The Owl House: Hunting Palismen

July 19, 2021 11:57 AM - Season 2, Episode 6

It's Palisman Pairing Day at Hexside, but Luz doesn't match with a Palisman of her own and soon finds herself on an unexpected journey with a foe.

In the course of an Evil Overlord powerpoint to his top minions, we see Belos is ill, and staving off the effects by eating palismen, the supply of which is getting low. Even the wood for them is low, leading to an adoption program at Hexside, but Luz fails to match. As she tries to bond with them, the Golden Guard steals the unmatched palismen and as Luz fights him they are both thrown to the ground by Kikimura who wants the palismen herself. Luz and a now unmasked Golden Guard team up to get them back. In the process we learn his name is Hunter, he has no magic of his own and needs his staff (a gift from Belos) to work magic. In the end, Luz gets the unchosen babies back to Bat Mom... except for one that has slipped away and chosen Hunter!

posted by Karmakaze (5 comments total)

Connecticut, huh?
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:44 PM on July 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Amazing how many people fixated on Connecticut as the most important detail of this episode.
posted by Karmakaze at 2:58 PM on July 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

I enjoy this show. I came to it as a fan of Gravity Falls, which I watched with my son as he was growing up. He's a teenager now, and is surprised that I still enjoy watching. Narratively, to be honest, this is a kids' show, so consequently, i don't get many earth-shattering take-aways from that aspect of it. I do think it's a rich universe with potential for many many stories. I also think that one of the consequences of the short season length is that the team is rolling a bunch into each episode, and giving the core characters their time to shine. It would be nice if they had the time and resources to dig as deep as , say, Steven Universe, but it doesn't seem likely.

Representationally, however, the show is somewhat groundbreaking, and its effect on the fandom is fascinating. That's what brings me back for my 20 -odd minute dose once week.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:44 AM on July 20, 2021

I feel like the Owl House is benefitting from being TV/streaming only in the amount of representation it's allowed to show. Disney/Marvel's Loki gave lip service to bi representation, but the cast was all styled to be strictly binary and nothing on screen was anything but pure hetero. Disney's princess animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon had an antagonist-converted-to-ally who was blatantly coded as lesbian (undercut, bare biceps and all), but the film carefully dodged going anywhere with it by having no romance of any kind. It's only when we get into the tier of titles that don't get national headlines that we're allowed to have blushes and (age-appropriate) kisses between two girls.
posted by Karmakaze at 1:54 PM on July 20, 2021 [2 favorites]

Some really great creatures designs in this episode, too.
posted by kyrademon at 11:22 AM on February 7, 2022