Owl House Spoiler Recap: O Titan, Where Art Thou

After that insanity of the last month of The Owl House, “O Titan, Where Art Thou” was a much-needed quieter episode. There were still reveals and it continued to build up some of the central mysteries of the series. But with two episodes left in this season, it was nice to have a slower-paced episode to check in with all of our characters. Everyone is back on the same page again, which is nice to see.

While being a quieter episode, that didn’t mean that it didn’t have big moments nor that the tension wasn’t high. “O Titan, Where Art Thou” truly upped the emotional drama in many different ways. Eda and Luz clashed over their concerns for the future. King sought closure with Steve, who was the standout surprise character of the episode. Lilith grappled with old toxic habits. And Raine was pushed back against the wall when they were confronted by Eda. While this episode didn’t have the bombshells that something like “Hollow Mind” brought, it was the emotional rain shower before the full hurricane rolls in.

The episode opened with a haunting revelation continued from “Edge of the World.” During the ritual with the Titan Trappers, King connected to the Collector. Now a couple of weeks later, he still has that connection as he dreams of them.

King's dream takes place in the world that is also the In Between Realm Luz visited in “Yesterday’s Lie” when she was finally able to connect with Camila and could guide Vee from afar. Something I had completely missed that several fans sleuthed out since “Yesterday’s Lie” is there is very low whispering around Luz while she’s in that realm. Words can be heard like “Hello,” “Noceda,” Luz’s last name, “Stay here,” and when Luz asks if anyone can hear her, someone answers “Yes.” Now with the reveal this week, we have to assume that it was the Collector talking to Luz as we see they are the one trapped in this realm.

King can clearly hear the Collector unlike Luz who didn’t notice the whispers at all. His connection to them definitely helped amplify his ability to hear them.

One thing that stood out is the Collector is excited about the Day of Unity because they won’t be alone anymore. While this ancient, powerful being does have a childlike trickster personality, this does shine a little bit of new light on the Collector. How did they become trapped in the first place? And why are they alone? Perhaps they are like King and they’re the last of their kind. If that’s the case, it could set up a narrative foil with our little demon Titan.

It's definitely an interesting little scene that lasted less than a minute, but it added far more questions than answers.

I love Steve. Steve might just be my favorite background character of the series. He is this wholesome boy who has some of the best one-liners (“Ice pack for Steve!” still makes me laugh). Then, “O Titan, Where Art Thou” went a step further by allowing Steve to be part of the adventure. Not as a joke, but as a meaningful, important person that King needed.

We must take it back several weeks in “Any Sport in a Storm” when Steve expressed his regrets to Hunter. He got what he wanted when he joined the Emperor’s Coven. But as he said to Hunter, it wasn’t what he thought it would be. Sure, he made some friends like Lilith, but the experience as a whole left him feeling lost. He had to leave his family behind to give his life over to a cause he doesn’t believe in anymore.

Side note: I’m feeling my Coven Scout rebellion theory from last week even more thanks to Steve!

Fast forward to King still reeling from the events of “Edge of the World” which at the start of this episode only a few hours have passed. For the entirety of The Owl House, King wanted power and to rule others. It’s always been played off as a cute joke. Then for this season, he set out to find his origin and got everything he was looking for. King is a Titan and the last of his kind. He will grow to have that great power like the beings whose bones he lives on.

Knowledge comes with a price, and now King isn’t sure if that’s the path he wants anymore.

This is where Steve comes in. The duo goes on a sweet road trip together taking King away from the rest of our heroes. It’s actually what he needs the most. Luz is being overcompensatingly sweet. Eda is dealing with the weight of parenthood and wants to give her kids the perfect day. Lilith completely falls back on her more toxic behaviors (something I’ll get to in a minute). Steve’s arrival is an escape that King needs to clear his head.

While his family’s intentions might be good, the impact is that they’re hurting King when all he needs is room to process the bombshell information. Our little guy then gets to see a bunch of new paths on the road trip. Steve and King aid some bystanders which could be a look at King’s future where he can help others with his abilities. He enjoys playing in the Boiling Seas (it must be noted that they don’t hurt him). This is King coming to terms with his origin and falling back in love with the world. He hugs a Titan’s bones, honoring his fallen ancestors.

Then, Steve provides the insight King needs the most. It’s okay if paths change. Sometimes you get everything you wanted, and it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. Life doesn’t have just one path. They change, and that’s okay.

Especially since King took a lot of steps this season to make himself a new path. He made sure he was adopted by Eda so he’s officially her son. Luz might not be here forever, but she is still his sister. King has made friends through his found family that truly cares for him. So while he didn’t find the birth family he was looking for and he doesn’t want to rule with power and fear anymore, King is going to be okay. He laid down that new path stone by stone to make a new future for himself. In searching for what he thought he wanted, he already found it on the journey.

Eda and Luz have been on a crash course for the last few episodes. The stakes are exponentially higher than ever before. These aren’t the light-hearted ‘messing with Coven Scouts’ adventures from season one. Belos has a target on them. The Owl House is no longer safe. There is no more safety net. In turn, the pair react differently.

Eda’s fears have only grown worse. It’s rare to have an all-ages show that realistically portrays the adults being afraid for the kids’ safety. These types of shows wrap their young protagonists in plot armor to send them out there. Or, like in the case of Amphibia that just ended or something like Steven Universe or She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, it’s the young heroes that take the brunt of the fighting but consequences catch up with them somehow. But it’s definitely not unheard of to write adults like how they handle Eda. You can totally see in The Owl House its Gravity Falls roots as Grunkle Stan went through similar motions over Dipper and Mabel’s safety throughout the show. I love this choice with Eda. It’s realistic and also hits right at Eda in the middle of her own journey.

Eda closed herself off for so long after running away. She stayed away from her family, only recently talking to her father for the first time in years. Lilith is back in her life again after a long separation. She hadn’t talked to Raine in who knows how long before “Eda’s Requiem.” Eda’s allies have fallen into covens and shunning her. Eda finally opened herself back up again only to have it threatened. It’s a spiraling feeling that her new life is being torn away from her. Of course she would do anything to protect King and Luz, not just for their own safety but to also have some sort of control over the dire situation.

The fear is mounting on Luz too. She feels like it’s her fault that these horrible things keep happening. It’s part of the reason she is trying to overcompensate by helping King. They don’t have to get his favorite toy, but, like Eda, it’s something that Luz can actually control. It really calls back to the opening episode of season two “Separate Tides” when Luz solely blamed herself for Eda and Lilith losing their magic. She went on this big sea-faring adventure to try and make it right on her own.

The truth is Belos’ manipulations have worked on Luz. Instead of accepting she is the victim in all of this, Luz turns the anger on herself. Overhearing Eda’s plans to send her away, Luz immediately screams that Eda must think that Luz is weak. Her own insecurities are coming out. There must be a side of Luz that feels these emotions about herself to jump to that conclusion so quickly.

The fight between Eda and Luz is the emotional height of the episode, and it’s absolutely heart-wrenching to watch. The audience doesn’t want to see these two characters we love so much facing each other which is why it’s such good drama. Essentially, they’re taking their fears out on each other instead of communicating. Luz is not willing to listen to Eda who has been lying to her. What makes it such good writing is none of this is coming from a place of malice. It’s coming from a place of love, and love is one of the biggest drivers of fear (lookin’ at you, Anakin Skywalker). It can make people act irrationally. We also see this to a smaller degree with Raine too, who refuses to reach out to Eda because they want to protect her. If they acted sooner and accepted Eda into their plan, perhaps the Owl House wouldn’t have fallen.

Captured, the truth comes out of Eda which makes Luz realize how scared her mother-figure is. Here is when “Reaching Out” comes back into play. We really see Luz’s fears of losing another parent, either physically or emotionally, rear its head again. In “Yesterday’s Lie,” Luz promises Camila to come back to the Human Realm despite that meaning she would have to lose Amity, Eda, King, and everyone she’s bonded with.

During “O Titan, Where Art Thou,” Luz screams to Eda she’s now willing to listen. She will do anything Eda wants no matter what. This fear makes Luz throw out her own wants. She has an urge to please her parental figures regardless of her feelings because she doesn’t want to lose them. Luz is going to have to learn how to make her own choices, a lot like Amity did with her father in “Reaching Out.” That’s a nice template for Luz facing Camila again. But I think here with Eda as she’s captured, Luz is simply having a fear reaction. Luz believes this will be the last time she’s going to see Eda. She thinks her mother figure is about to die. Screaming at Eda that she’ll listen is a desperate apology to try and make things right when everything seems so desperate.

It does come back full circle again when Raine is with Eda. They’re able to make Eda see that no matter what Raine tried, no matter how much they wanted to protect her, Eda was going to be Eda. The Owl Lady would find a way to keep being herself no matter what. Eda sees the same thing with Luz. Luz Noceda will not be sidelined. It’s not who she is. The best thing Eda can do is make a plan with Luz being part of it. It’s why the end scene of them carving Luz’s palisman is Eda’s own apology.

But Luz’s story is still open this week. She has that nice moment with Eda at the end, but our young hero is still going to struggle with being a pawn of Belos and with pleasing her parental figures. Being just a kid, Luz doesn’t have the life experience to navigate these waters as she’s learning how to do it now. All of her feelings are being driven by love. We have to wait and see if she forges a path to victory or if Luz will crash upon the rocks.

While played up for comedic value, Lilith was interesting this week. Still recovering from a life of being raised in propaganda, she slid back on a lot of toxic behaviors in “O Titan, Where Art Thou.” And I am absolutely here for it. I love when a character backslides because learning how to live in a new life with new structures takes time to adjust.

It really started in “Echoes of the Past” when Lilith first had her knowledge questioned when finding King’s birthplace in a location, to her, shouldn’t exist. It’s continued through “Elsewhere and Elsewhen” when she saw Deadwardian witches weren’t the wild, evil people she was raised to think they were. Now in “O Titan, Where Art Thou,” her worldviews are again challenged.

She always thought of Titans as holy gods, something she commented on during her trip to the past with Luz. So when she finds out that King isn’t some cute kid that Eda adopted but a Titan, Lilith falls back on her bad behaviors. She dotes on King, making him uncomfortable. Lilith tries to fall into servitude, ignoring Eda’s words that King is still just King.

King rightfully calls her out on her behavior, saying Lilith has had a pattern of trying to fall back on her old ways. It’s easier to return to what we were raised with even if it’s wrong. It’s still a struggle for her to learn a new life. Again, Steve hammers home the point. At the end when Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf reveal themselves, Steve asks Lilith if she knew anything about their plans. She didn’t as she had been so focused on her own life. Living within those rules was always so much easier for Lilith. After everything, she’s realizing more and more how wrong her old life was. It makes Lilith one of the more fascinating characters of the show.

Speaking of Raine and the Coven Heads, everyone is on the same page now to fight together. While I liked the drama of the secret Coven Head rebellion, because it definitely provided a lot of twists and turns this season, I’m glad all the secrets are out in the open. With Hunter filling in Hexside with the truth last week and now Eda and Luz have their allies, everyone can focus on the final two episodes of the season without trying to rescue each other.

One point that did stand out to me was when Darius mentioned that he’s been against the Emperor before the events of “Eda’s Requiem.” We can probably assume that Eberwolf is part of this too. I would love to know more about them both for this reason. Did they also come up through the ranks like Raine to infiltrate the Coven System? Or did Darius become Coven Head and then start to have doubts? Perhaps the previous Golden Guard warned him. There is so much to know about Darius. With only two episodes left and a shortened season three, we’re running out of time fast to learn more about these characters.

Also, MY SHIPPER HEART! Eda and Raine are back together again! Eda told Raine all about her kids! I love the C.A.T.S.! I’m glad everyone is currently okay!

Some random thoughts to round out O Titan, Where Art Thou:

-I love how Luz got King’s permission first before telling Eda and Lilith that he was a Titan. She is such a great big sister to him!

-THE SHADE THROWN AT DISNEY! The joke about their shorten third season was funny but still hurt knowing that The Owl House isn’t getting the proper sendoff it deserves.

-If only that guard who was racking overtime hours like crazy knew that Belos was trying to kill him.

-I love Steve’s motorcycle!

-Maybe I'm reading into it too much but the cute gay old ladies on the beach Steve cried over felt like total justification for the gay old ladies cut from Gravity Falls. If you don’t know, Disney forbade Alex Hirsch from putting in two old ladies in the background falling in love. The Big Mouse would only talk to Alex in person or on the phone. They never used email because the execs didn’t want a paper trail as proof. Disney still has work to do, but this felt like a small win.

-Steve is Mattholomule’s older brother, right? We’re all in agreement on this one, right?

-I love that Luz’s cat hoodie has come full circle!

-I’m so excited to see what Luz’s palisman will be!

“O Titan, Where Art Thou” was the setup for the bigger storm. The last breather for the audience and the characters. It puts us in a false sense of security. To remind us why we love these characters. So we can be happy that everyone is getting along.

The next two weeks are going to rip us to pieces. It’s going to mess with our emotions. They’re going to be brutal in the best way possible. I can’t wait!