"Understanding Willow" is the fifteenth episode of the first season of The Owl House, and the fifteenth episode overall.
It premiered on August 1, 2020, alongside "Really Small Problems".
Contents
Synopsis
Luz, Willow, and Amity take a trip down Memory Lane.[1]
Plot
The episode opens up with Boscha and Amity talking in front of the lockers at Hexside. Skara arrives and invites the two girls to her 15th birthday party. In the midst of her invitation, they notice Luz and Willow playing a thumb war. Boscha comments on how weird it is a human goes to Hexside, and especially how weird it is that the human chose to be friends with Willow.
Later, Luz and Willow are working in photo class extracting Willow's memories and hanging them up. When Willow notices a memory of her and Amity at a birthday party, Willow turns the photo around and tries to avoid the topic by telling Luz to leave it alone. The bell rings and they head to lunch, but Luz sneaks back to turn the photo around again; once she's left the room, Amity passes by and notices the photo, freaks out and tries to burn up the photo, but as a result ends up burning all the memories hung up on display. When Luz, Gus, and a dizzy, memory broken Willow return to the photo room, they see Amity trying to put out the fire.
In order to fix this issue, Amity and Luz, with the help of Eda, enter Willow's mind to try and repair the memories. Meanwhile, Eda and King compete to win the spot as the interviewee for Gus's journalism project.
During their time in Willow's mind, Luz gets to see more about Amity and Willow's past as friends, and questions why Amity keeps avoiding one specific memory - the same photo of them at a birthday party. As Amity avoids the topic, a pink monster, similarly hued to the flames Amity ignited the photos with, appears and chases Amity and Luz into a memory from their swim lessons. The monster is revealed to be "Inner Willow", a version of Willow who acts as the guardian and aide to her memories.
Inner Willow forces Luz and Amity to watch the scene that started their feud - the birthday party. They watch as a young Amity scolds young Willow for being unable to perform magic well, and tells her to get out and that their friendship is over. After the scene finishes, Inner Willow starts to try and burn up Amity, but Amity stops her and shows her her own memory - her parents telling Amity that if she didn't stop hanging out with Willow, they'd crumble her chances of getting into Hexside. After Amity apologizes, Inner Willow allows Amity and Luz to save Willow's memories, and keep the ones with Amity, no matter how good or bad.
When Luz and Amity return to the demon realm, Willow tells Amity that, while she doesn't believe they're friends quite yet, it's a start. As for Eda and King's competition, Gus ends up taking the side route and choosing Hooty as his interviewee, before quickly getting annoyed by him and leaving.
Cast
- Sarah-Nicole Robles as Luz Noceda
- Wendie Malick as Eda Clawthorne
- Alex Hirsch as King and Hooty
- Tati Gabrielle as Willow Park
- Issac Ryan Brown as Gus Porter
- Mae Whitman as Amity Blight
- Eden Riegel as Boscha
Additional voices
- JB Blanc as Snake Teacher
- Kimberly D. Brooks as Skara (uncredited)
- Matt Chapman as Detention Teacher
- Grey DeLisle as Photo Class Teacher, Rabbit Student, and Four Eyed Teacher
- Rachael Macfarlane as Mrs. Blight and Blonde Unibrow Kid
- Jim Pirri as Mr. Blight
No lines
- Willow's Parents (pictured)
Title in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Spanish (Latin America)
|
Comprendiendo a Willow | Understanding Willow | |
 Portuguese (Brazil)
|
Entendendo a Willow | Understanding Willow | |
 Mandarin
|
友情修復記 | Restoration of Friendship | |
 German
|
Erinnerungen | Memories | |
 Arabic
|
ذكريات ويلو | Willow's Memories | |
 Spanish
|
El enigma de Willow | The enigma of Willow | |
 French
|
Remuer le passé | Stirring up the past | |
 Indonesian
|
Memahami Willow | Understanding Willow | |
 Hebrew
|
להבין את ווילו | Understand Willow | |
 Japanese
|
ウィローの記憶 | Willow's memory | |
 Korean
|
윌로우의 기억 속으로 | Into Willow's Memory | |
 Malay
|
Memahami Willow | Understanding Willow | |
 Dutch
|
Willow weet | Willow knows | |
 Portuguese
|
Descobrir a Willow | Discovering Willow | |
 Polish
|
Wspomnienia Witki | Memories of Willow | |
 Turkish
|
Anlayışlı Willow | Insightful Willow |
Transcript
| For a full transcript of "Understanding Willow", click here. |
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
- Odalia and Alador Blight make their first appearance, albeit as silhouettes.
- Amity visits the Owl House for the first time in this episode.
- The secret code is translated to "And".
- This is the first episode where Luz is not seen wearing her signature outfit besides the intro.
- This is the first episode to air on the same date as its prior episode.
- Gilbert and Harvey Park appear in the episode as photos.
Revelations and significant events
- Skara is officially named in this episode.
- Christmas, or an analog of it, is celebrated on the Boiling Isles.
- It is revealed that Willow has two dads.
- It is revealed, or rather confirmed, that Amity used to have brown hair as a child.
- It is revealed that the reason Amity and Willow stopped being friends is because Amity's parents forced her to.
Continuity
- Tinella Nosa is still famous from after publishing her story in "Sense and Insensitivity", and consequently Gus could not get her for an interview.
Allusions
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - Luz's bad hair photo references Mac's friend Goo Goo Ga Ga.
- Gravity Falls - The episode "Dreamscaperers" is referenced throughout the episode as both episodes involve individuals entering picture frames/doors that manifest movie-like viewings of memories.
- Super Mario 64 - Luz putting her hand in a painting and then her head is what Mario did in the classic Nintendo 64 game.
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Lake Lacuna references Lacuna, Inc., the company that offers to erase unwanted memories.
- Psychonauts - The concept of entering someone's mind and trying to fix it/exploring it is a common theme in Psychonauts, not to mention discovering memories and a world based on anybody's mind and meeting their inner mind-selves.
Errors
- In the beginning when Boscha is changing her nails, in the first shot it is her right hand, then it changes to her left hand in the next.
- Skara's nose disappears in a single frame during Boscha's imitation of Willow.
- When the fire monster first appears behind Amity and Luz in the beach memory, its frame is transposed above Luz's head.
- Although Skara speaks in the episode, her voice actress is not listed in the credits.
- When Luz is drawing the ice glyph in the beach memory, the center of the glyph appears when finished even though Luz only draws the outer circle.
Edits
- Gilbert and Harvey Park are blurred out in all of their pictures in the Southeast Asian broadcast.
Memorable quotes
Videos
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "August 2020 Programming Highlights". Walt Disney Television Press.
- ↑ "Don't miss out BRAND NEW Show The Owl House starts tomorrow at 9:30pm!". Twitter (August 9, 2020).
- ↑ [1]
