History Recap / TheOwlHouseS2E13AnySportInAStorm

* BaitAndSwitch: After Hunter stands up to Darius and lets the Emerald Entrails go free, Darius is seemingly furious at his actions and pulls back his arm as if to strike him... then just lightly bops him on the head and praises him for finally showing some backbone and making friends outside the castle.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Willow asks Hunter for his name upon meeting him in disguise, he struggles to come up with an alias. His Palisman whistles something to him, followed immediately by him blurting out the name "Caleb".

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Willow asks Hunter for his name upon meeting him in disguise, he struggles to come up with an alias. His Palisman whistles something to him, followed immediately by him blurting out the name "Caleb". [[spoiler:Later episodes confirm that "Caleb" wasn't just a random name -- it was the name of Caleb Wittebane, Belos's brother, Flapjack's original owner, and the person Hunter is a clone of.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: ''An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, and circumstance.'']]

* TheCameo:
** Raine appears with the other Coven heads as they all leave at the start of the episode, pausing to look at Hunter before being ushered away by Terra.
** Barcus is seen amongst the students playing Hexas Hold'em.

* BreakingOldTrends: In Hunter's last two major appearances, Luz spent the entirety of both episodes in her pajamas; this is where the pattern is broken.

** Willow's old nickname of "Half-a-witch" is mentioned by herself.

* CommonalityConnection: Both Willow and Hunter find silent empathy with the other when they reveal they are/were known as "half-a-witch." This resolves Willow to show Hunter that the Flyer Derby recruits are more than they first appear and urges Hunter to rescue the team, respectively.

** The scene of Belos draining a palisman from "Hunting Palismen" is shown.

* DeusExitMachina: With Luz and Amity out doing their own thing, no one is left to stop the Emerald Entrails from being kidnapped by the Emperor's Coven or rescue them after they are. It's up to Hunter to find his conscience and make the situation right.

* DrunkWithPower: Discussed and Played for Laughs by Willow, who tells herself "don't let the power get to your head just yet," upon becoming captain of the nascent Flyer Derby team.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Hunter has this reaction when none of the other coven heads take him seriously after Belos leaves him in charge, even implicitly rescheduling a meeting just because Belos put Hunter in charge for the day, and not even bothering to explain as they leave the room. Darius is the most vocal about not liking Hunter, since the ''last'' Golden Guard was his mentor and he views Hunter as an InadequateInheritor.

* EntertaininglyWrong: Hunter believes other teenagers are into authority and rules, just like he is.

* EvilIsPetty: Professor Hermonculus tries to shut down Willow's club unless she steps down as Captain because he's ''still'' mad she switched to the Plant track. And this is despite being a skilled Flyer Derby player himself, which he rubs her face in when saying that he might change his mind if they beat his team.

* InternalReveal: While Luz already told Willow and Gus about Hunter off-screen, this is the first time, along with Skara and Viney, they see his face.

* ItsTheJourneyThatCounts: While Luz and Amity are bummed that their search for the author ended up amounting to nothing, they do take solace in the fact that they enjoyed each other's company while on a magical quest. Luz suggests why not start a writing club instead, with the two of them. Amity takes to the idea.

** Amity has this reaction when she finds out she’s been buying into scam.

** Darius never intended to force the kids into the Emperor's Coven, and was just going to drop them off at Hexside. He is willing to attack and potentially kill them, but they did crash his airship.

* PressGanged: Although Darius didn't plan to go through with it, the fact that no one questions that he's planning to force the Emerald Entrails into the Emperor's Coven implies that it it ''entirely possible'' be join the Coven against your will.

* PunchClockVillain: Darius has shades of this, as while he has no particular issue with doing the bidding of Emperor Belos, he doesn't see much need to take further initiative. He proves uninterested in the idea of rounding up more unwilling recruits when the Coven already has plenty and is willing ignore the issue of Hunter's Palisman. Apart from being dismissive of Hunter initially and vexed by having his ship crashed, Darius proves fairly mild-mannered.

* ScaryShinyGlasses: Hunter is introduced to Willow by her snatching him out of the air with vines and seeming to glare down at him with these ... before she sweetly asks him to join her Flyer Derby team.
* SecretKeeper: After discovering that Hunter has the cardinal palisman, Darius promises to keep that a secret.

* SocialMediaBeforeReason: Zig-zagged. At first, it seems like Skara is more interested in her Penstagram account than Flyer Derby. Soon after, it's revealed that she was actually looking up strategies for the game.

* StrongerThanYouLook: Despite her youth Skara was able to punch Steve so hard, she left a huge dent in his mask.

* TemptingFate: Darius tells the Emerald Entrails they'll need to be more clever if they want to escape from him after he easily thwarts a few escape attempts. Only a few seconds after he says this, Gus casts an illusion of them jumping over the side of the ship, which fools Darius for long enough for them to take control of the steering and crash land the ship.

* TrainingFromHell: Recruits for the Emperor's Coven are forced into witch duels, mazes filled with dangerous traps, and left at the top of a mountain to find their own way back. It's indicated many recruits don't survive the last one.

* AllForNothing: When Amity and Luz notice the differences between the author portraits on their Azura books, they try and track the author down at a book signing, hoping to find some answers, and maybe a portal to Earth. When they finally chase the supposed author down, it turns out to be a disguised Tiny Nose, and the whole thing with the pictures was because Tibbles was trying a scam. On the side of Tibbles, since Amity is ''literally'' the only one buying the books in the Isles, it's all been a net loss for him.

** The name of the author of the Good Witch Azura series is revealed to be Mildred Featherwhyle when Luz and Amity are discussing if she's actually able to travel between realms.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Even Luz has to admit that Boscha is right when she criticizes Azura books' prose.

* OnlyOneFindsItFun: It turns out Amity, much to her embarrassment, is literally the only person in the entirety of the Boiling Isles who likes the Good Witch Azura stories. Tibbles complains he's only been able to sell the books to a single person (Amity), while Luz fails to recruit even a single member for her Azura book club in the beginning. They come to the conclusion that a writing club would probably work better.

* SickeninglySweet: As Boscha points out, the cover art for the Azura books is a bit on the saccharine side, with one of them depicting Azura holding a puppy while riding a broomstick that leaves a trail of rainbows.

* EvilDetectingDog: Viney's pet griffon Puddles tries to attack Hunter twice. Then again, he did provoke the creature earlier by stepping on its tail.

** When telling Luz about how she plans to form the Flying Derby team, Willow states that she's been practicing at home since the Grudgby match she played with Luz and Amity against Boscha in "Wing it Like Witches".

** When Luz and Amity see Hunter in the group picture of Willow's flying derby team, they let out a BigWhat, just as Amity did at the end of "Hooty's Moving Hassle" when she saw the picture of Luz, Gus and Willow with the animated Owl House.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: A minor case, but Boscha is notably mellower here than in her previous appearance. In "wing it like Witches", she was a BarbaricBully before, willing to go as far as to cause physical harm. Here, her bullying is limited to merely making fun of Luz' favorite books, which Luz isn't even particularily offended by.

* CostumeEvolution: A minor case. Willow now wears ankle-length heeled boots with her uniform and the frames of her glasses are now gold instead of black.

** Speaking of Skara, she's the only member of the team with actual team sport experience (being a member of the Banshees), yet she's the first one eliminated during the match against Professor Hermonculus.

* PurpleProse: It's once again highlighted that the prose in the ''Azura'' books is "ornate" as Luz as puts it

* SkySurfing: Gus's preferred method of staff flight, which serves him quite well. Willow also engages in sky-surfing during the match.

* BrickJoke: Darius calling Alador a hack in "Eda's Requiem" gets a brief ContinuityNod here. Alador posted his Abomiton 2.5 on Pentstagram with the hashtag #WHOSTHEHACKNOW. Darius simply groans and mutes him.

** Alador's Penstagram post showing off his Abomiton 2.5 has the hashtag "Who's the hack now?". In "Eda's Requiem", Darius called Alador a "hack" for his creation of the Abomitons.

* EveryoneHasStandards: The Abomination teacher pulls a cheap move on Willow while on the ground, saying his [[BlatantLies "hand slipped"]]; the other players, his included, glare at him, annoyed.

* EvilIsPetty: The Abomination teacher tries to shut down Willow's club unless she steps down as Captain because he's ''still'' mad she switched to the Plant track. And this is despite being a skilled Flyer Derby player himself, which he rubs her face in when saying that he might change his mind if they beat his team.

*** Alador is showing off the new Abomi-ton 2.5, mocking Darius for calling him a hack, with Emira calling him "embarrassing".