"Through the Looking Glass Ruins" is the fifth episode of the second season of The Owl House, and the twenty-fourth episode overall.
It premiered on July 10, 2021.
Synopsis
Gus tries to impress a group of cool kids from Glandus High, while Luz and Amity journey into the most dangerous section of the library.[1]
Plot
At Hexside, Luz finds Gus in the hallway, upset because he messed up after trying to help Willow with a pixie problem; he used illusions to try and distract them, but accidentally angered the pixies, causing them to attack Willow instead. Because of this, Gus loses his confidence regarding his ability to perform illusion magic and feels he should try something different. Luz assures him that he will feel better tomorrow, but when the next day comes, he feels worse.
After receiving a message from Willow telling him to stop sending illusion messages to her, Luz comes over to Gus' house for help. She tells him that she needs to use his library card to research the human who lived on the Boiling Isles that Eda's mother told her of, but Gus correctly guesses she also wants to visit Amity due to Luz having developed feelings for her. Along the way to the library, Gus expresses his feelings of inferiority, as he feels illusion magic isn't as useful as other types of magic. Just then, they witness a slitherbeast rampaging through town. It almost attacks Braxas when three Glandus High students named Bria, Gavin, and Angmar intervene and help capture the beast. Gus is so amazed by them that he goes up to talk to them. Mattholomule then shows up with a map for the Glandus High students, leading to artifacts called the Galdorstones. According to the group, the Galdorstones are powerful relics protected by a guardian in a place called the Looking Glass Ruins. Many witches have sought for them, but all returned empty-handed. Bria, Gavin, and Angmar are planning to seek out the stones with Mattholomule, and Bria asks Gus to join them, as they could need the extra help. At first, he turns down the offer, as he does not know any spells besides illusions, but Luz manages to encourage him, supplying him with some of her glyph cards to help him out.
While Gus is out on an adventure with the Glandus High students, Luz goes to the library. There, she discovers the name of the human, Philip Wittebane, and that he donated his diary to the library. Luz finds Amity, who is now an employee at the library, but is too flustered to approach her as she watches Amity tying her hair up. Luz is then approached by Edric and Emira, who are there to look up skincare tips for Edric, as he has a date. Amity then walks up to Luz and sensing something between them, Emira leads Edric off. Luz explains the situation and asks for her help in finding the diary. Amity tells Luz that a book that old would be kept in the Forbidden Stacks. Unfortunately, only Malphas, the master librarian, is allowed in. Amity agrees to help Luz out but makes her promise to listen to her, as she could lose her job if they are caught in there.
Meanwhile, Gus, Mattholomule, and the Glandus High students are in the Forearm Forest searching for the Galdorstones. Gus asks what the Galdorstones actually do, to which Mattholomule explains they give the ability to boost a witch's power, unless you're an illusionist. The Glandus High students have big plans for the stones: Angmar wants to grow an entire forest to create a butterfly sanctuary, Gavin wants to create the biggest abomination to impress his father, and Bria hopes to make life at Glandus High a lot better, as the weak students are pushed around by the strong. The kids arrive at their first challenge, which is a huge wall of thorns blocking their path. All of them encourage Gus to clear the path, so he feigns a fireball spell using a fire glyph, which blasts a tunnel through the wall. While the Glandus High students are impressed, Mattholomule grows suspicious of this.
Back at the library, Luz and Amity are searching for Philip Wittebane's diary, while at the same time hiding from Malphas. Amity tells Luz that Malphas gave Amity her job at the library and her own study room. According to her, he is usually nice, but he would feed them to the bookworms if they got caught. Luz jokes that even though "bookworms" might be an unholy blood sucking snake monster in the Isles, in the human realm that's usually just a nickname for nerds. Amity says that the human realm sounds odd, to which Luz brings up the idea of showing it to her one day, which fuels Amity's resolve to help Luz even more. Not wanting to get her into trouble, Luz suggests they should head back, but Amity insists on finding the diary.
The group of five eventually make it to the ruins, where they discover decrepit statues containing the Galdorstones. However, Gus discovers the ruins are actually a cemetery for illusionists, and the stones belonged to them. Gus says they shouldn't take the stones, but the Glandus High students pay him no heed, as the illusionists are dead now, and they wouldn't have used the stones to their full potential anyway. Suddenly, a guardian appears, and Bria shoves Gus out to fight it. Gus realizes he is out of glyphs, so he creates an illusion of the guardian to scare it away, only to discover it too is also an illusion, and the caster is an old man who is the keeper of the graveyard. The keeper explains that illusionists like him have been guarding the stones for years, as they are the least likely to steal them, due to getting no power boost from them. Realizing the guardian is a fake, the Glandus High students restrain Gus and the keeper while they loot the Galdorstones. After being treated badly by them, Mattholomule frees Gus and the keeper, as Gus saved him from detention despite the fact he was a jerk to him, while Bria has always treated him like a stooge. With this boost to his confidence, Gus comes up with a plan to drive the Glandus students away from the graveyard.
Back in the library, Luz and Amity find Philip Wittebane's diary after a long time searching, only to discover the pages have been eaten by a mouse. Luz can no longer hold in her anger and shouts at it, alerting Malphas. Disappointed, he kicks the two of them out and fires Amity. Luz tries to apologize, but Amity is not up for it at the moment. She tearfully confesses that things have been different ever since Luz showed up, and that she's always doing stupid things for Luz that she wishes she didn't. To her surprise, Luz, also in tears, assures her it's alright, as she does stupid things around Amity too. Overwhelmed by all the information, Amity dejectedly heads home. However, Luz is determined to make things right, and heads back into the library.
As Bria comes up with a plan to sell the smaller stones to the Emperor's Coven and keep the larger ones, Gus casts an illusion spell on the entire ruins. He lures Angmar away with a butterfly, creates a poor depiction of Gavin's dad who wants to hang out with him (which tricks him despite his suspicions), and scares Bria away with horrifying images of the statues coming to life. With the threat gone, Gus dispels the illusion, which has tired him out. The keeper muses that it might be time to hide the ruins forever, but Gus and Mattholomule beg him not to, offering to come by regularly to help fortify its defenses, which the keeper agrees to. Gus then asks Mattholomule if this means that the two of them are friends now, to which Mattholomule confesses he doesn't know. As they are leaving, Mattholomule calls Gus "squirt" and punches him jokingly on the shoulder, to which Gus calls him "jerk" and jokingly punches him back.
Back at Blight Manor, Amity confides in Emira as her sister brushes her hair, telling her about how confusing Luz's arrival has made everything, and how she is feeling and thinking things that she never has before. Emira questions why she's making it sound like a bad thing, because Amity wasn't happy before. Emira then points out that Amity's roots are growing out and asks if she wants to dye her hair again. However, Amity requests to have it dyed lilac purple instead of its usual green. Luz then arrives at Blight Manor, beaten and bruised with Amity's staff card, apologizing profusely for what happened, but is shocked by Amity's new look. Amity explains that she felt like it was time for a change, and the two blush. Amity asks how she got the card back, and Luz explains that after going through a series of harsh trials, she was able to convince Malphas to give her job back.
Amity then notices that the mouse that ate the diary had hitched a ride on Luz's leg. Luz declares she hates the mouse, but Amity informs her that it is an echo mouse, which can consume knowledge by eating things and is capable of playing back anything it consumes. Amity then pets the mouse, causing it to play the first entry of Philip Wittebane's diary, which talks about how he ended up on the Boiling Isles and how he resolved to return home. Realizing that she can still learn about Philip Wittebane through the mouse, Luz decides to keep it, saying that she hopes they become "good friends". Amity is so moved by what Luz did for her that she tells her that she always has a way of sneaking into people's hearts, before kissing Luz on the cheek. Luz's eyes light up in wonder, while Amity runs back inside her house, completely flustered, leaving Luz to collapse on the ground, still in shock about what just happened.
Cast
- Sarah-Nicole Robles as Luz Noceda
- Alex Hirsch as King
- Issac Ryan Brown as Gus Porter
- Mae Whitman as Amity Blight
- Tati Gabrielle as Willow Park
- Erica Lindbeck as Emira Blight
- Ryan O'Flanagan as Edric Blight
- Jorge Diaz as Mattholomule
- Felicia Day as Bria
- Nik Dodani as Gavin
- Harvey Guillén as Angmar
- Roger Craig Smith as Warden Wrath
- Fred Tatasciore as Malphas
- Kevin Locarro as Braxas
- Alex Lawther as Philip Wittebane
Additional voices
- Dee Bradley Baker as Guardian and Gavin's Dad
- Erica Lindbeck as Green Hexside Girl
- Eden Riegel as Pink Butterfly Illusion
- Christopher Swindle as The Keeper
- Fred Tatasciore as Slitherbeast
- Kari Wahlgren as Blonde Hexside Kid
Non-speaking cameo
Mentioned
Pictured
Other characters
Title in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Spanish (Latin America)
|
A Través de las Ruinas del Espejo | Through the Mirror Ruins | |
 Bulgarian
|
В руините на Огледалния свят | In the Ruins of the Mirror world | |
 Portuguese (Brazil)
|
Trilhando Através das Ruínas | Treading Through the Ruins | |
 Mandarin
|
廢墟冒險記 | Adventures in the Ruins | |
 Czech
|
Cesta zrcadlovými troskami | Journey through the mirror ruins | |
 German
|
Die Spiegelglas-Ruinen | The Mirror Glass Ruins | |
 Danish
|
Bag spejlglassets ruiner | Behind the Ruins of the Mirror Glass | |
 Arabic
|
من خلال أنقاض الزجاج | Through the Ruins of Glass | |
 Spanish
|
A través de las Ruinas del Espejo | Through the Mirror Ruins | |
 French
|
Les ruines de l'illusion | The Ruins of Illusion | |
 Indonesian
|
Melalui Reruntuhan Cermin | Through the Mirror Ruins | |
 Hebrew
|
מבעד לשרידי המראה | Through the Remains of the Mirror | |
 Italian
|
Attraverso le rovine dello specchio | Through the Mirror Ruins | |
 Malay
|
Di Sebalik Cermin | On the Other Side of the Mirror | |
 Dutch
|
Reflecterende Ruïnes | Reflective Ruins | |
 Norwegian
|
Gjennom speil-ruinene | Through the Mirror Ruins | |
 Portuguese
|
Viagem às Ruínas do Espelho | Voyage to the Mirror Ruins | |
 Polish
|
Lustrzany cmentarz | Mirror Graveyard | |
 Romanian
|
Prin Ruinele Oglinzilor | Through the Mirror Ruins |
Transcript
| For a full transcript of "Through the Looking Glass Ruins", click here. |
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
- Viewership: This episode was watched by 0.39 viewers on its premiere.[3]
- The secret message can be found on the base of a statue in the Forbidden Stacks:
, which translates to "strings". - This is the first episode where neither Eda nor King physically appear.
- King only appears in Gus' crystal ball message recorder when Willow was leaving a message for Gus.
- Eda only appears in an image of a news article titled "Mystery vendor floods market with dangerous human goods" when Luz is searching up information about the first human in the Bonesborough Library.
- This is also the first episode of the second season where neither Lilith nor Hooty appear, plus the first time since "Enchanting Grom Fright" where the former doesn't appear.
- This is the only episode outside of the epilogue in "Watching and Dreaming" to show Mattholomule in casual clothing.
- Luz speaks Spanish for the sixth time:
- "No te preocupes. Todo va a salir bien." means "Do not worry. Everything will be fine."
- "Nada funcionará a menos que lo haga funcionar." means "Nothing will work unless I make it work."
- Several search results appear when Luz is researching Philip. These include:
- "How to cure parasitic-"
- "Hexes for exes"
- "Hexside or St. Epiderm?"
- "How to survive a giraffe"
- "Hungry, what eat?"
- "Hunting Basilisks"
- "Human"
- "Human wasps"
- The names on the statues refer to members of the crew, color designer Mari Alizor, and prop designers Aleth Romanillos and Khari Cephas.
- During the final scene, the sunset is the colors of the bisexual pride flag. Also, Amity's staff card has a shooting star on the back that has the colors of the lesbian pride flag.
- The colors of the pride flag are seen in Gus' crystal ball as it loads his message.
- One of the trials Luz had to face was taming a paper dragon. This is a reference to a creature Molly Ostertag created for one of her Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.[4]
- The statues in the Looking Glass Ruins initially had their own individual designs, but were ultimately unified to make it easier to track them from shot to shot.[5]
- This is the first time Amity is shown with her hair down.
- It is also her final full appearance with her original hairstyle, as she changes it and dyes her hair purple by the end of the episode.
- Philip Wittebane's diary is animated in a style meant to resemble silhouette animation.
Revelations and significant events
- Luz has been borrowing Gus' library card frequently so she can visit Amity. Because of this, Gus has caught on to Luz's crush.
- Emira also implies that Luz has been walking Amity home from the library.
- Gus is revealed to have moved up two grades at Hexside in this episode.
- Mattholomule mentions that he has an older brother, whom Dana Terrace later confirmed was Steve.[6]
- Braxas is revealed to be Warden Wrath's son.
- Mattholomule had gone to Glandus before transferring to Hexside.
- Several revelations can be seen in Luz's search results.
- Eda once scared customers away with two paddle balls.
- The Good Witch Azura series first washed up on the shores of the Boiling Isles in a box of human litter.
- There was once a movie called "Planet of the Humans" that flopped at the box office for being "too implausible".
- The name of the human who once lived on the Boiling Isles is Philip Wittebane.
- The portal to the Human Realm is intrinsically linked to Philip.
- The Boiling Isles use a similar calendar system as the Human Realm, as Philip was recorded to have donated his book in their equivalent of the 1600s.
- Gus uses glyph magic for the first time.
- Amity admits to her siblings that Luz's arrival changed her; she started thinking and feeling things that she never did.
- This culminates at the end of the episode, where Amity gives Luz a kiss on the cheek.
- It is explicitly revealed that Amity dyed her hair because her mother likes it green.
- This was previously stated by Dana Terrace in a Reddit AMA.[7]
- At the end of the episode, she dyes it a shade of purple. She also has her bangs cut shorter and no longer ties them back.
- The tights Amity wears for her casual outfit have changed from magenta to dark red.
Continuity
- The Emperor's Coven booklet from "Agony of a Witch" can be seen on Gus' desk.
- Luz mentions what Gwendolyn revealed to her in "Keeping up A-fear-ances" - that she is not the first human to visit the Boiling Isles, and that the previous one left a diary in the Bonesborough Library.
- Amity no longer wears her necklace, having broken it in "Escaping Expulsion".
- Gus has a "Bad Girl Coven" t-shirt, the design of which was shown in "Something Ventured, Someone Framed".
- Mattholomule also mentions the events of this episode.
- The poster in Amity's room is the left half of the Azura illustration from "Covention".
Production notes
- Nik Dodani makes his voice acting debut with Gavin.
Allusions
- Through the Looking-Glass - The title is a reference to the novel written by Lewis Carroll, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- Clash of the Titans - One of the movies seen in the newspaper clipping, War of the Titans, may be a reference to the 1981 fantasy film based on Ancient Greece.
- Planet of the Apes - One of the movies, Planet of the Humans, is based on the title of this classic sci-fi film.
- The Lesser Key of Solomon - The head librarian Malphas is based on the Goetic demon of the same name.
- Relativity - The architecture of the Forbidden Stacks mirrors the optical illusion portrait made by M. C. Escher.
- Edwardian era - The archives of the "Deadwarian era" is a pun on the term for the era of Great Britain from 1901 to 1910.
- The Simpsons - The Keeper saying "I'll call the hounds" is a reference to Mr. Burns saying "Release the hounds".
Errors
The episodes description on the Canadian Disney Channel guide
- Eden Riegel is credited as voicing Boscha in the credits, despite Boscha not appearing or having a speaking role in the episode.
- In the Canada broadcast, the episode is erroneously listed as the second season's seventh episode.
- Emira's beauty mark is missing at the beginning of the Blight Manor scene.
- Additionally, Edric's reflection briefly appears with a longer face.
- When Amity rushes back inside after kissing Luz, she pushes the door open, however in the next shot it closes like it was pulled open.
- While Amity is blushing, part of her blush appears extended onto her shoulder.
Videos
Memorable Quotes
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Disney Television Animation [@DisneyTVA] (May 17, 2021). "#TheOwlHouse is back and the new episodes are flying in soon to #DisneyChannel Catch all-new episodes on Saturdays in June and July! #WatchOnDisneyChannel" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ Through the Looking Glass Ruins Concept 3.jpg
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Metcalf, Mitch (July 13, 2021). "Top 150 Saturday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 7.10.2021". Showbuzz Daily.
- ↑ "New Dungeons & Dragons Monsters (ft. Molly Ostertag)". YouTube (February 24, 2018).
- ↑ Bosma, Sam [@sbosma] (July 19, 2021). "Moving right along -- 205: Through the Looking Glass Ruins! Really fun episode. I got to design the statues, which were initially individual designs but we ended up unifying them to make it uh, less impossible to track from shot to shot." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ Terrace, Dana [@DanaTerrace] (May 17, 2022). ""Actually...Yeah! I'm so so happy ppl caught that since it's one of those small story threads that had to be cut w the shortened s3. The idea was that they're half bros and despite the age difference and distance w Steve's job, Matt always looked up to him, hence the haircut. (1/2)"" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ "Dana Terrace's AMA". Reddit (September 2, 2020). "Amity's natural hair is brown, like her father's. Emira and Edric's hair is green, like their mother's. Mrs Blight likes her children to be... color coordinated."
