The Owl House Season 3 Review – Imaginative fantasy meets its too-early end

Episode Guide

Thanks to Them -| Review Score – 5/5
For the Future -| Review Score – 5/5
Watching and Dreaming -| Review Score – 3.5/5

If you haven’t already noticed, the first word of each episode title in The Owl House season 3 when put together spell out a special message to fans of the LGBTQ-friendly children’s fantasy: “Thanks for watching.”

It’s a bittersweet goodbye from creator Dana Terrace, who is a living example of creativity and passion that can flourish when big studios give their creators the freedom to break the mold. But her show’s abrupt end is a tragic example of what happens when those studios abandon imagination and originality for branding purposes.

Skewing for a more mature route, The Owl House did not fit into Disney’s neat, established framework–and thus had to come to a halt early, leaving Terrace and her creative team only three hour-long episodes to wrap up their plans for season 3. It’s a feat that shouldn’t have been possible. And yet this chapter of Luz Noceda’s story concludes in a heart-wrenching, captivating fashion.

There are high stakes all the way throughout the three episodes, which chronicle the efforts of Luz, Amity, Willow, Hunter, and Gus to get back to the Boiling Isles to save the Demon Realm from The Collector’s control–and from whispers of Belos’ lingering presence. Luz will do anything to save her friends and found family, but feelings of guilt over putting them in danger crowd the little hope she has left.

Season 3 of The Owl House is a thrilling and emotional ride all the way to the end, although some storylines had to fall by the wayside due to cuts for time. Given only three episodes to wrap up the series, Terrace favors the storylines of Luz and her friends over Eda and King, and additionally has to compromise on allotting time for The Collector’s character development–travesties that keep the series from having the perfect, well-rounded conclusion.

But in the show’s focusing mainly on its child protagonists, it presents complex arcs of working through childhood trauma and embracing individuality. Unique for children’s adventure shows, The Owl House keeps in mind that, while these protagonists may be saving the world, they’re still kids. They are allowed to be scared, to process trauma, and to need adult protection.  They are allowed to have personhood and to have a choice in their future.

Terrace recognizes the need in all children, and in all people for that matter, for others to love and understand them–and she gives ample time to explore that need this season. In fact, the theme blossoms out from Luz’s interior life into her exterior interactions with the Demon Realm, which paint clever commentary on colonization.

The difference between evil and good in this show is between making a world conform to your stringent standards versus learning the ways of a new place–and letting differences and diversity flourish.

The fantasy, magic, and monsters of The Owl House make for an imaginative and entertaining outlet to explore themes of loving and embracing our differences. This final season has cemented the Disney series as one of the best, most creative children’s shows out there. It rightly has found, and I hope that it continues to find, audiences of all ages.

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