Season Review: The Owl House Season One

After about a nine month wait, the first season of Disney’s The Owl House is in the books, kicking off the company’s history of animated shows into the modern decade. This show had the distinct honor of being one of the first new animated series of 2020, reflecting that those working on it still had a lot to earn. It also reflected just how unprepared everyone was for the year, as the major plot points were revealed during a point where 2020 had already had a major twist or two of its own. But what emerged by the end could potentially be part of Disney’s next top class of cartoons, especially if the fanbases are any indication. And yet, how did this first season end up? What does it tell us about Season 2, which has already been confirmed before the first even began?

The plot of Owl House is not exactly the most original, even amongst its most recent peers. Luz Noceda, quirky teenager who won’t fit in, finds a portal to the Boiling Isles, a magical realm. There, she takes up an apprenticeship with Eda the Owl Lady, a renegade witch on the run from the authorities. As the season progresses, Luz makes more friends in this new world, even going to their magic school, Hexside, but also unearths more of Eda’s mysterious past and connections to the bigger things going on. While initially unable to perform any sort of magic due to lacking a special organ that witches use, Luz figures out how to use magic in a way apparently lost to time but giving her some equal footing. She eventually finds herself needing to save Eda from the authorities that have been searching for her, only to lose her means of returning home! Gosh, that sounds quite compelling doesn’t it?

Well, if that were all there was to it, then we’d probably be fine. Problem is, while the plot IS perfectly fine on paper, the execution stumbles way more often than not. There are far too many moments that feel contrived to fulfill a specific purpose but don’t seem to be thought of past that point. This is apparent in several scenes throughout the season, but an early example would be the introduction of Willow, one of Luz’s witch friends. Willow is introduced as being forced to do one “track” of magic learning instead of the one she’s good at, but the only explanation for why she’s told to do this is because the one she’s forced to has “better opportunities”. We don’t get anything else than that, probably because the inclusion of that plot seems to be about how some are forced into fields of study that they don’t enjoy or excel at sometimes, which was apparently not written with the effects or implications on the show’s world in mind. And you could point to the “one track rule” as another, broader example, clearly meant to represent the stranglehold on free magical learning but not making much sense in that world beyond that.

Not only that, but the world itself, like the character motivations, ends up pretty muddled, vague, and sometimes contradictory. We’re introduced to nine main magical “covens” (or groups of types of magic) but we also see specific elements of magic that may or may not correspond with these covens. Then there are other aspects that are neat little additions to the lore, such as the existence of demons or little pals that sit on a witch’s staff that are cute little side things, but don’t quite add much to the world as a whole. And sometimes the show just stops itself for a second to take a jab at Harry Potter out of nowhere despite still doing the “wizard school” trope. I mean, I know that it’s in fashion to take jabs at the franchise right now, but I feel like if you’re going to borrow so much, you might want to add more to your satire than “all of this works, except for that part, that was weird”.

We’ve got at least one more season of this show coming, so this season may not be super reflective of its best efforts, but aside from one rather notable bit between two characters near the end of it, Season 1 of The Owl House doesn’t make the series feel like it’s off to a great start. Everything feels a bit too borrowed or a bit too over complicated, even when it wants to be simple and concise. Some characters trip over themselves to fulfill certain roles but end up taking the whole story down as a result. And while the animation can be gorgeous at times and plenty moments being endearing, it’s not quite up to snuff with those starting at around the same time as this show. I’m sure that there are better days ahead for The Owl House, but let’s hope this period leaves a lot of what didn’t work here behind.