What is The Owl House? You may have heard of it, or maybe not; if you have, there’s a large chance that it was because I go around singing its praises. After all, what other shows have such a diverse cast of characters, creators, and types of people it caters to? Tragically, the show will end after a third season of just three 45-minute-long episodes. The first episode of season 2B, Episode 11: Follies at the Coven Day Parade, aired on Saturday, March 19th. The show centers around Luz Noceda, a 14-year-old girl who gets transported to The Demon Realm, aka The Boiling Isles. While there, Luz meets a witch named Eda Clawthorne and becomes her apprentice in the titular Owl House; she also attends the nearby Hexside School of Magic and Demonics, where she makes friends and maybe even falls in love. All of this happens while Luz is working to get back home to her mom and coming into conflict with the Boiling Isles’ government, The Emperor’s Coven.
So why should you watch it?
The plot
It’s a well-written story; a lot of the minds behind the rightfully praised Gravity Falls, a show about twins discovering the secrets of the eponymous, mysterious Oregon town, worked on The Owl House. Dana Terrace, the creator of The Owl House, was a storyboard artist and in-house animator for Gravity Falls, and Alex Hirsch, Terrace’s partner and the creator of Gravity Falls, is a creative consultant and the voice of multiple characters like King and Hooty on The Owl House. As a whole, the story does an excellent job of portraying the many types of characters and relationships that are wrapped up in its “agenda” of diversity and anticolonialism. Every character is three-dimensional and even the ones who are bad people manage to be sympathetic while retaining their position as absolute villains (although redemption is a common occurrence for many of the antagonists). Filler episodes are rarely seen, which produces a concise story that doesn’t wander, and even seemingly insignificant plot points tend to return to make you realize that you should have been paying much more attention throughout. It’s both incredibly funny where it needs to be, and gut-wrenchingly sad in other instances, yet neither emotion feels overdone or out of place.
Diversity!
I’ve used the word “diversity” a lot throughout this article so far, but it’s true! A lot of children’s animated TV shows have been at the forefront of LGBTQ+ representation: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and The Dragon Prince, to name a few The Owl House is no exception (although it is more for teenagers than young kids). Luz is a bisexual Dominican-American girl with ADHD and she (spoilers) gets a girlfriend who is a lesbian; Eda is bisexual; Eda’s sister (and my favorite character) Lilith is aromantic asexual, and Raine Whispers is Disney’s only non-binary character besides Gonzo (yes Gonzo the Muppet, look it up). I mentioned the wealth of relationships, and I want to be clear that when I say “relationships,” I mean familial, platonic, romantic, antagonistic, you name it–but a lot of them do boil down to different familial relationships. Luz loves her mom, though Camila might not always understand her, Eda used to be close with her family and is scared to make any effort to get them back, Amity feels obliged to be the best because of the high standards of her parents and the tense relationship between them, and a million more that would be too spoiler-y to say now. There is also the way that characters deal with things allegorical to chronic illnesses, down to parents who cannot accept those illnesses because they’re set on the possibility of some “cure.”
The quality of the other… well, qualities of the show
The music is really incredible; both the opening theme and ending theme get stuck in your head so easily, and the episode centered around the Bard Coven, Eda’s Requiem (the titular song specifically, but the entire music suite of the episode if one has time for it), hits it out of the park with every bit of the score. The animation is crisp, and the art style invokes that of Gravity Falls and Amphibia, while still being noticeably distinct; the fight scenes utilize smooth, fast-paced teleportation that thrills you, and the characterization that is apparent in people’s different fighting styles shows how deeply thought out everything is. The enthusiasm the cast and crew has is great as well. Dana Terrace and artists on the show have held many charity live streams such as “Drawing Cartoons to Save Democracy” on September 16th, 2020 (proceeds went to Rock the Vote), and the “Be Gay Do Witchcraft Charity Drawathon” on March 13th, 2022 (proceeds went to The Zebra Coalition following the passing of the Don’t Say Gay bill).
Yes, there are a million little things that make The Owl House an amazing show and the only way to truly experience them is through watching it; you can find it on Hulu or Disney+.
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