Let the past stay in the past.

First of all, I just had to mention Flora Desplora, a historian in the vein of Indiana Jones and obvious reference to Dora the Explorer (complete with the purple monkey sidekick).

And it is at least a little relevant, as she serves as motivation for Lilith to take some risks in the name of History!

Meanwhile, Luz is left to ponder yet another snippet of Philip’s diary.

Luz: The Collector…I’ve never heard that name.

Eda: Me neither! What kind of jerk puts “the” in front of their name, anyway?

Luz: But The Collector may know how to make a real portal door. He may know why mine was so unstable. I just- I messed up so bad last time, I need to do better!

This poor girl. She’s more desperate than ever to contact her mom/get back home because they didn’t really get a chance to talk things out, and to do that she has to build a better portal.

Luz: I just wish I could go back in time and talk to him…

And then she asks about time magic. And lo and behold, Eda tells her that it’s a popular urban legend that she investigated with Lilith when they were younger…

So they head off in search of some time pools.

And they find some on a secluded beach!

Lilith: A stonesleeper from the hectaceous period! Did you know they have a ticklish spot behind their ears?

She’s totally geeking out over the time pools and it’s kind of adorable. Weirdos come in all shapes and sizes!

Then they finally find what they (or at least Luz) were looking for.

Luz: Yo, what era is it?

Resident: Tis the Deadwardian Era. What ye be doing in the sand? Be ye a crab maiden?

Luz: Philip’s time! And yes. I am a crab maiden.

This girl is too adorkable.

Meanwhile at the Owl House…

Gwen: Your father wanted to swing by.

Eda: Well, tell him I’m busy.

Gwen: Maybe you could tell him yourself? He’s just outside.

King: I get to meet my grandpa?

But Eda’s anxious to avoid facing her father.

Meanwhile, back in time…

Lilith: Now Luz, we are technically in the Savage Ages, way before Belos banished wild magic. These denizens may be dangerous.

Luz: This doesn’t look dangerous. This looks awesome! Why did Belos want to banish wild magic again?

Lilith: Well, the Titan supposedly doesn’t like it.

They do at least take some precautions, like picking aliases and disguises to avoid paradoxes and such (and maybe to avoid giving away that Luz is human, too).

Gwen: Witchlet? Aren’t you going to say hello to your father? It’s been-

Eda: Years! Yep, been years, I know.

King: What’s with you? Why are you so terrified of seeing your dad?

Eda: It’s not like I’m scared of him, I just haven’t seen him since I ruined his- I mean, since the Owlbeast ruined his- I’m just not ready, okay?

She’s finally stopped blaming the Owlbeast for all her problems, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with the hurt she caused. And when you try to ignore a problem for years, it takes an even bigger effort to finally face it.

In other news, after much asking around about the human, Lilith and Luz discover him at the bad end of the some sort of business gone wrong, and promptly rescue him.

Red Fang: Ask your friend there what happened to our brother Blue Fang, and his palisman.

But of course Luz is rather star-struck, so she fails to ask what any of that was about.

Luz: I’ve heard of your exploits, and I know what it’s like to be far from home. Could we talk?

Philip: No.

Luz: Wait! I can give you snails! I can make you crutches? Um, uh, I can help you find The Collector!

That thing about The Collector is what piques his interest, and he accepts their help. To be fair, he obviously had a very different experience than Luz, having to survive on his own in a world that was, if not necessarily hostile, then evidently indifferent to him.

Philip: Astounding! I thought I was the only one who used pictoglyphs.

Luz: You use glyphs, too?

Philip: How else could I have survived here? Plant growth, ice, fire. Took years to find them. Almost as if the world wanted to hide them from me. I even found one in a snowflake.

Luz: My dude, me too!

Philip: A warrior and a scholar! Truly impressive.

Luz: I can’t believe I taught Philip something new!

Philip is clearly being set up as something of an opposite to Luz here. They learned glyphs in more or less the same fashion, but while Luz thought of them as a gift from the Isles, he thinks of them as something the world was trying to hide from him.

Luz: What is this?

Philip: A shortcut – to The Collector.

They discover that he teleported them all to the head of the Titan.

Lilith: We’re what? But this is sacred ground!

Philip: I suppose that’s why no one wanted to accompany me. But every legend told me that The Collector lies there, behind that door. I just can’t figure out the mechanism to open it. If I weren’t so frail…

It’s been clear for a while that Lilith has some reservations about Philip, and she finally voices them when the two have some time alone.

Luz: Come on, we can’t stop now! We’re getting everything we could’ve hoped for.

Lilith: That’s just it. Look. Most of this puzzle has been solved already. And Philip…the confidence, the compliments…he says everything you want to hear. It feels uncomfortably familiar…

Luz: Some of this is pretty weird, but it’s the Boiling Isles! Everything’s a little weird, right?

Luz, you should know by now that there’s cute weird, and then there’s uncomfortable weird. Lilith’s been sensing the latter – she never says it, but the person Philip reminds her of is most likely Belos; there must be a reason he’s a beloved tyrant, after all.

Luz: (reading over his shoulder) “I single-handedly defeated the beast behind the door. Tragically, I could not save my companions”? Philip, why did you bring us here?

Philip: I needed a sacrifice.

Then Lilith gets the door open and discovers there is indeed a beast within.

Luz: You tricked us!

Philip: It was-

Luz: “Destiny”? Balderdash!

Philip: I was going to say “inevitable”. You two were easier to trick than Blue Fang. Hopefully you and Aunt Getrude can last longer.

Then, while Luz and Lilith are fighting for their lives, Philip digs up this thing.

Luz: I know you want to get home, but nothing is worth hurting people!

Philip: Oh, I disagree. It was nice making a cat’s-paw out of you. Good luck with your crab castle or whatever. You witches come up with the worst lies.

The “cat’s paw” line subtly serves a dual purpose. The first is just alluding to a phrase that was more commonly known in the 1600’s – it refers to a fable in which a monkey tricks a cat into getting hot chestnuts out of a fire by saying they’ll split them, but ultimately leaves the cat with nothing but a burned paw. But this fable also hints at Philip’s true motive, because the designated moral of the fable was about rulers abusing their subjects’ lives in service of their own ambitions…

Luz ends up saving the day because she remembered what Lilith said about stonesleepers (evidently this creature was out of its own time as well). And they quickly win its trust and use it to catch up to Philip.

Luz: Tell me how that thing’s gonna help you build a portal to the human realm.

Philip: Oh, no, I need this for something else.

Luz: No? What do you mean, no?!

Philip: I mean, if it’s information you want, perhaps we could make an exchange. I’ll probably require another sacrifice sooner or later, and if you and your aunt want to-

Then Lilith just waltzes up to him and SLUGS HIM IN THE FACE.

It is immensely satisfying.

Philip: You hateable sorceress!

Lilith: Stay mad. Come, Luzura. We’re finished here.

Luz is finally done with Philip’s games, and Lilith assures her that if someone like that can build a working portal, she can, too.

Meanwhile at the Owl House, Eda’s finally talking to her dad.

Eda: Sorry I, uh, haven’t been in touch. There’s been a lot going on.

Then her dad proceeds to recount the events of the last season or so.

Dell: I wish you’d let us help. But I do hear I have a grandson now?

Eda: Yep, King’s a Clawthorne. He can be a handful, but-

Dell: It’s been over twenty years, witchlet. I can’t chase you anymore.

Eda: Then stop! I ruined your life. Have you even been able to carve a new palisman since I attacked you? Stop trying to forgive me. I don’t deserve it.

Dell: Oh, don’t worry. I’m not here to try that again.

For some reason, this episode was the first time it dawned on me that the palismen are this world’s version of patronuses from Harry Potter (but better, naturally, as is most everything in the Owl House universe). Whereas a patronus was meant to be some sort of subconscious manifestation of a wizard’s desires or something (it was never terribly clear), a palisman is clearly meant to represent a witch’s ambitions. So it makes total sense that Dell’s palisman would be the smallest in his family, where he often took a backseat to the more powerful personalities of the women in his life. He’s not a pushover, only a sensitive, artistic sort.

Eda: What is that?

Dell: It’s a palistrom seed. My palisman-making days are over, but I’ve been helping the Bat Queen replenish her forests, so someone new can learn the trade.

Eda: Did you come all the way here just to brag?

Dell: Yes! But also to say, let the past stay in the past. Witchlet, it’s okay to move on. And give Owlbert my regards. Carving him with you is one of my dearest memories.

He’s done trying to forgive her for something she hasn’t forgiven herself for, but he still wants to have a relationship with her (and her foster children).

Luz: Yeah, we found Philip.

Eda: Woah, seriously?

Luz: Yeah. He stunk.

Lilith: I punched him in the face.

Luz: Groovy auntie!

Now that Luz has met Philip (and seen how he writes his diary), she’ll definitely take anything he wrote with a grain of salt.

My, but this looks an awful lot like the stuff in Belos’ lab…

Philip: Those barbarians, those…witches!

And then he reveals glyphs all over his body…

And when he does THIS to a palisman, it’s all but confirmed that Philip is actually the same person as Belos.

Philip: It doesn’t matter. I just need to live long enough to see this through. And you’re going to help me, Collector.

So what does he want with The Collector? Keep in mind, this is the same person that bound the Owlbeast. And for that matter, what happened to his brother? All these questions and more will be answered…eventually. Before the end of the series, which, alas, shall come far too soon.

Until next time…