The Owl House: Hunting Palismen Review
The Owl House continues to impress me with how much it packs into episodes this season. From The Emperor’s plan and personal situation, development with The Golden Guard, great moments with Luz and the trials and triumphs of her journey, and more! The opening throws us into the increasing danger of the approaching Day of Unity. First I want to discuss is the imagery and implications of Belos’s plan.
The imagery of eclipses has become very prominent. As pointed out in this tweet we’ve seen it via Amity’s necklace, the opening scene, and the cloaked figure in the trailer. It’s scary in terms of the Emperor’s plan and any possible association Amity may have as her parents still hold onto their loyalty to the Emperor and Amity’s future down a coven path. The imagery signifies change, often darker and dangerous as seen in media like Tangled The Series. In The Owl House it involves a unification of the realms over the purification of magic under the coven system. We’ve seen how limiting and controlling covens can be and how wild magic is an outlet free creative expression and exploration and something accessible for everyone. The Emperor’s plan is not only stifling free will via the coven system and control over realms but also making magic inaccessible for Luz, Eda, Lilith, Hunter, and any other witches who cannot use traditional magic.
Despite the benefits wild magic seems to have with free will and accessibility, there’s still the view of it by the Emperor. In this episode Belos states that wild magic caused him to loose his family and at the end of the episode it’s implied it’s also the cause of Belos’s current state. It’s a interesting distinction where Eda sees value in wild magic through what it provides her after what the curse took away whereas Belos views wild magic as the weirder of harm.
Palismen adoption day was so adorable! I loved getting to see some of the students receive their palismen and hear their dreams that were associated with them. But Luz finds herself in a challenging situation because of how focused she’s become on short term goals. As Luz says at the end of the episode, “It’s hard to picture my future without seeing my mom”, Luz has both become so focused on getting back to her mom and once she does the future is uncertain as she has no idea how her mom will react to everything or where she’ll go in the future after this journey (how much influence it’ll have on her future). Because of this it’s difficult to claim a future for herself thus a palismen in return. This pulls Luz into a self critical mindset we’ve seen her in before, questioning her place in the Isles and what to do in her future.
While Luz struggles with determining her future meanwhile Hunter is dealing with not having a choice over what his future will be,
“At least you have your future figured out now.”
“At least you can figure out your own.”
We learn that Hunter is a powerless witch who came from many ancestors before him who were in the same predicament, thus why Belos took him in. While he says that it’s because Belos said the Titan has big plans for him perhaps this is just another act of control, taking in any powerless witches who may feel the push to experiment with wild magic like Luz. Belos has him on a set path of control or a determined destiny that does not allow him a choice over his future. (also while some have said he and Amity won’t get along I hope they do in some form due to them experiencing similar situations of “familial” control).
Despite this, Hunter does have desires and ideas of the path he’d like to follow and the witch he’d like to be which is why the palismen ends up with him. The challenge for him (as it will be for many others) is breaking free from the destiny the Emperor has determined for him and the others of the Isle, especially as in his future he wants to embrace wild magic more.
I loved Luz and Hunter’s sibling dynamic. My friend Hope Mullinax brought up the fact thay it can oftn be easy for writers to feel the need to stick a bisexual character into a love triangle with a male and female love interest, like her I’m glad the team is breaking away from this stereotype and builidng a sibling synamic between them. It’s very chaotic and enjoyable to watch, and in terms of found family connections Hunter’s current one’s are toxic so it would be nice for him to get some that are not. Hunter himself continues to be a great character and I love how we’re already getting so much development with him.
By the end of the episode Luz is still challenged by her situation, but the final scene makes me super emotional because Luz is not only reminded of the found family she has to support her but they also remind her that she doesn’t need to know her future immediately. Both herself and those around her are giving her time to figure things out, as has been emphasized consistently throughout the season thus far it’s ok to not immediately have all the answers but those around us can help support us in making those discoveries in the future. I also generally love that Luz is making her own palismen, it really emphasizes both her passions of uniqueness and creativity and I’m so glad Eda and King helped make that happen for her.
Overall I really enjoyed this episode! With what we saw here and what is implied with the description of the next episode things are really ramping up so I’m excited to see more!
