, and now they’re reduced to symbols that can’t do anything.  It’s a sad consequence to events because it cuts Luz off from her unique way of connecting with the Boiling Isles and her sense of belonging she never had before.  Not to mention, it gave her a unique connection to the Titan that no one, not even the Boiling Isles inhabitants, could have.  She was certainly better connected to him than Belos; that’s for sure.  

However, Luz is able to stand undeterred by this loss of magic, seeing this as the end of one chapter in her life, and the start of a new one.  It’s a very fitting direction now that she’s grown to see the good in herself, and embrace being a good witch.  The old Titan magic may be gone, but it’s clear she has ways of finding new magic, leaving the audience with more positive feelings despite what was lost.  With this positivity comes hope that Luz will make the right decisions for herself, especially with her plan on what realm to stay in explored throughout the past two specials.  Taking that into account, the answers surrounding Luz’s decisions for her future soon reveal themselves in one more sequence to play with the audience’s emotions.

Coming after a previous heavy-hearted narration from Luz describing all of the aftermath of the battle with Belos, the following scene does have a hint of somberness to it.  It’s a time skip to years later featuring an older Luz in the human realm packing away things related to her fantasy interests as well as mementos from the demon realm.  One can’t help but think that she ultimately stuck with her plan of staying in the human realm forever even after all that.  

It even shows that she went on to continue her education in human realm school, the main source of her misunderstanding.  It does at least make sense on account that her glyphs not working anymore means she has no way of advancing in a magic school.  That said, it is still good to know that she found a way to apply herself there as proven by her having a writers scholarship.  Plus, she even had a close connection at school with Vee, the shapeshifting basilisk living with her and Camila, to help make it better.  

As for the demon realm, clever staging reveals that she didn’t give up her connections there either.  The camera pans past a shot of her school and human photos to reveal another group of photos.  In addition to familiar memories, there are several new ones featuring Luz spending time with her demon realm friends, some of which featuring them visiting her.  This shows that even though Luz went back to the human realm, she still had ties to the demon realm and saw her friends and loved ones very frequently.  

The way she’s done this is later shown with her having a permanent portal to there given to her as a parting gift from The Collector.  It’s located at the property of the old shack she went through that first brought her to the demon realm now under the ownership of her family.  

As for her packing all those things away, it turns out instead of parting ways with the fantasy side of her life, Luz was actually packing up for college and bringing them with her.  What’s more, the college she’s picked is in the demon realm with majors perfectly suiting her at the newly formed University of Wild Magic.  It’s said that she found a way of doing magic with her palisman though it’s not explained how.  What’s important though is that Luz has secured the best future for herself. She’s set up to stay in the demon realm full time but still have access to her family in the human realm, truly living the best of both realms.  Ultimately, the audience is left feeling great happiness for Luz at last, knowing that all seems well for her going forward.

Speaking of happiness, it further shows in one last sequence that goes through the entire end credits and beyond.  The new portal between realms opens taking the audience on an exciting ride through the newly restored Boiling Isles.  There are looks at many characters and other facets of the Isles having now changed for the better.  

Willow has come far with her flyer derby team with it now becoming official, and is still happily together with Hunter who has taken up a pastime of carving palismen.  In fact, wood used to make the palismen has happily replenished during all this time allowing for even more to be made.  There’s even a proper memorial for Flapjack with his memory living on in a new palisman of Hunter’s, a blue bird called Waffles.  

Anyway, Amity is seen to have made a good life for herself too, surrounding herself in all the things that make her happy.  These include engaging in abomination-based engineering and providing books for new wings at the local library.  

With the latter path, she and Lilith are also shown to have formed a more proper student/mentor relationship possibly inspired by what Luz and Eda have.  It’s demonstrative of an ongoing trend of Amity betting herself by surrounding herself with caring figures instead of the toxic ones she associated with in the past.  

Plus, her dad Alador, with whom she’s grown noticeably closer to, has developed a way to really help witches.  With the aid of those largely associated with healing magic, it’s now possible for sigils that limited magic and by extension put lives at risk, to be removed.  

Speaking of which, there’s one look at the aforementioned University of Wild Magic, a grand start to a new era of potential for witches.  Being built in a big tree like an actual owl house, it feels like the perfect environment with no limitations to magic to be found.  

Not to mention, it even has classes to show appreciation to human culture as taught by Gus.  

In charge of the whole facility is no one other than Eda, which shows great growth on her part.  Having started out seeming like a delinquent against all education, she’s able to embrace her actual intrigue in learning everything without the past strict enforcements.  Not to mention it’s nice to see her become an actual university principal, showing the long way she’s come from being a simple mentor to Luz.  Seeing all these outcomes leaves great satisfaction on all fronts for this world after everything, and even that’s not all.  As all these things are shown, everyone gets together like they’re planning something big, and after the credits end, said plan is revealed.  

Luz enters through her new portal with Camila and Vee, and is greeted with a party just for her hosted by all her loved ones; her human realm family, her demon realm found family, and just about all the friends she’s made.  It’s a belated birthday party for her since she spend her past few birthdays helping to rebuild the Boiling Isles inspired by customs of human quinceañeras with a demon twist.  This is a clever reference to something Dana Terrace once said in a Reddit AMA about Luz getting one if the show could get a third season.  To think that this was still able to happen even when the season ended up shortened.  More importantly, it helps the series end on a note that perfectly captures the heart of it all by visually interpreting the theme of the importance of finding one’s place.  

In addition to joining a celebration for her planned by all her loved ones, Luz gets even more instances of this.  Because King has grown so much, the power within him has awakened the discovery of new glyphs for Luz to learn.  Some might find this a backtrack of the sacrifice of the original glyphs, but context makes this direction work.  Luz had learned the new glyphs as a way to live out her fantasy of being a witch, believing that was the key to her best life and all she could connect with.  These new glyphs represent something in line with true happiness Luz has in her life, and that’s all the connections with many warm, caring, and understanding people she’s made.  Altogether, they’ve come to form one big family for her.  

Then, as everyone watches The Collector flying through the sky as a colorful shooting star, family bonds are sealed with one last conversation between Luz, Eda, and King.  

Luz thanks them both for everything, and in a moment where they’re not being separated and are actually together.  There’s no need to remind themselves that they got to stick together anymore because they know that nothing can keep them apart as long as they care for each other.  

Speaking of care, the entire sequence closes on just about the perfect note where everyone says a big resounding “bye” to The Collector as they pass by.  From another perspective, this can also be interpreted as all the protagonists saying goodbye to all the fans watching who stuck with the show to the very end.  It really shows that Dana Terrace and the crew not only care about their product, but their audience as well, and such a respect is admirable.  In fact, this is all very symbolic of how satisfying this ending truly is, and an ending like this a sure way to enhance the appeal and longevity of this show.

With “Watching and Dreaming,” The Owl House has never been grander, standing as a real testament to all the things that make it so great.  The setups are creative; the emotional moments hit hard no matter what they convey; the action moments are exciting while also being big on heart; and the relationships of the characters make for a strong center that’s likable enough to keep audiences invested.  It’s got the makings of a timeless work of animation and is a perfect fit for what the show it’s a part of set up.  Add on great apparent care for the audience of the show, and that settles this special being one of the most perfect finales to hope for.

Very Highly Recommended

Series Ranking

1.  Watching and Dreaming 

2. King’s Tide

      3.  Clouds on the Horizon

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

5. Reaching Out

6.  Thanks to Them

7. For the Future

8.  Hollow Mind

9.  Enchanting Grom Fright

10.  Eda’s Requiem

11.  Follies at the Coven Day Parade

12.  Yesterday’s Lie

13. Agony of a Witch

14. O Titan, Where Art Thou?

15.   Elsewhere and Elsewhen

16.  Hunting Palismen

17.  Echoes of the Past

18.  Escaping Expulsion

19.  Understanding Willow

20.  Lost in Language

21.  Adventures in the Elements

22.  The Intruder

23.  Covention

24.  Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances

25.  Eclipse Lake

26.  Through the Looking Glass Ruins

27.  Labyrinth Runners

28.  Edge of the World

29.  Them’s the Breaks, Kid

30.  Young Blood Old Souls

31.  Any Sport in a Storm

32.  Separate Tides

33.  Escape of the Palisman

34.  Wing it Like Witches

35.  The First Day

36.  I Was a Teenage Abomination

37.  Witches Before Wizards

38.  Something Ventured, Someone Framed

39.  A Lying Witch and a Warden

40.  Sense and Insensitivity

41.  Hooty’s Moving Hassle

42.  Really Small Problems

43.  Once Upon a Swap

And with that, this blog’s look at The Owl House is officially over, and it sure has been one real animated experience.  The world, themes, characters, and just about everything about it are simply destined to stand the test of time.  It’s also so endearing that it’s a practical shame that the show’s over, but it is also rewarding to know that it will always be remembered as something truly great.  Plus, as a Disney show, despite how the company has treated it, there is some pride knowing that it’s part of the most revered source of animated entertainment of the past century.  In fact, its qualities are so good, this show is probably one that would do Walt and his principles of entertainment proud.  Maybe someday, the series will come back as a spinoff or other chances for more stories with these characters to be told.  Whether that actually happens though, the main series as it is will always be with us, standing as one of the best shows to keep magic alive and honor the weirdo in everyone.

 Stay Animated Folks!