1x02 Witches Before Wizards

[7.7/10] I got a big kick out of this one. For starters, this one is just plain fun. It’s a blast to see The Owl House take the stuffing out of a variety of Young Adult fantasy fiction, from Harry Potter, to Labyrinth, with dashes of Twilight and even Lord of the Rings tossed in there for good measure. The show has a lot of fun poking at tropes in these stories like kind wizards, hunky-but-angsty love interests, and cheerful characters and animal sidekicks along the way.

But I also love it as a deconstruction of “magical orphan” stories specifically and “chosen one” stories more generally. There’s a particular wish-fulfillment to chosen one stories, in the idea that we are simply preternaturally special for reasons beyond ourselves. It’s comforting to think that the things that make us different, and therefore make life dn fitting in harder for us, are secretly the key to some mystical destiny. That destiny justifies our quirks and excuses us from having to work for our success because it’s all but preordained.

“Witches Before Wizards” is an episode that nicely interrogates that idea, why it’s appealing, but also why it’s also hollow and a little dangerous. The device of the creepy tentacled puppeteer demon making this all happen is the right mix of amusing and creepy. But more to the point, Luz being allured by the comforting idea that she’s the lone chosen human destined to Set Right What Went Wrong, but ultimately rejecting it for a more hardscrabble but rewarding reality, is a heartening choice that shows why she’s a character worth rooting for.

It also helps make Eda seem more likable, despite having an early Uncle Stan-like blase attitude toward Luz at first. She’s not just giving Luz crap jobs. She’s doing the work with Luz, and even showing her a bit of wonder in this realm that seems a little less whimsical and a little more icky than the ones Luz imagined in her stories. The scene where she shows Luz Bonesboro from above, giving it a new sense of wonder and promising that she’ll get her magical staff some day, is a very nice beat for the Owl Lady. It’s a promise that these things won’t come easy, but that they will come.

This is also just a funny episode. King’s fascination with scones got a laugh out of me. So did Luz using a little He Man-esque light up sword. And Eda’s warning not to trust a guy wearing sandals coming true was an especially amusing touch.

Most of all, I like this is as a message from the writers to the audience. No, The Owl House will not be that kind of young adult fantasy story. It will be messier, stranger, and all around goofier than the traditional tales. But it too promises to have something more worthwhile lurking at the end of the tale. Sign me up.