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The Owl House, Episode 17 Review

I know it’s only been seven months since The Owl House first premiered on Disney Channel, but thanks to how the world is, it feels longer. Now that we’re almost at the end of the first season, I keep looking back on the main characters and realize how much they’ve changed since we first met them. While Luz has gone through some major growth as a witch (with card glyphs being her motif), the characters who I think have grown the most would be Amity and Willow. In this breather episode that we get before the big finale, we get to see just how much they’ve grown in the short time they’ve known Luz, and it’s very touching to look at.

Also, now that we know that Amity has a crush on Luz, it only makes their interactions even more adorable!

Boscha the New Alpha Girl

Do you guys remember Boscha: the girl with three eyes that I joked looked like if Tom and Janna from Star vs. had a kid? Well, ever since the events of Grom night, Amity’s started to spend more time with Luz and patch things up with Willow, and all but broken off things with Boscha. As a result, she’s taken Amity’s place as the new Alpha Girl of Hexside.

Which sucks for her, as Willow’s become way more confident from hanging out with Luz and reconciling with Amity. When Willow continues to show her up in school (and Amity roasts her for her immaturity), Boscha spends the entire day making Luz, Gus, and Willow’s lives miserable. How does Luz resolve this? By challenging Boscha to a game of Grudgby Ball. If they win, Boscha has to leave Willow alone. If Boscha wins, they get to use them as water gofers and target practice.

How Many Times Do We Have to Teach You This Lesson, Luz?

Trivia time: why do you think Luz would make such a risky bet in the first place? If you the answer is “because she got the idea from a work of fiction,” then you are correct. She’s basing this on a “Good Witch Azura” Sports Movie and the fact that her side’s the underdogs, and underdogs always win.

The big problem is that every time Luz has tried to use what she learns from her Azura stuff to fix her problems, it always backfires on her. Yet the lesson never fully sticks and she just gets in more trouble. This doesn’t mean she’s not learning, though. She’s caught on that the Boiling Isles aren’t like the PG fantasy story she imagined, and has adapted to it.

In addition, she’s not as reckless as she was at the start of the season, which helps her out. In the end, Luz realizes she messed up and tries to take all the punishment in Willow’s stead, surprising everyone. Even Boscha admits that Luz is a good friend….that doesn’t stop her from using Luz as target practice, though. Fortunately, she gets help in from Amity.

Amity’s Crush is So Adorable

When we first met Amity, she couldn’t stand Luz or Willow. Now she can’t seem to get two sentences around her without blushing or babbling like an idiot. It’s absolutely adorable to watch, especially since she tries to deny it in front of everyone else. Unfortunately for shippers out there, Luz seems to be the kind of hero who’s oblivious to love. She doesn’t seem to pick up on Amity’s obvious feelings for her, which most people would be able to.

Shipping frustration aside, this episode does show how much Amity’s grown as a character over the course of the season. She went from being condescending jerk to a misunderstood perfectionist who just wants real friends to a true friend of Luz and Willow. When Boscha says that by helping Luz and Willow, she killed her social life, Amity merely says that she just improved it. You go, girl! Shake off that toxic influence!!

In the end, Boscha wins due to some “Golden Snitch” nonsense that calls out how that trope in Harry Potter, but it doesn’t matter in the end. The Grudgby team loses all respect for her and transfers it to Willow, thus nullifying any of Boscha’s attempts to humiliate her and Luz. Karma’s a pain, huh Boscha?

What Does Emperor Belos Have Planned?

We now only have two episodes left in the season, and from the sound of things, something big is going to happen in these next two episodes. And I think that it has something to do with Emperor Belos.

In the episode’s B-Plot, Lilith tries once more to get Eda to join the Emperor’s Coven, apparently at Belos’ own behest. According to Lilith, Belos has big plans for the Boiling Isles. Given what we know about the Emperor right now, I doubt that any of those plans are good.

I have no idea what’s going to happen in the last two episodes, but I hope that it blows everyone’s minds in the process. The Owl House needs to finish its first season strong if it wants to be one of Disney’s top cartoons for the 2020’s.

Luz Makes History as Disney’s First Bisexual Main

Before I ended this post, I wanted to let you guys know that The Owl House just made headlines, with Dana Terrace confirming that Luz is bisexual.

While she isn’t the first LGBTQ+ character Disney’s done, it doesn’t change the fact that this is a first for Disney. It even made CNN’s website!

I Give “Wing it Like Witches” A 4/5

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The Owl House Episode 16 Review

From the moment we saw this image of Luz and Amity in the trailer for the second half of Season One, fans have been hyped for the episode “Enchanting Grom Fright”. I kept seeing fan art of Luz and Amity in their Grom outfits on Twitter and Instagram, and was just as excited as everyone else was. And when the time came and “Grom Fright” aired, it lived up to the hype. And Disney may just have its first confirmed LGBTQ+ main character.

What is Grom, Anyway?

It’s almost time for one of the biggest social events of the semester at Hexside: Grom Night. On the surface, it seems like the Boiling Isles version of Prom, with dates and music and dancing. However, this is still the Boiling Isles, so it means there’s a dark twist to it. It turns out, the event gets its name from Grometheus, or Grom for short. It’s this shape-shifting monster held underneath Hexside that tries to escape every year. So Principal Bump created the dance, and the person crowned King or Queen has to fight the creature back. It’s only made harder since Grom can read minds to turn into a person’s biggest fear. And this year, Amity’s been chosen to be Grom Queen, something that terrifies her.

Considering how, when we first saw her, Amity came off as someone extremely confident in her abilities, seeing her so frazzled is surprising, especially for Luz. As a result, Luz volunteers to fight Grom in her stead, which demonstrates how far their relationship has grown since they first met. Whereas Amity once saw her as a nuisance, here she’s willing to accept help from Luz.

It doesn’t pan out as well as they hope, and both of them end up fighting Grom.

Facing Your Fears: Luz

While it may be set against a high-school dance, the main theme of “Grom Fright” is learning to confront one’s own fears. That’s by far one of the hardest things a person can ever do in their life, and some people are never able to. And Luz and Amity both have some big fears. While Luz manages to handle her more mundane fears (cats with human faces, milk, and jerks online), the whammy is seeing her face her worst fear: confronting her mom. AweStruckVox, you were right!

I think we knew that Luz would eventually have to tell her mom the truth that she’s not at that lame camp and in another dimension. The fear of disappointing one’s parents is something most people have to go through at least once in their lives, and Luz has to do it in the worst way possible. Grom sadistically turns itself into a monstrous version of Luz’s Mom and talk about how heartbroken and disappointed she is in her for lying to her. As a result, the normally confident and self-assured girl starts to fall apart.

If I could give Luz any advice right now, it would be this: don’t let the fear of disappointing your mom hold you back. She needs to be honest with her and tell her the truth and how she’s made so many friends and been so happy in the Boiling Isles. Parents may not always approve of their child’s choices in life, but if they truly love them, they’ll understand how happy they are and respect their decisions. If not, then it’s their loss.

Facing Your Fears: Amity

But what of Amity’s fear, though? Amity said that her biggest fear was something super embarrassing, something she doesn’t want anyone to know. It turns out she wasn’t lying. This episode all but confirms that Amity’s developed romantic feelings for Luz. The signs have been there for a while, now: Luz is normally the kind of person Amity would not associate with. Yet for one reason or another, she keeps being intrigued by her and taking an interest in her. Heck, Amity flat out admits that she admires how fearless Luz seems to be despite being a human who shouldn’t even be in the Boiling Isles.

The big reveal, though? When Amity faces down Grom to protect Luz, we see what Amity’s biggest fear was: asking Luz to go to Grom with her and being rejected. As outsiders looking in, we know that Luz would never do that. But for Amity, that’s about as scary as it can get. Fortunately, both of them face their fears together, and give us this gorgeously animated dance sequence in the process.

Simply breathtaking to look at!

An Enchanting Grom Night

This may be my favorite epiosde of the series thus far. “Grom Night” had shipping fuel, character development, superb animation and music, the whole nine yards! I am so glad that I’m reviewing this series as it comes out!

Lumity ship fuel aside, this episode ended with a big surprise, and an even bigger mystery. Someone has been sending letters to Luz’s mom addressed from Luz. Poorly written letters, I might add, that sound nothing like what Luz would say. The question is, who’s writing them?

Right now, I’ve got two theories about this: Eda’s been leaving those letters behind when she sneaks over to Earth so that Mrs. Noceda doesn’t realize that her daughter’s not at camp. The other theory is that the camp’s been sending them, which waves a lot of red flags in my eyes! Either way, for the moment, it looks like Mrs. Noceda knows nothing about what her daughter’s up to. But we know that Luz plans to tell her one day, so that’s enough for me.

So in conclusion, this episode was awesome and you guys need to watch The Owl House. Now for some Grom Photo’s!

I Give “Enchanting Grom Fright” A 5/5

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