Original air date: 3/13/2020 (produced in 2019)
Production code: 109
When Gus sneaks Luz into Hexside School to present at the Human Appreciation Society, Luz sees a side of the school she didn't expect. As she does so, Eda must confront her past to ensure her pupil's future.
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: Subverted. Eda spends the whole day atoning for her List of Transgressions in order to secure Luz' place at Hexside, but no sooner has she finished than Luz and Gus break out of the detention room right in front of Principal Bump, who furiously rescinds the offer. Fortunately, Gus takes responsibility and asks to be punished instead, meaning Eda's efforts weren't wasted after all.
- An Ice Person: One of the students helps another with a snowball spell.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The abominations Eda summoned at school not only turned against her, but also merged into one giant abomination.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Mattholomule asks Gus what he's going to do, Gus raises his fist as if he's going to punch him...then pulls the fire alarm, soaking them both and summoning the guards to punish them.
- Big Sister Instinct: The reason Eda summoned a group of abominations that Turned Against Their Masters? Someone had stolen Lilith's lunch money.
- Bittersweet Ending: Gus is removed from the Human Appreciation Society and Mattholomule becomes the new president (albeit with his credibility as an expert on human artifacts ruined), but Luz will be able to join Hexside next semester.
- Black Comedy: Eda's living graffiti spells out "Mother, no!" when she's trying to clean it up.
- The Blank: A student in the Illusion home room accidentally wipes her face off when she botches an illusion spell.
- The Cameo: Emira and Edric are seen casting illusion spells in Gus's class.
- Chekhov's Gun: The paper clip Gus shows to the Human Appreciation Society is used to free Mattholomule from his pod in detention.
- Continuity Nod:
- We finally meet the Human Appreciation Society at Hexside, which Gus mentioned in "I Was a Teenage Abomination".
- Amity's older siblings in "Lost in Language" wear the same colours as Gus, indicating that they are part of the illusion class. In this episode, they are seen casting illusion spells.
- Crazy-Prepared: Luz keeps confetti on her for spontaneous "dazzle", which Willow lampshades.
- Doppleganger Spin: Gus creates dozens of copies of himself and Luz to confuse the detention snakes while they escape.
- Enemy Mine: The incident report detailing the time Eda raised an army of abominations to start a food fight after her sister's lunch money was stolen mentions that Eda, Lilith, and the thief had to form an unlikely alliance when Eda's abominations revolted against her and combined into one giant one that attempted to destroy the school.
- Everyone Has Standards: Bump promises Eda that he won't tell the Emperor's Coven about her, saying he's a principal, not a stooge.
- Faceless Eye: One of the members of the Human Appreciation Society is a Potions student whose entire head is an eye, along with blue-green hair and a stocking cap. Since she doesn't have a mouth, she speaks in unintelligible murmurs.
- Fiery Redhead: A number of photos of Eda during her attendance at Hexside shows that she had orange hair and was quite the troublemaker.
- Foil: Gus and Mattholomule. Gus brings actual human artifacts but doesn't know their actual names and purposes with his most accurate description of them is calling a paperclip "pay-per-clorp" and thinking they sound like human oceans in spite of being otherwise correct about their uses while Mattholomule is a liar who brings fakes but at least knows the names of the things he tries to pass the fakes as.
- Food Fight: One of incident reports at the end mentions that Eda raised an army of abominations to start a food fight in the cafeteria after someone stole Lilith's lunch money.
- Foreshadowing: When Gus is dragging Luz away from guards, there's a flyer for the "Grom Decorating Committee".
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- The trophies Luz is admiring in the case include Oldest Student, Most Bones, and The Um, Actually Award (given to Noah Ital, of course).
- In the Incident Reports at the end of the episode, the transciber eventually begins to complain about "getting so tired of writing these things. And now I'm just writing down what I'm thinking. Oh I hope no one actually reads these..."
- Gilligan Cut: After convincing Luz to come as his guest, Gus boasts to himself that everything will work out. Cut to Willow telling him it won't work out at all.
- Humans Through Alien Eyes:
- Gus has various human artifacts he's humorously mislabeled: a cheese grater is nail clippers, a bag of chips is a whoopee cushion (he's also using a flip phone to clamp it shut), an umbrella hat is a food bowl (containing sticks, leaves, and a thread roll), and a Rubix cube is believed to be a weapon. Surprisingly, he has a mostly accurate description of a paperclip ("pay-per-clorp", as he calls it), though he thinks the spring sound it makes is what human oceans sound like.
- On the opposite side, Mattholomule's artifacts are obvious fakes, but at least he's accurately labeled them.
- I'll Pretend I Didn't Hear That: Principal Bump says this when Eda tells Luz not to be dragged into the coven system and maybe convince the students to be rebels like Eda.
- I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: Bump tells Eda he's a principal, not a stooge.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Mattholomule is right that Gus lied to Luz, leading to her getting dragged off to detention (even if Mattholomule was the one who called the guards).
- Karma Houdini: Mattholomule ultimately gets to be president because Gus admits to sneaking Luz into the school, his only real comeuppance being left on the floor, too weak to move and his credibility on knowing human culture ruined.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Mattholomule claims to be an expert on the human realm, and what to do when you're in detention. It's patently obvious both are lies.
- Living Drawing: In the past, Eda put hexed graffiti on the lockers that avoids attempts to clean it and even begs for its life when Eda is forced to get rid of it.
- Long List: Principal Bump pulls out a gigantic pile of incidents that are on Eda's Permanent Record from when she was a student. Eda remarks on how she thought there'd be more.
- Man-Eating Plant: Willow is briefly seen growing one, which tries to swallow her teacher before she gently scratches it under the bulb to make it release.
- Moonwalk Dance: Luz performs this as Gus introduces her to the H.A.S.
- Mundane Utility: Gus uses an illusion duplicate of himself to take notes when he's not in class. The duplicate then immediately writes a note that says he isn't paying attention, forcing Gus to admit it can be disobedient at times.
- Noodle Incident: When listing off all the things on Eda's permanent record, Principal Bump mentions something involving "Miss Jenkinmeyer's teeth".
- The Nose Knows: The Hexside guards can smell when people are causing trouble or otherwise breaking the rules.
- The Not-So-Harmless Punishment: Luz is told she's going to detention, which she thinks won't be so bad until she sees the giant, three-eyed door with teeth. Detention means getting locked in a room with a giant creature in the floor filled with creepy mask snakes that pod up students and brainwash them into behaving.
- The Permanent Record: Principal Bump pulls out Eda's while they're discussing Luz's enrollment: he tells her that she must amend all the incidents she caused at Hexside that are listed within the record (Eda remarks she thought there'd be more) for him to consider letting Luz become a student.
- Pet the Dog: Eda makes an effort to get Luz into Hexside because she thinks Luz will appreciate the experience, even if it means being forced into humiliating tasks by Bump.
- The Power of Friendship: Two students help each other with a spell and credit this trope. Eda remarks how corny it is, as evidence of how much Luz would like it here.
- Punch-Clock Villains: The worms that brainwash the students are just doing what the school asks them to, and meekly stands down once Principal Bump tells them to.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Mattholomule may have ended up becoming president of the Human Appreciation Society, but because he's been proven to be a fraud, his credibility is damaged.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Principal Bump agrees to let Luz attend Hexside in exchange for Eda making amends for her past misdeeds. He also assures her that he won't tell the Emperor's Coven about her or Luz.
- The Reveal: Eda was on the Potions Track during her time at Hexside, her last name is Clawthorne, and she was once a redhead.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: Mattholomule boasts that, though Gus and Luz might not believe it, he got detention all the time at his previous school. Luz points out it's entirely believable, since he's an obvious Jerkass.
- Save the Villain: Gus insists on rescuing Mattholomule after the detention snakes pod him up.
- Sequel Hook: The episode ends with Luz being accepted as a student at Hexside beginning next semester.
- Shout-Out:
- Gus has labeled a Rubix cube as a weapon. Only in a stoner comedy, little guy.
- According to her permanent record, Eda blasted a well known pop song SINCE U BEEN CONNED from the speakers at Hexside.
- She also started a fan war between the boy bands Babies to Boys and Two Seconds to New York.
- Eda spots two students practicing magic. After they successfully make their spells, they hug and say "Friendship is the real magic!"
- A rag-tag team of ghost-blasters is called in to deal with the ghost infestation in the girls' locker room, but accidentally opened the door to the ghost dimension.
- "Remember Me", which plays over the photo montage, is meant to be a pastiche of "Don't You Forget About Me".
- Taking the Heat: When Principal Bump sees Luz breaking out of detention, he assumes she's just as disruptive as Eda and rescinds his offer to make her a student. Gus steps forward and admits to lying to Luz about her ban being lifted, hence she didn't know any better, and agrees to accept any punishment on her behalf if it means she'll get to attend. Since the detention room is currently inoperable, Bump settles for removing Gus as president of the Human Appreciation Society.
- Taking You with Me: Gus is furious with Mattholomule for calling the guards on Luz and getting her sent to detention. So much so that he pulls the fire alarm and get them both sent to detention so Gus can get her out.
- Teen Genius: The spells used for petty vandalism and juvenile pranks at a Wizarding School neither fading nor being dispelled for the better part of thirty years implies this about the brat who cast them.
- Throat-Slitting Gesture: Gus does this to his disobedient illusion for not paying attention in class.
- Turned Against Their Masters:
- Played for Laughs with Gus' illusion doppelganger he leaves behind in class to take notes, which chooses not to pay attention.
- One of Eda's incident reports details how she summoned several abominations for a food fight, only for them to gain sentience, merge, and take over the school.
- Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: Eda is ready to argue with Principal Bump to get Luz into Hexside, but he actually thinks it's a good idea. He just wants to address Eda's record first.
- The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): Mattholomule insists he's an expert on being in detention and can help Gus and Luz survive. He's podded up seconds later.
