#lures my friends with equally Like That taste into watching toh with the promise of vast swaths of clone murder

[astriiformes]

ask for bad brains: convince me specifically to watch owl house. not your normal "sell people on watching TOH" script but me. why should i watch owl house.

Hmmmmm okay, I will give this my best shot

One thing I like about it that I know you also enjoy in a series is that it feels like there are a lot of threads to pull at as a fan. Some of this is because they laid very good groundwork for certain reveals -- it's absolutely a show that feels different on a rewatch because of worldbuilding and character details that come into play later -- but some of it is also because it is an all-ages show on the Disney channel that the creator originally wanted to pitch as a darker, more horror-focused adult series, and it shows, and it's very possible to reach inside those inner working and pull something interesting out. Like, the aesthetics of the show are explicitly inspired by Hieronymus Bosch paintings (there are in fact multiple characters named after him), from what I understand the original pitch involved literal, actual Hell and had to be softened to "the Demon Realm," the primary villain is a huge dig at Christian extremism even though they can't quite say it out loud...... in some ways the fact that they had to dial down certain elements has made it extra fascinating to be a fan of, because it feels like getting handed the baton to go wild with the things the creators couldn't quite take all the way given network restrictions but are still in the DNA of the show.

--Also it is really, really funny to see them try to write a villain who is a Puritan whose motivation is a result of being a Puritan without being allowed to outright say anything too negative about Christianity.

The other thing is that one reason all that shows is because they still crammed a lot of it into the show anyways. The primary antagonist's evil plan is... genocide. There's a whole horrific subplot about one of the main characters turning out to be the latest in a line of murdered clones and at one point you see a fucked-up clone graveyard full of the skeletons of dozens of other dead clones. The main setting is the dead, mostly-rotted body of a giant god-like being that has since turned into a chain of islands. So for people interested in the darker and more mature side of the storyline, there's plenty to work with.

And all of that is a backdrop to a very solid cast of characters and character relationships, because you know, an interesting setting and premise alone does not a compelling piece of media make. It takes a little while for some of the darker and more complex elements of the plot to emerge but by the time it does you have reasons to care about it, which is of course the kind of thing that makes higher stakes really work. It's genuinely a very funny series and I think the sense of humor would gel with you, and I like that it actually explores the impact certain things would actually have on the characters -- not the least of which is that it handles its portal fantasy premise in a way that feels like a direct answer for everyone who was very dissatisfied with the Chronicles of Narnia, with a protagonist who is constantly struggling with the whole "Well, I ran off to a cool fantasy world and have developed close and loving relationships there and really grown as a person, but I do have another life I don't think I can run away from forever" question. (And I really like how they've been handling it!)

--And okay, I know that you, like me, are not one to be sold on rep and rep alone but it feels like a travesty not to at least mention that there is a (very cool, would have been one of my favorites regardless of gender) nonbinary character who is like, a real, grown adult even though a lot of the cast are teens, and it's just so refreshing to see a like, fairly major, late 40s nb character handled well and heavily involved in the main plot and the life of one of the main characters. (Although they don't show up until S2).

Obviously like any show it's not perfect, and it's especially frustrating that the plot and writing had to take some visible hits as a result of S3 getting mostly axed (turned into three double-length episodes instead of a full season; we hate to see network meddling), but I do think you'd enjoy parts of it a lot!

Also they poke fun at Harry Potter sometimes (due also being a series involving a magic school) in ways that are very satisfying, and I need more people at the intersection of the TOH and TLT fandoms to understand why me comparing the Emperors in both series is funny. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯