THE OWL HOUSE “THANKS TO THEM” REVIEW

 

            Hey! Long time! Miss me? I’ve been undergoing some health issues that made it difficult to do, well, anything lately. I’m on the mend, but not completely better yet. But, enough about me—we’ve got pop culture to talk about!

Just a fun little show about a magic world, right? Right??

            The Owl House, created by Dana Terrace, is currently my favorite show on air right now. For those who’ve been sleeping under a rock, it’s about an ordinary teenaged girl named Luz Noceda (Sarah Nicole-Robles) who found herself taken to an alternate dimension full of magic, witches, demons and other assorted supernatural creatures. She decided to stay with the first witch she encountered, Eda Clawthorne aka The Owl Lady (Wendie Malick), and learn magic herself. While there she made new friends in plant-manipulating Willow (Tati Gabrielle) and illusion-casting Gus (Issac Ryan Brown), found love with abomination-making Amity (Mae Whitman), and became embroiled in a battle to save the world from the evil Emperor Belos (Matthew Rhys). I’m not gonna go deeper than that, but there will be some minor spoilers in the actual review so if you’d like to totally experience the show brand new, stop reading now, go load it up Disney+, and come on back when you’re done.

Promotional poster for season 2.

            Beyond the superficial storyline, the show digs deep and tackles issues such as fitting in, mental health, familial expectations, bigotry, loss… It’s like animated therapy. The series became immensely popular with fans to the point it’d be a trending topic on Twitter even when new episodes weren’t airing. And then Disney cancelled it. Let me explain: it was renewed for a second season early, and then for a third earlier still. But then COVID hit and shut down the parks, which is apparently what generates most of their money for projects, so they cut a lot of shows down. Additionally, Disney decided to change focus and move away from serialized storytelling—which The Owl House is—in favor of more episodic shows, so the show no longer “fit the brand” (although many maintain it’s because of the amount of LGBTQ+ representation found in the series). As a result, the third season got cut down to three 44-minute specials. Of course, after the first special got over 2 million views within the first week on YouTube, Disney came to realize their mistake a bit too late, but that’s where we are.

Season 3 promotional poster.

            So, we’ve gotten the first of the three specials titled “Thanks to Them.” We picked up right where the season finale left off with the Hexside gang trapped in the Human Realm and The Collector (Fryda Wolff), a cosmically-powered being with seemingly no limits, running rampant in the Demon Realm. Unfortunately, because of the diminished run time, we were denied the full adventures in the Human Realm we got treated to in the first half of season 3 of Amphibia (which had a similar plot element). Instead, they were relegated to a 6-minute montage spanning months that was expertly crafted and well done (and made us lament our loss further). Luz deals with her struggle to adhere to the promise she made her mother—to remain in the Human Realm once she got back—and the belief that she ruined all of her friends’ lives with her actions. Belos’ former right-hand man, Hunter (Zeno Robinson), also deals with his identity crisis and loss of purpose, and how his newfound family would react to learning what he really is. The other Hexsiders have their own mini adventures away from those two in trying to locate a possible way home.

Camilla realizing the Hexside kids have seen some stuff.

            The standout for the episode, however—the MVP, if you will—was Luz’s mother, Camilla (Elizabeth Grullon). We met her briefly in the pilot when she was sending Luz off to a normalization camp to tone down her imaginative ways (leading to her stumbling into the Demon Realm), and sporadically since. A lot of fans of the show weren’t happy with her because of the camp thing. They felt like it was saying she was ashamed of her daughter and wanted to change her; make her not herself. This episode adds a lot of context to that moment. A. LOT. And not only do we understand Camilla better, but we learn she’s not the person we were led to believe she was (a running theme in this show). Much like with Edith’s sister Lilith (Cissy Jones), who began as the first season’s antagonist, fans came around to absolutely loving this character.

"I'm coming out..."

            Overall, the episode was bittersweet. It was great because The Owl House crew has just been killing it with pacing and writing and acting and animation. It brings the laughs and all of the feels. But, it does mean we’re beginning the end. And we were cheated out of so, so much story potential that can now only be filled with fanfiction or Morning Mark’s excellent ongoing fan comic. If you haven’t checked out The Owl House yet, I recommend you do so. All of the episodes are currently up on Disney+, and new ones will air on The Disney Channel sometime in early 2023. I will say the first season, while good, is a bit uneven as they find their voice and do a lot of world building. But once you get halfway through that you see what the show is going to become. And, silver lining to the shortening, the crew was forced to step up their game to incorporate everything they wanted to accomplish with limited time, resulting in their killing it.

Post hoot action with Eden Riegel, Rebecca Rose, Zeno Robinson, John Bailey Owen, Sarah Nicole-Robles and Cissy Jones.

            Additionally, stars Jones and Robles, as well as YouTuber-turned-production associate Rebecca Rose, host an informal talk show called Post Hoot on Jones’ Instagram every so often. They talk to their co-stars, people who work behind the scenes, and even branch out into other programs occasionally. Give that a watch if you like that kind of stuff. They’re on Jones’ Instagram and older episodes are archived on Rebecca’s YouTube channel.

SHE-HULK EPISODE 7 REVIEW

 

            So, yeah, Jen has the worst luck with men. That’s just, like, an unfortunate truth at this point. If you hadn’t guessed by that vague statement, Josh (Trevor Salter), the dude from the wedding that seemed very much into Jen and not She-Hulk, ended up disappointing us all (although, honestly, he was suspect from the start). If you want to know how exactly, you’ll need to watch the episode.

Sharing is caring.

            Otherwise, this episode had a singular focus. Jen gets called up by Blonsky’s (Tim Roth) parole officer to accompany him to check out why Blonsky’s inhibitor stopped working. Jen gets stranded there and ends up experiencing what Blonsky’s little paradise has to offer; which allowed her to gain some introspective into herself and start to make some peace with the dichotomy of her existence. I can’t delve much deeper into that without spoiling everything that happens, because that’s all that happens. Which is a lot more entertaining than it sounds, believe me!

Blonsky's gang. But, y'know, not actually a gang. In case the parole board asks.

            We got introduced to a host of new characters, including Man-Bull (Nathan Hurd), El Aguila (Joseph Castillo-Midyett), Saracen (Terrence Clowe) and Porcupine (Jordan Aaron Ford). These guys provided the bulk of the episode’s humor, with their quirkiness and interactions with each other. While not as elaborately done as Ms. Marvel’s, it was fun to see the use of text messages in the episode. Also, the “No Service” gag got me laughing. Plus, episode/comic writer Zeb Wells obviously heard my complaint about the “Previously On” segment by throwing a gag about it in the episode. So, thank you, Zeb! (Obviously I’m kidding—these episodes were done long before I ever decided to start up this blog).

Existential dread.

            She-Hulk has a slowly progressing overlying plot that often gets overshadowed for some by the seemingly disconnected “days in the life of” approach the main stories seem to take. But each episode has been gradually laying pieces as the show chugs along to its finale, even if they aren’t immediately evident. It also has been continually subverting expectations, making it hard to predict what’s going to happen which is, frankly, refreshing. However, there is an odd mixed message as the show simultaneously tries to say that both parts of Jen matter while driving home the point that Shulkie is preferable to just Jen. A bit of a strange dichotomy there.

SHE-HULK EPISODE 5 REVIEW

            Finally! The moment you’ve all been waiting for!

A very good lawyer.

            …Is not in this episode. Sorry! BUT! The door for it to happen has been opened, so just wait and see.

Titania making that bank.

            Overall, this was a fun episode that saw Shulkie dealing with Titania’s (Jameela Jamil) legal shenanigans, on top of her bestie, Nikki (Ginger Gonzaga), going to great lengths to help Jen get a new wardrobe appropriate for her double lifestyle. I enjoyed myself quite a bit watching this. Nikki and Pug (Josh Segarra) are this episode’s Wong (Benedict Wong) and Madisynn (Patty Guggenheim) and make a fun pairing. Also, once again, the callbacks are coming in (albeit not THAT far back this time around).

A comic book show with great art.

And can we just give a shoutout to the phenomenal artwork of Kagan McLeod that graces the credits of each episode? Among the repeated images seen every episode, we get fun renditions or episode-specific scenes and even the fleshing out of what could be just throwaway lines of dialogue. It’s almost like getting a bonus scene in every episode.

"Okay, I will make her clothing. But no capes!"

            That said, this episode highlights the major problem of She-Hulk: the runtime. This half-hour runtime is doing a serious disservice to the potential this show could reach. The few cases they’ve presented so far have been interesting, but all-too-brief. The case comes in, they do some courtroom banter, case closed. And to remind you, that’s just a few minutes out of everything else going on. We don’t get much lawyering in this “lawyer show.” I, for one, would like to have seen more of the characters dealing with these legal situations in their unique, quirky ways.

Mallory Book will legally eviscerate you as soon as defend you.

            Additionally, the secondary characters are being woefully underutilized. Let’s take the character of Mallory Book (Renée Elise Goldsberry). Readers of Dan Slott and Juan Bobillo’s She-Hulk comics will recognize her as the office B who holds Jen in all kinds of contempt after Jen spoils her flawless winning streak in the courtroom. In She-Hulk the SHOW, she’s seen for all of 10 seconds in the third episode as a potential lawyer for Jen’s former colleague Dennis Bukowski (Drew Matthews). This was the first episode where we got her to any great degree, and while Goldsberry delivers a fine performance as the character, we don’t know why she is how she is, or why Jen is working so hard to be her friend, or why the moment outside of the courthouse meant a lot for both Jen and the character. Instead, she comes off as just another person who puts up a hard front but actually gives a crap inside (at least a teeny, tiny bit).

There's a fun pair in this episode, but it's not who you thiiiiiiiiiiink.

            But honestly, it says something when a one-off character manages to be more memorable than your regulars. Within one week of her appearance, Madisynn has gotten memes galore, an official series poster, and even her own emoji hashtag on Twitter. Characters like Pug and Mallory? I’ve seen YouTube reactors get their names wrong while they were watching the episode! Hell, I, myself, can’t even recall the boss’ name without looking it up. Yeah, we get a couple of cute character interactions and maybe a quirk or two, but overall, these characters are just not given the prominence they should in an ensemble. Nikki is only slightly ahead of the game by the virtue of her just being on screen more than the others. We shouldn’t have had to rely on the credits artwork to fill in some of those blanks for us.

SHE-HULK EPISODE 2 REVIEW

 

            Now that’s more like it! Any complaint I had about Episode 1 was obliterated for Episode 2 (although my new complaint is you have a fourth wall-breaking character and you didn’t take advantage of that for the “Previously On” segment? C’mon!).

Jen's new normal.

            As I figured, they rushed through She-Hulk’s origin to get it out of the way. The second episode was much better paced. I enjoyed the story and the multiple excellent jokes (including a particular subtle “literally” joke) so much that I didn’t realize how quickly the time went by.

Starting to regret life choices.

            There isn’t much I can say that doesn’t fall into super spoilery territory as the story beats were minimal and concise. It is cool to see The Incredible Hulk become more integrated into the MCU, what with an episode of What If? depicting a scene from the film and now Tim Roth’s Abomination appearing in two Phase 4 projects. I guess that means either Universal’s stranglehold on the Hulk rights is beginning to lessen or Marvel legal has figured out ways they can reference it that won’t bring about lawsuits. I don’t know, I’m not familiar with the whole situation beyond the fact Marvel couldn’t do another solo Hulk movie if they wanted to.

Tim Roth returns!

Anyway, for hardcore MCU fans, this episode ties into Shang-Chi while referencing Eternals and firmly establishes the show’s place in the Phase 4 timeline. This will likely also lead into the expected appearance by Benedict Wong as his character, well, Wong as established by the various trailers for the show. Loved the introduction to Jen’s family (don’t recall if we ever saw much of them in the comics—at least not in any of the comics I’ve actually read), and as a tall person of some considerable strength I totally felt the end credits scene. And I’m loving Tatiana Maslany, especially her voice. It’s a good fit for the character! If she has any interest in voice work, I wouldn’t mind her continuing on as the voice of Shulkie in other projects.

"Yes, I'll be representing Marvel in all matters relating to The Incredible Hulk."

Overall, this episode was a marked improvement over the last, and if this is indicative of how the rest of the series is going to go this could be on track to take my top spot in the Disney+ spin-offs (y’know, if I played favorites. Which I don’t.). Also, keep an eye out for an X-Men Easter egg!