⁂NINEBAAL⁂

S2E15 THEM'S THE BREAKS, KID

Okay, really surprised at the direction they're going for with Darius, to be honest. It seems like he's in on the inner-Coven Head resistance, so maybe Eberwolf is too? I have to imagine this happened after Darius found out what happened with Raine.

In any case, this episode was cute. Not a ton of big revelations but having these kind of nice bouncy "filler" episodes is kind of what I wanted from this half of the season anyway. Principal Faust was a really entertaining villain for the front half and I like that ironically Terra has been sort of in a position of control over Eda and Raine for almost their entire lives at this point in a sort of mundane way.

Introducing the drink trick to use at the end there was also a really good sort of payoff that I wasn't expecting. Raine feels much more in control of their destiny than before, which is good to see. It kind of felt like they would have to be saved in some way but adding that particular nuance of how much is her acting and putting up a front to protect Eda and how much of it is mind control is actually a particularly interesting twist.

Lilith and Eda were so close in this episode too, I really liked how they highlighted their dynamic before showing how they're beginning to fall apart up to the Coven Trials. You can already see how Lilith feels inadequate and how she will become desperate later. The show didn't need to take it's time to do this, but it did and I think it really helped Lilith and Eda's characterization and made strong episodes even stronger.

Also, really cool that we're still getting new glyph combos, especially since it seems to be incomplete and bad versions of Belos' magic. Since Belos casts spheres, they probably need some sort of other power source to really work or the glyph combos just aren't completely there.

Also, that last shot of Eda and Raine talking with the view of the rosey window was so good. Borderline shoujo romance shit there. I expect that shot to get a lot of redraws in the future- it's so good. Kudos to whoever thought that storyboard up, it was a really clever shot to show the blossoming romance between the two.

S2E14 REACHING OUT

Pretty solid episode, although I kind of felt the underground brawls were a little uninspired for the most part- like I cannot remember any of the contestants or any cool moves. Maybe just wasn't in the budget for this season to do flashy but quick fight scenes.

Edric getting a lot of great development here. I really liked Eda and Edric's dynamic and it was a huge surprise for me in this episode. It makes me wonder what the follow up could be for those two, now that Eda seems keen to have him under her wing. Edric's tapping into other magic was also interesting but it also makes me wonder if Illusion coven really has a choice since their potential feels really tapped out and they have to kind of enhance it with either glyphs or other types of magic. We saw it with Gus' episode and we saw it here, so I wonder if it's meant to be more of a norm or if they wrote themselves into a corner with a weak coven. Warden Wrath also getting a lot of time in the spotlight was a plus too, he's always been a cool figure in the show although his outing here was more to highlight how much he's fallen.

Luz and Amity's plot felt weirdly incongruent unfortunately. I get what they were trying to do- keep Luz from thinking about her mom and dad on a special day, but it kind of felt more like writing to make events happen in the story and a lot of felt not super developed. The scene where Luz talks about her dad was really good, but I actually think the stronger two points are the cold open and the ending for this particular plot beat.

I kind of feel weirdly frustrated with how little we know about Amity's home life style after this point. We know Alador is kind of the nicer father figure, but we know that from his first appearance. I liked that Edric and Emira had that reveal about their real appearances, and I liked that Alador went in for a hug but Amity stopped him with a handshake. Like, how do Amity's parents feel about how little she's at home? There's still a lot of questions that you could probably reasonably answer but it feels too open for me to really feel comfortable about any answer since it's going to be informed by how serious people read into Amity.

Loved the "too close to Eda" line. Legit made me laugh out loud.

I think I'd rank this one below the the others we got in 2B, but still a very strong installment overall.

By the way, I don't think I buy the whole "The Day of Unity is uniting with the Titan" idea. That's not really what was shown in the earlier part of the season and it also doesn't really align with what we know about Belos so far. I saw a "Belos is the Titan" theory but again I still feel like the show is way too hard with beating that "Belos is a freaking colonizer" drum that the idea that it's the Boiling Islands titan enacting revenge on witches through the means often used in colonial efforts makes no goddamn sense thematically. I think that is what he is telling people because the two worlds merging concept is less appealing. That or there's remnants of the Titan on Earth, perhaps?

Either way, it's at complete odds with what we've been told is the Day of Unity before, so it's probably a tad bit more vague than it's really letting on. I don't think it's actually meant to clarify anything.

S2E13 ANY SPORT IN A STORM

So this was a pretty interesting episode. Not a lot of huge developments overall- I think the way they resolved the Azura author thread was kind of weak, obviously a bit intentionally and to be honest I had forgotten it until it had been brought up again, but I kind of wish there was a little more substance to it. It reinforces ideas about the characters but I wish it had challenged them. For a B/C-plot, and especially for a Lumity plot, it def felt on the weaker side.

Willow's episode unfortunately I feel got hijacked by Hunter and I think that's a shame to feel. She's been in this season so little and while there were some good moments with her and Hunter- using that half a witch line again was really good and I like that they're continuing to build Willow up into a brawns and brains character- I just kind of felt like the "it's been a rough year for Willow" line from Gus felt a little bit more telling than showing. Aside from changing tracks and getting crap from the teachers for it, it's been kind of a good year for Willow as far as I've been able to tell. It's not like we've really seen a lot of that stuff on screen and I was kind of hoping we would. Maybe people have their objections to this, but I was really hoping for more Willow but with time running out it seems like she'll be getting the short stick this season unfortunately.

It is actually a really good Hunter episode. I hesitate to say this is where the show is beginning to lift it's foot off the gas pedal for character and plot development- as this seems to be the beginning of the Hunter redemption arc and one that may come easier than thought given Darius is revealed to be a lot less devoted to the cause than one would have thought. There was always an air about him that kind of suggested he treated this much more of a day job than the others, but it comes through a lot here.

Also it was great to see Viney and Jerbo again! I think their friendship break up was kind of interesting, and while I doubt we'll be seeing much of Viney after this, it was nice to see her in a supporting role. Honestly a pretty packed cast this episode...

I don't think this episode delivered a ton of the main things I was hoping for, but I'm not going to say this was a bad episode- just one of the weaker ones of this season. I think it may have been too ambitious for it's own sake in some ways- having a episode subplot with an intentionally disappointing answer to a mystery is always going to just inherently drag down the plot a little, but I think Hunter's arc here was pretty strong, I just wish this episode did more for Willow.

Can't believe I forgot to mention this but Hunter's predecessor sure was a line, huh? I wonder if Darius is just saying there was someone else as the Golden Guard or if he was friends with an older clone/Grimwalker of Hunter. The line kind of leaves it open but it's just such a wild thing to casually drop.

S2E12 ELSEWHERE AND ELSEWHEN

This entire episode had me so giggidy. I swear it was written for me. I love time travel stories, I love Lilith, I have been Belos is human and a colonizer since day 1, I love the talk Eda had with her dad... like man, there was so many payoffs and new questions that really got me all excited and bubbly. I don't think I've ever had this amount of sheer delight in watching a new episode since Adventure Time.

Like where to even begin? I love Lilith's character progression so much- there's so much fun moments with her being Luz's cool aunt now and I fucking screamed in delight when she socked Phillip in the face. Like she was such a bad ass and a really fun character in this episode. Her geeking out was a delight and I'm glad Luz let her get in on her hyperfixation at the end, because I feel like if Luz wasn't so focused on Phillip she'd indulge with her. They have a really good back and forth in this episode. We got hints of it earlier in Season 2 but like it's really paying off here.

Phillip is such a interesting character too. I REALLY like where they went with him. People might interpret the ending as him deciding to be against all wild magic because of Luz and Lilith, but I don't think that was the intention of the scene- I think it was just another reason why he hated wild magic beyond the obvious toll on him. And yeah, if you haven't put together that Belos is Phillip yet, this is screaming that at you. The fact he's this much of a schemer and only does things for his own ends even at this point is so interesting and really colors everything we know about him so far from the Echo Mouse. Augh. The implications!

Eda's talk with her father was good. I think it could have been stronger but I think the moment still lands and I think the way it's been slowly built up to this point before kind of giving us a rapid fire b-plot of Eda reluctant to actually face him because it's one of the biggest people harmed by her curse was still well-done. I'm actually really interested to see what gets done with the seed. Farmer domestic Eda with Raine endgame? I'm down for that.

Just... everything about this episode, man. I think this is my favorite episode of Owl House yet, maybe just barely beat out by Agony of a Witch. I'm excited that we're finally getting around to the Collector who's been just a character teased at the margins- and we still don't get a ton of them yet, but I'm intrigued by what we were given here.

S2E11 FOLLIES AT THE COVEN DAY PARADE

I knew that Kikimora redemption wouldn't work out, but they had me fooled for a little bit. Surprised to see anything about Kikimora's background as minute as it is, but it really did develop her quite a bit. Wouldn't be surprised if she does turn actual heel later.

Raine and Eda's battle was so sad. You can really tell Eda was trying her best to bring Raine back to their senses but it just didn't work out. I can see people disliking this episode because it ends up being kind of a downer ending with nothing really working out, but for the start of the second half of the season it's great as it shows these characters still have goals and new foes.

Amity is such a good girlfriend, god. I like that she was able to intuit so much but knows that looking at the actual content of the phone would be a breach of Luz's privacy and they had so many good moments in this. I will never understand the hate this relationship has with a certain minority.

Also really underrated moment with Willow and Amity just interacting again. Willow has been sorely missing this season and while she doesn't get a lot here, I really like that there's been healing between Amity and Willow that feels complete at the moment. I wish we got more with them.

Hooty and King's story was really fun and creative, reminds me of some of the best Grunkle Stan stories from Gravity Falls.