"Worry not, Kikimora. We're gonna help you... by kidnapping you and Raine!"
— Luz
Original air date: 3/19/2022 (produced in 2021)
Production code: 211
In the aftermath of her trip home, Luz and her friends take on daring rescue missions during the Coven Day parade.
Tropes:
- Affectionate Nickname: Amity has been trying to learn Spanish from a cook book she got from Gus, and refers to Luz as her "batata" (sweet potato). Luz finds the gesture sweet, and starts referring to Amity the same way.
- All for Nothing: Three times but with different characters:
- For Kikimora, she gives up her only chance to see her family to get a "promotion", and when she got that, her reward is to stay alive longer, not a promotion and minions as she hoped.
- For Luz, she tries to help Kikimora by trying to send her home so she could give her mother a reason to stay in the Boiling Isles, only for the latter to betray her in pursuit of the aforementioned promotion.
- For Eda, she wants to save Raine from the Emperor's Coven's clutches, or at the least find out what happened to them after the capture, only for the latter to attack her because they were brainwashed by Terra. Raine forces Eda to leave them, pressing the glyph into her hands.
- Anti-Climactic Unmasking: Having earlier speculated as to what was beneath Belos' mask, Gus and Willow react to his unmasking with an unimpressed "Meh".
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: At one point, coven guards are chasing Hooty in the Belos costume before an explosion goes off and they proceed to run from Hooty's Belos impersonation.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Luz's speech during her staged kidnapping of Kikimora is less than convincing, leading Kikimora to roll her eyes and Amity to figure out that Luz is present and Face Palm. Turns out it was a good thing her performance was horrible, or Amity wouldn't have been able to notice Luz and save her from trouble.
- Batman Gambit: After arriving in the back alley Terra knows Kikimora is present but not exactly where she is due to Luz's invisibility spell, so she baits Kikimora into giving away their position by saying she's in-line for a big promotion, causing Kiki to gasp in excitement and Luz to knock over a bottle. While pretending not to have noticed, Terra then attempts to kill them on the spot with a sharpened vine.
- Battle Couple: Amity and Luz work together fairly well when fighting Kikimora and her dragon.
- Big Damn Heroes: Amity shows up to rescue Luz and Kikimora from Terra.
- Big "WHAT?!": Eda, King, and Kikimora all shout this when Luz announces her plan to kidnap the latter and Raine.
- Bittersweet Ending: Eda fails to figure out what happened to Raine, but realizes that Raine is Not Themself. She's obviously worried about her ex, and commits to finding out what Kikimora did to them. While Luz fails to get through to Kikimora, she does open up to Amity about the promise to leave the Boiling Isles forever; offscreen, Amity offers to help her "sweet potato" cross that bridge (Kikimora also regrets her Heel–Face Door-Slam after realising she was lied to about her promotion, but is seemingly Trapped in Villainy for now). They're disturbed when Terra reveals that the Emperor wants Luz alive for a future meeting, and talks about the Day of Unity. Eda says, however, that they don't know what is going to happen, so they'll take it as it goes. The Day of Unity that Belos has been preparing for will occur in a month and it seems that most of the Boiling Isles are all too happy to have it happen.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: When Luz is making her video, Hooty has his skin off and is apparently washing it like it was a piece of clothing, leaving his skeleton exposed with no apparent negative effects.
- Blank Stare: While Luz and Amity banter with each other while "kidnapping" her, Kikimora sports a mildly incredulous expression.
- Brick Joke: Gus and Willow are shown discussing what might be under Belos' mask at the beginning of the episode. When he finally takes it off during his speech at the end, they're both unimpressed.
- Buffy Speak: Amity can't remember how to pronounce the word "phone" when talking to Willow, so she ends up just calling it a "thingy" instead.
- Call-Back:
- Just like at the beginning of the season, Luz is making a vlog for her mother.
- Eda has an audio recording of her and Raine's duet, which she uses to try to make them remember the events of "Eda's Requiem".
- The Cameo:
- Boscha and Principal Bump have an appearance during the video Luz is making for her mother.
- The Keeper of the Looking Glass Ruins is on the Illusion Coven's parade float.
- Lilith and Gwen are briefly seen watching Belos's announcement. Gavin and Angmar from "Through the Looking Glass Ruins" are also shown watching in the crowd.
- The Caper: Kikimora's Faked Kidnapping is an elaborate one planned by Luz. Luz goes over the plan: They have to stage an accident that will prompt Kikimora to send guards to investigate. Then using smokescreens, Luz in disguise would swoop in and secure Kiki. Unsurprisingly, the whole plan goes sideways when Terra is encountered, but fortunately, Amity came in clutch for Luz. Then Kikimora decides not to go to her family reunion and double-crosses Luz for the supposed promotion Belos would be giving her.
- Cerebus Call-Back: Eda’s crack about turning Camila into an obedient slave becomes a bit darker after the reveal that Raine has essentially been brainwashed into being totally obedient to the Emperor.
- Chekhov's Gag: King plays an audio recording of Eda's Requiem from the episode by the same name when Luz is reading Raine's dossier. It's a funny Left the Background Music On gag at the time, but then Eda later uses the same recording to try jogging Raine's memories while fighting them.
- Coat Full of Contraband: King buys some illegal fireworks off of Edric for the plan to rescue Raine.
- Combination Attack: When fighting Kiki and her dragon, Luz puts an ice glyph on Amity's Abomination gauntlet, which Amity then fires at Kiki, effectively creating an ice missile. They also create a smokescreen by having Amity melt one of Luz's ice walls with her fire spell.
- Continuity Nod:
- The photo of young Raine and Eda is the same one from Eda's photo album in "Wing It Like Witches".
- Hexside finally has a new detention pit after Luz and Gus destroyed the old one back in "Something Ventured, Someone Framed".
- Gus mentions how Luz saw Belos up close in the Season 1 finale when asking what he looks like under the mask. He also asks if Luz's mother knows about high fives.
- King is still making bread puns.
- Kikimora's family lives in Palm Stings, which was one of the places Gwendolyn went while being scammed by Wortlop.
- Eda says they shouldn't help Kikimora because she almost turned her to stone, attacked Luz in Latissa, and didn't care when Amity was thrown down a pit.
- Luz says "Aaand, scoop!" while "kidnapping" Kikimora.
- Amity says she's helping Luz because she doesn't want her girlfriend thrown in the conformitorium again. She was also able to pick up on Luz's plan because it came from book 5 of The Good Witch Azura, the same one that marked the beginning of their friendship in "Lost in Language".
- The "Porta-Hooty" pack returns.
- Kikimora's dragon also returns, having last appeared in "Hunting Palismen", with Luz explaining that Principal Bump had been caring for her.
- Kikimora refers to Amity as "the little fire starter from Eclipse Lake" before attacking her and Luz.
- Cool Board: Amity's Abomination powers have evolved into being able to create a skateboard for her and Luz to ride on.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Luz is seen covering King's ears (or at least wherever she thinks they should be) as Eda's Curse Cut Short approaches.
- Curse Cut Short: When Eda wants to express her contempt for the Coven Day parade by calling it "a fancy way to kiss the Emperor's ass", a disapproving look from Luz and her covering King's ears reminds her that it's not appropriate to curse that way within earshot of her eight year-old adoptive son, so she stops herself before saying "ass" and uses the euphemism "whatever" instead.
- Didn't Think This Through: Played for Laughs. It's not until after Hooty and King set off illegal fireworks badmouthing the Emperor to draw the guards' attention that they realize they hadn't planned their escape. Thankfully, Hooty has it covered.
- Disproportionate Retribution: After Luz ignites her light orb, Boscha bumps into her, and the glyph accidently hurts Boscha's eyes, Boscha harshly threatens to burn out Luz's eyes if she ever does that again and sets a fire spell on her.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Discussed; when the teens are speculating why Belos wears a mask at all times, Gus guesses that Belos is actually very handsome but stays masked because people keep getting distracted by his good looks.
- Easily Forgiven: Discussed, possibly averted. After Amity comes to Willow for advice about how to approach Luz about her potential lying, Willow agrees to help her in exchange for braiding her hair like when they were kids. When Amity happily says she's glad they can do things like this again, Willow looks down, implying that she hasn't completely forgotten the years of bullying.
- Everyone Has Standards: Luz gave Eda a Death Glare as Eda was about to swear in front of King, who is still a child.
- Evolving Credits: The ending credits have been altered, incorporating the following changes: Willow and Amity's new hairstyles (and the latter holding hands with Luz), Eda and King's new abilities, Camila and Vee in the Human Realm, an image of Raine being held prisoner by Terra's vines, and our heroes looking at the skull of the Titan.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: After asking Amity to braid her hair, the end of the episode shows Willow rocking two braided pigtails with a few streaks of light pale green dyed into her bangs and the side. And based on the end credits, she's keeping it that way.
- Eye Scream: While filming her video, Luz ignites a light glyph. Boscha happens to bump into her with the light shining right in her eyes, prompting the witch to furiously threaten to burn out Luz's eyes with a fire spell if she ever does that again and retaliates by trying to set Luz on fire.
- Facepalm: Amity reacts this way in response to Luz's Bad "Bad Acting" while "kidnapping" Kikimora.
- Faked Kidnapping: Luz tries to help Kikimora out by staging a kidnapping, so Kikimora can go to her family reunion and give her enough plausible deniability so no one would suspect her of shirking her duties. Unfortunately, Terra knew something was wrong and lures Kikimora into changing her mind with the false promise of a promotion.
- Family Versus Career: Kikimora is shown in this position, with her mother calling her to insist she visit. Kiki is torn between her sense of duty and wanting her mother's approval, but ultimately chooses to stay and try to capture Luz so she can get the "promotion" Terra spoke of. However, it's revealed to be All for Nothing since Kikimora's "promotion" is that she'll live.
- The Farmer and the Viper: After everything Luz and the others do for Kikimora, the moment a promotion is offered she is quick to stab them in the back, completely forgetting about visiting her family in favor of kissing up to Belos and capturing Luz and Amity to do it. In the end, Kiki is uneasy after she's told her promotion is being allowed to live.
- Faux Affably Evil: Terra seems sweet at first, but it's implied that she’s part of the reason Raine can't remember what actually happened, and she implicitly tells Kiki that she would have been killed if she failed her test, and seems genuinely disappointed that she didn't get to finish her off.
- Fighting from the Inside: A brainwashed Raine suffers bad headaches, and they give Eda multiple chances to leave when the latter asks them what happened after they were captured. Eda realizes that something terrible must have happened to Raine.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: We finally see the invisibility glyph combo in this episode.
- Foreshadowing:
- Willow has a Flyer Derby poster prominently displayed on her wall, along with news clippings about the sport.
- Included in Eda's file on Raine is a newspaper clipping with a photo of a blue ribbon.
- Terra's comment about Belos looking forward to meeting Luz (omitting "again") makes a lot more sense in light of "Elsewhere and Elsewhen" and "Hollow Mind".
- Give Me a Reason: Terra makes it very clear that she was hoping Kikimora would try to go through with leaving so Terra would have an excuse to kill her.
- Given Name Reveal: The Plant Coven Head's name is revealed to be Terra Snapdragon.
- A God Am I: While rampaging in the giant Belos float decoration to create a distraction for Eda and Luz, Hooty lets the power of (badly) impersonating Belos go to his head just a little:Hooty: Law is meaningless! Stealing is legal now! I AM YOUR GOD!
- Green Thumb: As you would expect from the leader of the Plant Coven, Terra has phenomonal plant-controlling magic under her command.
- Holding Hands: Luz and Amity are now comfortable enough in their relationship that neither they nor the show draw attention to any of the multiple times in the episode that one of them takes the other's hand to show affection.
- Homage: In an in-universe example, Luz modeled her Faked Kidnapping plot after her favorite chapter from book 5 of The Good Witch Azura.
- I Have No Son!: Kikimora's mother implicitly threatens to disown her if she doesn't attend the family reunion.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Eda gives this to Raine to convince them to remember what they did together and that she's here for them. It doesn't seem to work, but Raine does allow her to walk away.
- I Think You Broke Him: Eda comments how King broke Luz after him telling her about Raine causes a Cuteness Overload.
- Internal Homage: Amity accidentally spooking Luz before helping her up is framed as a role reversal from what happened back in "Wing it Like Witches" after she told Luz about her history with grudgby.
- Internal Reveal:
- Luz learns of Eda's past relationship with Raine.
- An Exploited Trope. The general public of the Isles and the heroes see what Belos looks like under the mask, shown to audiences two episodes prior, for the first time. Eda states Belos did this to distract them from the ominous implications of his Day of Unity speech.
- Luz tells Amity about her trip home in the previous episode. Eda and King also know.
- Intimate Hair Brushing: Willow asks Amity to braid her hair like she did when they were kids in exchange for advice on whether or not she should look at the video on Luz's phone. She's shown with the new hairstyle at the end of the episode.
- Irony: After the distraction works like a charm and Luz, Kikimora, Eda, and Raine manage to slip away, King and Hooty realize they hadn't planned on how they'd slip away. However, King and Hooty have a grand old time running circles around the guards and end the adventure on a cheerful note, while the rest of the gang have a miserable time and end the episode discouraged.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Kiki shows that despite the pitiful position she's currently in, it's ultimately exactly where she wants to be, proving to be an Ungrateful Bitch by trying to capture Luz in spite of Luz saving her life. In the end, Kiki only cares about herself and her ambitions.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Averted. While Luz tries to keep the fact she went home in the previous episode a secret, Amity finds out anyway. This leads to Luz telling Amity about what happened after Amity says that she can't help Luz if they don't talk it out.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Terra is keeping Raine drugged with a plant that keeps them from remembering the last month, keeping their rebellious tendencies in check.
- Learnt English from Watching Television: Amity has started to learn Spanish from a cook book that Gus gave her, leading to her giving Luz the Affectionate Nickname "batata" (sweet potato).
- Left the Background Music On: When Luz is gushing over how romantic Eda and Raine's past is, their duet from "Eda's Requiem" can be heard in the background, only for it to turn out that it's actually being played by King on a tape recorder.
- Liar Revealed: Subverted; despite the ending of the previous episode implying otherwise, Luz did decide to tell Eda and King about her promise to her mom at some point between that episode and this one. While she does initially try to hide the truth from Amity, she decides to come clean with her as well after Amity calmly and respectfully confronts her about it.
- Luminescent Blush:
- As to be expected from these two, both Luz and Amity blush around each other with their girlfriend banter in the beginning of the episode.
- Eda blushes deeply when King reveals that he had been reading her diary entries about Raine. She does it again when denying the romantic element in getting to talk to them.
- Meaningful Echo: When Amity gets Luz to open up about what happened with her mom in the previous episode, she states that she's "fine with taking things one day at a time". At the end of the episode after Belos has given his speech, Amity is frantically questioning what's going to happen next, and Luz admits she doesn't know, but that they (meaning the whole protagonist group) will "take things one day at a time."
- Moment Killer: Luz having a tender moment with Amity is interrupted by Amity herself asking Luz if she's used the Titan's Blood. Luz is caught off guard, and it was so embarrassing she didn’t know what to say because in her mind, the promise she made to her mother means she might never see Amity again, or even Gus or Willow.
- Morton's Fork: Kikimora finds out in the end that her "promotion" was a Secret Test of Character and loyalty. If she had fled to reunite with her family, Terra would have tracked her down and killed her, leading to her family disowning her when she inevitably wouldn't have appeared for the reunion. Kikimora choosing to stay in Boneborough means that she's disowned anyway.
- Never My Fault: Boscha threatens to light Luz's eyes on fire for shining a light spell in her eyes and tries to burn her in retaliation, but that only happened to Boscha because she didn't watch where she was going.
- No, You: A heartwarming variant occurs when, after Amity calls Luz a "batata" (sweet potato), Luz responds to this by saying "You're the sweet potato!".
- Not Helping Your Case: Luz starts the episode making a video to try and make her mother reconsider letting her stay in the Isles, but the results are far from desirable and she knows it.
- Oh, Crap!: Luz is completely blindsided by Kikimora turning on her and Amity for the sake of a promotion. Amity, conversely, sports a Death Glare.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Apparently, Amity never visits Willow—on her own volition for that matter. When she does, Willow instantly knew it had to be serious. Amity's reason concerned Luz's recent behavior.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Eda realizes that something must have happened to Raine because Raine says that they haven't seen each other in years, and "I serve the Emperor." Just a month ago, Raine was leading a resistance against Belos. She can't probe further, however, and Raine forces her to leave for her own safety.
- Pet the Dog: Although completely brainwashed by the Emperor's Coven, Raine still allows Eda to escape as the Coven guards close in, for the sake of their history. They also warn Eda that coming this close again will endanger her.
- Plant Hair: Terra has leaves instead of hair.
- Poor Communication Kills: Despite setting up all the pieces for a classic display of the trope, the episode actually averts it. Amity realizes that Luz is hiding something from her but instead of jumping to conclusions or finding out what in a way that makes things worse, she goes to speak to Luz about it in a very respectful and understanding manner, which leads to Luz opening up about what happened with her mom.
- Post-Kiss Catatonia: After Luz kisses her on the cheek, Amity is left completely red-faced and frozen in her sitting spot.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Terra stops Kiki's attack on Luz and Amity, not just because Belos needs Luz, but also because harming two kids could result in a riot.
- Psychological Projection: Luz is clearly projecting her own worries over being caught between the Boiling Isles and her mother back on Earth onto Kiki's situation with her own family, believing that if she can help the demon she'll be able to prove that she can make it work.
- The Reveal:
- The glyph combo for invisibility is finally shown on screen in a Freeze-Frame Bonus, containing one light glyph in the center, another on the top left, and two ice glyphs on the bottom corners.
- Luz already told Eda and King about the promise she made to her mother.
- According to the intel on Raine, they don't have a known palisman.
- Eda has a diary and King's been secretly reading it.
- Rewatch Bonus: Raine can be heard whistling when they blow on the tea that Terra gives them, which as "Them's The Breaks, Kid" reveals has allowed them to negate the effects right under Terras nose.
- Rocket Punch: After mixing her Abomination gauntlet with Luz's ice glyph, Amity fires multiple copies of the gauntlet at Kikimora's dragon.
- Secret Test of Character: Terra offered the olive branch of a promotion as a way to test Kikimora's loyalty. Her choosing to take it and attack Luz and Amity means she passes, much to Terra's disappointment.
- Self-Serving Memory: It's implied that Luz remembers (or rather, interprets) Camila making her promise to stay with her once she'd come home as a promise to never return to the Boiling Isles, since the dialogue in the flashback is different from the actual scene in the previous episode.
- Shipper on Deck: Luz instantly ships Eda and Raine once she learns about the two of them.
- Shoo the Dog: Raine forces Eda to leave them, out of respect for their relationship.
- Shout-Out: Raine's favorite movie is listed as Die Bard 2.
- Sigh of Love: After Luz kisses her on the cheek and is picked up by Eda, Amity lets one of these out.
- Stopped Reading Too Soon: King finds out about Raine from reading Eda's diary, but didn't know about them being captured because he didn't read that far.
- Super Gullible: Kikimora buys Terra's claim that she's been lined up for a big promotion, never considering the idea that Terra is just making it up to lure Kiki back into the fold. Even when Amity points out it sounds too good to be true, Kikimora declares that's a risk she's willing to take.
- Suspiciously Specific Tense: Terra tells Luz after rescuing her and Amity that Belos is looking forward to meeting her, suspiciously omitting "again" as if they hadn't met in the season 1 finale. Amity points this out at the end of the episode, and Luz is as baffled as she is.
- Taking It Well:
- Luz tells King and Eda about the promise to stay on Earth. They are more chipper than she is about it; King says that Dr. Noceda may still change her mind, and Eda says that she's good at persuading people. Helping matters is that Luz wants to introduce her families.
- Amity also seems calm about the promise after Luz tells her. Then again, she knows exactly how Luz feels, being torn between her parents and her love.
- Total Eclipse of the Plot: Belos explains at the end of the episode that the Day of Unity will take place during a solar eclipse.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Even though Luz provided Kikimora a way to see her family that wouldn't make it look like she was shirking her duties, Kiki tries to capture Luz anyway so she can get the "promotion" that Kiki heard Terra mention.
- Unreliable Narrator: When Luz flashes back to her last conversation with Camila, the dialog is slightly different from the original. In the previous episode, Camila made Luz promise to "stay here," which technically wouldn't rule out occasional visits to the demon realm (Eda and King seem convinced she can be talked into such an agreement). In Luz's version of events, Camila says "stay with me and never go back to that place," showing that Luz has interpreted the promise in the strictest possible way.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The plan is clearly detailed before it happens. Naturally, things don't go as planned thanks to Terra intervening.
- Villainous Rescue: Terra rescues Luz and Amity from Kiki, as Belos wants Luz alive for a later meeting he has planned, and doesn't want to risk Kiki starting a riot by hurting a pair of children.
- We Need a Distraction: Part of the plan to get Raine and Kikimora away from the parade involves King and Hooty operating a homemade float made in Emperor Belos' likeness to chase havoc.
- What You Are in the Dark: Amity has the chance to find out what's going on with Luz and the portal via watching the video Luz recorded for Camila on her phone, without Luz ever knowing that Amity watched it. But Amity ultimately decides against watching the video in favor of just talking to Luz. When Amity brings out Luz's phone, Amity makes it a point to say that she hasn't watched the video.
- Willfully Weak: During their fight, Eda quickly realizes that Raine is holding back and calls them out on it. Raine reluctantly starts putting up more of a fight after that.
- With Catlike Tread: After their parade float is surrounded by coven scouts, Hooty says that he and King will need to be "sneaky" in order to escape. He then proceeds to stretch the float into the air while waving it around like a hand puppet, making himself as big of a spectacle as humanly (well, demonically) possible.
