Do not underestimate me, Belos, for I am the good witch Luz.

Before I get to the actual plot of the episode (which we’re plunged into from the very first shot), I have to mention the episode titles. In the first two seasons, when you combine the first letter of every episode title, it reveals a cryptic hint about the direction of the season – for instance, Season 2 spelled out the phrase “Seek the key, fear the lock.” But with only three episodes to work with this season, the creators opted to switch from the first letter to the first word. Thus, the final season simply says, “Thanks for watching.”

Luz: What happened? We were just about to enter the archives…we were just about to rescue Eda and King…

Hey! Luz, the human! You have to wake up.

This line from a mysterious voice, combined with the title, hints that the following sequence might not be completely real…

Which is important for Luz, because it feels very real to her when she just wakes up in Belos’s throne room, wearing his coven garb.

Luz: Stringbean, it’s you! You sweet little power noodle, I’m so happy to see you. Are Mamá and the others okay?

Stringbean seems uncertain about that question, so Luz wanders through the empty castle…

Luz: No! No, no, no! When did this happen?

Amity: Don’t you remember? This is all your doing. You helped Belos meet the Collector. Your actions led to this! You’ve been the real villain this whole time.

Luz: Listen, I don’t know what I missed, but I’d never do this.

It appears as if everyone else in the demon realm had been petrified…

Amity: I’m sorry, Luz, but I have to take you down.

Luz: This isn’t a dream. This is a nightmare!

Meanwhile, Eda’s stuck in the conformatorium in her nightmare realm…

Eda: If you think you can keep me from my family, you’ve got another thing coming!

Lilith: Don’t worry, Edalyn. We’re all present and accounted for.

Eda: Lily, Mom, thank goodness! Hey, help me out? We gotta find King.

Lilith: No. You’ll be staying right there. Dangerous beasts need to be kept in cages, after all.

And to drive it all home, her dad shows up with a freshly mauled face.

Dell: Why, Eda? I forgave you.

Eda’s faced with the pain she caused her family (not least the fact that she ran away), which are old wounds, but deep. Also note that Lilith is acting much more like she did in Season 1, although her haircut is still cropped close, and she seems to have dyed her hair again (when last we saw her, she was sporting her natural red, and calling Eda “Eda”).

And King’s just being tormented by Bill and the Titan Trappers, because honestly, that’s pretty much the only baggage he has.

Willow: You know, Luz, my life changed after I met you. I finally believed that there was this big, bright future ahead of myself…but that didn’t last long, did it? You destroyed my home, and any chance I had at happiness. I have no future now. None of us do!

Thus Luz’s nightmare continues with all her friends blaming her for ruining their lives, just like Luz had been worried they would for the past season.

Gus: Look, everyone! It’s good old Luz. And she just might be the biggest hypocrite ever. […] Everyone helped you get back to your mom. Meanwhile, because of you, I’ll never see my dad again!

Luz: Gus, no! I swear, we’ll get him back. We’ll get everyone back, I won’t stop til we do!

Gus: Tell that to him!

Hunter: I’ve always just followed orders. I never thought about making friends or going to school. Then I met Flapjack. He was more than a palisman, he was my best friend! And then I lost him, helping you. But you still get to have your own palisman? Why, Luz? Why do you get to have it all?

The world doesn’t revolve around Luz, and on some level, they have a right to be angry about the things they’ve lost (even if this is clearly an exaggeration of their real feelings, to say the least).

Amity: I’m sorry, but for the sake of everyone you hurt…

Luz: Please, no.

Amity: I challenge you to a witch’s battle!

Luz: Wait, say that again?

Amity: I said, I challenge you to a witch’s battle!

And that’s what finally makes Luz realize this isn’t real.

Luz: You look like Amity, you feel like Amity, but you’re not Amity, are you? You’re not her! None of you are you!

Willow: How dare you! Of course we’re us.

Luz: It’s “I challenge you to a witch’s duel”, not witch’s battle. And the Amity I know would never misquote the Good Witch Azura. So come on, attack me! I know what’s going on now.

But since they don’t really want to attack her, they’re able to freeze.

Amity: We’ve all been collected, including Camilla. The Collector came from the sky, and-

Gus: He’s playing games with you, Luz! He’s trying to keep you away from King and Eda.

Willow: But if you want to save anyone, you have to wake up!

Luz: How?

Hunter: Think about it. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up from a bad dream?

Amity: You turn on the light.

This constitutes the bulk of their contribution to the story this episode (they’re literally removed from the playing field after this), but as the story from here on out is more about Eda and King and their relationship with Luz, I’m okay with that. They’ve conveyed they don’t really blame her for ruining their lives, and that’s enough.

She then proceeds to snap Eda and King out of their nightmares with light glyphs, too.

Eda: Is this real? Is that Luz? Are you both really here?

Luz: Get over here you old witch!

But of course, this isn’t what the Collector had intended.

Collector: I thought you said this would work, Rai Rai! You said it would make them all see the error of their ways! But King is gonna hate me for this. Now what do I do?

Belos: Why bother teaching them anything when you could just…wipe them out?

Collector: I want to be their friends…and besides, my powers don’t work on King.

Belos: The…dog?

Collector: Yeah, cause he’s a Titan. You worked in the castle, Rai Rai. You’ve seen the big old heart, still beating too. Titans are amazing! When they’re full-grown, they’re more powerful than anyone.

That gives Belos an idea (or two). He convinces the Collector to try playing some games with Luz, Eda, and King himself…conveniently leaving Belos alone in the Collector’s house.

Meanwhile, Eda and Luz are trying to catch each other up on stuff (King’s basically just been with the Collector the whole time).

King: Hey, hey! All I want to do is hear both of you talk over hot choco’s milk. But first, we gotta find a way out of whatever this is.

Collector: I don’t get it, King. I really don’t get it. I thought you loved playing our games. Why do you choose these itty bitty spiders over me?

Eda: Because your games stink, squirt.

Luz: And cause spiders are awesome!

King: Yeah! Especially the itty bitty ones!

Collector: Aw, you act like I’m doing something bad, but I’m just having fun!

King: Trapping people and scaring them and controlling them? That’s not fun, Collector.

Eda: And everyone nearly died from the draining spell.

Collector: So? Toys break all the time. You just fix them.

Luz: Do you…not understand what death means to mortals?

The Collector reminds me a lot of the Peter Pan of the original novel/play – he was truly the eternal child, but to remain a child, he had to forget, both good things and bad things; he could never learn. However, it remains to be seen whether or not the Collector is capable of learning…

Meanwhile, Raine just randomly breaks free of the Collector’s curse (!!!), but sadly, that doesn’t release them from Belos.

Raine: Let. Me. Go!

Belos: Ugh. Raine’s always been annoyingly powerful. No, I think I’ll keep you around a little longer.

When Belos chose Raine as his vessel in the last episode, I figured that was just some way to get back at them for rebelling, or because of their relationship with Eda, but the reason might be much simpler: Raine was just that powerful. Belos might not have even known about the Eda connection (considering he peaced out before they could attempt to implement their plan).

The Collector proceeds to play all sorts of games with them, from Pac-Man to Jenga and marbles, but they’re all too busy trying to stay alive to have much fun.

King: Thank…whoever. I think I barfed, like, twelve times.

Eda: Want to make it a lucky number 13?

But of course, Luz notices the Collector’s frustration and feels bad for them (even if he was just LITERALLY playing with their lives).

King: If anyone can talk some sense into them, it’s Luz.

Luz: Collector, you know this can’t last forever.

Collector: Why? Because you know you’ll lose? I just wanted a friend who wouldn’t lie to me, or trick me. But everyone’s the same! King lied, Belos lied, even they lied.

Luz: Who’s “they”?

Collector: The Archivists, my siblings. “Oh, let’s play a game,” they said. “Let’s play hide-and-seek. You go down there, and see if the Titans wanna play!” So I played and it was great! The baby Titans were the cutest, just like King, and they were all so welcoming. But the Archivists were scared of their power, so one by one, they disappeared, until there was one Titan left, and he thought I was the bad guy! He hid his egg from me and trapped me. But I showed all of them! Even when those Trapper jerks started acting weird, even when Belos lied to me, I found King! I found the last Titan, and he’s my friend now!

King: Collector…

Collector: I know it’s just pretend! I don’t care! I’ll pretend as long as I want!

Luz: But that’s not what you want, is it?

Even back in Season 2, there were hints that the Collector was just a lonely child, even with all their phenomenal powers. And thus, we get to the main point of this episode: Teaching the Collector what it means to be a friend.

Eda: We know what it’s like to feel alone.

King: And abandoned.

Luz: And misunderstood. Hey, what if we showed you how we became friends?

Collector: King already told me about your adventures.

Luz: It’s different when you can see them. What do you think? Can we tell you our stories?

Meanwhile, Raine is still fighting Belos all by their lonesome.

Raine: I said, get out!

Belos: That’s fine. Only one vessel is big enough to do what I need…

And then they realize where they are: At Belos’ castle, in which the heart of the Titan still beats…

Belos: Poor Raine. You tried so hard, didn’t you?

Meanwhile, in happier news, Amity succeeds in releasing herself from the Collector’s curse by scratching a light glyph onto the floor, and thence proceeds to release the other kids.

Amity: Guys…where’s Luz?

Meanwhile, The Collector is not one to settle for simply flipping through photos, so they take the show on the road.

Luz: For me, it started in the human realm. Things were not great, but I found my way here, and I met Owlbert, Hooty, and Eda the Owl Lady.

King: And the King of Demons!

Luz: None of us felt like we fit in, so we decided to not fit in together.

Collector: It was that easy, huh?

Luz: Not really. I had a lot to learn, but after a little while, I met more people who helped me.

When the Collector sees a picture of the Grudgby game, they naturally bop on over to the field.

King: The ball can bite you, and the rules are nonsense, but it’s still kinda fun.

I mean, we’ve never seen King play Grudgby (although, unlike flyer derby, he might actually be capable of playing it).

But then the Collector spies some students sneaking around the field.

Collector: Hi! I’m the Collector. Wanna be my Grudgby buddies?

Matt: It’s him! Run! Go go go go go!

Collector: I wanna go somewhere different.

Luz: I’m really glad you picked this place, Collector. It’s really special to me. It’s where Eda helped me make a connection with the Isles.

Collector: A baby could do that! Still, I’ve never seen an itty-bitty spider do it that way. Not everyone can recognize Titan magic. He must really like you if he’s shown you this much. He never told me about it, though. Did you force them to be your friend, too? Like, uh, what are their names, Lilith and Amity?

King: She didn’t force anyone to do anything!

Luz: Yeah. People are complex, and sometimes they just need a little kindness and forgiveness.

Collector: Kindness and forgiveness, huh?

It can take children quite a while to develop empathy – to recognize and relate to the pain of others. But it’s an important step toward maturity.

Collector: Do you hear that?

Luz: Hear what?

Collector: Breathing.

So Belos managed to hijack and reanimate the Titan’s corpse, resulting in a fire-breathing zombie kaiju! And also, the zombie flesh traps everyone where they are (if they’re on the main “body”), so no one else will be able to help with the fight.

This reminds me of the undead forest spirit from Princess Mononoke (yet another Ghibli reference). But the Collector notices Raine’s earring, which obviously gives them an idea…

King: What do we do? There’s no way we can stop that!

Collector: Yes there is, and I know how!

Not a good idea, but points for being open to change!

Luz: No! What is he doing?

Collector: I get it now. You just need kindness and forgiveness, huh? Luz, look! We can all be buddies now!

But that’s the sort of thing that’ll get someone killed.

And by “someone”, I mean Luz.

Collector: Huh? But I thought I was doing the right thing!

Luz: No, no, you did good, Collector, but this is a little more complicated. Don’t worry, I think it missed- me.

Collector: Luz…what’s happening?

Luz: Eda, King. Looks like we’re gonna be split up again. I feel like I should be used to this feeling by now, but, I still don’t know what to say.

Collector: Where’d she go?

this show

I didn’t even believe she was permanently dead, but it still gets me!

Amity: What is this?

and the ending theme plays. and luz turns into the light – literally, “la luz”.

Collector: Well, it’s okay, she just broke, so I’ll fix her. What? Why isn’t it working? The Archivists aren’t here, they couldn’t have taken her. Owl Lady, you know where Luz is, right?

Eda: Back up, kid. I don’t think I can control myself right now.

Those are faces that would even give Belos pause.

Collector: She’s really gone.

And this is why it works: Because the characters feel the loss. And it’s especially important for the Collector, who had no concept of the finality of death until now.

Luz: Oh. I know what I should have said. I should’ve thanked them.

But of course, she’s only mostly dead.

Because she’s got a (semi)literal god on her side!

Luz: King?

Titan: Ha ha, no. But he does get his good looks from me.

Luz: Oh, Titan!

Titan: Oh, me! Nice to meet you, Luz the Human.

Luz: You can’t actually be the Titan Titan, right? You’re the Boiling Isles, and that Titan is all…

Titan: Dead-looking?

Luz: Does that mean I’m, also…

Titan: No no no! Don’t want to do that. If you go under without a portal, you really will be dead-looking.

Luz: I can’t believe this. You’re King’s dad!

Titan: I think King said it best once. “I am both King and Queen, best of both things.” But Dad works fine.

The Titan explains that they’re in some sort of limbo, a space between spaces (and what appears to be where Luz’s portal led to).

Dad: I’ve been stuck here for quite some time. But at least I can keep an eye on my child, and those who have been kind to him.

Luz: I’m not so kind. When I saw the Collector fly up to Belos, I hoped with all my heart I would see them blast him away, and…

Dad: Hey, I can relate. I was willing to do anything to keep my kid safe. But I attacked the wrong person, dragged the Collector down here for nothing.

Luz: Does that make us as bad as Belos?

That’s a question that’s clearly been on Luz’s mind ever since she discovered Belos’ true identity – because if one human could act that horribly, what’s to stop her from treading the same path?

Dad: What? Have you been drinking Eda’s homemade apple blood?

Luz: Well, Belos says he’s trying to save humanity, and we’re saying we want to save our families, so isn’t that the same thing? D-don’t these feeling come from the same place?

Dad: You assume Belos’ goal comes from a genuine place, but that man doesn’t care about anything but his need to be the hero in his own delusion. And because of that, he fears what he can’t control.

It’s no coincidence that Belos’ plot involved him essentially being feared and worshipped like a god, and he planned to go home and receive more adulation.

Dad: Ah, dang. I thought I had more time left, but Belos will have full control soon. You ready to stop him?

Luz: What? What can I do?

Dad: You’ve already helped King so much, so let me use my last bit of life to help you.

Luz: Are you sure you wanna give this power to me?

Dad: Well, you’re the one here, and you seem like a good witch. But I can’t give you anything unless you choose to accept it. So the question is, will you choose yourself?

It’s not so much a choice about whether or not to save the world, but rather accepting herself as worthy of wielding that world-saving power.

Dad: Now, Belos will be able to control everything, so you have to defeat him fast. […] And my power won’t last forever, so use your time wisely.

Luz: Well what about-

Dad: Eda the Owl Lady? Send her my regards. Big fan.

Luz: No, King! What about King? Don’t you wanna say something to him?

I love this scene because it’s so obviously a rewrite of the King’s Cross scene from Harry Potter, and it’s so much more impactful! Not only does it provide closure (both to Luz and King), but it also breaks through all of Belos’ lies and exposes his fundamentally selfish motives.

Dad: Goodbye, Luz.

And they even manage to make me feel sad about a character I thought was dead all along – that’s a new one.

Meanwhile at the archives, there’s still lots of uncertainty (not least about what’s become of Luz), but they revive Camila.

Amity: What’s wrong with my magic?

Camila: Can’t you tell? You’re exhausted! You all are. None of you have gotten rest in days.

Willow: But what can we do? We can’t leave everyone like this.

Hunter: And what about Luz?

Camila: Luz is a Noceda. You know what that means? It means she’s way too stubborn to let any of this get her down. She’ll be okay. In the meantime, I think I know how we can help, even without your magic.

At first I thought the issue with their magic was because of the Titan dying, but the glyphs end up working just fine. Remember to sleep, kids!

Collector: No! Please, stop! Run away! Why isn’t anything working? I don’t want anyone else to go away, I don’t want anyone else to go missing! I’m sorry for everything. What is this stuff [tears]? Why won’t it stop?

The Collector is a child who’s used to getting whatever they want, so they need to learn that when you have friends, they won’t always do what you want, even if it’s for their own good. That’s the risk you take in loving people.

But of course, Luz shows back up just in the nick of time.

Luz: I’m back! Uh, wait- Couldn’t keep me away from- hang on. Ugh! I still can’t think of anything to say!

Eda: Ah! It’s Luz alright!

It takes a while for her to adjust to her new incredible powers, and in the meantime, the Collector heads over to the archives to protect everyone inside.

Eda: Concentrate. Think of what you want, and…

and they all combine their powers and it is precious

Honestly, it’s just fun to see Luz be so overpowered for once. But they need a strategy to defeat Belos, because her powers won’t last forever.

Luz: We have to cut Belos off from the Titan’s power.

Eda: What are you thinking?

Luz: Come on, Eda. You know where magic comes from.

All: From the heart!

and the opening theme is playing and it’s perfect

Then they get to the heart, and hence, to Raine.

I do appreciate the realistic depiction of what someone sees without their glasses (at least it’s similar to what I’d see), and Raine doesn’t recognize Eda for a moment, mainly just because they’re not accustomed to her harpy form. And the first thing Eda does is give them their glasses and it’s adorable.

Raine: Luz? You look…fluffier? How long was I out for?

Luz: We don’t have much time. Let’s end this.

Belos: You can’t defeat me.

She might not have been able to defeat Belos alone, but with her Owl Family at her back, she manages.

Luz: Do not understimate me, Belos. For I am the good witch Luz, child of the human realm, student of the demon realm, and warrior of peace! Now eat this, sucker!

Thus Belos is defeated and the Boiling Isles saved.

And the Collector managed to redeem himself, at least to Luz’s friends.

But, although Belos is defeated, he’s not dead.

Philip: Luz! Luz, I’m free! Thank goodness you saved me from…from that horrible curse. Yes, I was cursed with a terrible, terrible sickness by- by dark magic, just like your mentor. It forced me to do all those horrible things, but- but now I’m free.

But at this point, Luz knows how Belos works, and she’s not going to be taken in just because he looks human again.

And then it starts to rain…

Belos: Quickly now! Don’t you want to make peace, Luz?

Belos: Don’t just stand there! You’ll be just as bad, just as conniving, just as evil, and just as unforgivable as those witches! We’re human. We’re better than this!

Eda: Well, we ain’t!

And then Eda, Raine, and King proceed to trample the remains of Belos.

Was Belos truly irredeemable? Maybe not completely, but as long as he stayed in the demon realm, he would be a threat to its inhabitants, and he’d only survived this long because of magic, so he couldn’t return to the human realm. There was simply no place for him, so Luz let him be killed.

And this is the first (American) cartoon I’ve seen that ends with the (human) villain actually being killed by the heroes. In most cartoons, if they’re not responsible for their own demise, it ends with them being arrested, or if they’re particularly powerful, they lose their powers (a la Avatar). Even in Harry Potter (which was firmly in the realm of YA by the end), Harry essentially won the fight on a technicality, thus absolving him of any guilt (and even so, Voldemort had so mangled his own soul by then, he was treated by the narrative as “inhuman”). By having Luz face Philip at the end, the show acknowledges his humanity, and the fact that humans are capable of incomprehensibly evil things, especially against people they consider “inhuman”.

Then, the job done, the Titan finally passes on, leaving Luz at normal power levels.

Eda: Dang, kid. You do have tall genes.

Then Luz remembers the Titan’s message for King.

King: I loaf you? I loaf you. Bread pun!

Luz: Isn’t it amazing? We did it. After everything, after all that, we stuck together.

Eda: Yep, we did alright.

King: I’ll say.

And so, they turn to the long process of cleaning up (and Luz tops it all off with a lengthy monologue).

Luz: And that’s how we saved the Boiling Isles…well, as much as we could. We were so relieved to see everyone safely released from the archives. They were spared the worst of it, at least. Because of that, everyone got to reunite with their families and loved ones.

Thus we’re treated to all the kids being reunited with their respective parents (I mean, Amity’s mom is there, too, but she clearly wasn’t missed).

Luz: And if someone thought they had no one waiting for them, well, they were in for a nice surprise.

Darius was always the only one (other than Belos) who took Hunter’s bringing-up seriously, anyway.

Luz: Still, there was a lot of rebuilding to be done, and not everyone was keen to change things, but we were ready to give it a shot.

And that was always my biggest issue with the end of Harry Potter (and presumably the biggest issue this show’s writers had with it): In the end, the world just goes back to normal, without ever questioning whether that “normal” was any good to begin with. Obviously, in this case, Belos is gone, but most of the Coven Heads still liked that system (and the fact that they were on top), even after they discovered it was all a trick.

And then Luz’s Owl Family meets her OG family and they’re all one big(ger) happy family and it is precious.

Luz: As for the Collector, he and I made a pinky promise to keep trying our best. He said he had a lot of growing up to do, so he decided to return to the stars. No one argued, but I think I heard King whisper, “I hope I see you again.”

Also, note the implication that Hooty once connected to the Titan – it kinda makes sense, considering that the only one to ever best him was THE COLLECTOR, and even that was at least partially because he didn’t know about their powers.

Luz: We got our happy ending. But I realized something in that moment. When the Titan had finally passed on, so did the powers of the glyphs. I had learned the Titan’s language, but now I had no one to speak it to. It had helped me find my place when I had no other way. In my heart, I’ll never forget it. A whole chapter of my life was over, but a new one was just beginning.

I’ve seen some pushback about Luz “losing her magic” (which turns out to be a major oversimplification, because she still has her palisman), but I feel like that’s just the natural conclusion to the Titan’s sacrifice. The loss is part of what makes this a meaningful story.

We skip a couple years to when Luz has graduated high school (evidently in the human realm). There’s evidence of frequent travel between worlds, like the Grom photo that includes both Hunter and Vi – it helps when you’re friends with a Titan!

Camila: ¡Ahí estos tú! ¿Puedes ayudarme los maduros? [There you are! Can you help me with these maduros?]

Luz: I’ll be right there.

Fun fact: Maduros are sweet fried plantains.

Camila: Ay, I can’t believe you’re already leaving for college! Remind me, what major did you pick again?

Luz: Come on, Mamá , you know me. I picked all of them!

Because of course magic would be her preferred career path (even if she got a writing scholarship). And no, that’s not “Bi History”, it’s “Boiling Isles History” (although I’m sure she wouldn’t be averse to that subject, either).

Camila: All of them? How is that even possible without your glyphs?

Luz: It’s been tough, but me and Stringbean figured out our own way of doing things. And it’ll be nice to finally see everyone again, after all this time.

Camila: Luz, you saw them last week.

Luz: That doesn’t count! I was studying for finals.

Then Vi sends Owlbert to summon “the others”…

Hunter is seemingly apprenticed to Dell now and carves palismen (and he’s got a blue jay palisman now), and it’s perfect (Willow can even help them with the trees!)

And this reminds me that despite how dark it got, there were only two deaths (well, besides Belos) over the course of the series: Flapjack and the Titan. But they made you feel the weight of both in different ways. Of course, we got to know Flapjack pretty well, and we also saw the impact of his death on both Hunter and Luz. While we didn’t get to know the Titan as a person very well, the writers succeeded in connecting them to the Boiling Isles as a whole, not to mention the loss of Luz’s glyphs.

And now, Lilith bears a strong resemblance to Miss Frizzle…also she has a harpy form now, too.

Apparently someone’s sponsoring research to reverse the effects of the sigils, and the more progressive (former) Coven Heads are spearheading the effort.

Then there’s Eda, who is rocking the hook hand and heading a more Professor X-type school (also the college Luz is heading to).

Sadly, they seemed to have forgot about Gus. I mean, he’s there, and he’s evidently starting up some sort of student exchange program with the human realm, but that’s about it. He’s the only one of the main group who doesn’t get development in the third season (even Vi got a love interest!). I mean, he only got, like, two and a half episodes to himself in the main series, so it’s at least in keeping with that, but I still would’ve preferred more of him.

It turns out they were all gathering to celebrate Luz’s (belated) Quinceañera.

Eda: Well, since you spent your fifteenth birthday helping us rebuild the Isles-

King: And sixteenth, and seventeenth.

Amity: We wanted to make it up to you.

Willow: Camila told us all about your Quinceañeras from the human realm.

Gus: They sounded a lot less haunted than our birthdays.

And King has a little surprise of his own!

He has his own light glyph!

Eda: King’s powers are getting stronger, yeah. It looks like it’s different than his dad’s, but hey! You’ve got a whole new glyph language to try out.

And one last Lumity moment for the road.

Also, they seemed to have taken a cue from She-ra here (I’m not entirely sure if they originated the idea, but the artists here probably got the idea from them). I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not until just now, but this shot confirms it. In She-ra, instead of using rings to signify marriage, the couple gave each other some piece of jewelry/other significant item of clothing that they already had…and now Eda and Raine are wearing each other’s earrings. And Luz is wearing Amity’s amulet (she doesn’t seem to have given Amity something of hers, but they’re both barely adults now, so marriage can wait). its still precious.

Luz: Eda, King, thank you. For everything.

Eda: Right back at you, kiddo.

Luz: Weirdos?

Eda & King: Weirdos.

It was a far better ending than I’d expected, if still not nearly as good as the show deserved. Fans keep asking Dana Terrace if she’ll make more Owl House, and maybe she will someday, but after what Disney put her through just to make this abridged season, I don’t blame her if she wants to work with a company that will actually support her creative vision. I feel like she might revisit this world in the future, but probably not for a while yet.

As it is, we got a great show! It mainly stands out for its queer representation, and unlike Steven Universe (which stood out mostly because of the orientation of his magical guardians), this show features a queer protagonist in a gay relationship (and unlike Legend of Korra, or She-ra for that matter, they’re able to build the relationship gradually over the course of the series). If you want a replacement for Harry Potter featuring likable characters (and queerness), this takes a lot of similar concepts and switches it up a bit. I’m planning on writing at least one more thing about this show (and Harry Potter) before the end of the year.

Next time: The beginning of a new story…