Despite a lackluster plotline involving our main character in this week’s The Owl House, Hunter and Willow share the spotlight this week where we learn a bit more about one of the coven heads.
Any Sport in a Storm
Okay, let’s get the B Storyline of this week’s episode out of the way. Luz and Amity discover that the author of their favorite book series, “Azura The Good Witch,” is going to be signing at the Book Nook, which makes no sense, considering that the book comes from the Human World….or does it? Comparing their copies, it seems that maybe the Author might have their own portal to bounce between the realms, so the two go off to investigate. However, after an episode of chasing, they discover a mishmash of characters including Mattholomew and Tybill who seem to be running a fake printing press of the books, even though only one copy has ever sold in the Boiling Isles. This plotline seemed wholly unnecessary when compared to the rest of the episode, but it’s The Owl House, so it probably has something to do with something, we just don’t realize it yet. After all, Tybill did say that he got the books because human garbage keeps leaking into the water and this box of books washed ashore.
If nothing else, it served to keep Luz occupied so she couldn’t help Willow with the formation of her Flying Derby team, because she had to have an encounter with Hunter which couldn’t occur if Luz was around. So let’s get to the meat and bones of this episode.
Hunter (AKA The Golden Guard) is trying to finish fixing his robe, but it doesn’t look as good as it once did, when he gets a note from Belos saying he needs to run the Coven Head’s meeting for the day. Too bad they’re all already on their way out when Darius calls him “Little Prince” and tells him the meeting has been canceled so he can go back to his arts and crafts, mocking his poorly remade robe.
But pay close attention here, because we get a bit more insight into Hunter and Darius. Hunter plays his nepotism card, but Darius steps on his toes verbally reminding him he’s the Emperor’s NEPHEW, and says that his predecessor (not father or anything like that, wink wink) was his mentor, and one of the strongest witches he’s ever known. But remember, Hunter has no magical abilities, all his magic comes from a special gift from the emperor, though he does have his secret palisman that also helps too.
Darius insists that Hunter doesn’t deserve to wear that patch, and Hunter tries to impress him asking how he can do that. Darius sends him on what clearly is a fool’s errand to bide his time, and suggests he goes out and finds new recruits for the Emperor’s Coven, so Hunter does just that. Because, after all, he said very snidely, Hunter is good at doing exactly what he is told.
While all this is going on, Willow is training to start her Flyer Derby team at the school’s club fair. Everything gets set up, but Hunter shows up at the fair trying to find recruits though nobody seems interested at all. Professor Homunculus shows up as well, still bitter that Willow dropped his class, and says he’ll cut the funding to her new club unless she puts together a team and plays a friendly game of Flyer Derby with him and his team after school adding that if they win, and she can be a good leader who leads their team to victory, he’ll approve the club.
At this point, it's fairly obvious that Hunter and Willow will cross paths. And cross paths they do when Willow sees Hunter flying away from an agitated creature, clearly with amazing flying skills, and asks him to join her new team. He sees her brochure, saying that Flyer Derby is for the best and brightest witches, giving Hunter an easy way in to find new recruits. Gus however, is immediately suspicious as he has never seen this “new student” around the school.
Using a stunning presentation (involving Hunter’s flying skills), Willow finds a few students to join her team, though Hunter judges a book by their cover, and sees them as a menagerie of lost causes. He starts to leave when Willow calls him back saying where he comes from chances have to be earned, and uses her magical abilities to pull him underground using plants and transport him to the Flying Derby field where he formally meets the teammates and sees their abilities, making his first impression of them moot.
Hunter calls Darius, saying he found some new recruits at Hexside, and that he’ll be very impressed with them. The Derby match begins and its very clear the time is skilled and these witches are fantastic, but Hunter seems to really enjoy himself and forms a bond with his new friends on the team. They obviously win, and Professor Homunculus agrees to the club, per his word, and asks for their team name. It’s Hunter who suggests that they be called the Emerald Entrails, since their team color was green and that there’s more to them than meets the eye. Willow whips out her device to take a team picture for Penstagram that includes the five of them with Hunter dead center.
Gus apologizes for being so suspicious of him, and everyone seems to be happy to have made a new friend. Its at this point that Hunter reveals himself as the Golden Guard and says they can now play as a team as part of the Emperor’s Coven. Willow then realizes that this is the kid that Luz has told them about and more of the Emperor’s scouts show up, sent by Darius to collect his new recruits.
As the kids are locked up, we get to see a scout that has been making appearances in the last few episodes, named Steve. You can even see him at Lilith’s celebration party in the last episode. Scara punched him in the face, denting his mask, emotions are running high after all.
An abomination shows up, transporting them to Darius’s ship and Hunter desperately seeks his approval. Darius gives him his tattered cloak back and tells him to stop bothering him. Steve reminds Hunter of everything that they had to do to prove their worth, and reminds him that Belos will likely take their palismen and destroy them for himself. Hunter is clearly beginning to regret his choices and makes way to Darius’s ship.
The team tries to get away, but Darius seems unphased while stopping them. It's only when Hunter shows up and Gus performs an illusion, causing the ship to crash that Darius seems to care, asking them what they’re thinking by trying to endanger a covenhead, knowing what covenheads are capable of. As all seems lost, Hunter gets in front of them, saying he was wrong and those four students are insolent agitators who don’t deserve to be in the Emperor’s Coven. He also says that he is unfit to wear the robes of the Golden Guard, and tells the other students that they can leave.
Darius seems irate. Hunter has befriended them, and disobeyed him to protect them. But…He was impressed. He now made friends and connections outside the castle. He then makes a device appear and gives it to Hunter so he too can join Penstagram and keep in touch with his new friends before admitting that he was just going to take them back to the school since (in his opinion) there are already enough recruits for the Emperor’s Coven. Hunter shyly asks if he is going to tell Belos about everything and Darius asks if Hunter is going to tell Belos about his secret palisman. So yeah, Darius clearly knows about that too now, but this threat apparently might not be the antagonistic coven head we thought he was after all. Especially when he says he thinks Hunter will make his predecessors proud, before giving him a perfectly patched up Golden Guard robe.
Finally Luz and Amity catch up to Willow and Gus and the new team, screaming when they discover they spent the whole day with the half-witch who endangered both of them numerous times.
Okay, so Darius knows what Hunter is. Especially since he keeps using the term “predecessor” meaning there were others before him. While most of the episode he is annoyed with Hunter, by the end we see why. Clearly he wasn’t living up the version of Hunter that Darius knew was possible. I’m also curious to see how loyal to the Emperor’s Coven Darius really is then if he will protect Hunter like that. Could he possibly be some kind of defector in the upcoming plans of the Emperor? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
This episode of The Owl House is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW App. You can catch up with the rest of the series on Disney+.