Again, I was looking forward to an episode like this with some trepidation. Ever since the Harry Potter series, I’ve seen parodies, references, and spin-offs of the “magical school” trope enough times to spin my head. The first time Hexside appeared, I was relieved to learn its presence in the series would seemingly be relegated to a dull throb in the background. Now it’s brought back to the forefront as Gus tries to smuggle Luz back into the school to impress his human fan-club, the Human Appreciation Society, and protect his position as its president from a power-hungry usurper, Mattholemeul (spelling check please?). I grit my teeth a bit when reading the synopses, but was pleasantly surprised to see how the episode played out. It actually took advantage of this scenario to show some satisfying character development and world-building. There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s begin.

We see Luz finally growing frustrated with Eda dragging her heels as a mentor. Eda’s no less evasive, but finally owns up to her flaws and admits she might not be the best teacher for Luz. As she’s pondering this, we learn that she was in fact once Hooty’s mentor. I’m not sure what she taught him, but whatever it was she flubbed it. On a side note, it seems odd how Hooty is the designated dump-upon character when he quite literally IS the Owl House. Does anyone else think he’s going to get sour and turn evil somewhere down the road?

So, Eda swallows her pride and goes before Hexside’s Prinicipal Bump to advocate for Luz’s enrollment as a student. To her surprise, he buys into the idea and what’s more, agrees not to rat out Eda to the Emperor’s Coven. It’s so refreshing to see an academic authority figure that actually listens to reason and isn’t just some myopic old fuddy-duddy. He’s stern and strict without being tyrannical and actually seems pretty cool at times. Eda didn’t know how good she had it. Unfortunately for her, his forbearance comes at the cost of cleaning up the fallout from her own time at Hexside.

While this transpires, Luz has already returned to Hexside, falsely believing that her ban has been lifted. Gus uses this paper-thin ruse to convince her to attend his H.A.S meeting and expose his rival, “Mattholemeul”, as a fraud. He has a tough time maintaining the facade without getting them caught as the school is patrolled by demonic hall monitors that can literally smell trouble when it’s afoot.

When Gus is inevitably found out, he confesses that he feels ostracised because of his age. Thanks to his precocious talent with illusion magic he’s advanced several grades, but consequently feels belittled by his older peers. I didn’t get the sense that this was really shown in the episode, but it seems to fit nonetheless. His post as the president of the H.A.S makes him feel like he has the authority to include everyone. As precious as he holds his position, he ultimately does the right thing and sacrifices it as punishment to spare Luz the blame. Even Eda comes to respect his solidarity.

On the other hand, Mattholemeul, or whatever his name is, is awarded the coveted title, which comes as little consolation after his ordeal in Hexside’s nightmarish detention hall. I’m glad both he and Boscha, from the previous episode, remain as unrepentant bullies to balance out Amity’s redemption. It’s nice every once in awhile to refute the schoolyard bully trope, but let’s not forget that stereotypes don’t just spring up out of nowhere.

It also seems that Luz just narrowly manages to remain in Principal Bump’s good graces enough to be admitted back to Hexside as a student. I was somewhat disappointed to hear this. I mean, if she’s going to be learning magic from Hexside, then she’s not really Eda’s apprentice so much as her roommate. But, then again, we have seen that fellow witch Amity is both attending school and under the tutelage of her master, Lillith. So, Eda may still have an opportunity to teach Luz some magic down the line.

To me, this move still seems to backpedal from previous episodes, but I can appreciate the opportunity for some character development on Eda’s behalf. She seems to genuinely care about Luz’s ambition to be a witch, enough to put aside her ethos of anarchical independence and let her student decide on her own path. We also glean some other interesting tidbits from her past.

Her last name is Clawthorne, apparently a rich and prestigious family in the Boiling Isles from what I’ve heard of the lore.

She had a mane of fiery red hair to match her roguish personality.

One of her legendary pranks was motivated to protect her sister, Lillith, from a bully.

At one point she performed “necrotic experiments”. Perhaps this relates in some way to her curse?

More generally, the species of pointed-eared humanoids we see in the Demon-realms are called “witchlings”. I’m not sure if there’s some gender-based dichotomy to the term which would imply males are called “wizardlings”, but that seems a bit passé after Harry Potter. Historically, the term “witch” has been applied to males before, so I see no reason for there to be a distinction.

Even Gus is lent some much-needed depth in this episode. While he’s still no more than a side character, we can at least say he’s more than two-dimensional. Another great episode in a great series. If it keeps this up, it’s on track to being one of my all-time favorites!

Overall: 8/10