Chapter 36: Everything's Gone Wrong
Art by Crash X Fusion: The only reason I've been doing this is because of YOU! What if they find out about our deal? What if Luz finds out? I'd lose her.
Bridges are burned, secrets are revealed, and the pieces fall. Things will never be the same.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Abomination Accusation Attack: As part of her plan to slander Luz, Boscha has Tyler and Dolly hand out flyers detailing the murderous punishments humans had for witch hunting in the 1600's. Luz doesn't attempt to explain to Boscha that said "facts" are well over 300 years old when she confronts her and as the next chapter shows, everyone who isn't friends with Luz believes them.
- Adaptation Deviation: Luz is revealed to know how Eda really found King, a fact she didn't learn until "Echoes of the Past".
- Adults Are Useless: Subverted. Thanks to Ms. Traveler, the faculty of Hexside no longer stand by while the students enact in bullying, especially Principal Bump. Played straight with Nicole, who allows Boscha to receive punishment for her bullying.
- An Aesop: Actions have consequences. No matter who you are, no matter your reasons, they always do.
- Secrets can only be told by the person keeping them. If it comes from someone else or is kept hidden for too long, it'll have disasterous repercussions.
- Revenge only leads to pain and punishment on both sides.
- At Least I Admit It: Odalia admits to Lilith that she was never a good mother, but she's changing for Amity's sake. She also says that Eda's the better of the Clawthorne sisters because Eda's the one thing Lilith hasn't been: honest.
- Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: Once Boscha's group is brought to Principal Bump, Dolly uses Crocodile Tears to convince Bump that Boscha was the mastermind of their scheme and that she stole the memory photo from Dolly, to Boscha's shock and fury.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The Hierons successfully humiliate Luz and Amity and cause them to break up. However, while Nicole reaps the satisfaction of revenge and Dolly walks away with only a broken nose, Boscha loses as much as the girls making it a Pyrrhic Victory for her.
- Big "WHAT?!": Amity lets out two after learning what Lilith said to Luz and after learning she's no longer bound to keeping her arrangement with Lilith a secret.
- Bitch Slap: Eda and Odalia each give Lilith one for her actions.
- Blackmail: After bringing up being blackmailed by Lilith to let Amity keep being friends with Luz, Odalia threatens to expose her actions to the rest of the Isles if she ever comes near Amity again.
- Blatant Lies: Dolly tries to weasel out of punishment by saying Boscha stole the memory photo before she could give it back to Amity and went along with putting up the flyers because Boscha would've used her for Grudgby target practice.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The author's opening statement leads to Hooty giving a disclaimer and advocating for Owl House Season 4 before realizing something...
- Broken Pedestal: Everyone loses all respect for Lilith once the truth about the deal she gave Amity comes out, Odalia going as far as forcibly admitting that she respects Eda more than Lilith now. Gus loses all respect for Amity herself since she's been lying to his best friend. And Simon, after seeing what Boscha did, is left shaken at the kind of person she really is.
- Broken Tears:
- Luz sheds these after seeing the memory photo, and Amity after Luz breaks up with her.
- Lilith also cries when she realizes Eda sees her as a threat to the girls.
- Call-Back:
- Jerbo is currently on the family ski trip first predicted in "Here Comes the Tutor".
- Skara brings up the hate tag Boscha had her make in the same chapter.
- A devastating one is made to "Heart to Heart"; hearing Amity say she wants to die causes Edric and Emira to realize how she feels after Luz breaks up with her probably would've been how she'd have gotten if they succeeded in stealing her diary and posting the pages all over school.
- Odalia mentions Amity's muggings, her burning her memories, putting her in counseling and Lilith blackmailing Odalia so she could keep seeing Luz while chastising her ex. She also mentions Eda stopping Amity from hunting down her muggers in "The Conjuring Conflict".
- Eda's reaction to finding out Luz's condition causes her to realize why she was being secretive during Grom.
- The Forest of Fear, previously mentioned by the Bat Queen in "Mischief Gathering", appears at the end of the chapter.
- Calling the Old Woman Out: Amity is disgusted that Lilith had the nerve to tell Luz she can't be a witch, and even more so upon learning the everlasting oath is no longer preventing her from telling Luz the truth.
- The Cameo:
- Kitsuni is shown at her workplace when Anu Bist arrives to talk to the Order.
- Snope is shown to have slept through the drama at Hexside, even being unaware neither of his students are in school.
- Puck appears near the very end with the Slitherbeast, knowing everything that's happened.
- Cassandra Truth:
- King tries to warn Luz that Amity is working with Lilith, but Luz thinks he's lying because he's still jealous she's spending more time with Amity than him now.
- Julia's attempts to tell Nicole who was truly behind Boscha's injury falls on deaf ears as Nicole believes she's just being lenient with Luz.
- Character Development: Odalia makes it known to Lilith that she was never there for Amity when she needed her but is trying to become a better parent, putting her happiness forward after hearing she just got dumped.
- Cliffhanger: The Inner Demon has returned and after seeing her bracelet can no longer suppress her alternate form, Luz runs away... and ends up in the Forest of Fear.
- Cooldown Hug: Upon seeing Amity at school, Luz pulls her into a hug to forget what King told her the previous night.
- Crocodile Tears: Dolly pulls these so Boscha would take the fall for violating Amity's privacy and slandering Luz. Ms. Traveler namedrops this as she sees right through them.
- Death Glare: Bump shoots one after catching Boscha red-handed, then to Nicole when she has the nerve to beg him not to expel Boscha.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Despite releasing Amity from the everlasting oath, Lilith never bothered to tell her she did, meaning she's been keeping their agreement secret from Luz for longer than she believed. This ends up costing them both so much.
- Boscha was so obsessed with getting revenge, she actually thought she could get away with ignoring the fact that she commited breaking and entering, invasion of privacy, and slander. It just goes to show how much Nicole has influenced her and it bites her in the ass 'hard, as everyone, including Skara, heard the audio over the P.A. system and with Hexside's authority becoming stricter, Principal Bump wouldn't let her off the hook for pulling that stunt.
- Tyler went along with Boscha's scheme without questioning it, which results in him being punished as well.
- The Dog Bites Back: Skara blows up at Boscha after she destroys Luz and Amity's relationship, having put up with her longer than anyone else in school and thus having the right to chew her out.
- Downer Ending: Luz dumps Amity after learning about her spy status sending the latter into depression; Boscha loses any chance she had left at making amends with her former friends; Lilith is disowned by Eda and the Blights. And that's not even going into the Cliffhanger...
- The Dreaded: Julia/Mary is implied to be this to the Order, or at least to those who've heard of her.
- Drop-In Character: Downplayed. Luz stays over at the Park's house from time to time, but she texts Willow so she has time to tell her dads and get prepared.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: At the end of the day, Boscha can't see that her attitude and actions are the very reason why all her friends stopped hanging out with her and why they chose to be friends with Luz and Willow, not even when she gets punished for her stunt.
- Foreshadowing: After being chewed out by Skara and her officially ending their friendship, Boscha's described to be feeling her heart breaking.
- A Friend in Need: With how Amity ends up, Willow agrees to help the twins escort her home per her request.
- The Ghost:
- Oberon is mentioned by Anu Bist and Kitsuni.
- Jerbo is absent from school, having gone on the fated ski trip with his family.
- Hypocrite: Boscha claims Amity is one for lying to everyone, including Luz. Skara rightfully calls Boscha out on this, calling her a hypocrite for pretending that she never lies when it suits her.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Boscha uses this to justify her stunt, saying Amity had it coming for leading Luz on. Skara, Principal Bump and Ms. Traveler don't even consider buying it.
- I Have No Son!: Sibling variant. Once Eda gets the truth from Lilith, she declares Lilith's no longer her family.
- Immediate Sequel: The chapter starts on the entirety of Amity's conversation with Lilith.
- In Spite of a Nail: Amity and Lilith's relationship is officially strained due to the latter acting behind the former's back.
- Internal Reveal:
- Amity learns that Lilith released her from the everlasting oath.
- Kitsuni is told of Oberon's connection to Puck.
- Luz and the entirety of Hexside learns of Amity's deal with Lilith thanks to Boscha and Dolly. Eda and Odalia learn about it (along with Lilith's knowing of Amity's revealing the truth behind her incidents) from Lilith and Amity, respectively.
- Willow learns Lilith is Amity's godmother and has been staying at Blight Manor.
- Luz discovers Eda's curse is getting worse, Lilith's warning about Belos wanting her and the option of sending her to the Human Realm: in turn, Eda, King and Hooty discover Luz's condition due to her stress making concealing it too much for her bracelet to handle.
- Karma Houdini: Despite her daughter being punished for her actions, Nicole receives no comeuppance for her hand in Boscha's scheme.
- Kick the Dog: Luz, Amity and Lilith are subjected to this.
- Kids Are Cruel: Boscha and Dolly are at their worst here, both having been influenced by another (Nicole and the Inner Demon, respectively) to team up and hurt Luz and Amity.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- For exposing Amity's secret to Luz in public, Boscha loses whatever hope she had of winning back Skara and her friends, gets suspended from school for a week, removed from the grudgby team, prohibited from playing sports on school grounds and is to be placed in the detention track once she returns.
- Dolly is also to be punished for orchestrating the entire thing to begin with and gets a broken nose from Boscha for trying to pin all the blame on her.
- Lilith is disowned by Amity, Eda and Odalia as family because of all her secrets, to the point that Odalia kicks her out of the manor and threatens her to never return.
- For exposing Amity's secret to Luz in public, Boscha loses whatever hope she had of winning back Skara and her friends, gets suspended from school for a week, removed from the grudgby team, prohibited from playing sports on school grounds and is to be placed in the detention track once she returns.
- Liar Revealed: Amity and Lilith, in the worst ways possible. Boscha also tries to invoke this on Luz.
- Like a Daughter to Me: Having genuinely enjoyed the extra time she's spent with Amity, Lilith has come to see her like her own child. Odalia calls her out on this.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Luz is confirmed to be Amity's: as soon as Luz dumps her and disappears, Amity shuts down and begs to be killed.
- Locked Out of the Loop:
- Anu Bist learns he's not the only one who doesn't know the truth about Puck and Oberon: Kitsuni also had no clue.
- Tyler had no clue what Boscha and Dolly were planning at all. It isn't enough to stop him from receiving punishment.
- Malicious Slander: As part of her plan, Boscha prints up fliers detailing the things humans did to witches in the past (actually, it's just about witch hunts) to turn everyone against Luz.
- Mama Bear: Eda may have gone into this, but the reward for "Best Mom" in this chapter goes to Odalia, who really lays into Lilith for using Amity at her most vulnerable.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Parodied. Dolly sells out Boscha so she'll take all the blame for their stunt. It fails.
- Nasal Trauma: Boscha punches Dolly so hard, she breaks the Oracle's nose.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lilith's keeping secrets results in her closest loved ones turning her away for good.
- Not Helping Your Case: Lilith can't stop stepping into this territory.
- After revealing to Amity she undid the oath, she says she hoped that Amity would still keep their agreement secret, but if she did ever tell Luz, she didn't want to risk a repeat of the damaged memories fiasco. Amity points out how neglecting to tell her at all meant Lilith left her under the impression that she couldn't physically say anything.
- She tells Eda she was looking out for Amity after discovering she was mugged, but Eda points out how sleazy it was to have her keep spying on her and her kid regardless of her trauma and that both Amity and Luz will get hurt as a result.
- Finally, she tells Odalia she treated Amity better than Odalia had because of how starved she was for affection and positive reinforcement plus she was more comfortable opening up to her. This gets a rise out of Odalia, who tells Lilith that she's still Amity's mother and is putting her best interests first now.
- Oh, Crap!: Lilith's reaction to repeatedly getting confronted for her secrets, Amity's as she realizes Boscha's plan, Boscha's when she's given her punishment, and Luz's when she transforms in front of her family.
- Only Sane Man: With Gus too angry at Amity to listen to her, Willow has to keep him at bay wanting to hear her side of the story and sending him off to class so she can talk to her.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- As soon as they hear King trying to convince them Amity's a spy, Luz and Eda stop smiling for the rest of the chapter as they each receive confirmation on the matter the next day and become angered that it happened (albeit with different people).
- Skara, of all people. After seeing Boscha call Amity a hypocrite who'll do anything for power, she rips into Boscha by saying she's a bigger hypocrite by lying about her motives for exposing liars.
- Like Skara, Gus also breaks from his usual happy self and becomes consumed by anger after learning Amity had been lying to Luz, refusing to hear her out.
- Even Odalia falls into this. After learning everything from Amity, she bans Lilith from ever returning to Blight Manor and coming anywhere near Amity ever again.
- Pet the Dog:
- After comforting Amity, Willow agrees to help the twins (who're just as concerned for their sister) escort her home.
- Skara, Amelia, Cat, Bo and Simon help Viney and Barcus take down all the posters slandering Luz.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Amity does her best to try and explain everything to Luz, but she's too angered to let her speak and runs off.
- Precision F-Strike: Skara unloads one on Boscha before declaring she wants nothing more to do with her. Then Luz after falling in the forest. And Odalia to Lilith after she questions her.
- Psychotic Smirk: Nicole seems to give one as she declares Hieron women always get even.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Boscha slanders Luz and gets her to dump Amity, but it costs her Skara's friendship and the rest of her friends' respect, she's punished with suspension and is barred from playing sports on school grounds.
- Rage Against the Mentor: Amity is seriously TO'd when she hears Lilith's been lying to her about the oath still being intact and that she told Luz she'll never be a witch. As a result, she severs her ties with Lilith and walks away from her.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Eda doesn't blame Amity for doing Lilith's dirty work as she's a child who wanted validation and truly cares about Luz. Odalia also blames Lilith for using Amity in her fragile state to her advantage.
- Principal Bump tells Nicole that he had the grudgby field checked for tampering and that if Luz had done anything, they would've found out already. He also tells Boscha that even without Ms. Traveler's anti-bullying policies, her status as grudgby captain wouldn't help her escape punishment.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Lilith gets three: first Amity chews her out for never telling her she revoked the everlasting oath and crushing Luz's dream, then Eda grills her for using Amity to spy on her knowing that it'll break Luz's heart, and finally Odalia roasts her for the same reasons as Eda, but adds that she didn't tell her about any of the incidents that led to Amity's unwilling attempted murder and admitting she respects Eda more than her now.
- Skara gives one to Boscha for trying to be high and mighty about Amity lying to Luz when she lies to herself about being the better person.
- Relationship Sabotage: Once more, Boscha and Nicole revealing Amity's deal with Lilith results in Luz dumping the youngest Blight.
- The Reveal:
- Luz knows the truth behind King's origins.
- The Inner Demon is Dolly's master and he no longer wants to feed on just Amity's misery, but Luz and Boscha's, too.
- Second-Act Breakup: Thanks to the Heirons revealing Amity's deal with Lilith, Luz and Amity's relationship is sunk.
- Sequel Hook: Lilith asks Hooty to tell Eda she will be back to capture her.
- Shipping Torpedo: After being egged on by Nicole and Dolly along with her own blind rage, Boscha nukes Luz and Amity's relationship and it costs all three girls everything.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Gus vanishes after Willow sends him off to class while Willow, Edric and Emira disappear after they take Amity home.
- Shout-Out:
- Lilith saying that everything she did was for her family mirrors Stan's own speech in the Gravity Falls episode, "Not What He Seems". Unlike Mabel with Stan, Eda doesn't give Lilith a chance.
- Before attacking Dolly, Boscha shouts "Why, you little-!"
- Slept Through the Apocalypse: Professor Snope slept through the entire morning, so he ends up missing all the drama.
- Stunned Silence: Lilith goes into this after Odalia tells her off for hurting her daughter while Boscha goes into this after receiving her punishment.
- Suddenly Shouting: Because Eda distracts Luz by having her bid for the last demon hot wing against Hooty, King has to shout to get them to hear what he has to say.King: There's something you guys need to know...Eda: Hey look, the last wing! I'll let you guys bid for it.Luz: I bid 4 snails!King: Guys, you need to listen-Hooty: (wakes up) The last wing? I'll take it for 6 snails!Luz: (hold up a hangar) I'll give ya 8 snails and this earring!Hooty: 10 snails!King: AMITY IS LILITH'S SPY!
- Take That!: Hooty asking to support The Owl House getting new seasons in the opening statements is abruptly halted because he learns the show was Cut Short, calling it "a punch in the gut."
- There Was a Door: Luz apparently has a habit of entering the Park residence through Willow's bedroom window (which, as seen in "Escaping Expulsion, is on the second floor), so much so that Sully tells Willow to just leave her window open when she asks if Luz can spend the night.
- Title Drop: Puck mentions the chapter title after learning (possibly witnessing) everything that's happened.
- Villain Episode: The chapter focuses on Boscha's actions and Lilith facing the repercussions of her own.
- Villain Reveals the Secret: Boscha ultimately reveals Amity's spy status to Luz, with the whole school hearing it too.
- Wham Episode: Luz and Amity break up after Luz learns of Amity spying on her, Lilith is told off for her actions and barred from ever showing her face to Eda or the Blights again, Boscha loses her track and captain status along with any hope of Skara forgiving her, the Inner Demon is revealed to be Dolly's master and after learning everything Eda was keeping from her, Luz begins transforming in front of her and runs away.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After Amity gets dumped by Luz and goes into despair believing she deserved it, Willow tells her that Lilith and Boscha are to blame for the fallout and unlike them, she's trying to learn from her mistakes.
