"You know, Steve, I always wanted to have power and command respect and fear! So, now that I kinda have all that, why does my stomach feel all... ugh?"
"Tell her what? That we have no plan? That Belos is gonna win? That the Boiling Isles are doomed? The kids deserve one nice day before they realize how dire things are."
— Eda
Original air date: 5/14/2022
Production code: 219
King faces his true identity while Eda and Luz scramble to face the Day of Unity.
Tropes:
- Accidental Truth: Eda kept the block of Palistrom wood she previously pilfered in a box labeled "Eda's longest toenails". A Freeze-Frame Bonus from "Eclipse Lake" stated that Palistrom wood is used to replicate keratin in constructing Grimwalkers, which is what toenails are made of.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: In the aftermath of their raid, the Emperor's Coven has caused quite a bit of visible damage to the Owl House's exterior and have taken everything inside. While the Coven doesn't end up occupying it, it quickly becomes clear that the House is no longer a viable refuge for the crew.
- Ambiguously Related:
- This episode furthers the hints that King is the son of the Titan that makes up the Isles, with the flashback to "Edge of the World" outright referring to him as such and King striking the same pose as the long-dead Titan while lying in a puddle, though nothing is confirmed.
- When Steve reveals his face, he greatly resembles an older version of Mattholomule with a horn. This raises the possibility that they might be family (and that he may even be Mattholomule's previously mentioned older brother) but it's never stated.note
- Astral Projection: When King is asleep at the beginning of the episode, he unconsciously projects his spirit into the In Between Realm, where he sees the Collector's prison. Luz wakes him up before he understands what he's looking at.
- Beach Episode: Defied humorously. Eda offers to take Luz to the beach before the Day of Unity happens, but Luz says that in a not-so-subtle manner that they don't have enough time for that.
- Beautiful All Along: Steve is revealed to have quite an attractive face underneath his mask.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- An overworked Coven Scout wishes that it was the day after the Day of Unity, not knowing that he—and everybody else along with him—would have been drained at that time.
- King always wanted to be feared and worshipped by others, but thanks to his Character Development, Lilith's sycophantic behavior just disturbs him.
- Steve admits that he always wanted to be an Emperor's Coven Scout, but found that it wasn't what he ultimately imagined and quit.
- Bittersweet Ending: Like the last episode, mostly on the sweet side. Eda and Luz have an emotional fight, and there's only two days until the Day of Unity but they ultimately make up and join up with Raine and company, who have a solid plan to stop Belos. Luz also starts carving her Palisman with Eda's help.
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass: Played for laughs with the key to the warehouse elevator, which is a severed, skeletal hand that the scout passes over like a bathroom key.
- The Bus Came Back: The Bards Against the Throne members Katya, Derwin, and Amber finally return after having been captured back in "Eda's Requiem".
- Call-Back:
- The Collector is shown in King's dream to be sealed in the In Between Realm.
- When Raine reveals the resistance named themselves the CATS (Covens Against the Throne), Luz pulls up her hood and says everything's come full circle.
- During the closing minutes, Eda reveals that she managed to grab the block of Palistrom wood that she gave to Luz, who finally decides to carve something out of it. She also mentions how she learned how to do so from her father.
- Calling the Old Man Out: After finally getting fed up with Lilith kissing up to him, King angrily tells her to start treating him like a normal person again, stating she's reverted to how she was back when she was under Emperor Belos' employ.
- Character Development: In-Universe, King gets what he thought that he always wanted when Lilith finds out that he's a Titan, as despite technically being his aunt she becomes completely sycophantic, and while in the first season he would have been delighted to have someone willing to commit dark deeds in his name, now he just wants her to treat him like she normally does.
- Chekhov's Gag: While looking for Francois, Eda also asks Luz to find a box marked "Eda's longest toenails", which Luz finds gross. At the end of the episode, Eda presents Luz with the box... which actually contains the log of Palistrom wood she stole to carve out Luz's Palisman.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Hooty sees all the wanted posters of them, he thinks they're pretty pictures posted to greet them.
- Continuity Nod:
- Amity's emoji message to Luz is full of hearts, just like Luz's was last episode.
- The failed raid that Lilith led back in "Agony of a Witch" gets mentioned, with one of the coven scouts saying that they still haven't recovered from Hooty's tea party.
- Eda's plan to defeat Belos involves snorse glue.
- Hooty throws up a Fun T-Shirt on Lilith's lap after arriving at the Knee, having mentioned that he wanted to get her a souvenir during the trip to Titan Trapper Island.
- Eda gets angry at Lilith after learning about the Titan Trappers trying to sacrifice King, as she had been the deciding vote in the kids taking the trip and assured Eda that they wouldn't find anything dangerous.
- Upon learning that King is a titan, Lilith freaks out over the fact that she's eaten ice cream with a god.
- King remembers Steve from his previous attendance in the party for Lilith's new job.
- Hooty's throat is shown to be lined with teeth, which was previously shown on a diagram when he was trying to help King figure out what type of demon he was.
- Hooty is once again referred to as a "bird tube".
- After the Guard Captain informs Eda that she'll be sent to the Conformatorium for petrification, she follows it up by saying "A real one this time."
- Raine says that Darius's behavior is just like back at Hexside, as it's been established that they attended at the same time.
- Eda mentions how her dad taught her the basics of how to carve palismen at the end of the episode, which would makes sense as Gwen established that the Clawthornes have been palismen carvers for generations and Dell was especially talented at it.
- A Day in the Limelight: The episode gives a lot of focus to Steve, the previously minor Coven Scout, as a light dose of implied redemption seeds into him defecting from the Emperor's Coven and joining the Rebellion as well as getting to help out King with his identity issues coming from the reveal of his nature as a Titan.
- Discouraging Concealment: Luz and Eda are raiding an Emperor's Coven warehouse to recover some objects that were stolen from the Owl House, with one of the things Eda specifically asks Luz to grab being a shoebox labeled "Eda's longest toenails". It's only at the end of the episode that we find out that what it actually contained was the log of incredibly rare palistrom wood Eda had stolen for Luz to carve a Palisman back in "Hunting Palismen".
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: When given the opportunity to carve her own palisman, Luz worries if it doesn't like her, much like a first-time parent might worry with their new child.
- Dramatic Irony:
- One Emperor's Coven member, complaining about how much work they're doing for the Day of Unity, says that at least they're working up plenty of overtime that they can spend after. Given that it's actually a Final Solution...
- The main crux of the emotional drama between Luz and Eda is that the Owl House itself doesn't have any known allies, so Eda wants to cut her losses by sending Luz and King far away to safety in advance when the Day of Unity comes. This is happening around the same time the entire school of Hexside is being shown the truth along with the secret rebel Coven heads, meaning that Eda was getting worried over nothing.
- Related to this, while the audience knows that Eda and Lilith have no solid plans, Luz doesn't, due to Eda lying about it. This is the main cause of the emotional fight they have when Luz finds out that Eda is trying to send her away.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Eda and Luz steal some Coven Scout uniforms to infiltrate the police precinct.
- Dumbass Has a Point: It's pretty telling that Hooty could tell that King was unnerved by Lilith acting like a sycophant and just wanted her to treat him normally when she couldn't, with her rejecting it when Hooty brings up the possibility.
- Enforced Method Acting: Invoked by Darius In-Universe. As it turns out, Darius and Eberwolf were Good All Along, and their capture of Raine was actually to protect them. When Raine complains that they would have liked to have known about that beforehand, Darius justifies it by saying that Raine is a horrible actor and it needed to be believable.
- Failed a Spot Check: When Lilith and Steve discover that at least three Coven Heads are working against Belos, which Lilith had no knowledge of when she was the head of the Emperor's Coven, Lilith muses that she probably wasn't actually very good at her job.
- Fighting Your Friend: Eda is forced to fight against her adopted daughter as Luz refuses to run away with Raine.
- Foreshadowing: The order was to bring Eda only to Raine. Turns out it’s so Raine can help Eda keep a low profile without the Emperor’s Coven being none the wiser—under the guise of a forced disappearance.
- For Your Own Good: The number of levels of people not telling each other things to prevent them from doing something rash, followed by said person doing something rash regardless, gets painful. Darius and Eberwolf to Raine, because Raine is a bad actor. Raine to Eda, because Eda tends to act impulsively and work out the consequences later. Eda tries to force Luz to leave, as she doesn't have a plan to defeat Belos and just wants her kids to be safe even if she has to fight them to. And Luz then tries to keep King away from her infiltration of the Blight factory for fear of him getting hurt. And predictably, every single one of them is far too determined to help to be kept out of trouble.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Hooty is eating some of the fire bees, there's another Hooty face visible inside his mouth.
- Fun with Acronyms: The resistance calls itself the Covens against the Throne aka the CATs, which includes even the former Bards Against The Throne. The annoyed Darius makes it clear that he didn't agree to this name.
- Giver of Lame Names: Raine calls the resistance "Covens Against the Throne" - CATs for short - to Darius' extreme annoyance.
- A God I Am Not: As a Titan, King will eventually grow so large that his body could form a Giant Corpse World like the Boiling Isles after death, and that and its vast power means that the inhabitants of the Isles worship it as a god. King however, thanks to his Character Development, finds himself deeply unnerved by Lilith's sycophantic behavior and just wants her to treat him normally again.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: It's implied that being in magical solitary confinement for at least a few centuries hasn't done the Collector's sanity any favors.
- Good All Along: As it turns out, Darius and Eberwolf were already rebelling against Belos and the Day of Unity by the events of "Eda's Requiem", and capturing the Bards Against The Throne was actually a way to protect them, and then recruit them.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Justified. The Day of Unity is such a big event that the Emperor's Coven members are running themselves ragged to prepare for it. Thus, despite the poor quality of Eda and Luz's costumes, no one really raises any alarms until their argument about Luz going with Raine gets loud enough for someone to notice. Averted when Eda and Luz are caught; they are chained and their cell is guarded by lots of guards and Abomatons.
- Hates Being Alone: Implied to be the case with the Collector. They manically laugh that soon they won't be alone anymore in King's dream, but upon noticing him and realizing he's waking up, the Collector becomes panicked and tells him not to leave them.
- Heli-Critter: During Hooty and Lilith's search for King, Hooty uses his neck as a propeller for Lilith to fly with.
- Hidden Depths: Steve proves himself to be quite insightful while consoling King. He's also the Boiling Isles equivalent of a biker and knows origami.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Eda knew no one would look inside a box marked "Eda's longest toenails" to find Palistrom wood.
- Identity Breakdown: Learning the truth about himself has left King unsure of his place in the world.
- I Gave My Word: To get Raine to cooperate, Eda promises that in exchange for sending Luz and King to a safe haven, Eda will turn herself in. And it turns out Eda actually meant it, and doesn’t resist when she’s captured. And it paid off, because she didn’t know Raine planned on getting her to safety too.
- Ignorance Is Bliss: Invoked by Eda as the reason she refuses, at least initially, to tell Luz and King that she doesn't have a plan to stop Belos. After everything the pair of them have been through recently, Eda feels they deserve at least one day of happiness and normalcy before having to break yet more bad news to them.
- Immediate Sequel: Takes place immediately after "Edge of the World", with Luz, King, and Hooty arriving back in Bonesburough at the beginning.
- Implausible Deniability: Raine shoots down Eda's claim that she's not trying to cause trouble by pointing out that she's wearing a stolen EC uniform.
- Innocently Insensitive: Lilith, in awe over King being a Titan, tries to show what she thinks is appropriate reverence towards him. She completely misses that she's making him very uncomfortable in the process.
- Internal Reveal:
- Luz and Eda are finally introduced to the members of the resistance against Belos.
- Eda and Lilith also learn about King being a titan, which the viewers learned two episodes prior.
- Irony: In the first season, King would have been over the moon if he had someone to worship him and carry out deeds in his name. After everything that's happened in the second season, he finds Lilith's adoration extremely off-putting. The irony isn't lost on him, either.
- Jerkass Realization: Eda finds out just how much her lying had hurt Luz after Raine tells her that they had been lying to the former in an attempt to keep them safe—exactly what she had tried to do with the kids.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- When Eda asks if Luz wouldn't rather spend the day at the beach instead of breaking into the evidence warehouse to get Francois back for King, Luz says that she she might if they had time for "20 more adventures". This is likely a reference to how the crew hoped a third season would be a full twenty episodes (or at least 10), but instead was greenlit as three specials instead, though
Word of God confirmed nothing was written for Season 3 when the shortening happened. - When Raine reveals the name of La Résistance is CATs (Covens Against the Throne), Luz pulls up her cat hoodie and declares that "everything has come full circle, baby!" Part of Luz's Establishing Character Moment in the Pilot was pulling up her cat hoodie, and this is one of the last episodes of the last season (since Season 3 was whittled down to three specials)...
- When Eda asks if Luz wouldn't rather spend the day at the beach instead of breaking into the evidence warehouse to get Francois back for King, Luz says that she she might if they had time for "20 more adventures". This is likely a reference to how the crew hoped a third season would be a full twenty episodes (or at least 10), but instead was greenlit as three specials instead, though
- Leeroy Jenkins: The reason Raine didn't let Eda in on the plan after getting captured was because Eda has a tendency to always try to make things right without thinking, and would've still done so anyways even if Eda was told not to get involved. This episode pretty much proves Raine's point, and Eda concedes that's fair.
- Luminescent Blush:
- Lilith blushes after Steve recommends that she try out therapy like he had been doing.
- Luz also blushes when Eda encourages her to carve her palisman.
- Meaningful Rename: Raine officially rebrands the Bards Against The Throne as "Covens Against the Throne", since it now includes not only the founding bards, but also witches from other covens.
- Missed Him by That Much: When Lilith and Hooty go looking for King, he and Steve keep moving on right before they catch up to them.
- Mook–Face Turn: Although already shown beforehand to be a good Coven Scout, Steve officially leaves the Emperor's Coven and joins the Rebellion in this episode, after bonding with King.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Everyone's wanted poster has some unique title of them, with "Human" (Luz), "Demon Tube" (Hooty), and "Owl Lady" (Eda)... and Lilith's is just "Lilith".
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Luz's emotional outburst alerts one of the guards to her and Eda's plans to defeat Belos. On the bright side, this ended up resulting in them being brought to the rebels, because all the mooks were ordered to deliver Eda only to Raine, and separate arrangements were made for Luz.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Eda lampshades that Belos isn't really pulling his punches with Luz and the rest of the Owl House crew anymore now that he knows that they've been in his mind.
- No-Sell: Being a Titan himself, King is revealed to be immune to the effects of the Boiling Sea when he goes wading at the beach with Steve.
- Now What?: King always wanted to be feared and worshipped by everyone, but now that he has Lilith obsessing over him, he realizes he just wants to be treated like everyone else. Steve, likewise, always wanted to be a member of the Emperor's Coven, but realized that it wasn't what he hoped it was like.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Eda has one when she sees Raine in the crystal ball talking to the guards.
- Raine has one of their own when Eda tells them she knows about the Draining Spell, which Eda immediately pick up on.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The normally jovial and nonchalant Collector becomes genuinely distraught just as King is about to wake up and leave them.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Luz and Eda's Scout costumes are pretty awful, but since everyone in the Emperor's Coven is busy preparing for the Day of Unity, no one really notices - except for Terra, who just notes that Eda's outfit is an outdated one, but she did think Eda was the Guard Captain Raine spoke with a few minutes ago.
- Please, I Will Do Anything!: When it seems like Eda is about to sent away to be petrified, Luz tearfully pleads that she'll do whatever she says.
- Poke the Poodle: According to Lilith, Eda's only plan for dealing with Belos was to replace his shampoo with "snorse glue".
- Professional Butt-Kisser: King calls out Lilith on all the praise and offers of loyalty she's been giving him, comparing it to her former loyalty to Belos. He notes that it's a "pattern" with her.
- Punny Name: King calls his snow sculpture duplicate of Francois "Fran-snow-ois".
- The Reveal:
- The Collector is sealed in the In Between Realm seen in "Yesterday's Lie", in some kind of spherical prison.
- Eda and Lilith escaped from the Owl House before they could be arrested in "Edge of the World" and went to hide at the Knee.
- The two elderly demons who praised Boscha in "Wing It Like Witches" are apparently in a relationship.
- Steve's face is seen for the first time, and he's a witch with a single horn. He's also quit the Emperor's Coven.
- Darius and Eberwolf were Good All Along, only capturing Raine and their allies in order to protect them (though Raine didn't know this at the time because Darius wanted to make sure that their reactions were believable).
- Rule of Symbolism: From an out-of-universe perspective, Steve taking off his mask to finally quit the Emperor's Coven represents him making the transition from just another Faceless Goon to a full-blown character in his own right.
- Sad Battle Music: Luz and Eda's "fight" is accompanied by a piece called "I'm Not Going Anywhere", which perfectly encapsulates the feelings of a surrogate mother and daughter coming to ideological blows.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Collector turns out to be trapped in a spherical prison in the In Between Realm from "Yesterday's Lie".
- Secret Government Warehouse: The Emperor's Coven has a large warehouse where they keep all the stuff they've confiscated from wild witches. Luz and Eda follow the scouts to it so they can steal back all the things stolen from the Owl House.
- Self-Serving Memory: When flashing back to the events of "Edge of the World", Luz doesn't just tell King he's a Titan but also that he's "the son of the Boiling Isles", despite no such line being said in the episode itself.
- The fugitive Titan is described as "The Lost Son of the Boiling Isles" on the poster Bill proudly shows off. This could be how Luz knows about it.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a reference to O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
- The orb the Collector is sealed in bears a resemblance to a Beast Ball, which is ironic, given their name and implied profession by the Titan Trappers.
- Steve and King's bike trip through the isles as they cope with their existential issues is an obvious homage to Easy Rider.
- Steve's bike looks like Ghost Rider's.
- Skewed Priorities: Lilith focuses more on praising King than on the upcoming Day of Unity.
- Sleep Cute: During the final scene, Lilith is shown curled up against Hooty's Porta-Hooty pack with the two fast asleep.
- Squee: Luz, having already learned about Raine Whispers and become a Shipper on Deck for them and Eda, is thrilled to meet Raine in person at the end of the episode, gushing about everything she's heard of their adventures with Eda.
- Stealth Pun:
- The key for the precinct's warehouse Eda asks for is the hand of a skeleton: a literal Skeleton Key!
- The B-plot for the episode focuses on Steve & King.
- Stop Worshipping Me: Once Lilith learns that King is a Titan, just like when she thought that he was the King of Demons, she starts sucking up to him like a fervent cultist. He's rather disturbed by it all, and tells her off near the climax.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: Luz and Eda have been captured and separated by the Emperor's Coven with the Owl Lady being sentenced to another petrification sentence. To everyone's delight, they were actually sent to Raine and Darius' secret base where they reveal not only a good number of allies but also a concrete plan on how to stop the Day of Unity. Luz and Eda are in better spirits over their new chances at stopping Belos and the episode ends with them carving Luz's palisman.
- Synchronous Episodes: With the way everything's going, this episode is taking place at the same time as the previous one.
- Take That!: When Eda suggests they spend the day at the beach, Luz snaps that would be fine if they had time for 20 more adventures — an unsubtle jab at Disney cutting the third season short.
- Tempting Fate:
- Lilith says that at least Luz and King are far away from their hideout on the Knee. Cue them getting caught in the booby trap net the sisters had set up.
- Later, once they get filled in on the fact that the people who sent King the letter were Titan Trappers, Lilith says that at least there are no Titans around. Cue Luz revealing that King is a Titan.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted. Steve has been going to a therapist to work out the psychological issues stemming from his time as an Emperor Coven scout, and recommends Lilith go to therapy as well when they meet up again.
- Third-Person Person: Averted. Unlike his previous appearances, Steve says "I/me" instead of "Steve".
- Trail of Bread Crumbs: Luz, Hooty, and King find Eda and Lilith by following a trail of Hex Mix Eda unwittingly left behind her.
- Trash the Set: The Owl House is shown to have been ransacked by the Emperor's Coven after the cliffhanger at the end of "Edge of the World", though thankfully, not destroyed outright. Eda and Lilith took all the weapons, but everything else was confiscated, though later recovered and transferred to the resistance base at Latissa.
- Tsurime Eyes: Believing Eda is going to be petrified just after they fought, and becoming angry and desperate to save her mother figure, Luz's eyes are briefly drawn pointed before reverting back to normal when she learns everyone is safe.
- The Un-Reveal:
- The rogue Coven heads supposedly have a plan to stop the Day of Unity, but we never find out what it is in this episode.
- Likewise, Eda and Luz end the episode about to carve the latter's Palisman, but we don't learn yet what animal they're going to go for.
- "Wanted!" Poster: Luz, Hooty and King arrive at Bonesborough only to find wanted posters of them, Eda, and Lilith all over the place. Eda's wanted poster has even been updated to show her in her Harpy form.
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: Discussed. King confides to Steve that being worshipped (by Lilith) isn't nearly as fun as he hoped, despite all these years wishing and fantasizing about being a Demon King. In turn, Steve says he felt the same about being in the Emperor's Coven. He thought it was what he wanted, but as he puts it, "wants can change". And that wasn't a bad thing, as it lead him to find commonality with King about not being scary in the eyes of innocent witches.
- Wham Episode: The Owl House has been emptied out, Eda and Lilith learn King's a Titan, Darius and Eberwolf turn out to have been helping Raine and the Bards (now the Covens) Against the Throne, Steve officially leaves the Emperor's Coven and allies with the CAT's and the Owl House Crew, and Luz begins carving her palisman with Eda's help with the Day of Unity now merely two days away.
- Wham Shot:
- Luz leaps out of her caravan only to be caught by an abomination tendril from Darius, who's joined by Eda, King, Hooty, Lilith, Steve, Eberwolf, Raine and the BAT's.
- Luz opens up the box labeled "Eda's longest toenails"... to find her log of Palistrom wood.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Humorously enough, a literal example; the fate of Luz's echo mouse, presumed to be among the items confiscated by the Emperor's Coven, was never shown nor discussed in this episode. There's also the fact that Jean-Luc isn't mentioned at all.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Eda subtly calls Lilith out twice in this episode, once for leaving a message for Luz, King, and Hooty that allowed the trio to find the two sisters instead of staying away and safe, and a second time for Lilith inadvertently sending them into the lair of the Titan Trappers when there supposedly wasn't anything of note there. That said, there was no way for Lilith to know that ahead of time, and in her own words, she left the note so that when they returned, Luz and King could 'bury their bones' in the likelihood they failed to stop the Day of Unity.
- King calls Lilith out for her sycophantic behavior, noting that there's a bit of a pattern there given how she acted with Belos.
- Luz, not realizing that Eda was lying about her and Lilith having a plan to stop the Day of Unity, calls Eda out for trying to send her and King away instead of fighting.
- Worf Had the Flu: Harpy Eda is easily overwhelmed by two Abomatons. However, she was sucker-punched from behind and was distracted from trying to talk down Luz.
"Now, let's take it slow. We've got all the time in the world."
