Recap / The Owl House S3E1 "Thanks to Them"

"We have to do whatever it takes to get back."

"Dear diary: All I ever wanted was to be good at something, to be around people who also liked that something. And when I found the Demon Realm, I thought, 'Wow, I found it. I can learn magic. I can be a witch! I-I won't have to be the dummy in the principal's office anymore!' But I messed up too much, and put everyone in danger. Mama said I have to learn from my mistakes, so... I know what I have to do now. On Halloween, after the Hayride, I'm telling everyone I'm staying in the Human Realm. Permanently."

— Luz

Original air date: 10/15/2022

Production Code: 301

After several months of trying, Luz and her friends make a daring attempt to leave Earth and return to the Demon Realm.

The full episode can currently be watched for free on the Official Disney Channel Youtube.^note The video is, unfortunately, region blocked outside of the US, UK, and Australia, precluding the use of a VPN.

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Tropes in this episode include:

A-E

• 20 Minutes into the Future: Parodically exaggerated: Cosmic Frontier is set in 2008 and was written in the 1990s, a point in time at which people didn't seriously expect to be flying Star Trek-style starships in just a decade.
• Abusive Parents:
  • While Belos had already been established as one of these, he takes it to new heights by possessing Hunter and forcing him to fight everyone before using the boy's body to mortally wound Flapjack and attempting to consume it. This is somehow made even worse by the fact that the deer he previously possessed is shown to have almost entirely decomposed from Possession Burnout, meaning that Belos likely would have inflicted the same fate on Hunter had he been allowed to continue.
  • Hunter also gives a glimpse at what his childhood looked like when Gus asks him about what it was like growing up in the Emperor's Coven. Hunter spent most of his time either training or studying, he wasn't allowed to talk to any of the other scouts, and he couldn't leave the castle for anything other than missions, which he would only be given on the weekends. Belos's more extreme abuses are horrifying, of course, but isolating Hunter like that for years has obviously done some damage to the poor kid's psyche as well.
• Accidental Truth:
  • Masha tells the story of how Caleb chased a witch into the Demon Realm and Philip pursued him, complete with both of the more commonly told outcomes, then adds their own gloss about how Caleb likely just eloped with his hot witch girlfriend and his kid brother Philip became upset over it. Barring a degree of understatement, the latter is more or less exactly what happened.
  • Likewise, before Masha's in-universe Alternative Character Interpretation that Philip just got upset that his older brother found a hot witch girlfriend, they also speculated that after Philip disappeared into another dimension to find Caleb, the two became locked in an "endless cycle of horror." Considering Philip killed his brother in a fit of jealous rage and spent centuries making countless grimwalkers trying to replace him, only to murder them too every time they too grew to care for witches, Masha wasn't far off the mark.
  • When Belos is ejected from Hunter's body and angrily accuses "Caleb" of stabbing him the back by refusing to aid him any longer in his genocidal plans, Luz tells him he did it first. The memory portraits in "Hollow Mind" imply that Philip literally stabbed Caleb to death, apparently in a Battle Amongst the Flames. Notably, Belos actually gets a little chagrined and immediately opens the portal to the Demon Realm rather than continue attacking the kids, implying the comment hit closer to home than Luz was expecting.
• Actually Pretty Funny: In Camila's dream we see that Luz's weird antics and overactive imagination actually amused her more then anything. Her attempt in the very first episode to curb some of Luz's eccentricities by sending her to summer camp was only because of outside influences, her worries about Luz's lack of friends, and her own past dealing with bullies.
• Aesop Amnesia: Played for Drama. After the fallout of "King's Tide", Luz has reset back to the same specific type of low point she was previously at during the Season 2 premiere (thinking that all the people she cares about would be better off if she'd never come into their lives, and unfairly heaping blame on herself for their current troubles), forgetting about Eda's pep-talk on the worthwhile impacts of Luz's presence which snapped Luz out of her funk the first time. A teacher actually makes the same basic point to Luz in this episode as Eda originally made, but this time, the words don't get through to Luz at all — Luz's guilt over learning she indirectly helped Belos engineer the Day of Unity which in turn forced the Collector's Isles-wide reign of chaos is naturally that much worse than her original guilt over costing Eda her magic and livelihood.
• All Part of the Show: Gus intervenes in the Witch Trial reenactment by using his illusion magic to make the accuser the true villain while rescuing the accused witch. Everyone but Jacob liked this new version.
• All of the Other Reindeer:
  • A dream by Camila shows what has long been implied: Luz didn't have any friends as a kid, as people found her weird and gross.
  • It also reveals that Camila herself used to be bullied when she was in high school.
• Ambiguously Bi:
  • When Hunter presents everyone the sweater he made, one of the patches on it is a rainbow in the bisexual flag colors.
  • Camila wears a heart-shaped rainbow pin throughout the episode, though she only starts wearing it after Luz comes out to her, so it's probably just her way of showing support for her daughter. However, there was a bi flag magnet on her fridge in "Yesterday's Lie". Viewers initially assumed it belonged to Luz, but now that it's been shown that she wasn't out to Camila back then, this means that either Camila has a rather severe case of Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure to not recognize what Luz stuck on the fridge, or it's actually hers. Alternatively, this may not be the first time that "Luz" has come out to her.
• Ambiguously Gay: It's heavily implied, but not confirmed, that Vee has a crush on her friend Masha (who is non-binary but feminine-presenting), as she blushes upon seeing and talking to them at the Historical Society, and the credits show them hanging out together.
• And I Must Scream: How being possessed by Belos feels. Hunter was fully conscious of Belos's control and what he was making him do, but was completely powerless in fighting it. Hunter was Forced to Watch himself impale Flapjack, then try to kill the rest.
• Animal Motifs: Luz has always had a snake motif but this episode really delves into it, from Camila's dream about a time Luz found a snake skin and excitedly showed it off to the other kids, to said snakeskin being framed as an Ouroboros on Camila's nightstand, to Luz wearing a rod of Asclepius shirt at school, to Luz considering a snake when pondering what her palisman will be. Symbolically, serpents are often seen as deceitful and betrayers, but are actually not any more or less evil than any other animal. Luz likewise hates herself for having unknowingly helped Belos, betraying her friends' trust, and then kept it secret afterward, deceiving them. At the end of the episode, however, her friends assure her that she has nothing to be sorry for, since she was tricked by Belos.
• Animation Bump: The animation becomes more fluid when the Hexsquad tries to attack Belos in the graveyard. Tom Barkel of Flying Bark Productions contributed to this scene.
• Armor-Piercing Response: After being exorcised out of Hunter, Belos angrily accuses Caleb of stabbing him in the back. Luz coldly retorts that Belos did the backstabbing to Caleb/Hunter first, which causes Belos to flinch and instead use the Titan's Blood to immediately head back to the Demon Realm, swearing that they'll all thank him later.
• Artistic License – History: The Wittebane brothers are said by Masha to have arrived in what would become Connecticut in 1613. However, the first Europeans to explore the area were the Dutch in 1614, with the first English settlers arriving in 1633.
• Ascended Meme:
  • A long-running meme in the fandom was that Vee could simply eat Belos when he reveals himself, getting some karmic justice for her as well. In the fight proper, she tries doing so, but Belos is quick to attack her, causing Amity to fly her out of reach. Belos then smashes the ice bridge so she can't get close enough to try again.
  • Another big meme was the tribulations of having to feed six teenagers for months, which would put strains on Camila's finances, and the teens having to work part-time jobs as a result. This ends up lampshaded by Camila, and a later scene shows her bed littered with coupons and receipts.
  • Fans have joked that the moment he enters the human world, being four centuries behind meant that Belos would get hit by a car while walking across a road. While he was reduced to a small size thanks to the Collector, he was indeed (nearly) hit by a car because he was leeching off a deer which subsequently ran onto a road.
• Back from the Dead: It's implied that Flapjack's Heroic Sacrifice revived Hunter from his Possession Burnout and furthermore altered his nature as a Grimwalker, given his eye color changes from a Grimwalker's traditional magenta to Flapjack's brown afterwards.
• Bait-and-Switch: Vee bursts through the Historical Society doors, ready to confront Jacob for the sake of finding a way for her friends to get home... only for it to be her friend Masha from camp behind the desk instead.
• Background Magic Field: Exploited by Luz to find the Titan's Blood, as the substance is so magically potent that even a small portion of it in a vial leaks enough ambient magic to power Luz's glyphs once she starts to get close enough.
• Batman Gambit: After regaining control of his body, Hunter throws the vial of Titan's Blood into the lake, knowing that Belos will try to go after it despite the fact neither could swim and thus, he would take Belos with him to the grave.
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Luz feels this way about herself, lamenting over the fact that her desire to become a witch and be seen as worthy in people's eyes caused a lot of grief for everyone around her, by helping Philip/Belos's rise of power and his plan to commit witch genocide, even though the audience knows that it wasn't her fault.
  • In "Yesterday's Lie", Camila wanted nothing more than for Luz to leave the Boiling Isles and come home, but here, she has far more information about the situation and about how much happier Luz was there, due to her finally making friends and being able to live the life she always dreamed of. When she discovers that Luz plans to stay on Earth permanently because she blames herself for everything that went wrong, she knows that it's a massive red flag, informing her of Luz's deteriorating mental health.
  • The Hexsquad demands a scary story that would make them cry during the hayride. Masha obliges and tells them the story of the Brothers Wittebane and how they disappeared from Gravesfield thanks to a witch. The Hexsquad are indeed horrified... because it's the Origin Story of Emperor Belos, the evil witch hunter that tried to destroy the Boiling Isles and permanently scarred them, especially Hunter and Luz, for life.
• Beach Episode: The scrapbook alludes to Luz and Amity having a date at the lake.
• Big Shadow, Little Creature: When investigating the old shack for Belos, Hunter sees a large shadow in the hallway before finding it to be a little spider.
• Big "NO!": Belos shouts one after Hunter throws the vial of Titan's blood into the lake.
• Big "WHAT?!": Luz lets out one in response to Camila declaring that she's going with her and the Hexsquad to the Boiling Isles.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Hexsquad have finally managed to gain access to a portal to the Boiling Isles with Camila accompanying. Unfortunately, Belos managed to put himself back together and returned first, Flapjack had to give up his life to save Hunter, and none of the heroes has a game plan to save everyone from the Collector.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Discussed. Due to it being a medical emergency, Luz outs Hunter as a Grimwalker when her mother tells Vee to call an ambulance, as she realizes his biology may be significantly different from a human's even if he's a clone, which may render him impossible for a human doctor to treat.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • The Noceda family living room is shown to have two video game consoles called the BS4 and the Swap.
  • On Luz's computer, games called Moonfarm Valley and Holler Knight can be seen. Averted with Hades, which simply has a different logo instead of depicting Cerberus.
• Blood Lust: Brought up by Camila as she and Luz drive home from school. Being unfamiliar with what their dietary habits are, and having seen Gus's rather questionable attempts to cook, she asks her daughter if her friends wouldn't be up for some blood instead of the food they've gotten for them.
• Body Horror:
  • As the possession takes effect, Belos's slime starts coming out of Hunter's cut and growing up the back of his neck. It then escalates with Hunter's arms turning to slime and elongating, with grotesque horns coming out of his head and slime across his face like Belos'. His arms don't even bend the correct way, with new joints created as needed, and after retaking control, they clearly cause Hunter pain and he's left with gigantic scars all over his body afterwards
  • The shot of the deer skeleton reveals that being possessed by Belos physically alters your anatomy from the inside; His antlers grow from the skulls of the creatures he possesses, meaning it likely happened to Hunter as well.
• Break the Cutie: The failed attempts to reopen the portal and the guilt she feels about her friends and the Boiling Isles have taken a toll on Luz's cheerful demeanor; she has gone from a Wide-Eyed Idealist Genki Girl to a guilt-ridden Nervous Wreck.
• Brick Joke:
  • In the first episode, Eda describes giraffes as former residents of the Boiling Isles that were kicked out for being weirdos. Here, the Hexsquad sees a giraffe at the zoo, and it opens its head to reveal an insect-like structure when Willow takes a picture of it, letting out an unnatural roar.
  • Hunter says he and Luz were out buying cars to excuse their absence. When they disappear again in the climax, Gus figures they went to buy more cars.
• Broken Aesop: In-Universe. Camila tries to encourage Luz by telling her that it's okay to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them. However, since Luz's self-worth and overall mental health have hit an all time low, the "lesson" she takes away from her perceived mistakes is that she ruins the lives of everyone she meets and she should just isolate herself in depression and self-loathing for everyone's sake, completely failing to understand the fact that her friends and family would never blame or hate her for anything that Belos has done, and would do anything for her, without a second thought.
• Broken Bird: The events of season two, from finding out that she gave Belos the light spell and enabled him to get the Collector, to the events of the Day of Unity, along with her and her friends getting trapped in the human realm for months with no way back to the Boiling Isles, have left Luz a shell of her former self who thinks that she has only made things worse for everyone. Coupled with Camila advising her to learn from her mistakes, Luz decides that it would be best for her to stay in the human realm. Even worse, it's implied from her speech in class that she is developing self-loathing tendencies.
• Brought Down to Normal: Luz can't use glyphs anymore in the Human realm, but the others can use their magic even outside the Demon Realm because they still have their bile sacs. This is shown during the Time-Passes Montage where Luz draws a light glyph in her sketchbook and touches it, but nothing happens, so her glyphs are now just pieces of art. The frustration causes Luz to crumple up her drawing. She later learns she can use magic as long as she's close enough to a source of Titan's Blood, allowing her to catch up to Hunter after he flees into the cemetery with the map.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Jacob Hopkins, the curator who locked Vee in a cage back in "Yesterday's Lie", returns in this episode, having lost his job at the museum.
  • Masha, the goth who debuted in the same episode above, also appears, having taken Jacob's place as curator.
• Call-Back:
  • As Camila embraces Luz and Amity after seeing the Lumity Studios film, Gus conjures illusions of himself waving bi flags and shooting rainbows, the animation of him running across the screen looking as if it was reused from "Wing It Like Witches".
    • Speaking of which, in the shot of the Noceda's entertainment center displaying Good Witch Azura 2: The Betrayening, a disc with a bite taken out of it can be seen, strongly suggesting Gus finally got his mouth on a "shiny cookie".
  • As Willow's scrapbook shows, Luz finally got to take Amity on the "mundane slice-of-life date" she promised her.
  • At the library, Amity tries to bribe the filing cabinets with candy, a nod to Luz giving the Demon Decimal system some in "Lost in Language".
  • When Hunter and Luz enter the old house on their hunt for Belos, Hunter calls out to him with an almost direct quote from his first interaction with Luz and Eda in "Separate Tides".
  • Before going back to the Boiling Isles, Amity encourages Luz by repeating the words Luz said to her when she asked her out.
  • In "Labyrinth Runners" Edric declares it "gross" when Hunter admits to sneezing in his mask. After Luz declares him part of the family, Hunter spends a moment in Inelegant Blubbering before taking off his mask and saying that it's "pretty gross now".
• Calling the Old Man Out: As Hunter fights back against Belos' possession after he injures Flapjack, he announces what he plans to do with his life without his approval before throwing the Titan Blood into the lake.
  Hunter: You know what I'd like, Belos? (grunts in pain) I'd like to leave the Emperor's Coven, and never step foot in that throne room again! I'd like to study wild magic, and learn how to carve Palismen. I'd LIKE to attend Hexside as a regular student, and play Flyer Derby with my friends! But most of all, I'd like to make sure you NEVER HURT ANYONE AGAIN!
• The Cameo: Paying close attention to the Establishing Shot of the Old Gravesfield Halloween Festival will reveal several recognizeable characters who otherwise don't appear in the episode. For example, Principal Hal can be seen to the left of the middle of the frame, talking to an unnamed blonde woman with brown roots showing.
• Camera Fiend: At some point during her stay in the human world, Willow became quite addicted to taking pictures. By the time we catch up to the group in the present, she is seen constantly taking polaroid pictures, which she then adds to a scrapbook she is making of the Hexsquad's time on Earth.
• Cat Scare: Luz and Hunter creep towards the shaking closet beneath the old shack and open it to find a possum.
• Cathartic Crying: After Luz and Hunter investigate the basement of the old house and find a stray possum, Hunter tells Luz that he just wants everyone to be safe. Luz then mentions that she wants him to be safe, too, because she considers him family. This moves Hunter to tears, and given his past of being in the Emperor's Coven and under Belos's abusive guardianship, the scene qualifies as this trope.
• Cerebus Call-Back:
  • Luz's love for the Good Witch Azura books was presented mostly as an endearing character quirk, and was often Played for Laughs. This episode throws her fixation on the series into a new light, as it's revealed her father gave her the first book right before he died, and she got really into the series when she read the book after his death. In that context, it's very likely that a lot of Luz's devotion to the series, along with just liking fantasy in general, stemmed from the connection to her late father, and the books and the fandom surrounding them providing her with a means to cope with her grief.
  • Luz's eccentric book report, whose consequences the series kicked off with, turns out to have been an attempt to try and prove to her mother that her weirdness can be academically useful in order to cheer her up after her father's funeral.
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: While everyone is updating their wardrobe, Vee invokes this by stepping into a clothes rack as Luz's doppelgänger and coming out the other side a second later with a unique appearance.
• Clone Angst: Hunter is shown a few times to be angsting over his Grimwalker nature, worrying in particular about how his original might have been a witch hunter and how the others would react to the truth.
• Closet Geek: It's revealed that Camila is a big fan of sci-fi stories, although she tried to hide it in the basement.
• Coming-Out Story: Downplayed. During the Time-Passes Montage, Luz edits a video with the title "Lumity Studios" to come out as bisexual to her mother, and introduces Amity as her girlfriend after the video is over. Camila, for her part, instantly hugs Luz and Amity at the same time, showing that she accepts them both.
• Conjunction Interruption: After Belos escapes, Luz explains to everyone how scared she was about telling the truth and prepares to tell them she's staying in the human realm, until her mother steps in to say she's going with Luz to the demon realm instead.
• Conlang: While it isn't seen or heard, Luz mentions that Good Witch Azura has a language called "witch tongue" in her video diary, that apparently has at least five different dialects.
• Continuity Nod:
  • During the basement scene, Luz's Juliet dress from all the way back in "A Lying Witch and a Warden" is seen hanging in the background. We even see the play again during Camila's dream.
  • The first picture in the Lumity Studios film is the Grom photo, and is followed by one of Luz and Amity in the latter's secret hideout.
  • When the kids are putting up pictures of their families in the abandoned house, Amity's only features her father and older siblings, as she had disowned Odalia during the events of "Clouds on the Horizon".
  • Amity muses about how she was the top student once when Vee does better than her during the group's Spanish lessons.
  • Hunter mentions how Darius can sew when talking about the sewing machine.
  • The Art room in Gravesfield High has a list that says, "no taxidermy, no spiders, no snakes, no animal parts, no fireworks", all of which reference things that Luz got in trouble for back in the first episode.
  • Luz's locker includes the newspaper clipping of Eda that Vee read in "Yesterday's Lie".
  • The Magic Circle shop has Hexes Hold'em cards for sale, as "Yesterday's Lie" established that Eda had dumped all her decks on Earth.
  • When the Hexsquad arrives at the Gravesfield Historical Society, Masha has a picture featuring the other two kids from Cabin 7 taped up behind them.
  • Jacob's "exhibit" depicts him in the armor he wore while trying to vivisect Vee. It also has a picture of the barista from the café he was banned from.
  • While not immediately apparent due to her having a different hair color, the supervisor who sighs when Jacob is subdued by security after harassing Gus is the barista from "Yesterday's Lie"^note At least she's assumed to be, as both are a Creator Cameo from Rian Borland, who expressed annoyance at his antics in that episode. Clearly she's still stuck dealing with him.
  • Luz briefly recalls the scene from "Young Blood, Old Souls", where her attempt to use a glyph in the human world failed, shown here to be a result of her being close enough for it to draw power, but not enough to activate.
  • When Hunter is retaking control of his body from Belos, two of the things he says he wants to do are attend Hexside and play Flyer Derby.
• Contrived Coincidence:
  • The bandage box Luz pulls out happens to have designs resembling Eda, King, and Hooty.
  • The Halloween masks that Luz and Hunter pick from the forest floor happen to resemble King and Hooty.
• Control Freak: Belos's possessive nature over Hunter reaches its logical conclusion as Belos literally possesses Hunter's body. The disturbing part is how Belos frames it as finally obtaining the Caleb Wittebane he wanted: total dedication to witch hunting and never leaving Philip again. His possession even causes Hunter's hair to grow similar to Caleb's hairstyle, and when Hunter finally resists Belos's control, Belos angrily ask why Caleb would stab him in the back.
• Cool Gate: In contrast to the smaller and portable Portal Door Eda had, the gate Belos opens in the Old Gravesfield graveyard with the Titan's Blood is a large stone arch that needs an external source of fuel.
• Coordinated Clothes: Luz/Amity and Gus/Hunter both have coordinated Halloween costumes, with the former two going as Azura and Hecate while the latter two go as characters from Cosmic Frontier. Two background characters are also shown dressed as steak and fries, while another two are a king and knight. Following the Time-Passes Montage, Luz and Amity also have space-themed pajamas.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef:
  • In the opening montage, Gus, Willow, Amity, and Hunter prepare a meal as thanks for Camila and Luz taking them in. The meal in question is a grotesque mess in the shape of a monstrous pig head, leaving Camila and Luz exchanging nervous smiles as Vee gesticulates at them not to eat it.
  • Gus tries to help Camila out in the kitchen, but the results are less than palatable, as to be expected from someone native to a realm with vastly different food. Besides the monstrosity in the new opening, at one point he mentions making mustard ravioli, mistaking the tears Camila got from trying to eat it for Tears of Joy.
• The Corruptor: Though Belos/Philip never interacts with Luz until the confrontation in the graveyard, his effect on her psyche lasts all Episode. Where Luz was once happy and would have loved hanging out on Earth with her friends and girlfriend, now she is sad and increasingly withdrawn, unable to recognise the positive effects she's had in everyone's lives thanks to feeling tainted by her aid to Philip and the long-term damage it had. This state of mind is not helped by the fact that Luz clearly sees the parallels between herself and Philip, and thus feels she is only capable of causing harm like he did, albeit indirectly. This even extends to her willingly deciding to cut herself off from the Boiling Isles for everybody's good, with it taking a pep-talk from her loved ones reassuring her they don't blame her for the fallout of Belos' plans - and even then, its hinted that Luz is still unconvinced that she deserves to return back to the Demon Realm at the end.
• Costume Evolution:
  • The Hexsquad undergo various changes, both subtle and overt:
    • Luz's hair is longer and has more noticeable curls, and she's wearing a beanie with two pins — an eye, and a bisexual pride flag. She is also sporting her pilot shirt underneath Eda's Hexside Varsity Jacket, capped off with green sweatpants and red & white converse sneakers.
    • Amity's hair now reaches down to her shoulders, with her purple hair dye fading to pink with brown roots at the top looking like a star. She wears either black short overalls over a dark pink shirt and mauve leggings with white dots, along with dark blue boots; or a purple blouse with a cat picture and the word "Boo" under it (referencing Ghost), a visible black undershirt, high-waisted faded jeans with torn knees, purple socks with red-violet triangles, and brown heeled boots.
    • Willow has grown out her hair as well, with her braids now hanging over her shoulders instead of laying on top of them. She wears either a yellow shirt with a leaf on it, under a long, green coat, and brown pants & shoes; or a green dress, a tannish-gray jacket with a star/clover pattern, orange tights and black flats.
    • Hunter's hair has been cut shorter to resemble Luz's Season 1 design, and his Idiot Hair is cut down to a tiny curl over his forehead. He's wearing a yellow sweatshirt with a breast pocket, faded jeans with patches on the knees or blue pants with a watermelon pattern, and red sneakers.
    • Gus is wearing a black and teal baseball shirt with a stylized tree on the front, jeans, red and white sneakers, and a green beanie with a dinosaur pin. He's also wear a navy jacket over a teal shirt, blue pants and gray boots, with at least three watches on his wrists.
    • Vee is shown changing her appearance to differentiate herself from Luz — her hair is green with blue tips while retaining her basilisk ears which blend in, and her skin color is lighter, though still similar enough to easily pass as a member of the Noceda family. She's wearing an orange jumper with a pumpkin on it, blue pants and brown boots.
  • Camila also has a significant change in appearance — her hair is curlier with a streak of gray in the front, her glasses now have gold frames, she has an open brown flannel shirt (which holds a heart-shaped pride pin) over a black shirt with a pumpkin on the center, jeans and brown boots.
  • At the end of the episode, the Hexsquad returns to the Demon Realm wearing their Halloween costumes, with Luz and Amity in particular dressed as Azura and Hecate, albeit leaving behind the wigs and capes.
• Covers Always Lie: The initial teaser poster had Luz holding a flashlight with a determined, self-confident look on her face, the gang, Camila wielding a baseball bat, and Vee all roaming around at night in their new outfits while Belos lurks behind them in a more Scooby-Doo-esque tone. The episode proper has Luz being anything but self-confident, she and the rest of the kids are wearing Halloween costumes instead when they finally encounter Belos, and Camila doesn't receive her baseball bat until near the end.
• Covered in Scars: After Belos finally leaves him, Hunter is left with massive scars all over his body, covering half of his neck, a large section of his face, the entirety of his left forearm, part of his ear and part of his right arm.
• Creator Cameo: Animated versions of various crewmembers make cameos throughout the episode;
  • Luz' English teacher is storyboard artist, director and supervising producer Stephen Sandoval (who also does his own voice).
  • The kids who invite Luz to the Halloween fest are storyboard artist Mike Austin and storyboard artist and director Bridget Underwood.
  • The shopkeep of the magic shop the kids visit is production coordinator Kenzie Holmquist.
  • The librarian is storyboard artist Hayley Wong.
  • One of the library patrons seen when Amity trips is Arsine Avedissian, a production manager.
  • The father at the zoo is line producer Jason Evaristo.
  • The shopkeep at Hallow-Eden's Costume Jewelry is production coordinator Eden Rousso.
  • The costumed kids at the festival are Arsine Avedissian again, in a green suit and talking to Eden, production associate Lindsay Diamond as a package of French fries, and color designer Seanna Duong as a steak.
  • The audience to the witch trial play Gus interrupts are storyboard artist Indal Breda as a knight, character designer, storyboard artist and writer Emmy Cicierega as a mummy, storyboard artist Ben Holm as the prince, storyboard artist King Pecora as the king, storyboard artist and season 3 end credits illustrator Daun Han as an alien.
  • The security subduing Jacob are lead color designer Shawn Responts and retakes director Vesi Stamenova, and the lady overseeing it is associate producer Rian Borland (who also was the barista from Yesterday's Lie).
  • The hay cart driver is character designer Matthieu Cousin.
• Credits Montage: The ending credits show a series of stylized illustrations showing some more of the Hexsquad's adventures in the human realm;
  • Camila, Vee, and Luz arriving with takeaway food with the witches greeting them excitedly and Amity picking takeaway menues of the ground. Hunter and Vee are panicking because an overloaded Camila is about to trip over a carelessly discarded boot.
  • Luz and Amity trying to teach Camila glyphs, Camila clearly struggling.
  • Gus and Hunter playwrestling while Willow is about to drop an elbow on them.
  • Vee and Masha hanging out, possibly on a date, one of Vee's friends from camp waving at them in the background.
  • The gang watching a movie in a theater, the witches looking frightened while Luz and Camila try to calm them. (Not that Luz looks all that unhappy at Amity's Security Cling.) A few rows behind them is Vee looking cool as a cucumber.
  • Flapjack watching over a sleeping Hunter, who fell asleep reading a Cosmic Frontier book.
  • A stylized Belos watching from the woods.
  • Luz sitting alone outside the old shack.
  • The gang at the end of the episode, looking ready to take on the world.
• Creepy Cemetery: The Titan's Blood is located in an old graveyard that has long since been abandoned and flooded. It also ends up serving as the site for the Hexsquad's fight against Belos.
• Crush Blush:
  • Hunter gets these around Willow a few times, notably when she's cutting his hair at the beginning and when she winks at him after asking to read Cosmic Frontier after he's finished it.
  • Vee blushes after seeing Masha at the Historical Society in a way that implies that she has a crush on the other teen.
• Crystal-Ball Scheduling: Right before they leave for Gravesfield Halloween festival, the Hexsquad were watching Good Witch Azura 2: The Betrayening. In that movie, Lucy demands Azura to hand over Hecate to her, who is currently laying in Azura's arms, saying it's for her own good. Azura tearfully and bitterly replies that she will never forgive Lucy for betraying them. This foreshadows the Hexsquad's battle against Belos in the graveyard, with Belos in the role of Lucy, Luz in the role of Azura, and Hunter in the role of Hecate. Belos even echoes Lucy's "It's for your own good" line with "This is for the good of your souls". Justified in that it's a DVD they were watching, rather than something that just happened to be on TV.
• Date Peepers: In a photo of Luz and Amity's date in the scrapbook, it appears that Amity wasn't aware of the person taking the pictures before they took the first one, as she seems to act with surprise in the second.
• Dark and Troubled Past: While she's had it easier than some characters, Camila was bullied in high school like Luz, constantly has had to deal with other parents criticizing her only child, and later her husband passed away. It turns out Camila had actually been pressured to send Luz to camp, having actually always loved her daughter's quirks and never wanted to change her.
• Darkest Hour: Possibly the darkest months of Luz's life. The Collector is ravaging the Boiling Isles. Luz and her friends are trapped on Earth, with no apparent way of making it back. Luz is too guilty to keep going on with her life. It doesn't help that Belos is still alive as a small piece of slime and is plotting his revenge as time begins to pass...
• Demonic Possession: Belos' slime gets into a cut on Hunter's finger, and he begins to exert influence over his creation, trying to use Hunter and Luz to find the Titan's blood. He finally fully takes over Hunter, turning his limbs into slime and growing horns while his eyes turn blue, forcing him to fight everyone. When he finally leaves, Hunter is left Covered in Scars, and only thanks to Flapjack does he not die from Possession Burnout.
• De-power: Like the last time they fought, Belos no longer has access to his immense magical abilities without the glyphs that were carved on his human form, but makes up for that with his shapeshifting and by exploiting the fact that the kids don't want to hurt Hunter.
• Despair Event Horizon: In one of her videos, Luz points out that the death of her father had left Camila extremely depressed with grieving and tried to cheer her up.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Jacob Hopkins tries to expose Gus as a "demon"... during Halloween. Gus is able to pass off his pointed ears as part of his costume, and Jacob is quickly restrained by police for harassing a pre-teen.
  • Hunter notices a moving glob of matter on the floor of the old house and experimentally touches it with his fingers, including the one that was recently opened up with a cut in a sewing accident. Needless to say, this enables the foreign matter to get into his body and infect it, leading to his gradual Demonic Possession by Belos and near-death.
• Disappears into Light: As Flapjack dies, he nuzzles Hunter's face before sitting on his chest and disintegrating into orbs of light, while the bile from his body seeps into Hunter's body and revives him.
• Dishing Out Dirt: To save Luz from landing in the water after being thrown by Belos, Amity summons mud to reform the shattered ice bridge to cushion Luz's landing.
• Disney Death: Hunter suffers Possession Burnout after Belos leaves his body and isn't moving or responding at all afterwards. Flapjack saves him and restores him to life in a Heroic Sacrifice, though he does have an Eye Color Change from pink to brown, and is left with additional scars from Belos's possession.
• Does Not Like Spam: A Freeze-Frame Bonus in Camila's room shows a list of foods that the witches do and do not like, with batata (sweet potato) being one of the latter with a "(N)" written beside it, which is ironic considering it's Luz and Amity's pet name for each other.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • Luz's depression over her role in helping Belos' plans causes her to believe she's a failure who's hurt everyone she loves. In class, her rant about a character in a story is very clearly really her expressing her anger at herself and ends with Luz stating the "hero" should never have been born. This comes off almost like self-loathing, which isn't helped later by the scene of her making a video diary, acknowledging her own mistakes and that she is simply planning to stay in the human realm. However, given the situation, this is still enough of a red flag about Luz's mental state to warn Camila that she needs to intervene immediately.
  • Hunter hastily giving himself a haircut in horror at what he sees in the mirror, coupled with him feeling relief that he doesn't have to be in a role he was forced into, is framed in a similar light to coming out as trans. The fact that he's still hiding his nature as a Grimwalker from the others has similar vibes.
• Don't Call Me "Sir": As would be expected from his backstory, Hunter acts in a very reverent manner and kneels towards Camila when thanking her for giving him and the others room and board. She's clearly disturbed by it, politely asks him to never do it again, and insists on him just calling her by name.
• Double-Meaning Title: The title works both as Luz thanking King, Eda, and Raine for saving her and the gang, and a sarcastic comment meant to put the blame on Luz (as she was partly the reason Belos met the Collector) and Hunter (as he helped Belos get the Titan's Blood) for the predicament they are all currently in. In addition, one of the gang's new allies is the non-binary Masha (who uses They/Them pronouns). Masha helps the gang by solving the rebus, so it could also be referring to them.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Both Hunter and Luz assume that Caleb was a witch hunter like Philip was, going by what scant information Belos let out about him as an 'old friend' he tried to resurrect. As the paintings in "Hollow Mind" show, Caleb may have started as a witch hunter, but eventually left that mindset behind, and even entered a romantic relationship with a witch. In fact, it's heavily implied that Philip killed him because he stopped wanting to hunt witches.
  • Camila tells the kids to relax, since they're all safe in the human realm. We know a piece of Belos followed them through the portal and get a Gilligan Cut to Belos scurrying from the house after Camila says this.
  • Masha tells the story of the Wittebane brothers as a scary ghost story that portrays Caleb as being spirited away by an evil witch, and Philip as the young hero pursuing the witch to save his brother. They end the story with two possible endings, one where the brothers reunite and live the rest of their days in peace, and another where Philip is still chasing his brother forever in a cycle of horror. Both the audience and the Hexsquad know that the truth is much worse.
  • Hunter starts having strange hallucinations of Belos and becomes paranoid that his former guardian is still around. Luz is supportive, but doesn't really believe the emperor is alive. However, the audience knows Belos has infected Hunter and is slowly starting to take over, tricking the kids into bringing him to the Titan's blood.
• Driver Faces Passenger: After picking Luz up from school, Camila asks her about the food she bought for the others until Luz has to warn her twice that there's a vehicle in front of them. She manages to slam on the brakes just in the nick of time once she notices.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Luz goes through the entire episode with her eyes half-lidded and noticeable tired lines. Compare this to the bright and happy Luz in the early episodes.
• Epic Flail: Gus tries to put out a fire that the Hexsquad creates by using a fire extinguisher this way, before Vee demonstrates the proper usage.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Luz finds Flapjack Quaking with Fear just before Belos reveals himself possessing Hunter.
• Evil Gloating: Belos is quick to "thank" Luz for all the help she gave him when they first met.
• Eye Color Change: After Belos leaves Hunter and Flapjack gives his life to heal him, Hunter wakes up and his eyes have turned brown like Flapjack's, instead of his usual magenta.
• Eyes Are Mental: While possessed, Hunter's eyes turn bright, glowing blue and slant downwards like Belos's.

F-I

• Face Framed in Shadow:
  • Camila's nightmare shows the various people in it, including the principal, having their faces covered in shadow.
  • When Belos makes his presence in Hunter's body known, his face and a large part of the upper half of his body is entirely covered in shadow, with only his glowing blue eyes visible.
• Face Plant: Happens to Amity twice. The first is when she catches her foot on the hole Flapjack has pecked into the floor of the cabin. The second is when she trips on a piece of candy at the library after being shocked by the non-living filing cabinets.
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • At the Halloween festival, no one sees the large patch of slime creeping up Hunter's neck and jaw. Later, Luz fails to notice the even larger streak of it growing over the back of his head, only realizing the possession once it's too late.
  • Camila doesn't notice the accident involving the deer Belos hijacked then left behind until Luz points it out during the conversation about the diet of the Hexsquad.
• Failed Future Forecast: In-Universe, the 1990s science fiction series Cosmic Frontier predicted space travel and futuristic clothing in 2008.
• Failure Montage: Willow, Gus, Amity, and Vee looking around Gravesfield to try to get more information about the mysterious map they found. They eventually find what they're looking for at the Gravesfield Historical Society, but before that, visit three other places first with no success:
  • At the costume shop, the shopkeeper runs them out of the store when Gus and Willow play around with the outfits and cause a scene, and she just looks at them in confusion when Willow tries to pay her with a snail coin from the Boiling Isles.
  • When they go to the library, Amity—who works in a library on the Boiling Isles with living filing cabinets that require bribery or gestures of respect to be persuaded to open—is confused when they don't respond to anything she does, and when a little girl just walks up and opens one, her shock and subsequent embarrassment causes everyone there to stare at her.
  • They reluctantly try visiting the giraffes at the zoo, but it barely acknowledges their presence. They're about to leave, but Willow takes a picture of it first, prompting it to reveal its "freaky" insect-like insides and roar at them and making all four of them scream.
• Familial Body Snatcher: Belos possesses Hunter and thanks Luz for helping him realize the Grimwalker still has use to him after Belos thought he was another lost cause, that being to help him finish his work as a witch hunter.
• Fantastically Challenging Patient: Discussed. When Hunter is left on the brink of death following his possession and drowning attempt, Camila tells Vee to call an ambulance. However, Willow isn't sure they will know how to treat the after-effects of possession, and Luz has to reveal he's a Grimwalker, whose biology might make it impossible for a human doctor to treat him.
• Fighting from the Inside: Hunter tries, but Belos' influence is so powerful he's helpless to do anything. Once Belos uses his body to impale Flapjack, Hunter fights back against his possession, managing to wrest control from him long enough to throw the Titan Blood into the lake surrounding the island.
• Fighting Your Friend: Hunter is possessed by Belos, who decides the last bit of use his creation has to him is helping to wipe out all witches and attacks the Hexsquad. Everyone tries to fight back, but none of them want to actually harm Hunter, turning what would otherwise be an easy win into a Curb-Stomp Battle in Belos' favor. It only comes to a close when the former emperor goes too far by mortally wounding Flapjack, causing Hunter to steal back control.
• Fish out of Water: The Hexsquad (save Luz) has to adjust to things in the human world after they cross over. Vee's introduction of an alarm clock causes Willow and Amity to destroy it, thinking it's a monster. Also, when their attempt to open a portal causes a fire, Gus attempts to use a fire extinguisher by wielding it like a flail before Vee uses it correctly.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Hunter wakes up, he asks if everyone else is okay, hinting that he already knows what happened to Flapjack.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In the poster, Flapjack is shown perching himself on a grave.
  • In the new opening, Flapjack can be seen pecking at the floor of the house in the woods. It's not until later that we learn that there was a hidden box underneath.
  • After retrieving a map from the hidden box, Willow and Gus briefly speculate whether it could be a map or a coded message. It turns out to be both.
  • Gus shows Hunter a closet of Cosmic Frontier memorabilia in the Noceda family basement. The next day, he's wearing an outfit from the series as a disguise.
  • Additionally, the fact that there's an entire collection of Cosmic Frontier memorabilia would hint about Camila being a Closet Geek like her daughter.
  • When Gus introduces Hunter to Cosmic Frontier, he mentions a story about Engineer O'Bailey being a clone. Later, as Hunter mentions about Captain Avery discovering the truth, Gus says he's pretty certain the Captain already figured it out. We later learn that Gus knew Hunter was a Grimwalker and here is trying to subtly inform him.
  • Gravesfield Historical Society can be gleaned right before the Hexsquad walks in by the "Under New New Management" sign in front of the building.
  • While Luz is at her mom's vet clinic, a glyph she casually draws sparks for a moment, which is later revealed to be because the proximity to the stash of Titan's Blood allowed it enough magic to nearly activate.
  • The various animal creatures that Belos possesses are shown to be left as a decayed pile of bones once he moves onto a new host. It's afterwards revealed that his presence consumes the life force of the host, leaving Hunter in a critical state even after he's ejected from him, having consumed enough energy to restore his monstrous form.
  • Paying very close attention to the Establishing Shot of the festival will reveal Jacob Hopkins watching the stage, where he will later harass Gus.
• For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Downplayed, since the Hexsquad want to enjoy Halloween for what it is, and thus they wear actual Halloween costumes. However, Hunter and Amity don't cover their pointy witch ears, with Amity and Luz in particular dressing as a pair of witches, albeit specific fictional ones, and when Jacob Hopkins pulls off Gus's headgear and accuses Gus of being a witch demon from Mars, Gus is able to pass his ears off as being part of his costume, with Jacob instead being the one everyone views as crazy.
• For Your Own Good: Belos still refuses to accept that modern-day humans would view his genocidal actions as monstrous and that witches aren't that different from humans, telling Luz that what he's doing is for "the good of [their] souls", and that they'll thank him eventually before he returns to the Isles.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • As the start of the episode is the end of the last, Camila's tablet once again shows the news story titled Girl Lost In Frog Land? Hoax??. During the following pan out, it clearly shows the article is about Anne Boonchuy.
  • When Amity tries to make Camila a cup of tea, if you look closely you can see that the tea bag is on the outside of the cup.
  • One of the boxes in the Cosmic Frontier closet has "Manny's Circuit Cosplay" written on it.
  • The Hexsquad's attempt to activate the portal with their palismen in the Time-Passes Montage is seemingly a failure, but it actually does manage to open up to the In Between Realm for a fraction of a second just before exploding.
  • Luz's desk at school has "L+A" (Luz and Amity) carved into it.
  • Regarding Willow's scrapbook photos:
    • Amity is clinging to Luz in the rafting photo.
    • Clover is shown watching Hunter and Flapjack running from a swarm of bees with a concerned expression in the gardening photo.
    • A photo of Luz, Gus and Hunter catching fireflies has the caption, "In the human realm, fireflies don't actually catch fire!"
    • Among the photos of Luz and Amity's "mundane, slice of life date" is one showing Amity attempting to perfect drawing glyphs.
  • The Establishing Shot of the festival is full of characters who appear properly later on. These include a number of background extras, the two kids Luz met at school, the stage with Inquisitor Jones whom Gus will play of later, Jacob Hopkins watching, Masha running the hayride, and principal Hal from the first episode. There are also a girl dressed as Rarity.
  • During the Wittebane story, Caleb is shown wearing the same jacket Philip later wears, implying he passed it down to Philip before he left for the Demon Realm.
  • The vial of Titan's Blood has an owl-shaped stopper.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • This episode give us a lot of insights about Luz's background. It's revealed that her love for the Good Witch Azura book series comes from her father giving her a copy of the first book as a last gift before his death. This and her weird fixations are in part a coping mechanism to deal with her grief.
  • Masha's ghost story of the Wittebane brothers inadvertently reveals the roots of Belos's anti-witch mindset. He was an orphan who greatly depended on Caleb as a parental figure, and the two tried to fit into Gravesfield's society standards by becoming witch hunters, the town's most favorite profession. When Caleb left for the Boiling Isles, enchanted by Evelyn's magical skills, Philip chased after Caleb in the hopes of saving the only family he knew, only to end up killing Caleb in a fit of jealous rage as the memory portraits in "Hollow Mind" suggest. In present day, Belos still alludes to Evelyn and Caleb in his monologues, showing that his past still affects him even to this day.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Although Belos denies it, it becomes clear to Luz and her friends that his resentment from witches come from his brother falling in love with a witch and leaving him behind after hearing his story in "Thanks to Them". When Belos accuses "Caleb" of backstabbing him, Luz tells him he's actually the one who did it first.
• Freudian Slip: Despite portraying himself as a dedicated, heroic witch hunter, Belos inadvertently keeps referring to his old past, referring to Flapjack as Evelyn, Hunter as Caleb, and being cast out of Hunter's body as Caleb stabbing him in the back. These references, plus Masha's commentary, imply that Belos's hatred of witches stems from jealousy that his brother was "taken" by Evelyn.
• Friendless Background:
  • Camila recalls Luz as a child never having any friends because people around her considered her weird, with her even having to tell off other parents for mocking her daughter. The principal even brings this up as a reason to send Luz to camp.
  • Growing up, Hunter constantly trained and studied as part of the Emperor's Coven, but was forbidden from consorting with the other scouts and only allowed to leave the castle on weekends for missions.
• Funny Background Event: In one of the photos in Luz's Coming Out video, you can see an overjoyed Hooty in the bottom right corner.
• Generation Xerox: Like Luz, Camila once had a lot of nerdy interests, just of the science fiction variety instead of fantasy like Luz. She unfortunately also had to deal with bullying and being ostracized as a teen, which was used to pressure her to send Luz to camp in the hopes that she'd be able to make friends.
• Gilligan Cut:
  • Before entering the historic society, Vee says that she can handle stepping foot inside again... before kicking the door open and jumping in.
  • Happens In-Universe with Luz' video diary. One entry has her showing off a sword she got at a convention and proudly proclaiming that she's going to try cutting her hair with it. The following entry shows Luz with a disastrously bad haircut, proclaiming, "This was a bad idea!"
• Given Name Reveal:
  • Camila's Flashback Nightmare and the marking on a box of Cosmic Frontier costumes reveal that her late husband was named Manny.
  • Vee's goth friend is revealed to be named Masha.
  • The name of the witch whom Caleb had fallen in love with is revealed to be Evelyn.
• Gory Discretion Shot:
  • At one point Hunter is using a sewing machine and accidentally impales his finger. We thankfully don't see any blood when Gus bandages it.
  • Belos impaling Flapjack with his claws is given a Shadow Discretion Shot, but the damage afterward is clearly seen.
• Grand Finale: The first of three extra-length specials that collectively serve as this for the series.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Gravesfield itself is revealed to be responsible for two major conflicts that drive both this episode and the show overall. The community of Gravesfield pressured Camila into suppressing Luz's "weird" behavior, culminating to the Reality Check Camp recommendation that drove Luz into the Boiling Isles instead, starting the whole series. Both Luz and Camila have needlessly suffered (especially after Manny's death), and Luz's return to school shows they haven't gotten better. Additionally, it's revealed that Belos himself is a product of Gravesfield's unsavory witch hunting history; a young orphan being indoctrinated at an impressionable age when he and his brother were trying to fit in with societal expectations or risk being accused as witches.
• Green-Eyed Monster: It's heavily implied that part of Philip's genocidal hatred of witches stems from feeling jealous that his brother moved on and fell in love with the witch Evelyn, rather than dedicating his life to witch-hunting with Philip.
• Guilt by Association: Thanks to Belos's consistent mistruths and obfuscation of Caleb's true nature and past history on the Boiling Isles, all Hunter and Luz know is that he was an 'old friend' of Philip's that he tried to bring back as a Grimwalker, leading them both to assume that Caleb was another witch hunter who supported Philip's genocidal hatred of witches, rather than his more kindly brother. The idea that he might have been spawned from somebody who loathed witches as much as Belos did causes Hunter considerable angst, to the point of having a panic attack when he sees how similar his unkept appearance is to both Caleb and Belos.
• Halloween Cosplay: Luz and Amity do a couple's costume by dressing as Azura and Hecate, while Gus and Hunter don Cosmic Frontier uniforms. Averted with Willow, who instead wears a generic devil costume that she purchased from a magic shop.
• Halloween Episode: The majority of the episode takes place on Halloween. The characters attend the town's Halloween party dressed up in Halloween costumes. The episode premiered just a few weeks before Halloween as well.
• Hamster-Wheel Power: One of the Hexsquad's attempts to activate the portal door involves them having their palismen run in hamster wheels to generate magic and attaching battery cables to the cabin door. Gus's palisman just sticks to the wheel, being a chameleon. The attempt very briefly works before exploding and causing a fire.
• Happy Rain: Luz introduces the others to rain in the human realm during the Time-Passes Montage, and they're shown playing around in it after they realize that it won't boil them alive.
• Have We Met?: Despite Vee's new look, Masha still notes that there's something familiar about her.
• Hearing Voices: Hunter hears Belos laughing inside his head. He thinks he's going crazy, but in fact he's possessed by Belos.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Flapjack, mortally wounded by Belos, gives what's left of his magic to heal Hunter, disintegrating into orbs of light.
• Hide Your Otherness: Amity, Gus, Willow, and Hunter all wear outfits that hide their Pointed Ears whenever they go out.
• Honor Before Reason: Belos has multiple choices since his return to Earth. He could try to reconstitute a stabilized human form, claim that he successfully wiped out the witches (since there's no guarantee the Collector hadn't already) and retire in peace with the fame and fortune he gained. He could destroy Luz and all her friends even after being rejected from Hunter's body. But he chooses none of that. Instead, he opts to return back to the Boiling Isles to ensure the witches and demons are truly dead, and spares Luz so she can "thank him later" after he finishes his mission and "saves" her soul, despite the fact that Luz will follow to stop him for good.
• Horns of Villainy: When Belos fully takes over Hunter's body, he announces his presence to Luz by causing his trademark antlers to burst straight through Hunter's skull.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: The town of Gravesfield itself turns out to be the Greater-Scope Villain of the series where the puritanical religious hysteria of the 17th-century turned Philip into the horrific witch hunter Big Bad he is today, and the culture of a 21st-century small town, while a significant improvement over Philip's time, subjected Luz to a horrific combination of Kids Are Cruel and Adults Are Useless leaving her with an absolute Friendless Background. This is compared to the Boiling Isles which, while a World of Jerkass, is also a Non-Heteronormative Society where even a fantasy obsessed afro-Latina, bisexual, human, Genki Girl and Cloudcuckoolander like Luz can find the acceptance, happiness, and love she could not get on Earth. And it should be noted that the only reason Demon Realm culture is as toxic as it is is due to Philip's influence.
• Humans Through Alien Eyes: A human would be terrified of an alarm clock that screams. A witch, on the other hand, is terrified when an alarm clock beeps, and Amity and Willow demonstrate their fear of this by smashing it to pieces with their magic out of reflex. Vee, having spent months on Earth by this point, is used to it.
• Hypocrite: After being expelled out of Hunter's body when Hunter tries to drown both of them, Belos accuses Hunter of stabbing him in the back, even going as far as calling him Caleb again. Luz calls Belos out, stating he backstabbed both Hunter and especially Caleb first.
• "I Can't Look!" Gesture: While everyone present is understandably horrified when Belos mortally wounds Flapjack, Vee is the only one who can't even bear to look at the senseless violence and buries her face in Camila's chest for comfort.
• I Choose to Stay:
  • Vee stays on Earth while the kids and Camila return to the Isles, in part to keep anyone from realizing that Camila is gone and because she's not quite ready to go back to the Boiling Isles yet.
  • Luz comes close to doing this too once the truth of her involvement in the Day of Unity is revealed by Belos, but is stopped at the last second by Camila.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Luz grabs onto Hunter while Belos is possessing him, trying to encourage him to fight back, though this fails and Belos throws her away. Him impaling Flapjack, on the other hand, allows Hunter to reassert himself.
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Hunter's excuse for where he and Luz were after they went investigating Belos. It probably sounds more airtight to someone not from the human realm.
  "Hey, we're back! And we bought some... cars!"
• I Reject Your Reality: Even after having spent months on the modern Earth, Belos still hasn't accepted that current-day humans don't look upon the profession of witch-hunting kindly anymore, or accepted that his successful genocide of witchkind (who are just innocent civilians) would get him seen as anything less than a monster — especially given his current state. Granted, he seems to have spent the majority of his time in the woods sustaining himself via animal hosts and hiding from humans until he was stronger, but he should have still been able to pick up modern perspectives regardless, especially since he was spying on the Hexsquad the whole time.
  Belos: (returning through the portal) This is for the good of your souls. You'll thank me later.
• Identical Stranger: The villain of the second Azura movie, Lucy, looks a lot like Luz, only older and with pale skin. Her outfit even shares a color scheme with Luz' Hexside uniform.
• Immediate Sequel: The cold open replays the climax of "King's Tide" and quickly picks up after the cliffhanger in that episode, detailing Luz and co's first night together in the human realm before the Time-Passes Montage kicks in.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Belos impales Flapjack with several spikes from his claws, right in front of everyone.
• Important Haircut: Hunter decides to cut his hair after being so troubled by his connection to Caleb that he accidentally lets it grow out, coming to resemble Belos' own withered hairstyle in the process, a resemblance that clearly disturbs him.
• In Spite of a Nail: Discussed. Hunter points out to Luz that even if she hadn't met Belos in the past and helped him, Belos is good at manipulating people and would have tricked someone else into helping him achieve his goals, and that someone else likely wouldn't have lived to fight back.
• Innocently Insensitive: Masha retells the story of the Wittebane brothers as a scary ghost story, and while everyone else seems entertained, Luz and Hunter are clearly not excited to be hearing it due to how much it relates to their various shames and traumas.
• Insecure Love Interest: Downplayed, but despite Willow's obvious fondness and enthusiasm for hanging out with Hunter, Hunter's own guilt and shame over being a Grimwalker of a witch hunter that worked with Belos is implied to be part of why they're still Just Friends after several months.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Luz indirectly helping Belos find the Collector is revealed to Luz's friends during the climax, and Hunter's nature as a Grimwalker is also revealed by Luz not long after Belos escapes.
  • The Hexsquad learn the true backstory of Philip and Caleb Wittebane and how it connects to Belos and Hunter, something that sharp-eyed viewers manage to pick from the memory portraits in Belos's mind in "Hollow Mind", albeit, the outcome of Caleb and Philip's meeting again in the Demon Realm is something they're left unaware of.
• Irony:
  • Camila went along with sending Luz to "Reality Check Camp" because she wanted to avoid giving her daughter the same hardships she had and help her make friends. This is ironic on two levels. First, sending her to the camp gave Luz a whole different kind of hardship, in the form of worrying her mother didn't love her quirky self. Second, it wasn't the camp that gave her friends, but rather the Boiling Isles.
  • Whilst fighting off Belos' possession, Hunter throws the vial of Titan's blood into the nearby lake, causing the desperate Belos to dive in afterwards to retrieve it and nearly leading to both of them drowning before Camila rescues Hunter. 'Water trials' were one of the widely-used methods witch hunters used to identify potential Witches, often leading to the target's death, making it an ironic fate for somebody who still clings to the profession of witch hunting.
  • In "King's Tide", Belos/Philip was extremely eager to leave the Demon Realm whilst his Final Solution plan was underway, not even bothering to stay and watch the fruit of his efforts in his visible haste to return to Earth. In this episode, Belos is the one to open the portal to the Demon Realm and return first before any of the Hexsquad, apparently determined to finish his genocide of witches before returning to Earth no matter the cost.
  • Somewhat humorously, despite being the least human-looking creature from the Boiling Isles, Vee has adapted far better to Earth than the others. Justified since she's lived in the human world for months now and went to Reality Check Camp when she first arrived. Vee is that smart.
  • Amity is the one who ends up making a scene while the group is in the Gravesfield library, even though she previously worked in one back on the Boiling Isles, and frequently got upset whenever Luz and the others created a scene that got her embarrassed or in trouble there.
• It Can Think: Even as a fist-sized glob of remaining matter, fresh off his near-death experience at the Collector's hands, Belos manages to retain his intelligence, rather than acting on instinct. Rather than escaping at an earlier point on their trek through the woods, he follows the Hexsquad until they arrive at Camila's house and stealthily flees afterwards, ensuring that he knows where they're staying when he's ready for Revenge, whilst keeping them ignorant as to his survival.
• It Was a Gift: The whole reason Luz came to love the Azura book series was because her late father gave her the book hoping to read it with her. It was through reading Azura that Luz was able to overcome her grieving period.
• It's All My Fault: Luz has come to believe she is the one responsible for Belos and the Collector, thinking that her helping Philip in the past was what led up to all the bad things happening on the Boiling Isles. The sad thing is she is of course wrong, Philip had already found the Collector and was just finding some victims to help him get the disk when she helped him, she at best just prevented him from murdering someone else to obtain it. Plus, she's just a human kid, not a foreteller, and Philip (both then and now) is extremely skilled at hiding his bigotry, so she had no way to know she was helping a delusional, genocidal maniac by accident. Hunter uses this to try and talk Luz out of this negative mindset.
• It's Probably Nothing: When Hunter uses his finger with a cut to inspect the goo, he gets distracted by a vision of a Belos-possessed rabbit spying on him, leading him to forget about it in fear of trying to find Belos' body with Luz. This led to him getting possessed.

J-O

• The Juggernaut: Once Hunter falls under the Belos' influence, he becomes almost unstoppable. Subverted, as while Belos can tank off Vee's Mana Drain, it's clearly obvious that the Hexsquad was just holding themselves back to not physically hurt Hunter, let alone risk killing him, something that Belos noticed, and gleefully took advantage of it.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Belos mortally wounds Flapjack after taunting the Hexsquad's unwillingness to hurt either Hunter or his palisman. Even worse is that since he's possessing Hunter's body, he makes Hunter do the deed. He also makes it clear that he's killing Flapjack to spite Evelyn for "spiriting away" his brother Caleb centuries ago, rather than trying to pragmatically leverage using his 'hostage' to secure the vial of Titan blood and enter the portal, underscoring just how much hatred he still holds towards her memory. This ultimately backfires as Flapjack's mortal wound causes Hunter to reassert control over his body.
  • Furthermore, his possession of Hunter is portrayed as part of his obsession with his brother 'joining him' as a witch hunter, even though the episode hints that Caleb never really believed in the practice and did it more to try and fit in with the population of Gravesfield when the orphaned brothers arrived in the town. Belos makes it clear he intends to violently kill the Hexsquad and then move on to doing the same to the rest of the Demon realm once more, all without care of Hunter's wellbeing. The aftereffects of his possession on Hunter not only basically kill him, but leave him Covered in Scars as well.
  • In a particularly petty moment of cruelty, Belos takes the time to reveal Luz's part in aiding him with finding the Collector right as the Hexsquad arrives, just because he knows Luz feels incredible guilt over her accidental aid to him.
• Kick the Morality Pet: Subverted. Hunter's increased hostility towards Flapjack over the course of the episode is actually a symptom of Belos possessing him.
• Lap Pillow: Once Camila saves Hunter from drowning, Willow places his head on her lap and keeps him there until he recovers after Flapjack's sacrifice.
• Last-Second Word Swap: Right before Luz announces to her friends she's staying in the Human Realm for good, Camila (knowing from the video diary that doing so would make Luz's already horrific mental state worse) declares she's going with the kids to the Demon Realm to help defeat Belos once and for all.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The video Luz uses to reveal her bisexuality to her mom is from "Lumity Studios", the fandom's nickname for her ship with Amity.
• Lethal Chef: Gus recalls making a "mustard ravioli" that brought tears to Camila's eyes... and not in a good way.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: While Vee is normally against using her magic-draining powers on living beings, she doesn't hesitate to attempt to drain Belos when she sees that he possessed Hunter.
• Liar Revealed: Invoked, but ultimately averted. Belos spitefully reveals to the Hexsquad that Luz helped him during his search for the Collector, hoping that it would break their (especially Luz's) will to fight against him. However, while they are surprised at first by the news, after letting Luz explain her side of the story, they don't blame her at all, as at this point they know of Belos's centuries-old track record of manipulation. Hunter even tells her that, if it hadn't been her, it would have been someone else that couldn't fight back.
• Like Brother and Sister: After searching for Belos together and coming up empty-handed, Hunter explains he just wants everyone to be safe, which Luz agrees with and adds that she wants that for him too, telling the Grimwalker he's family. This causes Hunter to start sobbing into his mask.
• Like Parent, Like Child:
  • It's heavily implied that Camila understands Luz's problems in fitting in with normal people because she had gone through the same thing, but she had to adapt to normalcy.
  • Luz is also implied to take after her father. For example, during her Romeo and Juliet auditions, Camila chuckles that Luz using real sausage links for Juliet's entrails was something her father taught her. That, coupled with her father giving her the Azura book just before he passed away since he knew she'd love it, implies they were more alike than not.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Since Luz and Camila are so busy with school and looking after the Hexsquad respectively, when Amity finds a possible clue to finding another portal as well as source of Titan's Blood, she decides they will solve it themselves and surprise Luz with it on Halloween night.
• Lovecraft Country: Gravesfield is a small town in Connecticut with gothic architecture and a Dark and Troubled Past involving extensive witch hunts decades before the more famous New England witch hunts took place. While the town itself is sunny and friendly enough, it is surrounded by dark woods that hide an ancient, flooded graveyard. The graveyard was once the site of a crossing between this world and another, and it still guards the blood of an otherworldly being so powerful that a mere vial of its blood is potent enough to empower magic runes and open rifts between worlds even after being buried for at least four hundred years. Ever since the Hexsquad had to flee the other world, the town has been haunted by a terrible Blob Monster that Was Once a Man, which slithers into the bodies of man and beast alike, consuming them from the inside while puppeteering their bodies around in a gruesome display.
• Loving a Shadow: Masha's story makes it clear that Philip's love and admiration for Caleb was for the persona he put on of being a dedicated witch hunter instead of merely doing it so he and Philip could survive in this new town. When Caleb met Evelyn and went with her to the Isles, and Philip found out what his brother was really like, he ended up murdering him and trying to use the Grimwalkers to recreate his brother and he thinks that he's supposed to be like.
• Luminescent Blush:
  • Hunter has one when thanking Camila for giving them shelter and has another, more prominent, one when Willow is giving him his Important Haircut. He also has one later after Willow tells him she likes his costume.
  • Vee has one when Masha offers to give her a tour.
• Mama Bear: Not that Camila wasn't portrayed this way before, but she steps up her game here. Not only does she take in the Hexsquad, but she also comforts Luz about what happened in the Demon Realm. And when Luz says that she's "made a decision" about going back, Camila interrupts her to say that she's going with the Hexsquad to the Boiling Isles to help stop Belos.
• Manipulative Bastard: Luz spends the episode blaming herself for helping Philip meet The Collector and teaching him the light spell so he could become Belos in the present. However, when her secret is revealed, no one blames Luz and Hunter calls out the fact that the witch hunter manipulated her and all he has ever done is use people. Furthermore, even if Luz hadn't helped him, it would have been only a matter of time before Philip found someone who would.
  "You were tricked. That's what Belos does, he tricks people. If it weren't you, it would have been someone else and then there'd be no one left to fight back."
  • Furthermore, during their brief encounter whilst possessing Hunter, Belos specifically preys upon Luz's self-belief that her aid to him was integral to his plans, constantly emphasising how 'helpful' she is to him even when she doesn't want to be and taking the first opportunity he can to reveal Luz's role in helping him to the Hexsquad. This doesn't aid him directly, but it's made clear he's relishing the chance to torment Luz all the same.
• Mask of Confidence: Discussed and invoked. While he and Luz are looking for Belos, Hunter starts trembling, and angrily notes how he never used to be scared as the Golden Guard. Luz then helps him by handing him a Halloween mask so they can "bring back some of that masked confidence".
• Meaningful Echo:
  • When they're about to finally return to the Demon Realm, Amity tells Luz:
    "Luz, I know things are scary, and I don't know what the future holds, but it would be so cool if you were a part of that, but no more hiding, okay?"
  • From a visual standpoint, when Hunter and Luz are looking out as the recently-arrived Hexsquad in Camila's house, their side-on profiles resemble the illustrations of himself and Caleb that Philip drew in his diary that Luz glimpsed in "Elsewhere and Elsewhen", reflecting how they've basically become a healthier version of the brother's old sibling bond.
  • When Luz used Flapjack's Flash Step to throw herself at the Belos-possessed Hunter and grab him around the waist, it resembles the memory portrait of the corrupted Philip being given a loving Cooldown Hug by Caleb.
• Milholland Relationship Moment: After Belos outs Luz's actions in enabling him to meet the Collector, Luz can only reluctantly admit that she did and hid it from them out of fear of them hating her. However, her friends end up not caring, with Amity hugging her and telling her how her willingness to stand up for her is what really matters.
• Mirror Scare:
  • Hunter gets freaked out after seeing his reflection resembling Caleb and Belos before deciding to give himself a haircut.
  • When Hunter spots a blob of Belos' ooze on the floor of the shack, he bends down to inspect it, then looks up into a mirror to see Belos—having possessed the corpse of a rabbit—watching him from a doorway.
• Mood Whiplash: The episode ends as Luz, her friends, and Camila head to the Boiling Isles in an attempt to stop Belos once and for all while Vee covers for them on Earth. They say their goodbyes, there's a "Pan Up to the Sky" Ending, and Vee realizes moments before the episode ends that Camila forgot to give her the car keys.
• Moral Myopia: Belos claims that Hunter stabbed him in the back, completely ignoring that he forcibly took control over Hunter's body.
• Morphic Resonance: The hair of Vee's new human form has the colors of her basilisk form's scales and hair mixed together, and she retains her ears, hidden as part of the hair.
• Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls: Luz's laptop shows that she's working on or has recently written a Good Witch Azura fanfic.
• Muggles Do It Better: Hunter is quite enamored with the sewing machine Camila gave him, noting that not even Darius could get stitches so neat back home.
• Multi-Part Episode: "Thanks to Them" serves as the first explicitly multi-part episode in The Owl House's history.
• The Needs of the Many: In a class that is discussing a "hero's journey", Luz expresses anger at the hero (and at herself) for making mistakes that caused problems for others. Luz's teacher explains why the character is still a hero using this logic: while the hero did make mistakes that caused trouble, the hero's actions also had "ripple effects" that ultimately made life better for everyone, so the amount of good the hero did outweighs the bad.
• Nerds Are Sexy: Implied. When Hunter shows his Cosmic Frontier costume, Willow immediately responds positively to it and aggressively disagrees with Amity when she asks him to change out of it. By the end, she gives him a wink and asks to borrow the book when he's done with it.
  Amity: Hunter, I don't think the world is ready for the "brave fashion choices of the year 2008." Please change.
  Willow: (while Hand Gagging Amity) Don't listen to her!
• Nested Mouths: Giraffes have a second, insect-like face hidden behind their normal faces, which one uses to roar at the Hexsquad when Willow takes a picture.
• Next Sunday A.D.: Almost literally. The episode is set in late October 2022 and the climax is on Halloween, only sixteen days after the premier.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Belos cruelly impaling Flapjack with several spikes is what gives Hunter the internal strength to fight against his possession.
• No Biochemical Barriers: Much like with Luz in the Demon Realm, the witches aren't capable of eating most human foods. Camila is even shown at one point with an exhaustive set of notes while trying to figure out what meals are safe for them.
• Noble Wolf: Hunter is very enamored by wolves on Earth, even decorating a shirt with them, and Camila references the fact that wolves are actually very good parents in a flashback dream when other parents disparagingly ask if Luz was Raised by Wolves.
• Noodle Incident:
  • We see from the scrapbook that Luz and Amity had that "slice of life date", as well as several other outings, but we never see them in any real detail.
  • While he isn't taken seriously at all, it's shown that Jacob Hopkins knows that Gus is a witch, hinting that the Hexsquad had at least one encounter with the man in their search to return home.
  • Luz tells Camila to go back to the house to help Vee deal with trick-or-treaters, saying that they can be "demanding", all with a look of horror on her face.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging:
  • Amity cheerfully suggests that she and Luz can go as a couple's costume of Azura and Hecate from the second Azura movie. Unfortunately, the movie in question has Azura being betrayed by a former ally named Lucy who looks a lot like Luz, which only gets worse when Azura swears to never forgive her.
  • When she happens upon her daughter's virtual diary, one of the entries Camila views is of Luz fretting over how she wants to badly to "apply [herself]" like her mother wants. Eager that perhaps a certain book report on her terms will somehow earn her approval, Luz declares "Mom, you won't have to worry about me ever again". Camila has the most guilt-ridden look on her face, as the words unknowingly sound more like a declaration that Luz is running away from home.
• Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: The second Good Witch Azura movie is titled Good Witch Azura 2: The Betrayening.
• Offscreen Karma: Jacob Hopkins, the curator who tried to capture Vee, was fired from the museum for putting up exhibits that celebrated his (supposed) greatness.
• Only Sane Man: Having lived on Earth the longest, Vee is the only resident of the Demon Realm to recognize that Luz and Camila wouldn't enjoy the "meal" that the witches cooked up for them. She's also shocked seeing Amity and Willow destroy an alarm clock.
• Open-Minded Parent: Camila is accepting of both her daughter's bisexuality and of the magical teenagers with a bizarre way of life, giving them refuge in her house. The flashbacks even imply that she's more accepting of her daughter's quirks than most people.
• Opening Shout-Out: While enjoying the rain on Earth during the Time-Passes Montage, Amity creates a small ball of light that she and Luz release into the sky just like Luz did with the light glyph at the end of the seasons 1 and 2 openings.
• Ouroboros: Appear twice, both times tying into Luz' Animal Motifs of a serpent; the snake skin she found as a kid is framed on Camila's nightstand, forming a classic ouroboros, and Luz has an ouroboros sticker in the shape of an infinity-symbol on her laptop.
• Out-of-Character Alert: As Belos's influence on him gets stronger, Hunter starts experiencing sudden mood swings, and lashes out at Flapjack in a deep, demonic-sounding voice when Flapjack refuses to steal the rebus from Amity. When Luz finds him in the graveyard after Belos has fully taken over, the cadence of his voice sounds completely off, he uses phrases that Hunter has never used, and when talking about Flapjack, doesn't refer to him by name.

P-S

• "Pan Up to the Sky" Ending: The camera pans up after Luz and her mom go through the portal and Vee walks away, with the final shot being the full moon against the starry night sky.
• Parental Substitute: Camila was already this to Vee, but she ends up becoming one to the other witches while they're stuck on Earth. She even lampshades how she never thought that she'd end up with six kids.
• Parents as People: Camila. Although she's obviously having trouble adjusting to some of the weirder traits of the Demon Realm natives, she's doing her best to help them regardless. In a dream, it's shown that she was nothing but supportive to Luz when she was younger and that her sending Luz to camp was a genuine attempt to try and help her make friends.
• Perfectly Cromulent Word: The second Good Witch Azura movie is titled Good Witch Azura 2: The Betrayening.
• Poor Communication Kills: Much of the drama in this episode happens due to Luz and Hunter keeping secrets from the Hexsquad and each other out of fear. Amity's plan for a surprise doesn't help things either, as it clashes with Luz's plan to declare her staying on Earth.
• Possessing a Dead Body: Belos is shown taking over the corpse of a rabbit, which has been dead and rotting long enough for its vertebrae and ribs to be exposed.
• Possession Burnout: While Luz and her friends are searching for the means to return to the Demon Realm, Belos has been passing time in the human world possessing animals, but doing so causes him to consume their life force so quickly that the bodies decay and end up reduced to bones. And considering that Hunter ended up with scars after Belos left his body, this very well could have been his fate if Belos had stayed in his body a little longer. Belos still drains enough energy from Hunter to reconstitute himself, in the process draining Hunter's life completely.
• Poster-Gallery Bedroom: The state of Luz's bedroom in her video diaries chronicles her dive into nerd culture, starting with a blank wall when they first move into the house, then a Good Witch Azura poster with more and more posters being added from movies, anime, and video games as time goes on.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: In quite possibly the darkest take ever, Belos fully takes over his creation's body and imbues it with his own powers. Hunter's hair suddenly grows down to his neck, which is rather disturbing given how Hunter's hair was deliberately cut short as the resemblance to Belos gave him a panic attack.
• Power Of Hate: Based on what we see of Belos, the only thing holding him together are the thoughts and bad memories that fueled his own hatred of witches.
• Present Absence: King only appears for a few seconds at the beginning of the episode, while Eda and Hooty are completely absent, but the effect they've had on Luz's life is felt constantly. She's made many drawings of Eda, even more of King, and even has a paper-mache version of King's skull she keeps in her locker at school. Aside from Luz's art, imagery of witches in red, horned skulls, and owls resembling Hooty coincidentally show up several times.
• Properly Paranoid: After touching a bit of the Belos goop and becoming infected, Hunter becomes convinced Belos somehow survived being splattered by The Collector and followed everyone to the Human Realm. He teams up with Luz to search for Belos but they come up empty handed. As the episode progresses and Belos begins to assert himself within Hunter, Hunter grows more anxious that Belos is still there, and while Luz is willing to help him, she remains unconvinced that that the former emperor is alive. Unfortunately, it turns out Belos really is there, and takes over Hunter.
• Psychological Projection:
  • Luz's English teacher reads aloud the final lines of a book about a man who went on a Hero's Journey, which causes Luz to go on a rant about how the man's actions only caused suffering and that it would've been better if he had never existed at all. It's fairly obvious that she sees the man as a parallel to herself, though she ignores the teacher's argument that the good the man did outweighed the suffering that happened to get there.
  • Similarly, she also sees a lot of herself in Lucy, a character who was once a friend of Azura but betrayed her, clearly seeing parallels in how Belos tricked her.
  • Belos accuses Hunter as Caleb stabbing him in the back, with his voice sounding like dismayed surprise. Given his own Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, he's projecting his own tendencies to backstab on other people. Additionally, Belos's constant slippage into referring to people from his past suggests that his witch genocide agenda stems from his inability to let go of Caleb and the incident that led to Caleb's death.
• Queer Colors: When Luz comes out as bisexual to Camila, the bisexual flag is explicitly used, the "Hi! I'm Bi!" illustration uses purple and blue coloring, and Gus's illusion involves a rainbow. Later, Masha is shown with their nails painted in the colors of the non-binary flag, while working for the Gravesfield Historical Society. Also, when Hunter shows off a sweater he made, one of the patches on it is a rainbow with the bi flag colors and in the scrapbook, a picture of Luz and Amity's date in a diner has a heart with the lesbian flag colors in it.
• Queer Establishing Moment: Masha's nameplate in the Gravesfield Historical Society reveals that they use they/them pronouns and their nails are painted in the colors of the non-binary flag.
• Quirky Curls: Both Luz and Camila have naturally curly hair that grows out once they've accepted their quirky selves. The straightening iron in Camila's trash implies that her formerly straight hair was her attempt to conform to the rest of the community.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: So far, things aren't going good for the Hexsquad. Luz is still feeling guilty about endangering the Boiling Isles, evident by her unconfident eyes and frown. Flapjack has died. And Belos is still alive. But Camila has decided to join Luz and her friends on their journey to defeat Belos and the Collector. Luz's friends hold no grudge against Luz and Hunter. Even though Luz still feels guilty, she's happy that her friends don't hate her at all. And no matter what happens next, Luz will have her mom by her side. All this shows that there is still hope for our heroes.
• Rearrange the Song: TJ Hill's theme receives a rearrangement and extension courtesy of Brad Breeck to serve as background music for the Time-Passes Montage. Breeck incorporates more synthesizers, electric guitars and, at one point, a soft piano to illustrate both the more "human" side of the Owl House universe, and underscore the bittersweet novelty of the Hexsquad's situation.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Camila does her best to provide for the six children now under her care, and after seeing Belos and knowing that Luz feels she doesn't deserve to return to the Demon Realm, Camila volunteers herself to go along rather than telling her daughter to stay.
• Removed from the Picture: A variation thereof. During the Time-Passes Montage, when the Hexsquad present drawings of their respective families, Amity only drew her father and her older siblings as she had previously disowned Odalia during the events of "Clouds on the Horizon".
• The Reveal: Masha's retelling of the Wittebane brothers entering the Demon Realm includes one telling detail — that Caleb went in first after meeting a witch named Evelyn, implied to have been an ancestor of Eda, with Masha suggesting that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. It also reveals that Flapjack—implied to have once been Caleb's Palisman—may have first belonged to Evelyn.
  • A photo including Manny is finally shown with his face fully visible.
• Ring-Ring-CRUNCH!: Played with. Willow and Amity smash an alarm clock against the wall after it goes off, though it was out of fear when they mistake it for a threat rather than it waking them up. Vee probably should have been specific about the sound human alarm clocks make before demonstrating.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: Invoked. Just before they go through the portal to the Boiling Isles, Camila reminds Luz to take the hat for her Azura costume. "A Good Witch always has to have her hat."
• Romantic Rain: Crossing over with Happy Rain, Luz and Amity share a moment together when the latter gets a chance to enjoy her first non-hostile rainfall (discounting the Gray Rain of Depression when they first arrived on Earth).
• Rubber Man: Without his glyph array or staff, after possessing Hunter this is the only power Belos has left at his disposal, which he uses to great effect by warping Hunter's arms into grotesque appendages made of slime and tipped with claws. He's then able to stretch and twist them to strike the witches down from the air and block their attacks, even managing to reach across the lake. However, when Hunter regains control, it's clear that this causes him pain and he's powerless to return his arms to normal by himself.
• Rule of Symbolism: When Luz sees the Azura movie featuring Villainous Lucy and when she records her intended farewell message on her laptop, both times the screen reflects blue light into her eyes. Whilst under Belos' Demonic Possession, Hunter's irises shine blue when Belos assumes direct control over him. Both times with Luz indicate how, despite not directly interacting with her until the end, Belos' prior meetings with her are still manipulating and influencing her into acting according to his wishes, separating her permanently from the Boiling Isles like he tried to force her into choosing before.
• Saying Too Much: Following Hunter's Possession Burnout, the group tries to contact an ambulance with Willow asking if human doctors know anything about possession. Luz then accidentally lets slip that Hunter is also a Grimwalker.
• Scare Chord: One pops up when Camila stops at the accident scene, timed to her hitting the brake pedal.
• Scary Stinging Swarm: A photo in Willow's album shows Hunter and Flapjack getting chased by a swarm of bees.
• Series Continuity Error:
  • In the opening montage, Luz is shown introducing the Hexsquad to Earth's non-boiling rain, with Amity cringing in anticipation of pain. However, the end of "King's Tide" had Gus already inform everyone that the Human Realm's rain was harmless, with them all standing out in a thunderstorm after being expelled through the portal.
  • Masha's statement about Philip and Caleb arriving in Gravesfield in 1613. Not only does the Artistic Licence – History error apply here, it also contradicts "Yesterday's Lie", which revealed that Gravesfield was founded in 1635.
• Shadow Archetype: As usual, Philip/Belos embodies the heroes' worst qualities.
  • To Luz: Philip is revealed to have lost his parents young, only had his brother in the world, and was pressured to "fit in" to his society by becoming a Witch Hunter. Luz also lost her father young, only had her mother, and is revealed to have thrown herself into fantasizing about witches and magic to cope with her grief of losing her father. However, while Luz and her mother developed a loving and supportive relationship, Luz resisted conforming to her society, and grew to love witches and magic, Philip is revealed to have had an unhealthy fixation on his only living family (his brother), clung to witch-hunting as an unhealthy coping mechanism, and demonstrates both a murderous and genocidal unwillingness to see the residents of the Boiling Isles as people.
  • To Camila: Philip and Camila both experienced losing their close family except for one (Philip to his brother, Camila to her daughter), and experienced worrying about their only surviving family member spending months missing in the demon realm (after the latter was lured away by a witch and dazzled by the beauty, magic, and wonder of the Boiling Isles). However, while Camila readily accepts Luz's new witch friends and girlfriend, Philip refused to accept his brother's new witch girlfriend and killed him in a fit of murderous jealousy.
• Shadow Discretion Shot: Belos impaling Flapjack is shown through the shadows.
• The Shadow Knows: As Luz and Hunter leave the shack, the camera pans out to show Hunter's shadow slowly growing a pair of antlers.
• Ship Tease:
  • Willow notices Hunter's poor attempts to cut his own hair when she walks past the bathroom, and gladly helps him out while he blushes heavily.
  • Hunter's love of Cosmic Frontier manages to get some subtle hints for him and Willow, as the character he latches onto is an obvious parody of Chief O'Brien (who was Happily Married to a botanist). What's more, Willow really likes Hunter's attempt at 2008 clothing and asks to borrow the book with a wink (leading Hunter to blush).
  • In a more serious moment, Willow appears to take Hunter's Disney Death the hardest, keeping watch over him enough to tell the others he's not moving, being the first one to tear up, and hugging him when he wakes up.
  • Vee blushes when Masha asks her to hit them up, and the end credits shows the two of them out on what seems to be a date, implying that Vee has a crush on Masha, and that Masha may reciprocate.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: By the time the battle between the Hexsquad and Belos breaks out, none of the light-hearted Earth background characters nor Masha are present.
• Shout-Out:
  • The giraffe opening its mouth to reveal its scary inner self is evocative of the Flerken.
  • The kids are shown learning Spanish from a Duolingo parody, with it even referencing Duo's status as a Memetic Psychopath.invoked
  • One of the boys in Camila's flashback wears a shirt identical to Charlie Brown's.
  • Several references are made to Amphibia:
    • A snail with coloration identical to Bessie is briefly seen in the foreground of a shot.
    • At the pet clinic, there's a picture of Hop Pop on the board.
    • One of Luz's drawings for her potential palisman resembles Polly alongside her bucket.
    • A guy attending the Halloween festival is dressed as Commander Grime.
  • Luz's laptop has icons for Moonfarm Valley, Holler Knight, and Hades.
  • During the montage, Willow wears a shirt that looks like Mabel's shooting star sweater, Amity wears a hat that heavily resembles Vivian's, and Hunter wears Rocko's shirt.
  • When Hunter is first looking through the Cosmic Frontier book, the blurb on the back mentions that it takes place "in a galaxy not far away at all..."
    • The Cosmic Frontier characters are a clearer reference to Star Trek, specifically Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
  • Luz's video diary shows that she has posters for Spirit Devourer and Domicile Sinister 4.
  • The scrapbook includes a picture of the kids watching Hocus Pocus on movie night (with Willow and Amity clearly not too impressed with its depiction of witches).
  • There are costumes of Ness from EarthBound, Mae from Night in the Woods, and Akko from Little Witch Academia in the Magic Circle shop.
  • The Dino Land logo patched onto Hunter's jacket is styled after the Jurassic Park logo.
  • Luz is wearing a Super Mario Bros. shirt in one of her video diaries.
  • In the veterinary clinic, one of the animals on the "Shame" section of the fridge is a goose with a bell in its mouth.
  • In the opening shot of Halloween at old Gravesfield, someone can be seen wearing a Rarity costume, complete with her cutie mark.
  • A "Swap" game console is shown in the Noceda's living room.
  • In the pile of clothes the kids are looking through, there are pieces of costumes for Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle and Tombo from Kiki's Delivery Service.
  • According to Color Designer Dresden Douglas, the faded red and yellow on the rebus was meant to harken back to the three Journals.
• Shrine to Self: Jacob being fired was because he started altering the exhibits to make them these, calling himself "Humanity's Last Defender".
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: After Hunter fights back against him, Belos ejects himself from the Grimwalker, and accuses "Caleb" of stabbing him back. Luz coldly retorts, "You did it to him first." Notably, Belos cannot argue against it.
• Sinister Deer Skull: Camila has to pull over because the police is investigating a car that skidded off the road. The driver tells the officer she lost control because a deer went out of nowhere and frightened them, although her little daughter insists that it wasn't a deer, but a monster. The camera slides to border of the road, showing the skeleton of said deer, result of a Possession Burnout by Belos.
• Sinister Surveillance: Parodied with Vee's "Find a Phone" app, which she uses to find Luz when she's chasing the possessed Hunter, with it having a tagline about the lack of privacy.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Discussed. The reason Hunter refuses to tell his friends that he's a Grimwalker is because he's afraid they'll hate him for being a clone of a witch hunter who worked with Belos. Also Inverted in regards to Belos' own treatment of him, as he still sees Hunter as another Caleb, and gets angered by his refusal to 'work' with him, citing it as Caleb 'stabbing him in the back', just like the original Caleb is implied to have refused to accept Philip's genocidal desires against witches.
• Sixth Ranger:
  • Though she elects to stay behind to cover for Camila, Vee is officially a member of the Hexsquad as of this episode.
  • Camila joins the Hexsquad on their mission to stop Belos and the Collector.
• Slasher Smile: Belos, while possessing Hunter, sports an evil grin while fighting against the Hexsquad.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Jacob was fired from his job after altering the museum exhibits to project himself as humanity's "last defender".
• Soap Opera Disease: Manny is implied to have suffered from a terminal illness, as a recording of a young Luz has her suspect that the family moved to Gravesfield because it had a better hospital.
• Society Is to Blame: Gravesfield is guilty of creating major issues towards Philip and Luz. The former was indoctrinated into becoming a fanatic Witch Hunter at young age, and the latter was subjected to social isolation as a way to suppress her "weird quirks", without caring her grief for her father's death. If it wasn't for it being a Death World that got worse with Belos's influence, the Boiling Isles would be a paradise for humans (especially those socially outcasted for whatever excuse) come true.
• Softer and Slower Cover: A slow rendition of the ending credits plays as Luz and her mom exit the human realm.
• Something We Forgot: Right before the episode ends, Vee realizes that Camila forgot to give her the car keys before heading to the Isles with Luz.
• Stripped to the Bone: Each animal Belos has attached himself soon decayed enough to be reduced to bones.
• Struggling Single Mother: Downplayed. It's not specifically stated, though the various coupons in her room indicate that having to provide for six kids is starting to put a strain on Camila's budget.
• Stylistic Suck: The "Lumity Studios" credit in Luz's coming-out video looks like a default text option in Windows Movie Maker.
• Super Drowning Skills: Played for Drama; after jumping into the water to get the Titan blood, Hunter and Belos immediately start drowning and make no apparent attempt to swim, forcing Camila to dive in after them. It's possible either the Possession Burnout was taking too much of a toll on Hunter's body, he was Fighting from the Inside with what energy he had left to ensure Belos couldn't control his body well enough to swim, or having spent both their lives in a realm where the largest water source around is literally boiling, neither one of them actually learned to swim.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Camila's reaction when Hunter and Gus reveal that they found the collection of Cosmic Frontier stuff in her basement.
  Camila: (forced grin) Oh. Ha ha! Funny how things just show up in basements, right? Without you hiding or putting them there! (nervous forced laughter) Life sure is FULL of surprises!
• Sustained Misunderstanding: As they're driving home from school, Camila goes on about the food she and Luz are bringing home to the rest of the Hexsquad. Luz remains silent until she sees something up ahead and tries to get Camila to pay attention. It takes a few seconds for her to realize that Luz was pointing out an accident scene up ahead, thinking Luz was simply referring to the food and the dietary habits of her friends.
• Sweetheart Sipping: In Willow's photo album, one picture shows Luz and Amity drinking from a milkshake together.
• Sweetie Graffiti: Luz's desk in English class has L+A (Luz + Amity) carved into it.

T-Z

• Taking You with Me: Aware of how much importance Belos places upon the Titan's blood from his unusually emotional reaction to getting the blood contained in the Portal Key after Eclipse lake, and with his own life force and resistance failing him against his possessor, Hunter uses what control he has to toss the vial of blood into the flooded water of the graveyard, counting on Belos following after it and as a result, both of them drowning to put an end to his threat, due to their Super Drowning Skills.
• The Team: The True Companions work together as a team to find a way back to the Demon Realm, and fit rather neatly into roles. Luzi is The Protagonist and The Heart of the group. Hunter is Luz's mutual Secret-Keeper and the oldest of the kids, who has Big Brother Instinct towards the others. Gus, as per usual, is the Child Prodigy of the group, though one who also knows how to fight. Willow is the most powerful magic user on the team in the human realm (where Luz doesn't have access to her magic and Amity's abomination magic is limited by a lack of her usual sludge). Amity is Luz's girlfriend and best form of emotional support besides her mom, though, like Gus, she can also fight. Vee and, to a lesser extent, Camila, who have been in the human realm the whole time and join Luz and her friends in finding a way back to the Demon Realm. At the end, once they've succeeded, Camila continues this role by deciding to go there with them, while Vee chooses to remain behind on Earth.
• Tears of Joy: When Luz tells Hunter he's family now, he starts sobbing into his mask.
• Tempting Fate:
  • As Amity is saying that there's nothing that can hold the witches back, she promptly gets her foot stuck in the hole Flapjack's been making in the floor. Gus even lampshades it In-Universe, viewing it as a sign that they're doomed.
  • When Hunter stays behind in the house so he can get changed, he comments to Flapjack that even if he's not who he's supposed to be, he likes who he is at that moment. Almost immediately afterwards, he ends up touching the Belos goo, leading to him getting possessed.
  • In the last video diary before Luz heads to the Isles, she talks about her book report that went wrong, and how it'll show her mom that she is applying herself, and that Camila doesn't need to worry about her. We all know how that turned out.
• Time-Passes Montage: The remixed intro serves as this, hitting various points in the Hexsquad's months-long stay in the human realm, with events including:
  • The squad returning to the abandoned house to attempt repairing the portal.
  • Luz officially coming out as bisexual to Camila.
  • The gang receiving new outfits and the debut of Vee's new design.
  • Hunter cutting his hair as part of a mental breakdown before Willow helps him fashion it into something neater.
  • The Hexsquad introducing Camila to Demon Realm cuisine.
  • The Hexsquad's first experience with non-boiling rain.
  • Luz heading back to school for the first time in months.
• Time Skip: After first starting off where season 2 ended, the episode then goes through a montage showing the passing of several months. Which somewhat ironically means Luz's friends have spent about the same amount of time in the Human world as Luz had spent in the Demon Realm. By the time the opening ends, it's already Halloween.
• Title Theme Drop: The normal credits theme is heard twice: first when Camila sees Luz's video diary, and again when Luz picks up her Azura hat just before she and Camila go through the portal.
• Tomboyish Baseball Cap: During the Time-Passes Montage, Luz is shown sporting a red baseball cap.
• Tragic Keepsake:
  • It turns out that the Good Witch Azura book series is this to Luz, as a copy of the first book was given to her by her father shortly before his death. And since then, it became a source of comfort for Luz to deal with her grief. Also, since that book led her to the Boiling Isles and ultimately her first ever friends, her Found Family, and most notably her girlfriend Amity, those relationships serve as part of her father's legacy.
  • Masha's story implies that Philip kept his brother's jacket for centuries after the latter disappeared into the Demon Realm.
• Transformation of the Possessed:
  • A deer that Belos had taken over and mostly-consumed is shown to have had its antlers changed to resemble those of Belos' mask and monstrous form.
  • After taking over Hunter's body, Belos turns it into a warped amalgamation of the boy and his own, monstrous appearance. Hunter's arms elongate and turn into grotesque appendages which can stretch and twist unnaturally and grow sharp claws, his face gains a large line of rot that extends down his neck, with some covering part of his ear, his eyes glow bright blue and slant downwards and horns burst straight from his skull. When Belos finally goes away, there are large scars all over Hunter's body. Additionally, Hunter's hair, which had previously been cut short, grows down to his neck.
• Traumatic Haircut: Played for Laughs. In one of her laptop diary entries, Luz attempted to cut her hair with a sword she got at a Good Witch Azura convention. The next diary entry shows that this went very badly, as Luz's hair is now much shorter in a few places, and what hair she managed to cut is in massive clumps around her.
  Luz: (now with a case of bad haircut) THAT WAS A BAD IDEA!
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Finally used and even exaggerated after two seasons. The Hexsquad sans Amity went through Significant Wardrobe Shifts in "Clouds on the Horizon" after needing to wear more practical clothing for their mission on the Day of Unity. Rather than continuing to use those damaged outfits now that they're on Earth, they're given access to new clothes courtesy of Camila, with everyone alternating outfits throughout the special.
• Vacuum Mouth: Vee tries to drag Belos out of Hunter using her draining powers, though he resists enough to mount a counterattack.
• Vampires Hate Garlic: When taking list on what to give to Hexside squad for food, Camila notes they don't dislike garlic like vampires.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After abandoning Hunter and returning to his normal size, Belos activates the portal and flees before he can be attacked again, promising to finish what he started.
• Villain Reveals the Secret: In the midst of their battle, Belos notices Luz's friends approaching and gleefully reveals to them that Luz assisted him in meeting the Collector, albeit framing it as her being more involved and willing in aiding him, rather than an indirect participant, just to try and damage Luz's bond with her friends. This doesn't work, as the Hexsquad know Belos is a master manipulator, allow Luz to tell her side of the story, and don't blame her at all for getting tricked by him.
• Vocal Evolution: Masha's voice is a bit deeper and raspy than back in "Yesterday's Lie", a hint at them coming out at some point between both episodes.
• Voice of the Legion: Belos speaks with both his own voice and Hunter's voice at the same time while possessing Hunter's body. When Hunter wrenches control back, he speaks only in his own voice.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Belos's intent for his Kick the Dog reveal about Luz's part in the Day of Unity, hoping this will drive her and her friends apart. Ultimately, this is averted. Outside of Amity asking if what he said was a lie and why she kept it a secret after confirming that he was right, they agree Luz isn't to blame for what happened and stick with her regardless of the truth.
• Where No Parody Has Gone Before: Camila and Manny are revealed to have been fans of a novel series called Cosmic Frontier, with Gus and Hunter also becoming fans over the course of the episode. It appears to be a mashup of Deep Space Nine and Voyager. The plot features the crew of a ship lost in deep space trying to find their way home, but it includes characters based on Sisko and O'Brien (the former even has the name of the character's actor) and the brief snippet of the theme song that plays when Gus shows Hunter the closet full of Camila's memorabilia recalls DS9.
• Word, Schmord!: When Vee pulls up the "Find a Phone" app to locate Luz, the catchphrase for the app is "Privacy Schmivacy".
• The Worf Effect: Vee's Mana Drain would ordinarily prove a perfect counter to Belos, who is more magic than man at this point (especially since Hunter has no magic of his own and thus wouldn't be at risk of getting hurt in the process), but he manages to power through the attack long enough to take a swing at her, then smashes the ice bridge after Amity flies her to safety so she can't approach again.
• Worst. Whatever. Ever!: Played for Drama. Luz's video diary entry recorded after her father's death opens with her somberly claiming "I think this might be the worst week ever".
• Writing Around Trademarks: The Shout-Outs on Luz's laptop are changed to avoid breaking copyright; Moonfarm Valley instead of Stardew Valley and Holler Knight instead of Hollow Knight. Notably subverted with Hades, as Supergiant would have no right to claim copyright on the name of a hellenistic god. The icon is changed slightly, from three skulls to the three heads of Cerberus, but notably still maintains a very similar design to Cerberus in the game.
• Wrong-Name Outburst: Again, Belos refers to Hunter as Caleb, this time accusing "Caleb" of stabbing him in the back. By this point, Belos no longer sees Hunter as anything but a reincarnated Caleb.
• Yandere: Masha's recounting of the Wittebane brothers' past on Earth has Philip immediately setting out with a knife to 'rescue' Caleb after he was 'spirited away' by a witch from the demon realm. Masha themself points out that the more likely explanation was that Caleb eloped with his 'hot witch girlfriend' instead, but it's made clear that Philip never planned on anything less than murder towards the one who 'took his brother away from him'. Despite the fact that his possession of bodies ultimately leads to their demise, he frames his takeover of Hunter as being akin to him 'uniting' with Caleb to finish their work as witch hunters together, and Hunter's rejection of him and his genocidal plans for witches as Caleb 'stabbing him in the back'. Masha's recounting even ends by pointing out that Philip may be still chasing after his brother, which in a sense, he very much is.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Luz has gone through months of self-loathing over her accidentally helping Belos. When she finally reveals this to her friends, instead of hating her like she feared, not a single one blames her and recognizes that she was simply tricked by the Manipulative Bastard that Belos is, and the fact that she continued to stand up for them means more to them than anything else.
• Your Magic's No Good Here: Downplayed. As was established back in "Young Blood, Old Souls", Luz's glyphs don't function on Earth due to lacking access the Titan's Background Magic Field, and she's shown sadly tapping a light glyph in her sketchbook that doesn't react in any way. However, her fellow witches and their palismen retain their magic, since they draw on internal sources of magic. One of the kids' attempts to rebuild the portal door incorporates glyphs into the design and substitutes the Titan's magic with the palismen using Hamster-Wheel Power, which does open the door to the In Between Realm for a split second. Luz later discovers that the bit of Titan's Blood left on Earth puts out enough energy for her glyphs to work, as long as she's close enough. In the climax, the Hexsquad's magic proves to be their best defense against the Belos-possessed Hunter, but they are still unable to forcibly separate the monster from their friend during the fighting, even with Vee's Anti-Magic abilities.
• Zeerust: The Cosmic Frontier franchise seems to be this, as besides the obvious Star Trek comparisons Vee notes that it was written in the 90s about 2008.

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"Shoot. Camila still has the car keys."

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