My Review of The Owl House season 3 episode 1: Thanks to Them · 11:43pm May 6th, 2023
Special Rating Scale: 
: Awesome!
: Great!
: Pretty good.
: Meh.
: Overrated and boring.
: Terrible!
: Unnecessary.
Greetings, everyone. This is Mr. J back with my final three reviews for Disney’s “The Owl House”. It’s been a while since I’ve made a review for the show…at least since the season 2 finale came out almost last year, I believe. But now that the series has officially been concluded (albeit too soon, “thanks” to Disney), this seems to be a good month to finish off the show with my last three reviews thereof. Today, I will start off my review of the third season with its first special “Thanks to Them”.
After King forced Luz and her friends back to the human realm, the kids are now stuck there—besides a bittersweet reunion between Luz and her mother. As months pass by, Luz has been trying to figure out ways to get her friends back in the Boiling Isles while stricken with guilt. Things change, however, when a surviving enemy hunts them down.
I know that Dana Terrace and her team had to squeeze in a lot of character writing, plot, and world-building in these full-length specials due to Disney shortening it, so I’ll try to be as fair as possible.
This episode did a great job showing us first and foremost how Luz and her friends have been managing while they were in the human realm; plus, we get to see how this whole situation has emotionally been affecting them—more so for Luz and Hunter. The former felt guilty over the fact that she unwittingly helped a witch hunter find the Collector whereas the latter is still haunted by the fact that he is a grimwalker of a man who used to be a big brother to Belos. Seeing them still mentally traumatized by the events of “Hollow Mind” was really well-written and shows us how life-changing those revelations were.
And notice how close Luz and Hunter were in this episode. I would argue that this special served as a concluding sibling-bonding arc between them both; they’re practically brother and sister in a way and trying to look out for each other and looking for signs of Belos’ return…considering that he is both their archenemy. And even better, Luz finally called him family! It would make sense for Hunter to break down in tears because Belos always treated him like crap for 16 years of his life and never had anyone else to love and care for him. Now that he finally has friends who genuinely care about him, he won’t have to feel worthless anymore which is similar to what Amity told him in season 2.
It was also really nice seeing all the other human characters in the episode who would have made more appearances had the show gotten a full-length third season. The way Amity, Gus, and Willow interacted with the human world with Vee showing them the ropes looked so fun to watch. Just like how Luz had to experience living in a completely different world for the first time, so did her friends in her world now. It came full circle, didn’t it?
But Belos was utterly cruel and sadistic in this episode. He literally survived as a slimy little goop, attempted to possess multiple animals to gain a new body only to end up eating up their flesh, and then ultimately got to Hunter. And it was so creepy with the way he possessed Hunter and taunted Luz for helping him achieve his goals. As if he hasn’t degraded himself into an even more evil psychopath, he took over a clone of his dead brother as a twisted way of reuniting himself with the latter.
The only thing I found annoying about all this is that the episode has added to a list of Disney villains possessing children as a vessel. You had Bill Cipher possessing Dipper, the Core possessing Marcy, and now Belos possessing Hunter? It’s getting super old at this point. Oh, and possessed Hunter didn’t look that appealing to me. Regardless of what fans would say, he is the least intimidating-looking figure I’ve seen from Belos. Also, if his gooy substance can easily regenerate in seconds, then…why would he need a host? I dunno about you, but his powers are just inconsistent throughout the shortened season. But I’ll get into that more in my review of the finale.
The animation, specially the part where everyone was fighting possessed Hunter, looked so good and fluid. The voice acting was still top-notch, and the plot was intriguing to say the least.
The resolution, on the other hand, felt very rushed. After Luz finally told them the truth after Belos revealed she helped him find the Collector, Amity and the others quickly forgive her and re-focus their objective in returning back home to save the Boiling Isles. I get it, there was so little time left (again, blame Disney), but come on, there should have been at least some back and forth to make it a little realistic, but I guess Amity, Willow, and Gus know her too well to understand that she always means well and, as Hunter pointed out, she was manipulated by Belos. If it weren’t for her, he would’ve found someone else to trick to get him to the Collector.
So with that said, I’ll let it slide. So while it wasn’t perfect, it was definitely a great start to a shortened season. Thus, I give it a : Great! Oh, and Camila Noceda is shown to be an awesome mother too! I really love her character, and I love how they expanded her complex relationship with Luz. Can’t wait to talk more about her in the next season 3 review for next week!
Peace!
This is a great review for The Owl House Season 3 premiere. What were your thoughts on Flapjack's sacrifice?
5726847
Quite heartbreaking 💔
5726898
I agree.
This episode was great. I think Dana and her team did the best they could with the cards they were given. What´s funny now is that the Disney Channel youtube channel is uploading the episodes (dang it disney you had one job!).