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The Owl House, on Disney Channel
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Caution: spoilers!

Season One
A 14-year-old girl named Luz Noceda is supposed to be spending the summer at a camp, but instead she follows an owl that took her book, through a portal into the demon realm, to a place called the Boiling Isles. The owl, Owlbert, is actually the "palisman" of a witch named Edalyn "Eda" Clawthorne (Wendie Malick), otherwise known as "the Owl Lady". She lives in the Owl House, along with a cute little demon named King. (He calls himself the king of the demons, but there's no evidence to support that claim.) The owl house has a doorknocker that is an owl's head, named Hooty. It can't move except to stretch its neck to any length. It talks a lot and wants to be friends with everyone, but they all mostly find Hooty annoying. Eda makes a living by selling human items in a marketplace. The items are collected for her by Owlbert, but most of the time he's just a wooden figure attached to Eda's staff, which can be flown on (like a broom is used by witches in other mythologies). Also, Eda has a mysterious curse on her that turns her into a mindless owl beast unless she regularly takes an elixir to prevent the transformation (or change her back). Anyway, Eda is a "wild witch", which means she refused to join any coven or follow just one "track" of magic. This goes against the orders of Emperor Belos. Before he came into power, all witches used any kind of magic, but he told them that this was wrong. So now all witches have to choose a track and join the corresponding coven. Because she is considered a criminal, the emperor's guards are always always out looking for Eda, who doesn't try very hard to keep out of sight, but she still never gets caught. The Emperor assigns Eda's sister, Lilith, the head of his coven, to search for Eda and bring her in, but she always fails.

Luz moves into the owl house, and wants Eda to teach her magic, even though humans supposedly aren't able to use magic. Eda never really gets around to teaching her much, but Luz finds a way to cast some spells by drawing glyphs first. Luz and King soon become good friends, while Eda is more standoffish (though she does come to care about Luz). Luz also befriends a couple of witches in training named Willow Park (who's on the plant magic track) and Gus Porter (who's on the illusion magic track). They attend Hexside School of Magic and Demonics. There's also a clique of mean witches who disdain Luz, including a girl named Amity Blight (Mae Whitman), who's on the abomination magic track. But she eventually turns out not to be so bad, and a friendship slowly develops between Amity and Luz. In fact, there are indications throughout the season that Luz is bisexual and that Amity has a crush on her. (This drew some media attention before I started watching the series, and I got the idea that they kiss at some point, but that never happens in season one. I think Luz is still unaware of Amity's feelings for her.) Anyway, Luz is eventually granted the right to attend Hexside as a student, herself. But Luz, like Eda, doesn't want to choose just one track, or join any coven.

I hope I haven't forgotten any important plot points. There are some twists at the end of the season, which I don't want to spoil right now. But I suppose I'll have to reveal them whenever I get a chance to watch and review season two. Anyway, I find the whole show incredibly cute and funny and charming and I love it. I love all the characters, all the adventures, all the mystery, everything. It's all so surreal and clever and unique.

Season Two
Okay... I don't know how to explain all that happened at the end of season one, so I'll just get on with telling you what's different about season two. Eda has lost her magic, and also the portal to the human realm was destroyed. Belos wants to construct a new portal for himself, and Luz and her friends want to make one so Luz can return home. But that's going to take quite awhile. Meanwhile, Lilith had betrayed Belos at the end of last season, so now she's out of a job and living in the Owl House. She even becomes good friends with Hooty, who calls her Lulu. We also learned last season that Lilith was the one who cursed Eda, when they were kids, which she now regrets. She can't undo the curse, but she takes on half of it herself, so Eda isn't in as much danger of turning into the owl beast anymore. This weakens Lilith's own magic, so Luz begins teaching both Eda and Lilith how to use glyphs. Eventually Lilith leaves to stay with their mother.

This season, Lilith's old job is taken up by a mysterious member of the Emperor's Coven, called the Golden Guard. But we eventually learn more about him. (His name is Hunter, and he's the Emperor's nephew. And without his staff, he has no magic.) Also, he has a rivalry with another leader of the Emperor's guards, a small demon named Kikimora (who was also around in season one, but I didn't pay much attention to her, then). Also this season, King begins searching for answers about his past, before Eda took him in as a baby. Oh, and last season we had seen that someone was sending Luz's mother letters from camp in Luz's name. This season we find that once camp is over, a doppelganger of Luz is now living with her mother, Camila. And Luz learns that centuries ago, there was a human on the Boiling Isles named Philip Wittebane. She seeks to learn more about him to help recreate the portal. And Luz and Amity finally become a couple! We also meet a group called the Bards Against the Throne, led by a non-binary witch named Raine Whispers, who is an old friend (or romantic partner?) of Eda's. Raine helps Eda against her enemies, but is captured by Kikimora and will later be seen working for the Emperor, apparently having been brainwashed or something. And at one point Eda develops a new "harpy" form, halfway between herself and the owl beast. Eventually, Luz and her friends create a makeshift portal that takes Luz to a strange realm where she can touch these floating, glowing boxes to appear as a reflection in glass, back in her own realm. She learns about the doppelganger, and they become friends. She also finally gets to tell her mother the truth about where she's been all these months. But then she gets pulled back to the demon realm. Anyway, she may not yet be able to get back home in the flesh, but there's finally some hope.

So, that was the first 10 episodes of the season. Later we got another eleven episodes. Emperor Belos announces an upcoming "Day of Unity", which I don't know much about, but while most people think it's going to be a great thing, Luz and her friends know it can't possibly be good. And at one point, Luz travels through time and meets Philip Wittebane, but things don't go well between them. (I don't want to spoil exactly what happens.) And eventually, Luz and Hunter get trapped inside Belos's mind, where they learn more about the Day of Unity, as well as Hunter's past, which isn't what he thought. After Eda helps them escape to the real world, Hunter runs away, afraid of what Belos might do to him now that he knows the truth. Luz eventually learns that King is a titan. And we learn that Raine was pretending to be brainwashed, and is now part of a rebellion against Belos called Covens Against the Throne. They team up with Eda and everyone to try to stop the Day of Unity. Also, Luz carves an egg palisman for herself. And... I don't want to say too much more, but there's a character called the Collector whom I don't think I've mentioned before and in fact I don't know much about, but King convinces him to stop Belos's spell that was draining all the witches of their magic. And then Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus, and Hunter all get transported through Belos's portal to the human world.

Season Three
This is the final season, which only consists of three specials. And... I guess I don't want to spoil what happens in any of them. But the series has a pretty satisfying conclusion (even if I'd still love to see more stories set in this fictional universe someday).


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