Recap / The Owl House S2E2 "Escaping Expulsion"

"Looks like our precious Mittens has been getting... distracted."

— Odalia

Original air date:

6/5/2021 (early screening)

6/19/2021 (official)

Production code: 202

When Amity's parents get Luz, Willow, and Gus expelled from Hexside, Luz strikes a dangerous deal with them to get back into school.

The episode was screened early on June 5th.

Full Recap

TBA...

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Tropes:

• Actor Allusion:
  • Amity giving Luz a fairy pie becomes hilariously ironic when you learn that Mae Whitman also used to voice Tinker Bell, a Disney fairy.
  • Amity's Eye Am Watching You moment alludes to another one of Mae's past roles as Katara from the episode "The Blind Bandit".
• Always a Bigger Fish: Odalia may be a bitch who thinks she can just control everyone, but even she fears the Emperor. Once the Golden Guard arrives at her doorstep and declares that she'll be working for the Emperor from now on, Odalia realizes she's way out of her league.
• Ambiguous Situation: Alador convinces Odalia to honor her word to let Luz, Gus, and Willow back into Hexside and let Amity remain friends with them, though on Pragmatic Villainy grounds. But whether he cares about Amity's happiness and just frames his argument this way to convince his ruthless wife, or doesn't care about Amity's happiness and genuinely shares his wife's twisted morals on this subject, is left up to audience interpretation. Either way, he considers the matter between Amity's friends and the Blights closed.
• An Aesop:
  • Don't be afraid to stand your ground.
  • When it comes to learning new combos, start off with the basics first before you experiment.
• Arms Fair: Odalia and Alador host private showcases of their Abomination-based "home security devices" — which mainly consists of weapons.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Alador does this every time he sees a butterfly, he also does this to Frewin's tail while Bump took no notice.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Glyph magic is confirmed to lend itself to this; with Lilith's careful examination of their properties/interactions from first principles getting better results faster with less incidental property damage than Eda's method of "Slap them together and see what happens."
• Back-to-Back Badasses: After seeing Amity stand up to her parents, Luz does this trope with her as they face the Abomaton 2.0.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Amity gives a very flat performance while being made to advertise the Abomaton 1.0 on stage at the beginning of the episode.
• Badass Boast: When Odalia orders Amity to get away from Luz, Amity furiously crushes the necklace her mother uses to give her orders and threatens to rip the Abomaton 2.0 apart piece by piece in front of her mother's investors. She's bluffing, but Odalia begrudgingly concedes.
• Big Damn Heroes: Amity, Gus, and Willow sneak into Blight Industries to rescue Luz, but Gus and Willow are nabbed by security abominations. Just as Luz is about to be killed by the Abomaton 2.0, Amity single-handedly overpowers it, threatening to destroy it in front of the investors if Odalia doesn’t let Luz and her friends go back to Hexside, finally standing up to her parents in defense of her friends.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: The Abomaton 2.0 creates a crescent-shaped arm-blade in preparation to slice Luz in two, but it's stopped by Amity before it can attack.
• Boring, but Practical: Lilith does better than Eda at using glyphs because she takes the time to study and determine how they function, letting her do more with them than Eda can because she knows how to make them work how she wants.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Eda and Lilith come into conflict over how to learn about using glyphs. Lilith wants to study them and learn how they work before doing anything else, which leads to a Boring, but Practical success on her end. Eda wants to just experiment and see what works instead of wasting her time on learning the basics, which winds up being Awesome, but Impractical because she doesn't know what she's doing and causes problems with the turnout. Both come to acknowledge that the opposing practice is valid in learning this new magic; Eda's approach results in more interesting combos, but Lilith's approach is able to make those combos coherent.
• Brick Joke: At the beginning of the episode, Emira and Edric put "Hex me" notes on the cloaks they provide to those attending the Blight Industries expo. Later on, they add these same notes to the cloaks they give Amity, Willow and Gus, though Amity notices and throws the notes back at them in annoyance.
• By Wall That Is Holey: Luz and Amity pretend to be hammered flat by the Abomaton 2.0, but the hammer is actually hollow and big enough to completely surround them.
• Call-Back: Amity's Precious Photo that sets the whole plot in motion was taken during the Photo Montage at the end of "Enchanting Grom Fright".
• Calling the Old Man Out: Amity finally stands up to her mother and declares that rather than fall into line and accept the "friends" her parents chose, she prefers Luz, Gus, and Willow's company.
• Changed My Mind, Kid: Luz has been pleading with Amity to help her reason with her parents, but Amity just couldn't. Once she finds out Luz took the deal with her parents, she decides to go in, help Luz, and stand up to her parents.
• Chekhov's Gag: When Luz first arrives at Blight Manor, she tries to shape their abomination butler's face into a cat before it melts. This later alerts Amity to her being in trouble because she knows that there's only one person who would do something that silly and have a reason to be at her house.
• Color-Coded Eyes: Odalia is the most openly cold and aloof of the Blights, and thus has Icy Blue Eyes. Her husband and children all have golden eyes, which (on her kids, at least) denotes their Hidden Hearts of Gold.
• Continuity Cavalcade: When Luz, Amity, Gus, and Willow are called into Bump's office, Odalia mentions incidents such as "the abomination situation, the destruction of detention, [and] the rampage of Grom".
• Continuity Nod:
  • In "Once Upon a Swap", Luz demonstrated the ability to create a complex light animation by chaining numerous light glyphs together, a skill that went otherwise unused throughout the season. This episode shows that she is still aware of the interaction, even if she never put it to practical use.
  • "Hooty's Moving Hassle" was the first time the use of birds as communication devices was seen.
  • Another example would be in "Young Blood, Old Souls", where Luz claps two fire glyphs to blast Lilith, or when she throws a handful of plant glyphs at once to create a giant plant to swallow Lilith, demonstrating that using multiple glyphs at once will have different effects.
  • Gus treats getting back into Hexside as a matter of life or death before being corrected by Willow, just like when Luz was thrown in the Detention Track back in "The First Day".
• Crush Blush: This time, Luz also does it in Amity's presence when the latter comes to her rescue. As is to be expected, Amity still does it around Luz.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: While knowing that the Abomaton 2.0 is outclassing her, Luz puts up a pretty good fight against it when she realizes that Odalia means to kill her for real. She doesn't give up when it seems to counter every one of her glyphs. It buys enough time for Amity to jump between them and bargain with her parents.
• Dangerous Phlebotinum Interaction: Eda carves overlapping fire and ice glyphs onto her desk, hoping to make a fire blast. All that comes out is a small explosion. She later draws all four glyphs on top of one another and activates the combined "super-glyph". The result is an ever-expanding spiked ice ball that absorbs whatever touches it.
• Deadly Euphemism: The final product Luz has to test for the Blight parents is the Abomaton 2.0, which won't rest until "its enemy is completely eliminated".
• Deal with the Devil: Luz makes a deal with Odalia to be used as an Unwitting Test Subject in the Blights' abomination-based weapons demonstrations in exchange for Odalia letting her and her friends back into Hexside. Odalia has no intention of honoring the deal, setting Luz up to be killed in the final demonstration.
• Declaration of Protection: Amity stops the Abomaton 2.0 from killing Luz via her own Abomination Magic, then shouts "Stay away from my Luz!"
• Didn't Think This Through: Odalia tries murdering one of her daughter's friends, attempts to break her deal with Luz, and is promoting what is essentially a private army. In order, this motivates Amity to finally stand up to her parents, gets her chewed out by Alador for going against the Blight family creed, and draws the attention of the Emperor for making something that could threaten his rule.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Invoked when Gus offers to conjure illusions of sexy lady guards so he, Willow, and Amity can sneak into Blight Industries. Willow dismisses it as something out of a 40s cartoon.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: It is revealed that the Blights sell weaponized Abominations to the highest bidder, not unlike an arms dealer.
• Dramatic Wind: Amity's cloak billows in the wind while making her Declaration of Protection despite the fact that the fight is taking place indoors.
• Elemental Powers: The Glyph system that Luz discovered on the Boiling Isles is speculated to consist of only four Glyphs, which as King theorizes can be combined to form all other forms of Magic via certain combinations. These elements are Light, Ice, Plant and Fire.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Odalia tries to go back on her word after agreeing to Amity's deal, only for Alador to remind her of the family motto and point out that Amity's new friends are a good influence.
• Everyone Has Standards: Edric and Emira only like pranking Luz and their sister. They agree to help Amity sneak Gus and Willow into the party on realizing that their mother is going to use Luz as target practice, because that is one line they cannot tolerate.
• Exact Words: Odalia agrees to let Luz, Gus and Willow back into Hexside if Luz agrees to participate in the product demonstration. When the Abomaton 2.0 comes up, she explains that it won't stop until it destroys the threat, so she won't have to honor her word if Luz doesn't survive.
• Eye Am Watching You: After Edric conjures "Hex Me" signs onto the backs of Amity, Willow and Gus's disguises, Amity sends them flying into his face and then irately makes an "I'm watching you" gesture.
• Failure Montage: Luz, Willow and Gus make multiple attempts to get back into Hexside, each one shown being foiled by a reluctant Bump.
• Faking the Dead: Because the Abomaton won't stop attacking unless its target is completely destroyed, Luz and Amity pretend to die in order for it to finally stop.
• Fall of the House of Cards: Eda attempts to make a Glyph Pyramid, with expected results.
• Family Portrait of Characterization: A portrait of the Blight family is shown hanging in their manor's foyer. Odalia and the twins are all smiling (though the latter two are clearly not paying attention by the fact that they're both looking to the side), Alador looks bored, and Amity looks miserable.
• Foreign Queasine: Amity offers Luz a fresh fairy pie as a welcome back gift — a pie with still-twitching fairies sticking out of the filling. Luz appreciates the gesture, but the actual meal disgusts her, as shown by her grossed-out facial expression. On top of that, Luz likely can't digest the fairies in the first place.
• Formulaic Magic: In this episode, Eda and Lilith experiment with glyphs in an attempt to better understand this lost form of Wild Magic. Lilith practices the basics Luz has already figured out, using single-glyph combinations to create more elaborate versions of those spells. Eda, ever the contrarian, instead tries forging her own path by experimenting with glyph combinations, resulting in a Dangerous Phlebotinum Interaction that nearly swallows the Owl House in an expanding ice-blob. A balance of the two methods saves the day. Lilith theorizes that glyphs represent "words" in a "language" (magic), with the use of multiple glyphs like "sentences", and Eda drawing glyphs overlapping each other was like yelling several words all at once at full volume, creating chaos.
• For the Evulz: Odalia already got her way once she had Luz, Gus, and Willow expelled, and had no need to do anything else. Not content with that, she gets Luz to agree to test her new line of Abominations in an attempt to murder her, just for crossing the Blights.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: While Principal Bump is weeping about how dull life is without Luz, Willow and Gus, you can see the Abomination Coven symbol on his arm, indicating he is a member of that coven. This is further supported by the fact that an Abomination is seen helping him arm a large crossbow just a few scenes earlier, as well as the fact that his very first appearance in "I Was A Teenage Abomination" had him trying to command the disguised Luz.
• Freeze Sneeze: King comes down with a cold and sneezes a couple of times after Eda and Lilith rescue him from being trapped inside the icy super-glyph. This is also one of the few times King's mouth is seen.
• Freudian Slip: When helping his wife get the kids expelled, Alador blurts "These three are bad influences and must be executed", momentarily freaking them out before correcting himself and saying the proper word.
• Functional Magic: When Luz admits to only being able to find the four glyphs (Light, Fire, Ice, and Plant), King theorizes that all other magical disciplines (Abominations, Bard, Healing, etc.) are just different combinations of those four primary magics implemented in certain ways.
• Go Through Me: When the Abomaton 2.0 forms a massive arm-hammer, Amity throws herself on top of Luz in an attempt to protect her before they're both crushed... or at least that's how it appears to Blight Industries' investors.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Luz says she's "calling applesauce on this business bologna!" Odalia responds by saying she has no idea what she said, but she knows exactly why Luz is angry with her and offers to talk with her.
• Grew a Spine: Thanks to Luz's bravery, Amity learns to resist Odalia's demands and call her out. Especially helped when Amity destroys her necklace as a sign she's no longer under Odalia's control. Turns out, this is exactly what Alador expects of Amity to be a coven head one day, and Odalia agrees.
• Hate Sink: The first time Amity's parents were mentioned was when they forbid Amity from having Willow as a friend and forced her to hang out with whom they deemed appropriate for their family reputation. In this episode, Odalia coerces Principal Bump to have Luz, Willow and Gus kicked out of Hexside because their influence is making Amity more "rebellious". When she gives Luz the chance to get herself and her friends back into school, Odalia reveals the only reason she was making Luz help with their Arms Fair was to get Luz killed. When Amity then blackmails Odalia into letting Luz go back to school (threatening to tear their war machine apart in front of their investors if she doesn't), Odalia agrees but was afterwards willing to go back on her end of the bargain. Alador then proceeds to call Odalia out on this behavior, but he only does so to because their word is their bond, as well as seeing that Amity seems to be getting more powerful from interacting with her friends after all. All of this serves to make the audience abominate (no pun intended) Amity's parents (Odalia especially so), and want to see them fail.
• Henpecked Husband: Downplayed. Alador doesn't look happy with his wife's gleeful expulsion of Luz, Gus and Willow; is put off by her crushing the butterfly-like demon he was following around, and doesn't look pleased using Luz as a test subject. However, he doesn't defy his wife either, mildly protesting her attempt to kill Luz and only intervening when she openly plots to go back on her promise to Luz. While he does look thrilled to see Amity stand up to her mother, he frames his support of her decision as Pragmatic Villainy to his wife, though whether because he shares her abhorrent values or just knew it would appeal to her is left a little ambiguous.
• Here We Go Again!: Gus's general attitude when he, Willow, and Amity have to rescue Luz again because of her tendency to jump the gun.
• He's Back!: After being out of the Season 1 finale due to her leg injury, Amity makes a return this episode, saving Luz from certain death, standing up to her parents and facing two Warmachine Abominations in combat, trouncing the first one and keeping pace with the upgraded second one.
• History Repeats: Although Amity promised Willow she would never let her ex-friends pick on her again, she is once again forced to turn her back on her friend(s) when Odalia enters the picture and makes good on her threat. And just like before, poor Amity is too scared to stand up to her.
• Hypocrite: Amity's mother Odalia, as part of an effort to make the audience loathe her, has this as a character flaw.
  • Odalia calls Amity out in the principal's office for not being in class right now, and yet she was the one who had called the latter down there in the first place.
  • Odalia repeatedly states that "a Blight always upholds their end of the deal"... and then tries to kill Luz to get out of their deal. At the end of the episode, she openly plots to renege on her promise to Amity. Alador puts his foot down and calls her out on this, although even that is motivated more by Pragmatic Villainy.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Odalia is the most openly cold and ruthless of the Blight family, with icy blue eyes to match. It's a trait that her husband (who is A Lighter Shade of Black) and children (who all have good hearts under their mischievous and proper demeanors) all lack.
• I Gave My Word: Alador reminds Odalia that "a Blight always upholds their end of the deal" when she thinks of going back on her end of the bargain with Luz.
• I Got Bigger: Gus is noticeably taller and has a deeper voice, something Luz is quick to pick up on. He attributes this to "witch puberty".
• I Lied: Odalia tries to go back on her word after agreeing to let Luz, Gus and Willow back into Hexside, only for Alador to call her out and force her to honor the deal.
• I'm Standing Right Here: A frustrated Eda complains that Luz is "boring as Lily" for insisting on teaching the basics first... as Lilith is literally sitting right next to Eda.
• Internal Homage: Luz and Amity's talk outside of the school is structured very similarly to the one they had back in "Wing it Like Witches". The song that's playing in the background even uses the same four-note melody.
• Ironic Echo: Odalia claims to Luz that "a Blight always upholds their end of the deal". Later, after the battle, Alador uses that exact same phrase against his wife when she tries to go back on her word.
• It Won't Turn Off: Abomaton 2.0s won't stop attacking their locked target until it is completely destroyed. In the case of people, it will stop once they are killed.
• Just Following Orders: Principal Bump doesn't want to expel Luz and her friends, but he answers to the Parent-Creature association (i.e. Amity's parents), so his hands are tied. It's heavily implied he'd lose his job if he didn't comply.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Amity's parents are both ruthless, money-driven and image-conscious (though in different ways), but her father Alador at least seems unhappy with his wife's gleeful expulsion of Luz, Gus and Willow, doesn't seem thrilled to use Luz as a test subject, and is openly happy to see that Amity Grew a Spine. He also convinces his wife to honor her word and let Amity remain friends with the Power Trio, and with all of them in Hexside.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: At first glance, Odalia and Alador nearly ruined the lives of three innocent children and almost killed Luz on purpose, but are left with complete financial success in front of both their investors and the Emperor. However, their incredibly talented daughter, whom they counted on to further the family's reputation, is fed up with them and makes it clear she won’t be controlled anymore. Odalia’s plan to get rid of Luz only serves to deepen the bond between her and Amity. And that financial success comes with being forced to work for Emperor Belos, and only Emperor Belos. The look on Odalia and Alador's faces the moment the Golden Guard appears speaks volumes of how bad this is for them.
• "Kick Me" Prank: Edric and Emira put a "hex me" sign on one of the guests for the Blight abomination demonstration, then to Amity and her friends when they sneak in. Amity makes all three rocket into Edric's face in retaliation.
• Kick the Dog: Odalia gets Luz, Gus, and Willow kicked out of Hexside just to prove a point to Amity. She then proceeds to kick an entire Animal Shelter when she tries to get Luz killed during her presentation of Blight Industry Weaponry, for the sole purpose of keeping Amity under control.
• Kicked Upstairs: The Emperor's Coven personally buys all the Abomatons from Blight Industries and offers to fund their future research. However, it's to make sure the Blights and their customers don't have a private army of their own, and it's all part of Emperor Belos' initiative to double down on control after the failed Petrification on Eda.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: When the Golden Guard shows up to buy the entire product line, Odalia knows she's in over her head and doesn't resist when she's told that the Emperor doesn't like witches with private armies. Odalia doesn’t want to find out what happens if she tries his patience.
• Language of Magic: Eda, Lilith and King compare the glyphs Luz uses, and is teaching them about, to words in a language, commanding the Background Magic Field to achieve an effect. Eda stacking the various glyphs on top of each other was like shouting several words at once, causing a Magic Misfire, but arranging them in an array forms a stable "sentence" that can theoretically cast any spell depending on the glyphs used. King even theorizes that the reason that Luz hasn't found any glyphs besides the Light, Fire, Ice and Plant ones is because all other spells are just various combinations of the four.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: After at first being too scared of her parents to defy them, Amity not only faces off against their war machine all on her own and wins, but threatens her own parents to let Luz, Gus and Willow back to Hexside or she will destroy said machine completely. This is right after she breaks the necklace that allowed her mother to throw her verbal abuse at Amity whenever she wanted. This all comes from the same girl highly prone to get a Crush Blush at nearly anything concerning Luz.
• Logical Weakness: While Abomatons are shown to be quite durable, Amity can rip them apart because they are just a more advanced version of the same magic she studies.
• Luminescent Blush:
  • Amity has one while welcoming Luz back to Hexside and giving her a fairy pie.
  • Luz gets one after Amity saves her from the Abomaton 2.0 and asks her if she's okay.
  • They both get this again, with Amity's entire face turning red, when they pull off a Back-to-Back Badasses moment, complete with quickly looking away from each other after their eyes meet.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Eda and Lilith's sub-plot is exploring the glyphs and how to combine them for stronger, more diverse magic, while also coming to an understanding of how exactly the glyphs produce magic.
  • Eda also mentions that a witch's bile sac has different "spell phlegms" sloshing in them to cast different magic.
• Magic Misfire: Eda tries to combine glyphs by stacking them on top of each other, but because of the way glyphs work, any glyph combo created this way is essentially gibberish. Using such garbled glyphs creates small explosions at best and an eternally expanding ball of ice at worst.
• Magitek: Alador combines technology and abomination magic to create abomination-enhanced weaponry and autonomous abomination soldiers. The latter are advanced abominations that requires a certain level of detail that cannot be accomplished by abomination magic alone.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Luz's friends have this reaction when they realize that Odalia means to murder Luz as part of the demonstration. Amity says she's on it and goes to save Luz.
• Man of Kryptonite: Amity's skill in Abomination magic allows her to easily overwhelm both Abomatons by manipulating their body mass.
• Manly Tears: Principal Bump — who is usually composed — can be twice seen crying while his back is turned after foiling Luz, Willow, and Gus' attempts to sneak back on the campus, and the second time grumbles to himself that Hexside is boring without them around to liven it up.
• Mechanical Abomination: A literal example with the Abomatons, which are Abominations with mechanical parts added on.
• Mood Whiplash: During a crucial scene in which Amity defends Luz, there is a moment where it cuts back to Eda and King (poorly) attempting to keep Eda's ever-growing "super-glyph" at bay inside the Owl House.
• Morality Pet: Only after King is swallowed up by the ice mass that Eda accidentally created does Eda choose to call Lilith for help.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Odalia Blight is revealed to be far more charismatic, aggressive, and manipulative than her husband Alador.
• Mundane Solution: When discussing how to get into the demonstration, Amity, Gus and Willow suggest various reckless ideas like rushing in or digging underground. Edric and Emira toss them cloaks used by the guests so that the trio can just walk in.
• Never Say "Die": Zigzagged. While Luz does say "I'm dead" when the Abomaton 2.0 grabs her, Odalia makes a point of saying the target of the Abomaton 2.0 won't stop until its target is completely "eliminated".
• Next Tier Power-Up: Eda and Lilith discover the ability to chain different glyphs together, creating other forms of magic by combining the basic elements.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Zig Zagged. The plot unfolds due to Amity's negligence in not safeguarding her Precious Photo and keeping it concealed from Odalia. Although Luz is put in danger by Odalia's scheme to get rid of her for good, Amity ultimately comes to her rescue. During this time, Amity also expresses her feelings for Luz, which helps Luz realize that Amity has feelings for her. Luz learns how to resist Odalia's demands and calls her out for her manipulative behavior. Amity destroys her necklace as a sign that she is no longer under Odalia's control and threatens her own parents to make them allow Luz, Gus, and Willow to return to Hexside. She even goes so as far as to threaten to destroy the war machine in front of investors if her demands are not met.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Odalia's scheme to basically murder Luz for the crime of being a human, low on the social tier and friends with her daughter backfires splendidly. Amity stands up to Odalia and shouts that she doesn't want to be her parents' "little puppet" anymore. Alador then steps in when Odalia tries to go back on her word, saying that Amity fulfilled her end of the bargain, and it seems that the new friend circle makes Amity a stronger witch.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: At first Amity was too scared of her parents to step in when they were pressuring Principal Bump in order to kick Luz, Gus, and Willow out of Hexside, something which brought her visible shame. After realizing what Odalia intends to do to Luz, Amity overcomes her fear, steps in between Luz and the Abomaton 2.0, wordlessly crushes the necklace through which Odalia kept her under control and threatens them into letting her friends back into school.
• Nothing Personal: Odalia tells Luz the expulsion was not a personal attack on her or her friends, but an attempt to teach Amity a lesson, and is willing to talk about the situation when Luz calls her out on it.
• Now, Let Me Carry You: Luz has saved Amity multiple times, usually getting in over her head during a rescue attempt. Amity declares it's her turn to return the favor.
• Obnoxious Entitled Housewife: When Amity starts acting contrary to her mother's wishes, Odalia uses her wealth and influence to bully Principal Bump into expelling Luz, Willow, and Gus from school with the flimsy excuse that they are being a bad influence on their daughter.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Luz when the Blights' Abomaton locks on to her as its threat.
  • Odalia when Amity destroys her necklace, a sign she's not going to control her anymore.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse:
  • Odalia essentially blackmails Luz into serving as target practice, since it's the only way she and her friends are getting back into Hexside.
  • The Golden Guard informs the Blights that their Abomaton stock will be purchased exclusively by Emperor Belos and he will fund further improvements to the technology. He then points out that the Emperor doesn't look kindly on civilians building their own private army, just in case the Blights thought they had a say in the matter.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Willow stands up to a powerful adult and tells her off without activating her plant magic, that's when you know she has gotten serious. She tells Odalia that Luz is not accepting their deal, siding with Gus on this, and they'll find another way to learn magic. Normally Willow is too nice or polite to be outright defiant. It's implied that she and Gus knew that Odalia would do more than torture Luz onstage to earn a profit.
• Opposites Attract: Hard to believe the shabby and gruff Alador jives so well with the pristine and charismatic Odalia. Unfortunately for everyone they come across.
• Orphaned Etymology: Willow comparing Gus' plan to something from "a cartoon from the forties" doesn't make much sense regarding the setting, given that we never see any sign of cartoons existing on the Isles. One likely scenario is that they learned it from Luz, who might have shown them old cartoons on her phone, but there's no confirmation of that for now.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Odalia initially refuses to honor the deal she made with Amity to get Amity's friends back into Hexside, but Alador shames her into doing so by pointing out that she's betraying her own standards and that their influence appears to be good for Amity's potential future as a coven leader.
  • Edric and Emira solidify their status as at worst well-meaning siblings who bully their sister sometimes, when they help Amity, Gus and Willow to sneak into the event where Luz is being used as an Abomination punching bag. Then again, they may have just wanted some excuse to mess with their parents, as they've been pranking their investors.
  • Lilith, continuing on from the previous episode, spends more time with Hooty, treating him in a kindly fashion and making sure he was included in what was going on. They end up spending most of the episode together, reaffirming her softer attitude towards Hooty.
• Poor Communication Kills: Amity tells Luz not to make any deals with her mother, and says she'll try to think of something to reason with Odalia. It's because she knew that Odalia would do worse than smash around Luz. Luz assumes that Amity is scared of her mother, and decides to be brave for her. Luz finds out the hard way what Odalia is capable of.
• The Power of Love: While "demonstrating" the power of the Abomaton 1.0, Amity accidentally drops the Grom photo of her, Luz, Willow, and Gus together. When the Abomaton is about to step on it, Amity effortlessly rips it apart to save the photo, enraging her mother. Towards the end of the episode, Amity is able to stalemate the Abomaton 2.0 through a mixture of adrenaline and raw determination when she's defending Luz from it. Alador even points out that Luz's influence seems to have made her stronger.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Alador forces Odalia to hold up her end of the bargain with Luz. This is less because he cares about Luz, and more that it will keep the Blights' good name intact and potential heat off of them. It also appears that this friend circle is making Amity more powerful, so Alador is okay with it, but only for that reason. That said, continuing to make Luz, Willow, and Gus suffer is more trouble than it's worth.
• Precious Photo: Amity is shown at the beginning of the episode to be carrying a photo of her, Luz, Willow, and Gus at Grom. When the Abomaton 1.0 nearly steps on it, she immediately stops pretending to lose against it and tears it apart. Odalia then sees the photo when Amity is distracted gazing at it, kicking off the main plot.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: Downplayed. Principal Bump is against the idea of expelling Luz, Willow and Gus, but he has to constantly lick Odalia and Alador's boots when they get involved.
• Properly Paranoid: It's revealed that Amity's fear that her parents could sabotage her friends' witch careers is valid. Odalia shows that she would have followed through on her threat of keeping Willow blacklisted from Hexside. Of course, Odalia decides to target Luz instead after getting Willow and Gus expelled. Leaving the latter two alone is more Cruel Mercy.
• Putting the "Pal" in Principal: While he has no power in stopping Odalia from having Luz, Willow and Gus expelled, Principal Bump is genuinely upset at being forced to do so, even weeping about how much he misses them as he is forced to keep them out of the building.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Alador comes across as much more reasonable than his wife if a little flighty. He points out that Luz has done her job with the Abomaton 2.0 before Odalia explains that she intends for it to kill Luz, and actually stops her from going back on her deal with Luz and Amity. He also recognizes that Amity is actually doing better with Luz, Gus, and Willow as friends.
  • One of Willow's fathers comes into her room to check on her when she's about to sneak out to save Luz after being grounded, but rather than stop her he lets her leave.
  • Principal Bump maintains his previous standard as this, objecting to the expulsion of Luz and her friends from the start. He makes it clear that he is just doing his job enforcing the expulsion, and would much rather have them back in his school, despite the antics they've gotten up to in the past.
• Rescue Romance: Luz is left blushing and stuttering when Amity saves her from the Abomaton, though Played With in that it could be less because of the rescue itself and more because Amity unwittingly revealed her feelings by adding the word "my" before Luz's name.
• The Reveal:
  • The Blights, namely Alador & Odalia, make their fortune running "Blight Industries" (A subsidiary of the Abomination Coven) which is a manufacturer of specialized Abominations for home security, but mainly producing weapons.
  • Lilith and Eda, through research, discover that it's possible to combine glyphs to create different spells. King suggests the four known glyphs are the only ones found in nature, forming the basis of all other spells through specific combinations.
  • The jeweled necklace that Amity wore up to now is revealed to be a telepathic device used by Odalia to send mental messages to her to ensure she listens to her orders.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After Amity came in to save Luz, Odalia tries to order Amity to stay away from Luz, but Amity breaks her amulet and tells her that Luz, Willow, and Gus are good allies.
• Sequel Hook: At the end of the episode, the Golden Guard informs the Blights that the Emperor will acquire their entire line of Abomatons and finance their improvement.
• Ship Tease: A lot this episode between Luz and Amity:
  • When Luz comes back to school, Amity welcomes her back with a "fresh" fairy pie (as in a pie with still-living fairies baked into it).
  • When asking for her help with the Blights, Luz picks up some papers Amity dropped and hands them to her while on one knee. Also how the scene is basically Luz asking Amity to be introduced to the latter's parents.
  • Amity knows Luz well enough that she immediately realizes the human was at her home based on her mom's note and the way their Abomination-butler's face was changed to resemble a cat.
  • When Luz is about to be sliced in half by the Abomaton 2.0, Amity halts it in its tracks and dramatically reveals herself while all but publicly declaring her love for Luz, who finally realizes Amity has feelings for her.
  • During their Back-to-Back Badasses moment, they both blush.
• Shipper with an Agenda: Contrary to all expectations, Alador appears to become something of a Lumity shipper by the end of the episode, going from looking anxious to sporting a fascinated expression while watching Luz and Amity fight the Abomaton 2.0 while sporting Crush Blushes. When mollifying his furious wife, he endorses Amity being allowed to hang out with Luz, Willow, and Gus, if only because The Power of Friendship and The Power of Love seem to be making Amity much stronger than she was before, and it would benefit the Blight family to realize Amity's potential to possibly become a Coven leader.
• Shout-Out:
  • Hop Pop appears on the cover of Willow's book about "The Life Cycle of the Common Swamp Toad".
  • King protests that no one said power comes with responsibility, not knowing someone did say that.
  • The Abomaton 2.0 bears a passing resemblance to Thanos.
  • The Abomination teapot and teacup resemble Mrs. Potts and Chip.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Just as Odalia was going to reprimand Amity for disobeying her and protecting Luz from the Abomaton 2.0, Amity wordlessly crushes the necklace Odalia was using to talk with her, without even looking.
• Slave Collar: Amity's amulet is revealed to function as a symbolic one: Odalia gives her orders telepathically with it via Oracle Magic. Amity tears it off and crushes it in the climax, making it clear to her parents that they won't be controlling her anymore. While Odalia is furious, Alador looks impressed.
• Slave to PR:
  • Though he is unhappy with having to do it, Bump is left with no choice but to comply with Odalia's demands as a representative of the Parent-Creature Association to expel Luz, Willow, and Gus.
  • Part of how Alador was able to convince Odalia to not break her promise to Luz: as Odalia herself had said repeatedly, "a Blight always upholds their end of the deal", so breaking the agreement would be potentially bad for their reputation.
• Smart Ball: King, usually only interested in himself, shows some concern with Eda not sticking to the basics. He accurately, if bluntly tells Eda that her glyph experiments aren't working because she hasn't learned the basics. He also raises the point that glyphs work differently from witch bile because they are fundamentally different. He's also the one who proposes that there may only be four glyphs and that all other magic comes from combining them, surprising insight from what is typically a flighty, delusional character.
• Smile of Approval: When Amity stands up to Odalia and manages to overpower the Abomaton 2.0 through The Power of Love, in contrast to his outraged wife Alador can be shown sporting a small smile in the background.
• Stealth Pun: While Luz is trying to get Amity to help her talk to her parents, there's a shot where she hands Amity the books that she dropped. Given that this scene is near identical to a similar exchange back in "Wing it Like Witches", you could say that she is "picking up what Amity is putting down".
• Strong Family Resemblance: Amity is revealed to be a younger, skinnier version of her mother, just with her father's brown hair and gold eyes. (Though she dyes her hair green to better resemble her controlling mother). The twins are also revealed to more strongly resemble their mother, complete with green hair, but share their dad and sister's gold eyes.
• Suddenly Voiced: Willow's fathers make their first appearance in this episode.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Due to the immense power and effectiveness displayed by the Abomaton 2.0, the Emperor's Coven steps in to prevent the Abomatons from becoming publicly available, as it would undermine the Emperor's hold over the Boiling Isles and risk enabling the construction of a private army not controlled by the Coven itself. However, as the Abomatons are powerful weapons, the Emperor also sees them as a valuable resource, and commissions Blight Industries as the equivalent of a defense/weapons contractor to provide Abomatons specifically for the Emperor's Coven and even offers to fund Blight Industries' abominations R&D to enhance their capabilities.
  • While figuring things out for yourself is amazing, when it comes to learning an entirely new skill (especially if there is an inherent danger to it), it's best to learn the basics before you start throwing stuff to the wall to see what sticks. Eda, being a Brilliant, but Lazy contrarian and Class Clown, tries cutting corners with her glyphs, only for the Wild Magic to literally blow up in her face every time, nearly killing King and almost destroying the Owl House. Lilith, being a Teacher's Pet who is more tolerant of traditional education and willing to put in the study time, manages to master basic Geometric Magic before her and applies those lessons in undoing Eda's haywire experimentation.
• Symbolism: Whenever she wants to emotionally control her daughter, Odalia uses Amity's amulet to telepathically command her, notably to send her manipulative words. At seeing Amity stop the Abomaton 2.0 from killing Luz during the climax, Odalia uses the amulet to try and scold her daughter, only for Amity to break the amulet. This strongly signifies how Amity is cutting off Odalia of control over her.
• Teacher's Pet: While Eda plays the Class Clown, Lilith plays this role when Luz teaches them about her glyphs. Since Lilith and Eda are both full-grown women and Luz is a teenager, this is Played for Laughs, and paints a picture as to what they were like when they first learned magic.
• Telepathy: Odalia and Amity both wear necklaces that allow Odalia to talk to Amity telepathically with oracle magic.
• Technician vs. Performer: When it comes to learning the Wild Magic shown by Luz's glyphs, Lilith is the Technician and Eda is the Performer. Lilith is willing to study the basics of it, while Eda prefers to undergo experimentation until she figures it out. And as it turns out, Both Sides Have a Point; while they need to know the basics, they must find the right combinations of glyphs to cast more powerful and versatile spells.
• Tempting Fate: Luz ends up on a pipe in the rafters during her fight with the Abomaton. After remarking that it can't get her up there, it lands right behind her to continue the fight. She calls herself out on it when it happens.
  Luz: Luz, You Fool!
• This Is Reality: When Gus suggests disguising themselves as beautiful lady guards to sneak into Blight Industries, Willow tells him that they're not in "a cartoon from the forties." Of course, they are in a cartoon, albeit one from the 2020s.
• Through Her Stomach: When Luz comes back to school, Amity gifts her with a homemade fairy pie—in which the ingredients are very fresh. Luz is unable to digest most witch food so she probably can't eat it, but at least the thought counts.
• Throwing the Fight:
  • During the first Abomaton demonstration, Amity doesn't fight back, so her parents can sell its combat prowess. This lasts until it nearly steps on her treasured Grom Night photo, driving Amity to rip the Abomaton apart.
  • She throws the fight against the Abomaton 2.0 (by pretending it crushed them with a hammer) in order to convince her parents to let Luz and the others back into Hexside.
• Trade Snark: When Lilith is explaining the concept of the glyph combo to Eda, she follows it up with a quick "copyright me, Lilith".
• Twice Shy: Luz and Amity both end up blushing and looking away when they smile at each other during the climax.
• Unholy Matrimony: While it's clear that Odalia wears the pants in their relationship, Alador and Odalia have a surprisingly functional marriage. He makes the weapons she sells, her social graces make up for his lack of tact, and she genuinely compliments his abomination-making skills a few times. Too bad they're both Abusive Parents and ruthless, money-driven, image-obsessed, and blue-blooded arms dealers.
• Unwitting Test Subject: Played with, as Luz quickly deduces that Odalia wants her to help demonstrate Blight Industries' latest products in exchange for lifting the expulsion order she forced on Principal Bump. What Luz didn't expect was to be used as target practice to demonstrate a series of abomination-based weapons, and for Odalia to try to kill her.
• Useless Bystander Parent: Alador is revealed not to be as actively malicious or abusive as his wife Odalia, so much as complicit in whatever she does. Aside from helping her blackmail Amity into dropping Willow as a friend as a young child, he supports her bid to expel Luz, Gus, and Willow despite lacking her enthusiasm, allows her to nearly kill Luz in the weapons demonstration, and doesn't stand up for Amity until the end of the episode. (But even then, it's more on Pragmatic Villainy grounds.)
• Villain Has a Point: While it's obvious that Odalia is only having Luz, Willow and Gus expelled for Amity's insolence, the excuse she uses are the various real instances of chaos and destruction Luz tends to cause both at Hexside and Bonesborough.
• Vocal Evolution: Gus's voice is much deeper in this episode. This is most likely because of his voice actor hitting puberty, which is lampshaded by Gus saying he went through witch puberty.
• Wham Episode: The Emperor has officially brought the Blights into his fold for their new Abomaton Army.
• Would Hurt a Child: Odalia is willing to have Luz killed to keep Amity under her control.
• You Are Grounded!: After finding out they've been expelled, Gus and Willow's fathers ground them for 1 and 3 years, respectively. All while the two are being carried away by calling birds. It is implied that the punishments were rescinded once it became clear the expulsions were due to the Blights throwing their weight around.
• You Have Failed Me: Amity's parents don't take kindly to Amity having friends they don't approve of, Odalia has Amity's coursework doubled, and expels Luz, Gus and Willow. As Amity stands up to her mother, who is attempting to publicly have Luz killed, she declares that she will involve any authorities she has connections with to ensure Luz doesn't get back into Hexside. Of course Alador reminds her she made a promise and she's obligated to keep it, as doing otherwise will bring undesirable heat on them, and there's the fact that Amity has proven she is strong enough to be a coven head one day. As a result, they decide to just call it a bad deal and walk away.
• Younger Mentor, Older Disciple: Played for Laughs when Luz is teaching Eda and Lilith how to use glyphs, since the latter two act as if the ages are reversed (complete with Lilith being a shameless Teacher's Pet and Eda a Class Clown). Without a doubt Lilith knows much more than Luz does about magic, the subject of glyphs is very new to her.

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