Of The Owl House’s three main characters, only Eda really feels like a complete character; her journey holds the most pathos and intrigue. At this point in the series, we’ve learned that this powerful, if not well-liked, witch is suffering from a curse from an unknown entity that causes her to transform into an uncontrollable beast, held at bay with a series of potions (which is a clever allegory of watching an elderly person who has to take their medications). We know that the curse is getting worse, and that it reflects Eda’s personal fears of her aging/growing weaker, which is the impetus of her B-plot in this episode. We know that she has a not-quite-fully-explained hatred towards organized instructions concerning magic, refusing to enter any coven that would restrict her powers, which has inadvertently caused tremendous conflict with her sister, a conflict that’s the thematic backdrop of said B-plot. Eda herself, as voiced by a game Wendie Malick, is great, and I’m deeply invested in her story, issues, and history.
I can’t say the same for Luz or King.
I’m immensely curious how readers of this review are feeling about The Owl House so far; there doesn’t seem to be a lot discourse about it online, but that doesn’t suggest it’s failing or anything. I can only express and explore my personal response to the show, and I’m struggling to get behind Luz and King as characters. King, at least, is pretty established as the comic relief, and his illusions of grandeur and vain attempts at global conquest are meant to illicit more laughter than sympathy. (There’s some backstory about demons once being powerful or something, and how they’re not anymore, but it’s a concept not developed enough to buoy King’s often-pathetic pursuits). Luz, on the other hand, feels like there’s a significant part of her character that’s missing. In the review of the first episode of the season, I mentioned how it doesn’t really seem like Luz is that much of a problem, so her concerns about being too “weird” and “different” never quite tracked. After 10 episodes, though, it’s clear that Luz is indeed a problem, what with the sheer number of terrible choices she has made, but it’s difficult to tell if the show is engaging with Luz’s overwrought tendency to just jump headfirst into whatever she wants on a whim, or is just using it to jumpstart conflict. Breaking into the academy, stealing Eda’s staff, bringing her friends into the Owl House without permission, constantly dismissing Eda’s (admittedly neglectful) “teaching” methods–even accounting for Luz being a specific kind of child who struggles with patience, concentration, and maintaining attention, it’s hard to empathize or connect with her. It doesn’t help that “being a witch” is still a kind of unclear concept in the show overall. Luz’s goal doesn’t seem to have an endpoint.
That actually brings us to the episode proper. “Sense And Insensitivity” shows that Luz’s goal in the real world was to be a writer; this reflects her penchant for writing and reading fanfics, but it feels like a late revelation thats a little hard to parse with how the character was introduced. Still, it’s something, and during a book fair, she and King decide to enter a writing competition. They begin their writing duo, with a couple of self-aware gags at the expense of a writing team (including a winking “Save the Cat” gag), but Luz leaves the room, allowing King to completely overtake Luz’s contributions with his own. Luz is hurt, but King, completely self-absorbed in his self-worth and lust for adoration, goes to a random tavern to demand people read his manuscript. He’s immediately kicked out; but the publisher of a famous author’s books happens to be there. He magically speed reads the copy, loves it, signs King, and he’s an instant star.
The speed with which all this happens is startling; the contest is completely irrelevant at this point, which raises the question why have it in the first place (really, any particular inciting incident could have led to this point). King says “he won the contest” but he didn’t–he become a famous writer, which is a whole different track. Still, Luz is deeply hurt by King’s dismissal, but she shows up to the premiere of his second book. King’s outline of it is garbage in the eye of the publisher, and the little demon realizes he needs Luz’s ideas to “rebel” off of. The publisher overhears this, captures both King and Luz, forcing them to write a second book, or else they get crushed into weird, living cubes. Drawing the symbol in the copy that allows Luz to cast the only spell she’s learned so far is admittedly a clever idea to escape, but it’s all fairly perfunctory.
The B-story finds Eda chasing after her sister, Lilith, for a flower that supposedly grants immortality. It’s solid motivation for Eda, to get over on her sister’s, and her own, belief of her fragility. There are some really funky moments during this storyline: Lilith at some point emerges from the forest covered in leaves and dirt, like she seen some stuff, but nothing comes of it? The flower happens to be a trap set by the creature that sold the siblings the maps, but the two bond together, and take it down easily. Even though Eda’s and Lilith’s relationship needs way more development, just being aware of Eda’s struggles allow their short, brief armistice to show the inherent warmth between them, ultimately with Lilith letting Eda go for now.
But back to the A-story: what I think hurts this central relationship is that Luz and King (and to different extent, Eda) is that, after eleven episodes, these two or three characters aren’t really the disparate and semi-desperate unit that bonds together. Everyone really is moving on their own directions, only coming together when the plot allows it; there’s no sense of developing friendships, mentorships, camaraderie, or anything really. Luz mostly treats King like a pet; King treats her like a convenient lackey. This makes the attempt at pathos—King’s understanding that his lusts for adoration and power is the pipe dream that everyone already knows—shrug-worthy. It’s not like they get closer after the entire experience. Perhaps this show is trying to engage in a type of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia kind of energy, or a more chaotic take on the family unit in Gravity Falls. But the former is steeped in the cast’s interpersonal chaos for maximum comedy effect (comedy is subjective but got to be honest, not much of The Owl House is funny), while the latter, despite their darker impulses, strongly stick together. The Owl House doesn’t seem to know what to think of its central trio, and can’t quite muster up stories to explain them. But at least Eda is on a timetable.
Stray observations
- Okay, so the biggest concern that sort of bothers me is the fact that Eda is the most wanted witch in the Boiling Isles, but she seems to hock her wares in the same exact location every day. I can buy that her home is “hidden” in some way, and in the general sense, Eda’s so powerful that it may not be worth fighting her all the time, but the implication that they can’t find her is absurd.
- About one-third of The Owl House is sort of driven by winking self-awareness of the medium and storytelling in general, but I think it may be too early in the show’s run to be so meta (especially since I originally thought that was sort of the show’s point). Including this episode, “Witches Before Wizards” threw shade on the “Chosen One” concept. “Once Upon a Swap” shows the ridiculousness of a “body swap” episode by committing a unique storytelling structure to it. A number of jokes and beats rely on the assumption of magical creatures and spells being wondrous and spectacular, only for the reveal to be that they’re mundane, boring, or part of a scam. If The Owl House wants to place a more cynical eye on Harry Potter-esque wonder and imagination, that’s fine, and I’m all for it! But it needs to commit to that, and so far, it only does it in fleeting, random moments.
- Sorry, but I am just not buying the developments between Amity and Luz. The Owl House tried to pull a “reverse bullying” card in “Lost In Language,” implying the lazy chestnut “maybe the protagonist is the real bully,” but it’s nonsense. Amity treated Luz like garage from her introduction on, and no amount of reading to children is enough to change that specific point. Look, as I mentioned earlier, Luz as a character is problematic on purpose, but trying to find depth in Amity while ignoring her earlier treatments towards Luz (and the other Academy students) is disingenuous.
- There will be a review for the first season finale whenever it airs!
27 Comments
There’s a lot to like about this show and I love Alex Hirsch, but King’s whole “I say demonic things undercut by being cute!” shtick got old by the end of the first episode and it’s all the character has. It’s like One-One in Infinity Train, a one-note gag character that torpedoes my enjoyment of an otherwise enjoyable cartoon.
Upvote for “There’s a lot to like about this show”. But King’s squeak of rage is hilarious.
He’s like a little tea kettle.
I’m not saying that moments like this are bad, but it’s certainly bad that it’s the only thing he brings to the table.Like, imagine if the “MY CABBAGES!” guy from Avatar was one of the main characters but he barely got any more characterization than he has in all his cameos. What works as comic relief doesn’t translate to what works for a lead if that comic relief is shallow and the character doesn’t contribute anything else.
so like the “my leg!” episode of spongebob, except the whole show?
King is slightly better than that but not enough for the comparison to be unfair.
I was theorizing that at some point King would actually gain some sort of unimaginable power of some primal demon form and actually go rogue, like the triangular Gravity Falls character upon which he’s based. That would’ve been so sick. I am pretty disappointed he’s pretty much just going to be a gag character at this point.
It’s only been 11 episodes, many quite stand alone – establishing the world and characters, which seems to be pretty normal for shows like this (e.g. Star vs the Forces of Evil). It’s also probably still finding its groove.
Remember how much chaff was in Steven Universe’s first season. It was fun and enjoyable, but the real world (universe) building and detailed character arcs happened sporadically and more toward the end of the season.
It seems to be really rare to get a show like the recent She-Ra, which knows what it’s doing from the get-go and tells a tight story. Maybe we’ve been spoiled.
Gotta be real, I feel at this point in Steven Universe we did have a little MORE, you know? Personally. The very second episode built up Steven’s mom, the mysteries behind the lunar sea spire, the genuinely horrific transformation sequence in the Cat Fingers episode.I’m just saying. It’s totally cool and good and wonderful to like OH regardless. And for what it’s worth, he really does sound like a tea kettle. That was definitely my favorite King gag
Avatar also took a decent amount of time in its first season to get really good.
A lot of shows do, so I think the reviewer is being a tad harsh.
But I also don’t see Eda, Luz and King really as a “central trio”, so my expectations are different I guess.
to sort of go off the reviewers thoughts, a big issue is that luz as a character is being pulled between the titular owl house and the magic school. Both are large enough to represent a focal point for the show and having them compete only hurts the concept. focusing on the owl house and it’s a show about luz learning to be a witch, away from home, with new, weird people. with the magic school, it’s a show about luz making new friends, discovering magic and getting into wacky school based hi jinks all while a deeper plot unfolds. Splitting focus is a mistake, it’d be like if the Pines Twins or Steven Universe went to school while during their show, it’s too much of a tonal whiplash.
I could see part of it simply being characterization. Like the reviewer said, Luz is impulsive and not patient enough to connect with people, while Eda puts everyone at arm’s length until she truly gets to know them. That is why the trio haven’t really meshed as well as hoped. it is giving the writers a lot of benefit of the doubt though.
I’m rewatching Last Airbender right now, and outside of a lot of “boys rules, girls drool” type storylines, the show has been quite confident of its core dynamic from episode two onward.
At least for me, most shows overall do have a clear dynamic or “interplay” among its main characters. It doesn’t have to be friendly or ideal or even that detailed, but it ought to make sense, and I don’t really have much clarity on the one among Eda, King, and Luz. It feels arbitrary, solely based on whatever the episode wants to say. By the end of this episode, for example, after King opens up about never actually being as powerful as he should be… do he and Luz grow even a smidge closer to each other? Does Luz have a more grounded understanding of King and demons in general? Does Luz now see King as more as a pet? It’s just unclear what’s happening between them.
I consider Last Airbender to be more adventure/fantasy, while Owl House is more sitcom/fantasy, so a comparison would highlight big differences in tone and structure that affects everything from the overall story right down to the way they portray the character’s behaviors and interactions.
I get what you mean by the lack of clarity between Eda, King and Luz’s relationships, but so far Owl House has been more episodic in nature (like Saturday morning cartoons of the past) so the writers don’t seem to be going for tight story arcs like Last Airbender.
This is more like Star vs the Forces of Evil in which most of the main story arcs kinda fizzled, the relationship between Star and Marco remained pretty constant despite the writers’ will-they-won’t-they hints, but it was all still fun to watch – which was arguably the main point of the show.
Re-watching Avatar is always a good use of time—I burned through it on Netflix as well. The first season does improve significantly upon re-watching (The Southern Air Temple and The Deserter are underrated gems), but I still think it falls a bit short of the brilliant Books 2 and 3, which are the peak of Western animation’s children programming for me. Still good though.Not saying your criticisms of Owl House here are unfounded—I’ve been reading your reviews for a long time, and you’ve always brought up many astute points—but there’s still plenty of room for it to grow into something worth talking about.
I don’t know, maybe it’s because I really do want to like The Owl House so much, but some of these critiques seem a little harsh. I enjoyed this episode despite the fact it’s on the breezy side. I have not found Luz to be unsympathetic. She’s impulsive, which, sure, is handy to get the plot moving, but nearly every episode shows her being kind, sensitive, going out of her way to help. I think the trio as a whole is hiding too many secrets for there to be a strong bond yet; if anything, I wish there was more tension surrounding THAT. Also I like Amity’s storyline so far. My read on it wasn’t so much “Luz was the bully the whole time” but that both Luz and Amity were more complicated than either of them expected. Overall, I’m still feeling more intrigued than decisive about what kind of a writer Dana Terrace is. I’ve been a fan of her artwork for years, and she seems to have a TON of concepts stored up for various projects; I’m just waiting for her to find her footing in ghe execution. Maybe this won’t even be the project where she takes off, I’m just too interested to be annoyed by the show’s weaker moments at this point. Who knows, maybe at the end of the season I’ll totally agree with this review. I was super harsh on the first episode when it came out, but over time I’ve been surprised how much I want to see it come together.
I have to cop to loving this show and not minding its spotty characterizations. I accept it as more of a slapstick comedy in a beautifully weird and creepy world so, as long as I’m laughing and marveling, I don’t mind thin characters and lack of forward momentum.
I imagined how the show could permanently write off each of the three main characters. Eda could get written off after her curse problem is dealt with, but it would be difficult. King could not really be written off, IMO. He’s got too much presence within the show. Luz could be easily written off as having to go back home and getting replaced by a different character.
Not being able to capture Eda is basically a running joke at this point. Her would-be captors are super incompetent compared with her or, as in this episode, don’t actually care about capturing her because they’ve got something else going on.
yeah /co/’s been talking about this show for months now, general consensus seems to be that Owl House is a pastiche of other, better shows, with Eda aka Ryoko being the one bright spot in the series.
I am giving this show a chance – there is a lot I do enjoy about it, and I never consider it wasted time to kick back and watch a new episode. But something really does feel…off or lacking. It feels like a show that is way way better than this one is just beneath the surface. All the pieces are there but something isn’t clicking to make this any more than watchable.
So… if they hadn’t managed to write the book in time, would Luz and King have both been merged into a -single- cube person? Would Luz, being the only human, actually compress properly with the magical cube? Ugh, I need to unthink that quickly.
I like these guys and the art enough that I always watch when there is a new episode, but never with true excitement, like with my favorites. I feel like it could get there, if it really wanted. It just doesn’t seem to care that much yet.
Everytime I see Luz, I can only think of Nobita from Doraemon.
Are you likely to review Amphibia? I love the family relationships and how Anne both integrates and remains slightly alien to the setting, something that seems to come from an interesting place of her being a second generation immigrant.
I don’t really agree with the King hate. He’s a bit one note, but that’s what his character is supposed to be. It’s not like Soos was that complex a character and King being essentially Eda’s pet makes it more difficult to show him having an inner life.
Is anyone else imagining what Eda would be like if she dated Ford or Stanley? Through inter-dimensional magic doohickery or whatever?My guess is is that Ford would be drawn to her energy at first, but her similarities with Stanley would be too much for the relationship to bear. Stanley meanwhile would love their similarities at first, then hate it because of his own selfloathing.
King is what CAOS’s Salem should be!