Owl House Spoiler Recap: Knock, Knock, Knocking on Hooty's Door

Boy, did The Owl House’s "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" prove me wrong. In most shows including the first season of The Owl House, there’s always that one episode which is fine. It’s not up to par with the others, but it’s not bad. I had assumed that "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" would be that episode. Maybe we would find out something cool about Hooty, the titular character. But nothing in the promo material really stood out to me to make me excited about it.

I am so glad to be wrong as three major developments unfolded, witnessed from the point of view of our lovable Hooty.

The format of the episode is what made this work so well. Most episodes have an A-Plot, a B-Plot, and on occasion a C-Plot to tell its stories. Instead, "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" split itself up into thirds allowing for Luz, Eda, and King to have their moments of character development. They each got their 4-7 minutes of focus which is a lifetime in an animated episode. This format actually reminded me a lot of the DuckTales (2017) episode "The Split Sword of Swanstantine!" down to its three-act structure and even the trippy dream sequences. I wouldn’t be surprised if The Owl House creator Dana Terrace took some inspiration as she was also a director for several Ducktales episodes.

Going in order of how they appeared in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door,” King’s third is focused on him going through demon puberty (according to Hooty). We get a great lore dump about how demons are classified in the series and get to see some fan favorites come back. I’m always here for Tiny Nose going Super Saiyan!

King is still struggling with the uncertainties of looking for his father. Not knowing if his father left him out of necessity or by choice has wrecked our favorite little demon for a few episodes now. This is a very real insecurity as he searches for answers about his origins. Hooty tries to help him classify himself as one of three kinds of demons, but King doesn’t really fit any of the molds. This causes King to have an outburst. He doesn’t need warm fuzzy “we love you for you” sentimentality. He wants concrete answers on who he is.

What’s interesting is Hooty specifically says he doesn’t know what kind of demon King is. This is probably a huge hint this his lineage is something ancient and hidden away. We know Belos hides knowledge, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Emperor had a hand in separating King from his father.

I said last week that The Owl House does a great job framing the Found Family trope with coding with real-world adopted children. This continues to be true with King. He’s in a loving family where Eda raised him. But he still wants to know his birth family which is his right. I’m happy to see that thread still ongoing.

In his big development, KING GOT POWERS! During his outburst, he was able to produce a soundwave of destruction to break apart items around him. He quickly utilized this to save Luz and Amity in the climax of the episode. As dangers loom in the show, this will be vital going forward. More on this in a moment.

 "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" forced Eda to relive major events in her life through a dream after Hooty essentially drugged her with edibles. This put Eda on a road to self-discovery and coming to terms with the Owl Beast inside of her.

Eda’s curse has always been coded in the story for people who struggle with mental health or chronic pain. The writers use dialogue often associated with these diseases. These people often isolate themselves so as not to burden others around them. Eda’s rightfully mad and lashes out at her curse, blaming the Owl Beast for taking pivotal moments from her life like being with Raine and harming her father.

Because we get to see Eda’s father in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door!" It’s a short bittersweet scene framed in young Eda’s point of view. She clearly loves her dad and misses him. But when the Owl Beast’s curse comes out, she loses control and gouges out his eye. This is such a traumatic moment for a child which could have been the cause of Eda pushing people out of her life. I've seen a few people speculating this could have been the night Eda ran away from home. In “Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances,” I mentioned Eda looked upset at the mention of her father so their relationship isn’t fixed yet.

The fear of her curse also led her to hide her emotions from Raine, Eda’s love interest introduced last week. They wanted to help her, but Eda kept lying that she was fine. Not wanting to be in a relationship of lies, Raine broke up with her. Present Eda demanded her past self to let Raine into her life. It’s a stunning moment to show her growth. That guilt towards Raine and her father were formative moments for her and something she’s held onto. Now, she’s growing and releasing the guilt to better herself. Being cursed, again coded for mental health or chronic pain, is not Eda’s fault. No one should be blamed for being ill.

Eda lived alone for the longest time after running away from home. But she spent the last season and a half dropping her walls down to let people like Luz, King, her mother, and Lilith back into her life. She accepts her curse. Her progress as a person allows her to face the Owl Beast within.

 We also see what looks to be the Owl Beast’s origins. One of the memories in Eda’s dream isn’t Eda’s, but shows how the Owl Beast got turned into the curse scroll. A new character appeared called The Collector, voiced by Fryda Wolff. We see that the Owl Beast was a free-roaming demon before The Collector’s magic turned it into a scroll which eventually tied it to Eda. This shows that the Owl Beast is just as much of the victim as Eda is in all of this. It added so much to its story.

Eda is able to start her forgiveness when she sees the Owl Beast in her mind tethered to her with the Red String of Fate. The Red String of Fate is a story from Chinese mythology that is popular in a lot of East Asian media. My first exposure to it was through Japanese manga and anime. Usually reserved for romantic stories, it focuses on two people tied together who are destined to be with each other despite time, space, and circumstances.

Here in The Owl House, the string threads Eda and the Owl Beast’s fates together. Both victims of circumstances, they now have to learn to live together because there is no escaping their fates. Fighting each other harms them both. Now with an understanding and acceptance of each other, Eda was able to unlock a new stage in her life:

HARPY EDA!

Eda has a harpy form now! She can willingly change into it now that she’s at peace with the Owl Beast. This is big because Eda is still powerless and can only do magic with glyphs. It gives her new skills, letting her fly without her staff. Also, she’s hot as hell and knows it! Raine better watch out once they rescue them from Emperor Belos!

King’s powers developing and Eda’s harpy form feels like we’re speeding headfirst towards the midseason finale! There are only a handful of episodes left before season 2A comes to a close. We don’t know anything from the back half of the season, and Disney shows usually take a mid-season break. Almost all the shots in the season two trailer have come from these first eight episodes. There’s probably a hiatus on the horizon. With these big developments with King and Eda, I bet the final episode of season 2A will be both an explosive and heart wrenching one.

 I want to touch on something that YouTuber Whitney Van Laningham pointed out in her review for this episode. Whitney speculated that The Collector from Eda's vision could also be Creepy Luz, which would be absolutely wild! I really like this theory because, as I stated before in a previous review, I have no idea what to make of Creepy Luz. I really love this take that this powerful mysterious person has not only meddled in Eda’s life but Luz’s as well. Like Creepy Luz, The Collector just suddenly came out of nowhere with no known ties to any of the characters. I love the idea there is a powerful third-party player lingering on the outskirts of the main storyline.

You should absolutely check out Whitney’s The Owl House videos every week and support female artists on the internet. She’s fantastic!

 The final third is the cutest of the three because LUZ AND AMITY ARE OFFICIALLY A COUPLE!

While the most straightforward of the three acts, it shouldn’t be downplayed at all. This series continues to be huge for LGBTQIA+ media. Unlike previous series like The Legend of Korra, Adventure Time, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, there is still the rest of season two and season three for Luz and Amity to develop as a couple. Those other shows, while groundbreaking and set the stage for the Lumity ship, all had their couples confirmed in the final episode of their series. Korra and Adventure Time showed their queer couples progress in either comics or a follow-up series later on, but The Owl House is breaking that mold by having Luz and Amity together now! It will be ongoing, probably full of ups and downs, but it is being treated like any hetero, straight couple in animation. Normalizing these topics is so important for younger audiences.

These two are so precious! The cast and crew truly capture that awkwardness of your first real romance. My favorite moment was when Luz and Amity hold hands and ask, “Why is this still so scary?” Romance at any age is about vulnerability and being willing to open yourself to someone to see your flaws. That first romance is a doozy though, because you just have no experience in what to do or how to go about it. Luz lashing out at Hooty’s hilarious wingman attempts, almost thwarting her own efforts was hilarious. I loved that Amity really dug the cheesiness of it all. I love these two baby queers! This was such a fantastic third act which truly brought out all the hard work Dana and her team have crafted for the first season and a half.

Also, Eda and King being supportive of Luz is always great. This episode showed how Eda messed up her own romance with Raine by hiding her curse from them. Now with experience, she’s able to help Luz and tell her to be honest with Amity. It was a really sweet moment with mentor Eda and her little apprentice.

 If I had any gripes, I always want more Hooty development. He’s still a huge mystery! How did he meet Eda? Was he a free demon before or was he always in the Owl House? What is the full extent of his powers? I’m starting to think this is going to be a reveal in either the season two finale or in one of the movie specials that make up season three. There’s a reason they’re giving us peeks at Hooty’s abilities, but not giving us the full story. I’m sure it will be a showstopping moment.

BUT HOOTY, MY DUDE! YOU CAN’T JUST EAT A LETTER FROM KING’S DAD! COME ON MAN! King’s father arrived in the final seconds to pass off a letter to his son, and Hooty, being Hooty, just ate it without question when a bug landed on it! Oh, Hootsifer…

I was very excited that King’s father is voiced by the amazing Kevin Michael Richardson who is always great in anything he does! He is a legendary voice actor who has worked with these creators before in Gravity Falls. From Lilo and Stitch, Avatar: The Last Airbender, multiple Star Wars animation shows, and so much more, I am such a huge fan of his! It seems with each week that passes, the cast gets even better with each new addition.

 "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" is a prime example not to write episodes off as filler before they air. They often times end up being huge game-changers that can completely transform a series.