‘The Owl House’ Review: Season 2 Episode 5 “Through the Looking Glass Ruins”

Season 2 of The Owl House is not holding back. After all the new reveals and big story moments with Eda and Lilith’s mother arriving in town last week, this week’s episode titled “Through the Looking Glass Ruins” leads to many more exciting revelations. It dives even deeper into Lumity, the Luz and Amity pairing which has been showing signs of growth with each interaction between the pair, and where their relationship stands. Fans are sure to be celebrating these latest developments! 

While at first the episode seems like it will be heavily focusing on Gus and his own story, he does get his own growth of confidence and focuses on his growing talents, despite feeling down at first. We begin at school where Luz comforts Gus after he makes a mistake which results in Willow getting hurt. Luz tells him it was just a mistake and that he’ll feel better tomorrow. The next morning he is still down on himself and feels bad for what he did. Gus conjures up illusions for Willow to try and make her feel better, but Willow leaves a message for Gus asking him to take them back. Luz shows up, and begins making up nicknames for Gus. “Gustopher! Gusteban. Augustabeth! Any of those working for you?” she says playing it cool while leaning against the door frame. Gus sees through her motivations and knows she’s just there to ask for his library card so she can go see Amity. Luz pulls him along with her to do research at the library.

On the way to the library, Luz tells Gus the story Gwen told her about another human living in Bonesborough. As she tells the story, Luz picks up on Gus not being okay. He reveals to her that he’s questioning exploring other kinds of magic since his illusions have caused issues and he’s no longer excited about illusions as his magical study. Just then a commotion in town occurrs. A group of kids perform magic spells including plants, abomination and construction and successfully stop the creature, saving the day. Gus watches, wide eyed, as they effortlessly use their magical skills. Gus approaches the three kids, Angmar, Gavin and Bria, who are Glandus students, the rival school of Hexide. Another kid approaches that we have met before, Mattholomule, who Gus instantly recognizes due to their complicated history. He tells Gus to back off from the other kids and hands them a map. Bria invites Gus to join them on the quest. He tells them he already promised Luz he’d help her, when suddenly Luz appears, having been holding her breath for an invisibility spell. She tells him he should go. Mattholomule protests and Luz hypes Gus up to the other kids. She tells Gus she’s all about proving jerks like Mattholomule wrong and that he should go. They all head off following the map. 

At the library Luz types in a search query, trying to find where the human information may be located. One of the results she sees is an entry about Eda and her dangerous items from the Human Realm causing chaos in town. She then finds an entry about a journal being donated to the library from a human. Luz tries to track down Amity in the library and finds her in the kids corner. Luz blushes, seeing Amity tie up her hair. Ed and Em sneak up on Luz watching. As the three talk, Amity asks Luz if they’re bothering her again. Luz tells Amity that she came to see her. They both instantly blush. Em picks up on the vibe and makes Ed leave with her to leave the two together. Luz asks Amity to help her find the book from Philip Wittebane, the human who lived in town hundreds of years ago. Amity thinks it would be in the Forbidden Stacks section. Only Malphas, the master librarian, is allowed in. Amity offers to help but says that Luz has to follow her lead or else she could lose her job. Luz takes Amity’s hand and promises. They both blush realizing their hands are touching. Amity opens the door with her staff card and they enter.

They arrive at the section they’re looking for. Amity spots someone and ducks down with Luz before getting caught. Luz and Amity notice they’re touching again and both recoil, blushing. Amity begins to get worried. Malphas was the one who gave Amity the job at the library and if they’re caught he’d feed them to the book worms. Luz jokes about the fact that book worms likely don’t mean the same thing in the Demon Realm and Human Realm. Luz then offers to show Amity around the Human Realm one day. Amity blushes. She suddenly becomes motivated to find the diary. 

While out on the quest with the other kids, Gus asks about the Galderstones they’re looking for. We learn if you are holding one, any spell you cast gets a big power boost. They arrive at the first challenge. Mattholomule taunts Gus to use his illusion magic. Instead, he uses one of Luz’s glyphs to summon a fireball, clearing the path. The kids all celebrate. Mattholomule says he’s got his eyes on him.

On the way to the next challenge Gus saves the day again, rescuing Mattholomule. As Gus talks with Bria, her intentions may not appear as they initially seem.They find a Galderstone and Bria takes it, uses her magic and it’s noticeably stronger. They celebrate and find more. Gus realizes they’re in an illusionist graveyard. He tells them to stop but Bria says even if they were still alive what would they need the stones for since Illusionists can’t use them. Gus tells her it isn’t right and he won’t let them steal them. Suddenly the guardian appears and the kids run from the giant magical beast. The kids tell Gus to take it on, but he realizes he’s all out of glyphs. 

Back at the library, Amity and Luz arrive at the donations section from the 1600s. A book decomposes as Amity touches it. They keep searching and Luz finds the journal! They squeal with excitement, but then realize they need to stay quiet. Luz opens the book to find a mouse has eaten the pages inside. She screams at it and suddenly the room becomes active. Malphas appears behind them and catches them. Outside the library, he tells Amity how disappointed he is and fires her. Luz tries to apologize and Amity stops her saying, “everything’s changed since you came here. Being around you makes me do stupid things and I wish it didn’t.” Luz replies, wiping tears from her eyes,” It’s okay. I do stupid thing around you too Amity.” Amity’s eyes bulge in surprise. She walks off saying she thinks she needs to go home. Luz covers her eyes then regroups herself, heading back inside the library.

At the graveyard, Gus hides and comes up with an idea. He decides to conjure an illusion to try and confuse the being. Once conjured, the beast’s illusion disappears leaving behind the true keeper of the Looking Glass Graveyard. He hugs Gus saying that it’s been a while since he had a visitor and is happy to see a fellow illusionist. He tells Gus that Illusionists protect the stones since they gain no power from them, making them the least likely to use them for evil. The three kids suddenly appear and use magic to tie Gus and the keeper up. Mattholomule apologies to Gus for the way he treated him all day, and cuts them loose. He realizes that illusions aren’t as useless as he thought ever since Gus saved him when the other kids didn’t. 

The other kids make a ruckus, breaking statues. Bria says she will sell the small stones to the emperor’s coven, keeping the rest for herself. She tells the other kids to start collecting them. A butterfly distracts Angmar and he wanders off. Then an illusion of Gavin’s dad takes him out of the picture too. Bria sees through the illusions. She takes the bag of stones and suddenly the statues come to life, complete with bleeding eyes and moaning sounds. She tries to use magic to stop them, but it suddenly doesn’t work. She sees her hands turn to stone, crumble and turn to dust. She says she’s not worried because the statues can’t touch her, when suddenly a statue grabs hold of her leg. She screams and runs off.

The illusion drops and an exhausted Gus is revealed to have been the one who grabbed her. The rest of the illusion drops out and the keeper commends him on his magic and says if he keeps working on it, there’s nothing he won’t be able to do. Gus says he wishes he can repair the damage and Mattholomule says maybe he can help. They make some quick repairs, not perfect, but doable. The keeper thanks them for defending the Looking Glass Graveyard. Mattholomule says they can come back on the weekends and help build up the defenses around it. The keeper accepts the offer and says they’re welcome back anytime. Gus asks Mattholomule if this means they’re friends now. They punch each other playfully, calling each other names as they leave. 

In Amity’s bedroom, Em combs Amity’s hair while Ed looks at himself in a mirror. Amity tells Em, “Ever since Luz came here things have just gotten confusing. I’m thinking things I’ve never thought before. I’m feeling things I never used to feel.” Em’s face lights up and asks if that’s a bad thing and notes that she wasn’t happy before. Em notes that Amity’s hair is growing out and offers to dye it again. Amity suddenly gets a look in her eyes. We see that Em has dyed Amity’s hair purple! Ed says she’s going to get in trouble with mom, but Em hits him, saying she thinks it looks great, but also to not tell their mom she helped. Such a cute moment. 

They hear a knock at the door and we see Luz covering her face with Amity’s library staff card. She says she’s sorry for everything and understands if Amity never wants to see her again. Luz opens an eye and sees Amity’s new hair and Amity tells her she felt like she could use a change. They both blush. Amity asks how Luz got her staff card back and why she looks all disheveled. Luz says in order to get her job back from Malphas she had to go through some trials. As she tells her journey, she notices Ed and Em peaking around the corner snooping and waves at them. They duck away when they realize they’ve been caught. Amity sighs, closes the door behind her and notices a mouse is on Luz’s leg. Luz chases after it and Amity tells her it’s an echo mouse. It consumes knowledge through writing and can play back anything it eats. She touches the mouse’s head and it lights up, projecting a black and white film with sound on to Amity’s front door. 

We hear Philip reciting with a bit of an accent, “My journey through the Demon Realm is far from over, but today I humbly donate my journal to the ages. Entry one, May 21st – I think. My name is Philip Wittebane and I have found myself in a world so horrid and so fantastic few minds could have dreamt it. If only those at home could see what I have, and perhaps they shall, for the more I learn about this realm, the more I am certain I can harness it’s strange powers to return home. Today I begin recording my journey to create a portal back to the Human Realm.”

The mouse projection ends and Luz thanks him. Amity looks at the charred and battle damaged library staff card. She smiles and tells Luz, “you always have a way of sneaking into people’s hearts.” Amity leans in and kisses Luz on the cheek. Luz’s eyes widen and she turns to Amity, staring into each other’s eyes. An eavesdropping Ed and Em are revealed to be watching still. Ed says “bold move sister.” Luz gasps and Amity blushes again. Amity stumbles backwards quickly saying “okay good to see you, farewell forever.” She reaches the front door, holding her head, saying “why’d I do that” over and over in quick succession. She closes the door quickly while Luz stands motionless. Luz suddenly melts and falls to her knees in disbelief, still in the spot where she was kissed.

What a moment! We got a big reveal about Philip and the beginning of his time in the Demon Realm followed by an adorable kiss! The tension between the two girls has been growing with each interaction over the course of the series!  The tender moments they shared in the library were perfect. They kept blushing! A touch, a look or even a conversation can bring out the red in their faces. Their time together in the library was pure and I loved how they were there for each other the whole time. When Amity got nervous about losing her job, Luz was there to cheer her up by talking about the Human Realm and one day bringing her there. When Luz lost her cool seeing the mouse eat the journal, Amity was by her side, even losing her job as a result. 

Amity’s big clarity moment talking about how she’s changed was a great way of showing her growth and evolution. Not only has Luz changed her, but she has become a better and happier person. Even Em has noticed it. Taking the risk by dying her hair was a moment just for herself. She’s slowly been taking stances for herself despite her mom’s wishes and this was just another moment in that evolution, probably the biggest step yet. I also love how parts of her natural hair color still show underneath, but its not as noticeable. She also seems happier with the color. It shows her independence. Luz and Amity bring out the best parts of each other when they’re together and even when they’re not. 

Even Em and Ed had great moments in the episode. They often are seen as bother by Amity but so far both of their appearances in the season have been them being there for their sister. They helped her get into the abomination presentation in episode two and now were there for Amity when she needed them. Em is clearly the one more in the loop, picking up on the tension between the two girls, but Ed eventually got there and I loved when he said that Amity made a bold move! I hope we continue to see the sibling bond grow! Being supportive and there for each other will be the key, and the groundwork for it is already in motion. 

The journal! I loved how we got to see a visual representation of the words in the journal. It was more effective rather than someone just reading it. This is probably a wrong theory, let me grab my tinfoil hat, but what if Philip never actually found a portal back to the Human Realm. What if Belos is Philip after hundreds of years being stuck there. Maybe he was able to use magic to prolong his life. We don’t have any data to back up magic’s effects on humans as we’ve only seen people in the Demon Realm working with magic. It also sounds a bit like the voice could be Matthew Rhys, the voice actor behind Belos. His quest to find a door back may have come up short and never gained real momentum until he found out about Luz and her way in through Eda’s door. Belos has seemed to have a fixation on Eda, and likely her door, for a while so that could be a part of why. It’s also possible Belos could be a descendant of Philip who never left. It would give some credence to the theory that Golden Guard could be related to Belos, maybe even his son. There’s so much still to explore here and I’ll probably be 100% incorrect, but it’ll be fun to learn the truth no matter what!

There was really no King or Eda in the episode (is Eda still on the couch for 24 hours following last week?) aside from the small moments we see them. King was funny when he initially refused to record the voicemail message for Gus on the final version of the recording. I also loved seeing Luz’s reaction to the news clippings about Eda’s Human Realm objects causing chaos. Willow was not in much either, as she was sidelined due to the accident Gus caused. Even without the three friends together, I was glad to see Gus get a big story line. We’re still gaining more insight into how magic works in the realm and Gus’s journey in the episode added another layer to that. We got to learn more about illusionists and the lore of the realm with the stones. I liked seeing Gus and Mattholomule find common ground in the end, despite Mattholomule being an annoying presence up to this point. It shows everyone can be redeemed and change, as was the overarching theme of the episode Bring on the next episode!. 

The Owl House Season 2 airs Saturday mornings on Disney Channel. New episodes can be streamed on Disney Now.