Three times now, the promotional material for Clouds on the Horizon have showed the Owl fam hugging and being sweet, but only ONE has implied the Blight fam.
This might be a stretch, but what if part of the episode is drawing parallels between the Owl fam vs the Blight fam?
This episode pretty much changed entirely the way I see Alador.
Learning that one of the main reasons he neglected Amity and the twins was actually because he had a deal with Odalia to not to force their kids into literal child labor (mostly Amity because she’s the one on the abomination track, but also the twins, who she’d probably force into joining the abomination coven even if they don’t want to) as long as he did all the work himself and didn’t step out of line. He really overworked himself for years hoping he’d take most of the abuse and the kids would be left alone, or at least to be able to study what they wanted.
This also makes me see the moment when he told Odalia to leave Amity and their friends alone in Escaping Expulsion in a different light, if I already saw it differently after Reaching Out: he actually wanted Amity to be happy and hang out with their friends. And he did use the whole “she’s strong enough to become a coven leader” thing to convince Odalia to let her be, even if he actually did hope she would get to join the Emperor’s Coven and one of the reasons why is because he thought she wanted to (and when she was finally able to talk to talk to him and tell him in Reaching Out that nope, she didn’t want to… he didn’t seem to care). The other reason why he’d probably want her to be a coven head is because if she didn’t, maybe Odalia would force her into working for the company, and he didn’t want her to end up like him.
He still wasn’t a good parent and none of this really excuses him but, learning he was actually a victim all along as well made me feel terrible for him, to be honest. He kind of reminds me of Willow (Schnee, from RWBY, not Willow Park): not really an abusive parent as much as a neglectful one—and an abuse victim too—, who’s too scared to stand up to the abusive one. But he finally did and I’m happy for him.
Congrats on the divorce, dude, hope you can be a better father now and be happy.
Also props to him apologizing to Luz and telling her she’d always be welcome into their home lol even if it was actually Hunter lmao
this scene was so powerful. the owl house has always done a great job at showing the effects of toxic parenting, but actually seeing the extent to which odalia goes, how much she will sacrifice for high status, was jarring. im so glad that kids get to see amity fight back against it, and choose happiness over her mothers negligent demands.
I love “Amity freaking out because she’s meeting her gf’s mom” jokes as much as the next guy, but why isn’t anyone talking about the fact she just got her dad reinvested in her life and immediately lost him again??? Sis has to be absolutely devastated
Me: I watch cartoons when I need to relax and turn my brain off. It’s nice to not have to think about everything that’s happening in a show.
Also me: Amity’s visible roots as compared to her siblings’ naturally green hair represents her desperation to conform and live up to her family’s impossible standards while ignoring her true desires and abilities.
