"Keeping Up A-fear-ances" is the twenty-third episode of the Disney Channel animated series The Owl House. It premiered on July 3, 2021, and is the fourth episode in the second season.
Synopsis[]
Eda gets an unwelcome visit from a family member who puts a strain on everyone in the Owl House.
Plot[]
When Eda was still a teenager, her mother summoned a Healer in the hopes of curing her curse. Unfortunately, her curse is like nothing they have seen before, and are uncertain if it can be cured. The best they could do was consult with the potions coven to find a way to keep it at bay. However, this does not sit well with Eda's mother. She wants that curse gone, even if that means cutting it out. Hearing this, Eda runs away from home. Upon reaching the forest, she discovers the portal door buried in the ground. She uses it to hide from her mother, who is determined to cure Eda no matter what it takes.
In the present, Luz has been spending the whole night reading tomes, books, notepads, and tealeaf, hoping to find a way to make a portal to the human realm to no avail. The curse is also starting to creep up on Lilith, as she was inches away from transforming; Eda calmly gives her elixir to stop it. A ragged Lilith asks if that agony is what she subjected Eda to for three decades; Eda shrugs it off, pointing put that the elixir now works again since they split the curse. Just as a precaution, she has spares literally everywhere in the house. Lilith notices her hand fell off, with Eda reattaching it; the random dismemberment is a side effect. Eda leads Lilith to the coach with a spare elixir; telling her stress only speeds up the curse, Eda lets Lilith rest. Seeing the spare elixirs stored above her, Lilith smiles in gratitude for Eda's kindness to her.
Suddenly, the Owl House is visited by Eda and Lilith's mother, Gwendolyn, who after thirty years has found a way to cure Eda's curse. But, instead of being grateful, Eda declines and sends her away. According to her, she comes around every year toting a new cure for her curse, and none of them have ever worked. So, she gave up hoping. Luz, wanting to help Eda, goes to Gwendolyn and offers to help her cure Eda's curse. Gwendolyn is delighted and in return, offers to tell her how she can find a way home.
Luz and Gwendolyn venture deep into the woods to meet a curse expert. After years of dealing with the Healing Coven, Gwendolyn found someone who promised her a cure. His name is Master Wartlop, a traveling curse expert who has perfected next level healing magic. Gwendolyn comes forward and presents Wartlop with sacred items, a copper egg from the snowy rib cage, a silver dagger from the swampy toes, and a golden chalice from the desert of palm stings. Wartlop rewards Gwendolyn with a tome that is believed to hold the cure she seeks, but is advised not to share it with non-believers.
Because of how stubborn Eda can be, Luz and Gwendolyn decide to lure her out, by making her follow a wild trail to some apple blood. They have her fall into a serious of traps, which all put a lot of stress on Eda, causing her curse to come out. Luz is worried, but Gwendolyn assures her to trust Wartlop's tome. Meanwhile, Lilith is lounging on the couch binging on tubs of ice cream. She is upset because her mother only came to see Eda and not her, which is no surprise to her. All her life she has been neglected by her mother, regardless of all her efforts and success. She did not even attend her Coven initiation. All she ever did was pay more attention to Eda. Lilith then starts to make King believe that his long lost father never wanted him, which is why he was not there when he hatched and never came looking for him. Soon, they both start binging on ice cream. This concerns Hooty mainly because Eda got the ice cream from the Night Market. All this puts a lot of stress on Lilith, which causes the curse to come out. Lilith rushes to find the elixirs, but they have mysteriously vanished. Soon, the curse takes over and she transforms into her own cursed form.
Back in the woods, Luz starts to doubt if Wartlop's methods actually work. She becomes even more suspicious when Gwendolyn sells off a few heirlooms and takes the book from her with a plant spell. Upon reading it, Luz finds it to be filled with remedies that are clearly just a load of nonsense and announces that Wartlop is a con artist and is scamming Gwendolyn. Luz decides to call this off and give Eda her elixir, only to discover that Gwendolyn has taken them all (which is why Lilith couldn’t find any). She declares that elixirs are made by Potionmakers and Healers who are conscienceless cash ins, as noted in Wartlop's book. Luz tries to take back the elixirs, but the two get into a squabble and end up revealing themselves to Eda, who has gone through so many traps and is now all stressed out. Realizing what they have been up to makes her even more stressed, which transforms her into the owl beast. Gwendolyn checks the tome, only to realize she has to buy the next volume.
Suddenly, King shows up, being chased by Lilith in her own cursed form: a raven beast. Soon, the two cursed sisters attack each other and fly away. Luz and King go after them on Owlbert while Gwendolyn heads back to Wartlop for more help. However, she too begins to doubt if he is a genuine curse expert. When she arrives at his lair, her doubts are confirmed when she discovers Wartlop is in fact a gang of four gremlins who scam witches of their assets. Gwendolyn confronts them and threatens to have every beast in the forest after them if they ever return to Bonesborough, sending the gremlins burrowing downward in terror.
Eda and Lilith's fight leads into Bonesborough. Luz tries to get some elixir from Morton, but he has closed shop. However, Gwendolyn arrives with all the elixirs she took. As the fight leads to the rooftops, Gwendolyn confronts her daughters. She approaches Eda and is able to get through to her. She apologizes to her. She now understands why Eda pushed her away. She made her think her curse was something to be ashamed of and could not accept that it was now apart of her. But now she does and loves her daughter, with or without the curse. Lilith tries to attack, but Eda pins her down. Gwendolyn apologizes to her as well for never giving her the attention she deserved. This gives Luz and King the chance to give Eda and Lilith the elixir, returning them to normal.
After returning to the Owl House, Gwendolyn prepares to head home. She again apologizes to Eda for everything, and she forgives her. Lilith has also decided to go home with her and reconcile, which very much upsets Hooty. She confessed to Gwendolyn about being the one responsible for cursing Eda. Lilith hopes to learn more about the curse while at the same time reconnecting with the family. Before leaving, Gwendolyn thanks Luz for opening her eyes, and in return reveals that she is not the first human to have lived on the Boiling Isles. According to her there is a rare substance called titan's blood, which happens to be extremely powerful and sometimes causes leaks between the two realms. Plants, animals, and human trash had occasionally crossed through these leaks, but humans are rare. Gwendolyn's great-grandmother told her about a human who once lived on the isles until one day he just vanished. Rumor has it that he left something in the Library, and if Luz could find out more about him she may find out how he came to the isles. This builds up Luz's hopes of returning home to her probably worried mother. However, little does she know that an imposter has taken her place. So, her mother is unaware that she is missing.
Cast[]
- Sarah-Nicole Robles as Luz Noceda
- Wendie Malick as Eda Clawthorne
- Natalie Palamides as Teenage Eda
- Alex Hirsch as King, Hooty
- Cissy Jones as Lilith Clawthorne
- Deb Doetzer as Gwendolyn Clawthorne
- Elizabeth Grullón as Camila Noceda
- Shannon McKain as Morton
Additional voices[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Lilith transforms into the owl beast for the first time.
- Like the fourth episode of the first season, this episode introduces Lilith's curse form.
- Lilith leaves the Owl House.
- Eda appears in a new outfit.
- There is a fake Luz back on Earth.
- It is revealed Eda can regain control of herself when transformed if someone encourages her; hearing her mother's words allowed Eda to wrestle control from the curse in her mind.
- The gem on Eda's chest was given to her by a healer, and it was meant to help her monitor the curse.
- It is revealed that Eda found the portal door to the human realm buried in dirt, but has no clue of who made it or where it came from.
- The coded message, on a boulder next to the entrance to Wartlog's lair, translates to "puppet".
Allusions[]
- Given that Eda's curse weakens if its shared, is possible the only way to "break" it is to share it with multiple people. Similar to how the Sleeping Curse was broken on Snow White and Prince Charming in Once Upon a Time.
- During the flashback, there is a poster in Eda's room titled Rats, which is a parody of the musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
- The same poster was seen in the Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer episode "Rat's Entertainment!".
International premieres[]
- July 4, 2021 (Canada)
- August 27, 2021 (Singapore)
- September 8, 2021 (Latin America, Brazil, Israel)
- September 15, 2021 (France, Switzerland)
- September 17, 2021 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand)
- November 4, 2021 (Germany, Poland, Scandinavia)
- December 22, 2021 (Turkey)
- January 26, 2022 (United Kingdom, Ireland) (Premiere on Disney+)
- January 27, 2022 (Portugal)
- March 1, 2022 (Japan)
- March 2, 2022 (Italy) (Premiere on Disney+)
- September 8, 2022 (Bulgaria, Romania)
- November 16, 2022 (South Korea)
- March 15, 2023 (Spain) (Premiere on Disney+)
External links[]
