In Hopper’s cabin there’s so much yellow and red I could post twenty screenshots. I love it, and I love that Hopper’s secret knock spells “US” (his family) But to me the most interesting thing is when he and El have breakfast. There’s a owl on the table and a bottle in front of two “little people”, a red one and a yellow one. But they’re only in this scene in S2, when El says that she’s half way happy. Only in 4x01, when she’s with Will, sheìll say that she’s twice as happy.
Same episode.
Bob shows Jon how to use the camera, a Back to the future Easter egg. When he says how to zoom in, it’s 5:42 (5+4+2=11)
And when it’s 5:43 (12), he says “And double u to zoom back out.” Double u (you?) Twins?
But this moment is also interesting because the Willel hint is not there when Joyce rewatches the tape. The time is different. So, different timeline? But what does it mean for Will and El? Why does the hint about them exist in one timeline but not in the other?
2x03. In the Phineas Gage scene, that is about Will, behind Mr Clarke there’s the news about Kathryn D. Sullivan, the first American female astronaut who stepped outside her spacecraft, on October 11, 1984. Also, the two Extras?
Later, Hopper and Owens mention leaks spreading into Hawkins, like Will says. They say it twice. Also, some red and yellow.
2x05. I just rewatched S2 to be sure. We only see the number twelve on Bob’s car in this scene (the same sticker is on Steve’s car in S4). When Will is possessed and they’re trying to find Hopper.
And I just noticed this parallel between Will and El.
While Will is trying to find Hopper, El is trying to communicate with Terry, and there’s a red X on the blanket like the X on the drawing, and a lamp that looks a lot like the disco ball of the snow ball, the one at the Arcade and at Rink-o-mania. The ball represents the Mind Flayer (I made a post about it) Not a good sign.
Like the song we hear when El arrives at Terry’s house, Green green grass of home. A man dreams about coming home only to realize that his family is dead and it’s all an illusion because he is actually in prison and about to be executed. What a happy song for a reunion with “mom”. Oh, and there’s also the name Peter on the truck. And if Henry is Peter, yeah. Not a happy reunion.
2x06 At the lab, after Owens’ little experiment and Hopper being very protective of Will
I'm in love w the fact that Amity took a while to go from first blush to gay disaster around Luz, whereas Luz took exactly 0.5 seconds post-romantic gesture to decide she was head over heels and promptly become a blushing mess.
Alright, whatever you want to call that Loki finale has been living in my head rent free, I’ve noticed that it’s actually beginning to negatively effect my mood in my life. So instead of thinking about that, I’m focusing my attention on the beauty that was The Owl House 2x05
To start off, we see Gus feeling sad about hurting Willow and still feel down the next day. I think this was handled great. Gus isn’t portrayed as weak, feminine, or a joke. He’s portrayed as someone that feels bad and just needs some time to think through his feelings. And let me tell you, it is SO refreshing to see a male character actually be allowed to feel bad and instead show his sadness as a natural thing despite having a happy-go-lucky personality.
The next thing that I really like is how Luz is able to be open with her feelings about Amity to Gus. Gus knows that she likes Amity a lot and he doesn’t make fun of her about, he respects her feelings. Also this makes Amity and Luz’s relationship more open and easier to read unlike Korra and Asami’s in LOK. (I want to make it clear, I’m not mad at the writers for how they wrote Korrasami, I’m mad at Nick for forcing the writers to make their relationship more subtle to avoid cancelled. I know the writers did everything they could and I love them for that.)
After that we see the Glandus kids take down that Slitherbeast. They're shown as these cool/super strong kids and Gus wants to (understandably) fit in with them. So Luz, being the good friend that she, encourages Gus to go with them. Luz isn't trying to manipulate or gain anything from letting Gus go with the Glandus kids. She just wants Gus to go find new people to hang out with and even helps him do that.
When the twins find Luz (who's in the middle of being in love with Amity) they mention that they're looking for skincare tips for Ed. I LOVE this because once again, this isn't portrayed as a feminine or funny thing. The casual mentions that Ed's date uses they/them pronouns (this is the second time they/them pronouns have been used in the show) is also an amazing touch. It's stuff like this that normalizes things that have been "taboo" for so long. When Em teases him, it's "I'm your sister so it's my job to bully you" not "ha, GAAAAAY." (Also for the love of all that’s holy, can cishets please stop gendering objects.)
Then Amity and Luz are able to talk to each other after that and the twin realize that it would be better to just leave them alone so they do to allow Luz and Amity to start talking. This once again, makes their feelings for each other very clear and can’t be easily misinterpreted "just friends being friends" or "gals being pals." You can clearly see the intimacy and romance between the two in this moment.
After that we get to see Amity trying to help Luz with a way to get her home. Amity makes it clear that she could lose her job so Luz tries to think of another way because Luz is just a good person like that. She's putting Amity's needs above her own but Amity also puts Luz's needs above her own. They both clearly respect each other and I love it. This is how relationships should work, platonic or romantic.
Now we go back to the Glandus crew and Gus is actually enjoying himself (with the exception of Matt) and I think it's nice that he's spending time with people outside of his usual circle (even if these people are jerks).
Luz and Amity they once again share a intimate moment and when the realization of how dangerous this actual is Luz wants to go back but it's Amity that pushes them forward. I really like this because it once again shows that Luz respects Amity and isn't trying to be selfish. But Amity, being the lesbian disaster that she is, wants to get the book for Luz.
Now we're back to the Glandus kids and they're hinting to Bria's true colors by showing how she treats Angmar. She's isn't patient with him and she's showing her true colors which is a nice touch. When Gus realizes that the stones are actually from a graveyard he stands up for what he believes in instead of playing along and stealing them. I know how hard it is to do this, I’ve done dumb things to fit in.
Cut back to Luz and Amity and we get to see Amity admit some of her feelings. I think that in this scene, she's in some way admitting to herself just how much she likes Luz. Amity knows she likes Luz but I think that when she finally saying that Luz makes her do crazy things is a way for to confess just how strong her feelings are for Luz.
The last switch to the Glandus kids, we get to see Gus and Matt start talking for real. They start an actual relationship together.
It's also here when Gus suggests a creative way to get rid of the Glandus kids which is something that I really like. I hate the saying "work smarter not harder" because it devalues the way of working out of the box, which is what Gus did. He thought of a new and interesting way to use illusions to get rid of the Glandus guys and it worked. Not to mention, it was accompanied with creepy imagery that I bet wouldn't exist with Alex Hirsch making Gravity Falls.
Now we have the final scene which I love. The Blights are all hanging out together and Amity is talking about her feelings to them. The Blights have a realistic sibling relationship and I love how it's portrayed. You can tell that Amity is serious in this moment so Em is treating it serious unlike earlier in the library when she was poking fun at Ed. She cares about her and even points out that Amity is happy now. Then she helps Amity dye her hair to purple which is also goes to show that she cares more about Amity than whatever her mom thinks. Em cares so much about Amity and it shows so much through this scene.
Next we have Luz who comes to give Amity her card back, which I think is very cute. They share a few blushes and once again Luz shows just how much she cares for Amity. Luz was put in hell and crawled back so Amity could be happy.
Also, now we got to know a little bit more about Philip Wittebane and his time spent on the Boiling Isle. I can't wait to see more (I'm looking at YOU Disney. If you cancel the show, I'm breaking your kneecaps.)
Then we have the scene that will live on in my heart forever: Amity kissing Luz on the cheek. Now, y'all, I just can't BELIEVE this happened. I'm not gonna lie, I thought we would have to wait for forever to get this but no it happened in the middle of the show without any censoring of any kind. We got to see two girls that had a “say you’re not a witch” enemies to “don’t worry, you always have a way of sneaking into people’s hearts” lovers. (Not even all straight ships are like this but I’m not complaining.)
Thank you Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, She Ra, Adventure Time, The Legend of Korra, Star v the Forces of Evil, The Dragon Prince, The Hollow, and every other show with queer representation that I missed (NOT YOU VOLTRON), you're efforts were not in vain. A wall that was up for so long is crumbling and I’m there for it. Future adults are going to be able to look back at their childhood and see themselves in mainstream media without being criminalized or the butt of a joke. A childhood that I know that most of the people in this fandom wished that they could've had.
In conclusion, I love how just about everything was handled in this episode, it's more than the Lumity episode, it's the episode that showed boys that they can feel sad and value their looks, putting the ones you love above yourself, some times it's good to think out of the box, and most importantly: it's okay to be yourself even if it’s hard.
It looks like S2 will be great. I was impressed by how little evidence of covid restrictions there were; that will definitely help the series age well. I thought it was likely that Sam would move in and I’m excited to see how that plays out. The mother-daughter growing apart angst is going to be brutal to watch but there's a lot the writers can do with it. Interesting that they’re focusing so much on Melissa’s redemption right off the bat and that they’re also introducing a school play story line. I’m withholding judgement on the use of Gina Rodriguez as Elena’s conscience but it does make sense to increase her role since she’s by far the most famous cast member.
I was very pleasantly surprised that the trailer focused so much on Bobby’s story line. The biggest shock was that they included a brief shot of Bobby and CJ smiling at each other in the high school hallway. I’ve thought that CJ is a likely choice to be Bobby’s real love interest ever since it became clear last fall that Donovin Miller had joined the cast. He’s the right age, non-white, and only shows up in 2x06 which is very late but makes sense if CJ and his role in Bobby’s story line is subject to Disney restrictions that straight characters don’t have to worry about. It’s interesting that CJ is featured in the part of the trailer where Elena talks about being there for others and lifting them up, it strongly suggests that CJ will be a positive influence on Bobby. A lot of the Bobby clips look pretty angsty and with CJ only first appearing in 2x06 I’ve speculated that there could be a shift in Bobby’s story line then or an old one wraps up and CJ helps launch a new one.
That scene of Bobby walking at night with Liam is almost certainly Bobby coming out to Liam in 2x10, a scene which Brandon has been hyping up for a while. Nathan was also on set that night but perhaps he leaves earlier or joins later. There’s also the possibility that Bobby comes out to Danny earlier but it’s hard to tell which ep that could be since Danny is in every ep except 2x09 this season. Of course, it could also be a misdirect and Bobby decides he’s not ready to tell him yet. I’m shocked that Danny somehow found out that Bobby had a crush, on what he thinks was a girl, back in 7th grade. I can’t wait to see how that comes up, did Bobby let something slip or were they talking about Monyca? Also I think that Bobby on the blue couch is him talking to Cami about struggling to come out which I’m sure will be well done. I’d love to see Cami coming out to her own parents but I really don’t know if Disney will allow that when it looks like the writers already have quite a bit packed in to Bobby’s coming out arc.
We’ll also go a long way to finding out whether Brandon has been hyping Cartero because he has been explicitly told that Liam is meant to be bisexual regardless of whether Disney ever allows it or whether he’s been projecting his own bisexuality onto Liam without any basis in reality. That being said, I don’t think we’ll actually get canon Cobby or Cartero this season and any canon relationship for Bobby would only come in the 3rd season if they’re lucky enough to get one. Back in the fall Ilana liked a tweet that said writers should normalize interracial relationships that don’t involve a white person and I think she’s applying that to Bobby’s story line and that we can rule out his love interest being white. It’s a bold move for a Disney show since even most of their straight interracial relationships involve one white person. Not to mention Disney has a poor track record of how they treat their black male characters, something Doafp seems determined to improve on.
There’s also the unfortunate fact that there will be limits on what Disney allows but I’m confident that the show will make history with Bobby coming out to his family and friends by season’s end. There will be a price to pay for all this lgbtq rep and I think the show being released all at once which will likely doom any hopes of S3 is part of that. Disney did something similar with The Owl House which is the only Disney show to surpass Doafp’s level of lgbtq rep, the show was cancelled and the 3rd season will consist of only three 44 minutes eps (if you haven’t watched The Owl House yet you should, it’s a hoot).
The trailer seems to confirm what was evident from the cast’s social media posts while filming, that Ziggy only has a very small role and is largely absent. Presumably he goes to another high school but it’s gonna be hard to reintegrate him back into the show if they get a S3 and he’s the only one who wasn’t around for Bobby’s coming out arc. We saw Tony Espinoza’s character on stage with Elena during the student rep speeches so he’s connected to that story in some fashion. Brogan Hall’s character Tripp is absent from the trailer but we know he’s in 5 eps, most in the first 6 eps of the season and he seems to be Elena’s main opponent in the student rep race. Also not much of Jessica and nothing of Joey.
I’m curious to see how all these story lines fit into only 10 eps especially when so many of the recurring characters are in so many of the eps: Liam and Sasha are both in all 10 eps, Danny in 9, even Melissa is in 7 eps this season. Some story lines and characters will probably fall through the cracks. We know Ilana directed 2x09 so we’ll see if that’s a special ep. Fwiw Charlie on twitter said that his favourite eps were 2x03, 2x05, 2x07, and 2x09, presumably some of those eps focus on Bobby coming out to Cami and his family at least.
I really hope that we get a miracle and Doafp gets a 3rd season but with the news that the Doogie Howser reboot is getting the standard weekly release starting in September it makes it more and more likely that Disney is airing all the eps at once just to burn them off. On the plus side the trailer on the official Disney twitter account has over 811 000 views as of me writing this so perhaps a proper advertising campaign could draw a larger audience if Disney is willing to put the effort in.
Highlights of The owl house 2x05 Through the looking Glass ruins
Yesterday was the release of the owl house episode 2x05 “Through the Looking Glass Ruins”. Compared to the past four epsidoes this one was significantly calmer (no complaints here at this point we needed an episode like this) but it still had some really good points. I am going to go into them below but first I want to give a special shout out to the three characters who in my opinion were MVP’s of this episode:
:Gus, Mattolomule, and Emira; you three made the episode for me! Yes I liked the Lumity, Lumity is super cute. But these were three characters I had been really wanting to see get more development and I am very happy with the development they got. So highlight below
Gus getting an episodes A plot to focus on him! We see him lose his passion for Illusions after a trick he tried to fix a problem only made it worse, but then go on a quest to regain his confidence.
Also more lore on the illusion track. It’s seen as a lesser track. Crazy. Illusion spells are great and Gus is a fantastic wizard.
how dangerous are pixies? After this episode I grudgingly have a bit of respect for Boshca because she apparently lives with a pixie and has yet to come to school mulled.
Mattolomule backstory. So From this I can gather that Glandis is Matty’s old school and Bria and her cronies are his old “friends”. The wiki says he was expelled, but I re-watched SVSF and I couldn’t find where it said that. This episode implys that his parents pulled him from Glandis because he was having a really bad time.
Mattolomule’s time at Glandis not being used as an excuse for the way he behaves now, and seeing him own up to being a jerk and starting to make better choices.
Gus and Matt becoming friends and getting a weekend volunteer job. Gus will certainly be a better influence on Matt than the Glandis trio were, and I feel like Matt could be good for Gus too, because now he has a guy friend who is around his same age.
Edric crushing so hard on someone to where he wants to look perfect for their date, texts them poems, and has both their number and the numbers of their family members saved in his phone. Man when Blights fall fr someone they fall hard.
Edric’s crush being refered to as “Their”. This could be to hide the gender of Ed’s date, but Dana has openly talked about characters sexuality and gender before, and said that in the boiling isles all parts on the sexuality and gender spectrum have been normalized to the point were everybody is open abut them. So that suggests that Ed may be Pan and starting a relationship with a Nonbinary individual.
Emira finally getting some of her own characterization. I did not like the Blight twins at first. One big reason was because in a post Gravity Falls disney I am not okay with the tired old concept of having twin characters, who except for 1-2 tiny differences in their appearance are the exact same character with two bodies. In AITE Edric got some development. We saw that he was the more goofy, curios twin, and that he has a fascination with animals, particularly one s that could potentially hurt him. Also re-watching SVSF I think he is a bit more powerful than Emira. Emira so far has only been portrait as the just slightly more sane twin, who watches Ed’s crazy then makes the choice to stop or join him. In this episode we see her take a more big sisterly role and we learn she has an interest in beautification, and helps/gives both her siblings advice on how to look their best.
I have been wanting the twins to join the duel track since AITE when we learned that they still maintain top scores in illusions even though they don’t go everyday; and might in fact skip school because they are under challenged and board. Illusion and Beast Keeping are obvious choices for Edric. After getting some of Emira’s interests in this episode I would say put her in illusions and potions track. When she gets older she can make and launch her own line of cosmetics.
Luz has a new pet. Luz mousy needs a name and for you to keep it in a tank/cage stocked with bedding and stimuli, away from Hooty. Only let King play with it if some one is watching him.
Amity has lilac hair. I expect her natural brown hair, but that is kinda silly since Amity’s personal style is kinda punk/gothic. The lilac hair will take some getting used to, and I am not to sure about leaving those two front locks brown. But someone pointed out that now her hair is the same color her and Luz’s Grom tree and that is adorable.
Amity pecked Luz on the cheek. It happened. We all saw it. Luz now knows Amity likes her back.