To occupy and distract Luz from dwelling on the upcoming Day of Unity, Eda decides to provide her with a bit more backstory about the relationship between her and Raine Whispers in this week’s The Owl House.
Them’s The Breaks, Kid
This week’s Disney Channel series’ entries (see also: Amphibia) have had a strong focus on the flashback sequences, which in the latest episode of The Owl House has focused on the relationship between Eda Clawthorne and Raine Whispers.
The episode jumps right into the action, saying outright what it will be from the beginning to give Luz a distraction from what Emperor Belos is up to with the upcoming Day of Unity (more on that later). From there, we are treated to memories of Teen Eda running to school with her sister, Lilith, as they both discuss the upcoming tryouts for the Emperor’s Coven. Tragically, the two are running late and Eda causes a distraction with a fortunately timed Grudgy Ball and is able to cover for Lilith, but the principal of Hexside at the time, Principal Faust, sees a chance for opportunity to both have a reason to expel Eda and embarrass his Vice Principal Bump at the same time.
Looking over Eda’s long and tenured history of troublemaking and pranks at the school, he threatens to expel Eda and keep her away from her sister unless she wins a blue medal at the Instructing Future Witches of Tomorrow (IFWOT) conference under the supervision of Vice Principal Bump, who believes that all troublesome witches can be turned around with the right guidance, and is willing to stake his professional career on it.
With the proper guidance of Principal Bump, Eda attends the conference for some cheesy activities and tries to put her own wild spin on it. It does not go over well.
It’s during a meal break when drinking some of the provided (terribly flavored) beverages that she encounters Raine Whispers for the first time. Turns out, Raine has been attending the seminar for several years now to maintain a scholarship at his school and they have already won numerous blue ribbons because they are talented and it’s the same every year.
The two immediately connect and Raine even teaches Eda a bit of bard magic, showcasing their ability to use their skill and whistle into their beverage to alter the chemistry of the liquid and give it a delicious flavor. We are then treated to a montage of the pair bonding and their growing friendship throughout the program before Coven Head Tara Snapdragon takes over and challenges the team to a far more serious (and dangerous game) of Covens Vs. Wilds, using her magic abilities to sculpt a giant hedge maze where the students are forced to be on the team of covens who are now trying to capture the team of wilds.
Spoiler alert: Eda and Raine are assigned to different teams, oddly (considering we, the viewer, already know the future) with Raine as a wild witch and Eda as a coven witch, and the competition narrows down to the duo being the last two standing. Raine is seemingly terrified as Eda approaches after eliminating her own teammates from the game, but when Tara Snapdragon says it’s now a one-on-one fight, the two run after each other and just as we think there’s about to be a brawl between the two, they merely bump fists and then proceed into a choreographed dance number we saw them do earlier in the episode.
Tara and Bump (who earlier tried to point out what she did throughout the competition was against many bylaws) commended their response to authority, saying that the two have the makings of great leaders in them. She also mentions that she was impressed by Bump, and said even though she is giving no blue ribbons at this year’s conference, she will be sure to reach out to the Hexside principal Faust and make sure the two are recognized properly.
We then see Eda try to tell Lilith about her weekend with Raine before she runs off to more Emperor Coven-related activities. As she sits alone at the table, Raine joins her saying they had transferred to Hexside, and introduces her to apple blood. As we fade out on the backstory, Eda says that they had been inseparable after that and looks to the sky hoping that they were okay.
Well, lucky for us viewers we get to see them at the Emperor’s palace, where Tara Snapdragon has been taking care of her favorite “Sprout,” and mentioning that when she found out it was them causing trouble, she was disappointed but handed over more of her brainwashing tea to them. Then we notice that they slowly whistle onto their beverage just like we saw at the IFWOT, altering the chemistry of the beverage. The brainwashing has been an act, and as soon as snapdragon is gone, they approach a small abomination that has news about the upcoming day of unity. A closer glance at this news sees the plans for a “draining spell” with art that shows that the different covens will be joined together and drained of their magical abilities through their sigils during an upcoming eclipse.
They ask the abomination if there is anything that they can do and gets a reply of simply “owl lady.”
Raine says that they don’t want to put her in anymore danger and says that they will figure out another way. Let’s hope so.
This episode of The Owl House is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can catch up with season one and the first half of season two now streaming on Disney+.