the new owl house was good! you’d think i wouldn’t like odelia being so one-note but what matters to me is she makes sense. she’s every rich person / politician whose self-justification boils down to “how could i be doing the wrong thing, its for my family! my kids and grandkids will be rich!”
also, tangent - but this is something thats basically encouraged in a lot of mainstream american culture. there’s so much focus on how family “matters most” and rugged individualist protagonists “protecting their family” against danger, and this is seen as an inherent good even if they don’t really help anyone else.
so that’s a big reason you get a lot of extremely rich people and conservative politicians thinking of themselves as generous, even goodpeople - they are objectively making their families better off (by becoming richer + enacting policies that keep wealth concentrated), even if their politics and businesses hurt the earth and everyone else.
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.
My thoughts on what happened to Darius, Alador and Odalia
Spoilers if you’re not caught up with at least 2x16 of TOH
I am on a roll with my TOH posts lately and brainrot so as a gift, have this draft I wrote a couple days ago
My personal headcanon until proven otherwise for why Darius is no longer friends with Alador and Odalia is that one, or possibly both of them, said something cruel about the previous Golden Guard’s passing despite knowing Darius was close to him.
A young Darius knows there’s something incredibly off about his mentor’s disappearance. It just doesn’t make any sense. Why would he leave without even telling him? Without saying goodbye to him? He’s in his final year at Hexside, ready to join the abomination coven. Why would he abandon him now?
Emperor Belos’ explanation isn’t of satisfactory to Darius. There’s too many holes in the story, he asks around and there’s no definitive conclusion, Belos is avoiding further questions, and the cherry on top of this crap cake is how unbothered Belos is about losing his right hand man. It’s fabricated grief. Darius knows bad acting when he sees it.
He brings his concerns up to Alador and Odalia. The only people who he thought would understand.
His friends. His best friends.
The three of them could be mean sometimes, he’ll admit that. They would tease other people, and even each other at times.
But he truly didn’t expect Odalia to laugh in his face while Alador stands off to the side silently. It pisses Darius off more than he can state.
So they argue. Verbally at first. Until Darius and Odalia are practically screaming at each other at the end of it and Alador is barely doing anything about it. Until finally, Alador sides with Odalia over Darius and he’s never felt more betrayed and alone. Only because Alador has a stupid fucking crush.
“Your attachment to your mentor is clouding your judgment. Belos has no reason to lie about that sort of thing. You have no proof in order to question him.” Oh Titan, how he hated Odalia in this moment.
He still hears Odalia’s tone in his head when he relives this memory. He remembers the way she sneered at him.
“He killed him, I know he did. He killed my mentor. His own family! I’ll prove Belos got rid of him, I swear on the Titan.”
“Even if Belos did kill him, he probably had a good reason. You out of everyone should know the Golden Guard can’t even do *real* magic, right? Who would want a little half-witch on their counsel anyways? The Golden Guard is better off dead, I say good riddance.”
If there’s one thing Darius hated more than dirt and hideous fashion, it was blind obedience. His mentor taught him that he has the right to question authority. He has the right to question all the adults in his life and the things he’s been told.
So that does it. Like the trigger of a gun that’s been pulled, he acts without thinking. A tiny part of him regrets it, now that he’s older. Only a tiny part. But if you were to ask Darius if it felt good, he’d say yes in a heartbeat.
In a flash, Darius was striking with abomination daggers. Alador is quick to retaliate before he and Odalia could get hit though.
The fight is short and ultimately ends in a draw. Neither of them win. Physically, everyone was fine. Darius was too tired; Alador is huffing and puffing as he stands in front of Odalia, and Darius can’t bring himself to attack anymore.
Darius walks away, hands clenched in tight fists at his side. He only turns back once to see Odalia and Alador glaring at him before he continues walking.
He hears Alador call out to him. One last time.
“You don’t deserve to be the Golden Guard’s protege.”
The way the promo for the new ep, one that would involve the Blights, has the same exact composition as “Reaching Out”. And has the flowers from that ep as well, the ones representing family and understanding
Amity would literally be trying to reach out to her parents, to convince them and to save them.
