Owl House Spoiler Recap: King's Tide

Wow. Just… WOW! That is how you do a finale! The Owl House finished it’s insanely strong second season with “King’s Tide.” The episode changes everything as the end of a darker middle chapter should. With everyone separated and some people’s fates left unknown, it will be a long hiatus. Let’s dive into this masterful episode!

We open with Amity, Gus, Willow, King, Hunter, and Alador trying to get to the Day of Unity. Everyone is scared and tired. The stakes are high as the characters take out their emotions on each other. It’s a fantastic way to set up the tension. It’s so dire that all they can do is vent. But it’s our sweet Willow, who has grown into such a mature and wonderful character, who steps up with the Palismen. The magical animal babies make sure everyone eats and takes a quiet moment to breathe. Their masters can’t help Luz, Eda, and their friends if they’re fighting each other. King watches in awe. It’s also here that Willow sets up the lesson for King: There is always a way to help, and all you have to do is figure out how.

It's a very quiet but important moment that sets up King’s story for the end of “King’s Tide.”

Tensions rise as Eda says her bittersweet goodbyes to Raine, Lilith, and Hooty. My shipper heart cried because Raine essentially said they still have feelings for her! UGH! JUST KISS ALREADY! The entire scene is beautiful, even calling back to season one with Eda and Lilith. Eda misspeaks their sharing spell that splits their pain, making Lilith let out a teary laugh. And then sweet Hooty, our dear precious tube bird, pokes his head in! His big eyes water when Eda kisses his head. This is the best family!

I also love the moment when Eda looks back at Raine and Lilith. There is the entire adult cast in their younger days smiling back at her. The Owl House creator, Dana Terrace, has said before that she would love to do a spinoff prequel either in another show, books, or comics. I think that was a sneak peek at what the main cast would probably look like if we ever got it, even Odalia being the bully villain. I hope we get it one day.

What’s nice too is it looks like no one in the C.A.T.S. betrayed them. It seems that Belos and the other Coven Heads simply got the jump on the group as Eda is quickly sleuthed out. I’m so relieved that there was no fallout from that! It means Steve is still a good guy! Thumbs up for Steve!

What ensues is the briefest but coolest fight as the Coven Heads battle against our heroes. We get to see each one briefly in action. That Potions Coven Head spewing the toxic gas at Darius is INTENSE! Grade A+ character design, crew! I love the Potions person!

I wish this fight got to be longer because it’s really a high point of the episode. It’s so creative to see each coven’s skills and how they can be weaponized. That healer lady chucking a scalpel at Eberwolf’s head made me gasp! It was such a strong sequence! Sadly, it ends with the capture of Eda and Raine. The Coven Heads take their places as the draining spell begins to do its thing.

Below, Emperor Belos has high-tailed it out of there, ready to get back to the Human Realm. During the Coven Head squabble, Kikimora has brought Luz to him, still thinking it’s the Golden Guard she captured last week. Belos coldly dismisses Kiki, basically telling her to go die in a ditch. I sort of feel sorry for Kikimora. She finally sees what Lilith figured out all season. She has been lied to and played, falling for that propaganda she was raised on. But unlike Lilith, she probably would have kept serving Belos if not for this moment. Kikimora’s ambitions differ from Lilith’s.

Lilith rose in the ranks because she wanted to fix her mistake. She cursed her sister and it was her guilt that drove her. Lilith was there out of love and realized too late she was a pawn. Kikimora, on the other hand, acted out of selfish intentions. She was only in it for herself. Time and again, she has stabbed people who showed her kindness in the back. She left her family, while with regrets, of her own volition. Kikimora deserved what was coming to her. Maybe I don’t feel fully sorry for her, but she has been a fascinating character to watch.

But later as she helps King, it does put Kikimora in an interesting position. Kiki, the Coven Heads, and Odalia after last week know the truth about Belos wanting to murder them. Every single one of them will realize their mistake. Maybe they’ll seek out revenge. Maybe they’ll see a power vacuum left by Belos and want to seize it. Perhaps a few will redeem and work towards making amends. It’s setting up for a very interesting season three.

It’s also right about this time that the Coven Heads and the citizens of the Boiling Isles realize that something is wrong. Terra asks Raine if Belos is giving them paradise. All Raine can do is shake their head. And the realization sinks in. They’re going to die.

Belos confronts Luz for round two, leading to one of the tensest moments of the episode. He is so full of himself that he preaches to Luz about how lost she has become. Those Evangelical undertones are SO CREEPY. Luckily, Luz does have knowledge on her side. She rightfully points out that he’s been gone from the Human Realm for centuries. Earth has changed. There are no witch hunters anymore. As she’s slowly being petrified, Luz makes Belos a deal to be his guide if he spares her friends. Belos accepts and takes her hand to shake on it. And baby girl tricks him! I screamed! It was a fist-pumping moment! She slaps Phillip with a coven brand, giving the jerk a piece of his own medicine as his life starts to drain from him! It was a risky but well-played gambit on Luz’s part!

Belos takes on his full monster form, losing the last shreds of his humanity. I love this turn for him. I mentioned it last week, but he wants to save humanity so bad that he’s become the monster he wished to vanquish. It’s quite poetic. Belos is terrifying as he’s hunting Luz through the Titan’s skull. She lures him away from the portal door before he accidentally destroys it. It seems like Luz is trapped.

But in comes our heroes! Amity, Hunter, Willow, Gus, and King arrive having survived being shot down by coven scouts. The fight is on to try and contain Belos so he can stop the draining spell! It’s a hard battle, but one moment stands out to me above the others. Gus uses the spell from “Labyrinth Runners” to make Belos relive his worst memories.

The only problem is that Gus would see the memories too. He saw every horrible thing Belos did as well as Hunter’s origin. Last week, Hunter wanted to hide his past from his new friends. Now, Gus knows that Hunter is a clone, that he’s a Grimwalker. I can’t wait to see how that is addressed in season three.

The other moment is when this psychopath emperor partially reverts to his human form to beg Hunter for help. It’s sick, playing to Hunter’s kindness. Hunter freezes, stuttering at the image. But Belos finally sees Hunter’s Palisman and growls a single word:

Caleb.

It’s been a long-time fan theory that “Caleb” is the name of Flapjack’s, Hunter’s Palisman, original owner as well as Phillip’s brother. Back in “Yesterday’s Lie,” one of the Wittebane brothers had a cardinal on his shoulder in an image. In “Any Sport in a Storm,” it’s Flapjack that suggests the name Caleb to Hunter as an alias while he’s undercover. With Belos recognizing the Palisman and saying the name, it seems like the fan theories around who the mysterious Caleb has a lot more weight to them.

In the fray, King gets knocked down a set of stairs where Kikimora is salty while getting drained by the spell. She says that only the Collector can stop the spell. Vengeance burning inside of her, she agrees to take King to this person who is neither witch nor demon but a child of the stars. Kiki takes King down to what’s essentially a graveyard for failures and past Golden Guards. It’s full of skeletons and broken masks… you know, FOR KIDS! It’s a haunting image as King approaches the discarded mirror of the Collector. He touches it and the Collector comes out.

Surprisingly, the Collector can’t see King! That’s because we now know why that symbol King carved into his collar was so important. It’s the same symbol that was on the building he was born in, showing what great lengths King’s father went to make sure his son survived. That symbol protected him from the Collector’s view. Also, it’s revealed that King’s father sealed the Collector away. King’s father probably realized the danger that this godlike being possessed. He hid his son and then probably sacrificed himself in order to protect the Boiling Isles.

King realized that the Collector is essentially a child. He lures the Collector with a game, calling it the Owl House (they said the thing!). So, he makes a deal. If the Collector agrees to stop the draining spell, then King will teach him how to play.

What I’m scared of the most about this interaction is King says they need everyone on the island to play Owl House. Yes, it’s a gambit to save the world. But also, King essentially handed the lives of every single person to this godlike child. Who knows how the Collector will treat a normal person. He’s so powerful, and we’ll discuss that more in a moment. Now, the Collector has been given a world full of playthings with King’s okay to do what he wants. That’s a horrifying thought.

We briefly go back to Eda and Raine. Eda is succumbing to both her curse and the draining spell. BUT MY SHIPPER HEART! Raine crawls to Eda and does one last heroic thing. They rip her arm off, saving her from the draining spell. Eda’s arm crumbles away, leaving her as an amputee. Raine collapses in her arms, essentially looking like they gave their life to save her. Raine freaking Whispers, y’all. They really are one of the MVPs of the season.

But this is a fantastic development for representation. Eda’s arm is gone. While she has always been coded as someone struggling with mental health and chronic pain, Eda takes on this new physical development. As an amputee, she will get to represent this disability. We so rarely see this in shows outside of the “A Very Special Episode” format in all-ages media. I am not disabled, so I cannot speak to what this means for their community. I would love to know what disabled fans think of this development.

This crew has done such a great job on all fronts of various representations. I’m eager to see how they handle Eda’s new path going forward.

Luz and her friends have their backs against the wall. They’re beaten, bloodied, and on the verge of losing. Belos lifts his monstrous scythe arm to strike them down—

And out comes the Collector in all of his chaotic glory. Again, A+ character design! T.J. Hill’s theme is AMAZING! It truly captures the playful bouncy character that’s layered with dark undertones.

You know that the Collector is a serious threat when the Big Bad Belos immediately backs away in fear. He knows the Collector is about to mess him up! That is exactly what the Collector does too. With a single poke of his finger, the Collector flings Belos into the wall and splatters him into a puddle of goo. It appears that he kills Belos with a single touch (more on that in a moment).

What a fantastic way to show how powerful this being is! This child quickly takes out the main villain like it’s nothing. It’s brutal and effective, showing that the Collector is a huge threat if King and our heroes don’t keep his childlike tendencies satisfied. Any of the people that King has sworn to play with the Collector could be next, atomized in a single instant. The Collector immediately follows up by moving the moon in the sky like it’s NOTHING! Yes, the Collector saves everyone on the Boiling Isles, but it’s scary to watch him do so.

But everything changes when the Collector is ready to play. He uses his insane powers to break apart the Titan’s skull to make his own Owl House. The only escape for the kids is through the portal door which is quickly snapping apart!

Luz hesitates. She doesn’t want to leave Eda and all of their friends behind to an unknown fate. The Boiling Isles is at the mercy of a god with the whims of a child. Amity begs for Luz to follow and they sprint towards the portal door. Hunter pauses too, not wanting to run through the remains of Belos. Gus coaxes him through, but a drop of Belos goo falls on Hunter and latches on.

As the portal begins to break apart, Luz does what she always does. She tries to be the hero. She holds it together with her plant magic, begging her friends to get to safety. She wants to save Eda. She refuses to leave her mother figure behind even as the Collector pulls on King!

But this episode is called “King’s Tide.” It all comes back to Willow’s lesson from the start. King has figured out how to help. He is the one that summoned the Collector. He is the one that needs to see this through, not Luz. In a heartbreaking goodbye calling Luz the best big sister, King lets loose a might “WEH!” of his powers and blows Luz, Amity, and their friends to safety through the door. The portal breaks, sealing them on the Human Realm side.

Stuck in the rain that doesn’t boil, the friends look in shock. What gets me is when Gus breaks down crying. It’s important to remember that he’s a prodigy. He’s the baby of the group. And he also has all of Belos’ memories in his mind. That’s so much to put on the youngest member.

These kids are separated from their families and friends, having no idea if those left behind are alive. The witches are in a strange new world. They left the Boiling Isle in the hands of a god. They all look to Luz for answers as this is her realm.

So, Luz does the only thing she knows to do. She takes her friends home. In a moment very much in the same vein of Amphibia’s “The New Normal,” Camila gets a knock on the door. She opens it and there’s her daughter. Luz awkwardly holds out her hands and says she’s back.

There is so much to unpack that also makes me excited for season three. Luz promised her mom not to return to the Boiling Isles. It will be interesting to watch how Luz navigates that. Also, Luz will be introducing her mom to her girlfriend! I cannot wait to see it! But I also think that Amity will be the turning point for Camila. As Camila gets to know Luz’s friends and girlfriend, she’ll see that these are the people who changed her daughter for the better. Like in Amphibia with Oum and Bee Boonchuy seeing Anne’s change, Camila will understand the importance of the Boiling Isles for Luz. She might not like it right away, but Amity, Willow, Gus, and Hunter will be what help gets Luz back to Eda and King. It’ll also be so much fun to see Vee back in the mix with the group!

There is also the final shot. A smudge of Phillip goo falls down and closes the door to the abandoned house. Belos is still there and now in the human world. I would even speculate that since his magic came from the Collector, not the Boiling Isles themself, he might actually be able to do magic in the Human Realm while Luz cannot. Her friends still can perform spells, but Luz will be woefully underpowered now that she’s home.

 Some random thoughts to round out King’s Tide:

-The friendship between Gus and Hunter has become one of the best subplots of this season! Gus went from being wary of Hunter to accepting him into their found family. And in the final shot, it’s Hunter supporting Gus. I adore their friendship!

-The origins of why Amity’s nickname is “Mittens” is so sweet!

-Luz burning Phillip on his fashion sense made me cackle! Slay, baby girl!

-I sure hope Principal Bump and the other students are okay!

-I hope Odalia was writhing in a hole, having her magic drained, and realizing how much she effed up all by herself!

-The Coven Heads names have been revealed! Thank you, Rebecca!

-THAT AMPHIBIA CAMEO on Camila’s iPad! I love they didn’t even change Anne into The Owl House art style. It’s just her character model stuck in there.

-Alador kissing Amity’s head goodbye breaks my heart!

-Poor Hunter is so traumatized after Belos goes splat that all he can do is barely utter a sound. This kid needs so many hugs and therapy!

-I can’t wait to see Hunter and Darius reunited. I want to see so much more of their friendship!

And that’s it for season two! With only three 45-minute specials left, I know that Dana Terrace and her crew are going to go all out for them. It’s going to be an emotional, strange, intense ride! I cannot wait to see it! But for now, congrats on an incredible season two, The Owl House. I can’t wait to see how the series ends when it returns!

Artwork by show creator, Dana Terrace