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midnight1nk · 9 months ago

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If you were to ask me:

Out of all the Puzzlevision episodes we had so far, which is your favorite?

My answer will always be “Once Upon An SMG4”. I mean, who wouldn't want a silly fairytale parody? With the chaotic nature of the show, it just made sense to me. You know what also made sense? Having SMG3 play the princess role, considering he is qualified to be a Disney Princess.

if you think about it, the whole Star Trio could be Disney Princesses…

As a glitchybombs shipper, Mr Puzzles basically gave a fairytale AU for us to work with. And indeed, we could’ve had a 'true love’s kiss' moment. While all of these are good reasons, it's not the main reason why I love it.

I love it because it's a parallel/twisted version of “It's Gotta Be Perfect”.

Every story, no matter how outlandish it seems, is grounded in reality.

Think of any fairytale you know of from the top of your head. Pretty easy, right?

But do you have a solid reason as to why the Evil Queen from Snow White is really evil? Or why Goldilocks was alone in the woods and decided to trespass on private property? Or why didn't the Godmother come sooner to save Cinderella from her abusive family?

Perhaps you can find answers in the depths of the internet and historical literature, but otherwise, it's up for speculation. That's because fairytales are for the sake of entertainment. Therefore, the characters and/or their personalities are reduced to simple roles: good guy, bad guy, etc. Toss in a subtle message about human morality and you got a nice little tale where the good guys win and the bad guys get what they deserve.

For “Once Upon An SMG4”, there's much more than what meets the eye. Follow me as I overanalyze this episode to events that happened in the “It's Gotta Be Perfect” arc, and discuss how they could be alluding to future character interactions, WOTFI 2024, and beyond...

ONCE UPON A Ṕ̷̱E̴̺̽R̵̖̎̕F̵̢̗̈́̀E̴̞̍C̴͈̽T̶͓̘̈́ SMG4

THE NARRATOR

The episode starts off with the first actual character of the story: the narrator. Now, we have no idea who that is.

There isn’t a name on who voiced him in the credits, and it can be easily assumed that it was just some random guy, like the one from the Puzzlevision Movie. But I think it might just be Mr Puzzles. He is the showrunner after all. He could've manipulated the script or be the narrator himself. Either way, he is the one in control, forcing the viewer to see the story through his lens (...or screen I guess).

Anyway, the narrator introduces one of the two main characters of the story:

SMG4

The narrator goes on to describe him as “an ugly, wicked witch who's selfish and cruel…” before Witch!4 proceeds to break his back for doing his evil laugh.

Remember how I said that complex characters were reduced to simpler roles? Four was one of them. In IGBP, Four felt inadequate as a content creator and just wanted to make his audience happy. He had insecurities before the arc, hidden in the back of his mind, but it was because of ‘SMG4... Are You Ok?’ episode that those insecurities have now come to light. As told in IGBP, his videos were a sort of “measure” of his worth. It wasn’t only that his videos weren’t good enough, it was that he wasn’t good enough. Therefore, he felt like he failed in making people happy. That would be his fault.

That was why he was desperate to create the best video ever. Unfortunately, when you are laser-focused on something, the world around you becomes a blur. Four isolated himself from the crew (We’ll get back to this, see: ‘Four’s Villain Song’). He didn’t sleep, didn’t even eat. He didn’t try to take care of himself because, as some of us relate, he thought that ‘if I worked on this a bit more, just another second more, maybe it’ll be perfect and I can finally finish it’, having his necessities as an afterthought or even ”reward”. It drove him to his breaking point in the ‘SMG4: MAR10 Day’ episode. It wasn't his intention to shut everyone out nor was it to hurt anyone. But, because he wasn’t in the right headspace, he lashed out at his friends.

As Mr Puzzles’ script stated, Four acted “selfish and cruel”, all for the perfect video. Mr Puzzles already perceived SMG4 in a negative light by calling the show “the stupidest” thing he’d ever seen. This was merely ‘evidence’ for Mr Puzzles to say, “See? This is why you shouldn’t be rooting for SMG4. He is a villain and he got what he deserved”. Four is a villain, that was all Mr Puzzles perceived him as, here in ‘Once Upon an SMG4’ (See: ‘You Look Peak, Brother”, for more). For his character, it makes a lot of sense. Mr Puzzles didn’t have friends growing up so he didn’t understand how Four’s insecurities were really affecting him.

However, a certain purple meme guardian did connect with Four. Speaking of which, the narrator introduces the second main character of the story:

SMG3

The narrator describes Three as “a beautiful princess pure of heart” and that he had “unparalleled beauty, embodying every romantic dream”. Insert Princess!3 having his Disney Princess Moment (TM).

If Mr Puzzles perceives Four being evil, does that mean he perceives Three as the opposite?

Well, sort of. From a storytelling perspective, for every bad guy, there is a good guy. Narrative foils, at times, are parallel to one another. They share similarities in terms of personality or appearance or just wanting the same goal. What better foil to have than Three, Four’s meme guardian partner and former villain.

What about beauty?

Three has repeatedly proclaimed how he's The Rizzler (TM) and how he is far more attractive than Four. In ‘SMG4: We Don’t Talk About What Happened in the Elevator’ episode, Four admitted that Three does have rizz, just as Three admits that he doesn’t hate Four (See: 'Fairest Fight 2024', for more).

Back to Princess!3, he sang how all he wants is money …and-a-sugarda--. While 'wanting to get rich' makes sense for Three’s character, it also doesn’t. Bare with me on this one:

In ‘SMG4: Trash Friends’, it was revealed that Three feels insecure about how he is perceived as Four’s cheap copy. Years ago, he tried being himself in memewarts and afterward. He failed to be recognized, unable to have friends, always being overshadowed by Four. So, in the YouTube Arc, he was obsessed with trying to become like Four. It wasn’t until he took over the channel that he got to experience what it truly felt like to be Four, before he eventually got sent to the Internet Graveyard and there began a whole new journey for him. He’s okay with his character development. In ‘SMG4: You Used To Be Cool’, he realizes that he doesn’t need to prove to anyone who he is, being satisfied with the life he now has.

What does it have to do with money?

Looking back at ‘SMG4: Trash Friends’ and the Meme Factory Arc, we saw that Three’s Coffee & Bombs wasn’t doing so well. It isn’t confirmed if this was of Mr Puzzles’ doing, but regardless, it does bring back some ugly memories for him. For once, he is enjoying the life he built and is currently trying to prove that he is not a mere copy of Four. But he might lose it, just as it happened with Snitch Productions.

He doesn’t want to go back to the life he had before. It isn’t just the café, it’s the possibility that he might lose his friends. Even if he doesn't want to admit it, he is part of the crew, and that is a lot more to lose. So, he has to “rescue” his café financially, to show that he “deserves” to have friends, that he “deserves” this life. Yes, he went through great risks to help his friends when they were in need, especially Four in IGBP. But he still wants to prove it.

(I’ll talk about it more about Three’s character on a later post.)

So, Mr Puzzles wasn’t all wrong; Three was “pure of heart” in a sense, he just has trouble showing his true emotions and being vulnerable again. After all, the first person he was vulnerable to was Terrence and we all know how that went.

And what about Eggdog?

Three literally came out of a flash drive so he doesn't have a biological family (or preprogrammed...because of the cosmology lore?). During the classic era, no one really treated him nicely. So, for Eggdog and additionally Terrence, he treated them with absolute devotion. Always reminding them that they are special, that they're loved. That they are never alone.

The difference was that Three was careful of Eggdog's whereabouts, while Terrence was always with him and minding his own business, including the Revelations movie. Three will always love Terrence, and to prove how good a parent he truly was, Terrence said a final "I love you" to Three.

He wasn't going to make the same mistake with Eggdog. Whenever Eggdog gets hurt, Three comes rushing to his side to ensure he is okay. Three keeps a close eye on him but when it comes to the bug mission, Three would have Eggdog stay at home or have a backup plan if Eggdog does come along. He just can't lose another loved one.

“YOU LOOK PEAK, BROTHER.”

Let’s cut ahead to when Witch!4 was giving compliments to a version of “him” inside the TV. Admittedly, this is just a bit.

HOWEVER, I overanalyze stuff soooooo…...

Remember how I said that Mr Puzzles sees Four in a negative light?

In IGBP, there was the hallway scene with Three, Meggy, and Mario discovering the paintings being replaced with messages. As Three states, these messages were his thoughts, how Four painted himself in a negative light. Four made sure to hide his low self-esteem well from his friends but it always lingered in the shadows.

Mario wasn't wrong: the person who "wrote" them was indeed a good person.

Mr Puzzles, however, showed the opposite. That Four set himself up on a pedestal, as someone who sees himself as righteous. A narcissist. And how? By being the “TV, TV on the Wall” and pretending to be Witch!4 on the screen giving compliments to the actual Witch!4 how perfect he is.

YOU’RE INVITED!

This is more of a parallel than anything. In the story, Princess!3 gets “invited” to King Bob’s Ballin’ Ball, the invite literally being launched to him by Witch!4.

In the IGBP arc, Three got invited to do a collab with Mr Yeast through his stream in ‘SMG4... Are You Ok?’ episode. While Four may have not been the one who brought in Mr Yeast for him, it was because of Four’s crew that made Three went through a new path in his life from the end of the Youtube Arc, being Lord of the Internet Graveyard, and becoming a streamer which got him the collab. So, indirectly, Four brought Mr Yeast to Three.

A (FAILING) PLAN

Fast forward through the story, Princess!3 strolls around the ball, Witch!4 instructs Prince Luigi to give Princess!3 the apple to make him "the ugliest princess" and Witch!4 would become the fairest of them all. As expected, it failed miserably, and Witch!4 had to improvise and come up with a new plan.

In IGBP, Four also had a plan when he was starting to create the perfect video, stocking his room with enough food for him to last. He made multiple attempts to create the video, feeling unsatisfied with every version he made.

MR. LUIGI

OMG, Mr L? Nah, I’m just kidding.

In all seriousness, though, I did find it fascinating that Prince Luigi basically turned Mr Yeast, the catalyst of IGBP. Hmmm….

THE TALLEST TOWER

By Witch!4’s instructions, Mr Luigi kidnaps Princess!3 and puts him in the tallest tower.

In IGBP, there is a scene where the rescuing trio finds SMG4’s classic design before it awakens and traps Three with him, making Meggy and Mario find Four to rescue them both. Curiously, the final showdown with Possessed!4 and Monster!3 waiting for them took place in the tallest tower of Peach’s castle.

A DOLLAR (…AND A BLOCK OF “CHEESE”)

In Mr Yeast fashion, he proposes a challenge that whoever save the princess gets a dollar, before he gets pushed off the tower by Princess!3. Realizing that he might need help, Princess!3 was able to get Mario to save him, promising that one dollar and an additional block of "cheese". In all technicality, Mario was completing the challenge.

In the IGBP arc, Mario completed a challenge created by Mr Yeast, making spaghetti while in a crashing plane. And, would you look at that? Food was involved too!

FOUR'S VILLAIN SONG

Told you we would come back to it! Better than what Disney’s Wish could ever do, Witch!4 sings how great being a villain was and how you just can’t go wrong with a great villain song. An absolute classic.

I do want to point out the first few lines of Four’s musical number:

I’ve gotta be honest with you, There’s many reasons I like being the villain, from just chillin’ to killin’ to tyrannically instilling fear, unto unwilling peasants who crossed my path…

Again, this shouldn’t be taken that seriously, but knowing how Mr Puzzles perceives him to be, this meant a lot more. Four, being the ‘villain’ of IGBP, was “tyrannically instilling fear” unto his friends who ‘prevented’ him from creating the perfect video. This, for the most part, was how Mr Puzzles saw it since IGBP was a horror parody. In reality, the crew was worried for him, not scared of him. Sure, there were moments when they were confused about Four’s extreme behavior but they were more worried about his wellbeing. Mr Puzzles didn’t know what that was like, to have someone worried for another’s wellbeing.

BOOPKINS

Yes, even Boopkins gets a spot on here! In the story, when Mario brought Sir Boopkins to save Princess!3, Princess!3 immediately regrets his life choices. Boopkins, on the other hand, doesn’t listen to what Princess!3’s yelled to Mario and attempts to save him… miserably.

It directly mirrors in IGBP, how Boopkins tried to defeat the keyboard demon with the ‘power of friendship and love’.

Love wins! Love always wins!

[It's Gotta Be Perfect]

He isn't wrong, a lot of the arcs were resolved because of love between friends, family, and partners. The good guys indeed win, but not without sacrifice. They kept their promise, but not without loss.

IGBP was no different. While ‘love always wins’ is true, Boopkins went about it the wrong way, thinking the demon itself would have a change of heart. Three was the one who somehow did it correctly and was able to save Four at the end.

Wow. Love does win, huh?

FAIREST OF THEM ALL

After Sir Boopkins’ failed attempt, Witch!4 comes in, riding a dragon, saying to Princess!3:

“Ha ha! You will never be saved, princess, and I shall be fairest of them all!”

[Once Upon An SMG4]

Do remember that scene?

Good.

Now imagine that moment in IGBP when Four had to choose to save Three or the flash drive that contained the video they made:

You will never be saved, Three, and I will have the perfect video!

…Ain’t that wild?

Then, it begs the question: Did Mr Puzzles want Three to die? Actually, no, he wanted Four dead. Remember back in the movie when the tentacles of the keyboard demon dragged Four back into the desk. Four knew he couldn’t leave so Four begged Three to leave him there and accepted that the whole incident was his fault. And it did seem like the end for him.

Plot twist: Three snapped him (or I guess slapped him) out of it and stayed alongside Four so he could help finish the video. It was because of Three that Four was finally freed from the cursed keyboard and it was because of Three admitting that they are friends that Four made his final decision. If Three wasn’t there, Four would’ve become a monster like Peach did or Four would have to sacrifice Three because he was traumatized to the point that he needs the video.

Perhaps it didn’t go how Mr Puzzles intended it to be but hey, it was entertainment, so he had let it slide for now.

FAIREST FIGHT 2024

Back to the story, Mario proposes that Witch!4 and Princess!3 should have a contest to see who really is the fairest. And so began the Fairest Fight 2024, consisting of three (3) challenges for three (3) judges to see who earns the title of the “fairest of them all”. Let’s begin with the first challenge:

ATTRACTING NOBLE HEROES CHALLENGE

Princess!3 was able to convince one hero with the weak promise of friendship while Witch!4 offering a lifetime sub to his OF, beating Princess!3 this round.

It parallels how it was in the outside world where Three, still trying his best, makes attempts to be popular while Four, already being incredibly popular, can easily attract his audience with his memes. But it also shows how Four is willing to dedicate a lot of his time and effort to making people happy while Three is still cautious about how open he should be to other people.

KISSING A FROG CHALLENGE

Okay, obviously, it's supposed to be a ‘princess and the frog’ reference. Just a bit, but it could mean something more. First off, to get this out of the way, I find it interesting that when Witch!4 tried to kiss a frog, the frog turned into Kermit and practically made him lose the challenge (Three didn’t either btw). It mirrored how in IGBP, Four kept using Kermit clips to make this perfect video, refusing to use any other material which eventually caused him to go insane.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the deep analysis part of this challenge:

As IGBP has taught us, relationships are complicated and complex. It takes time and dedication to stay but it also needs balance. As emotions are involved, it can be hard for others to completely understand the situation but, as Three has done, it’s possible to try.

We already made a connection of this episode being a twist of IGBP, so this could be applied here, how Four and Three approach a supposed relationship, in two ways:

(1) The frogs represent the new people that will enter each of their lives

When Four gets involved romantically and/or platonically with someone new who we call Person A, he can be a bit forward towards this person, but he is willing to commit to it. Person A however would either (1) end the relationship or (2) die. This leaves Four shocked.

When Three gets involved romantically and/or platonically with someone new (Person B), he is willing to risk it all. Usually, he is cautious about what he does but Person B somehow convinced him that they are the exception. Person B, like the poisonous frog, would either (1) use emotional manipulation to hurt 3 to a certain end or (2) be the cause of his death.

(2) The frogs represent each other — the Axol X Melony Theory(???)

That’s right, SMG34 shippers, it’s our time now. While SMG34 ship has been incredibly well-known in the fandom and the people behind the SMG4 show, we know it’s not going to become canon, mostly due to homophobia from certain fans, and the ship isn't meant to be treated seriously. But there are also too many moments that allude to the idea that they can be canon. Even reactors are starting to notice, a few lowkey “ship” them (which is honestly insane). In ‘SMG4: Plane Trip’ episode, Swag and Four had a bit of a bonding moment. Swag mentioned Sonic, his wife, as family. Four mentions how he feels the same (about being in a romantic relationship) and “having someone back home [himself]”, there he is presented with a locket. Again, this could all be a joke with well-known crack ships (memes, Dasani, computer, etc). Strangely though, the punchline never came.

They didn’t have time to put it in.

No, because all it takes is a few seconds to shift to Four’s POV and show THE DAMN PHOTO. BUT THEY DIDN’T!

*proceeds to scream into a pillow*

…Uh, anyway, some reactors suspected the person in the locket was Three. If reactors had the mere thought about Three and Four being together, then you know something really is up between those two. Sure, fandom talk. But like, if someone who you didn’t expect at all says that they might be gay, then the signals they give off must be really loud.

If the slightest chance this ship is ever going to be canon, then the Frog Challenge would be the slickest foreshadowing they had ever done, and yet brings up a whole lot of dread for the SMG34 shippers. At the end of WOTFI 2023, Three drew himself and Four enjoying a cup of coffee together, which seems oddly similar to Melony’s drawing of her and Axol (and vice-versa with Axol’s Confession Page).

If the theory is going to come true and the Kissing A Frog Challenge is going to allude to something, then it could mean two things:

(1) Either Four or Three would be with someone else, leaving the other heartbroken and therefore, their crush on them “died”

(2) Four or Three would confess to the other their feelings, but it would be too late and the other would be destined to die

Oh boy, ok. Let’s take a moment here to take a breather off the screen and pray for the shippers that the Axol X Melony Theory would not come true, regardless if the ship is ever going to be canon.

TRY NOT TO GET KIDNAPPED CHALLENGE

Stepping away from the Kissing Frog Challenge, we hop into this challenge, where the two avoid getting themselves kidnapped by Shrek. Princess!3 came up with the idea to use Witch!4 as a sort of trade, pointing out Witch!4’s features as selling points (with Princess!3 puking at the end there). According to Witch!4, they were "the worst selling points" he ever heard and it still worked. Princess!3 beat the challenge and placed the two of them in a complete tie.

Say it with me now: it’s just a bit.

And yet again I say: hear me out…

It shows that Three accepts Four’s flaws. Sure, there might be things that Three might find annoying about Four but he doesn’t hate Four. Especially, after IGBP, they connected more than ever. When they are in desperate need, they find each other. When one feels down or upset, the other notices. It makes sense, considering that they’re cosmically linked. But somehow, thanks to IGBP, they became close and already saw parts of each other's worst side. Four already accepts that Three is a former villain but Three of all people also accepts Four for who he is.

THE WINNER

The points have been tallied and judges make their decision, declaring Princess!3 as the official winner. Along with the title of being the “fairest”, he gets a wish. Twist of the episode: Three breaks the fourth wall and wishes to escape Mr Puzzles’ control. Then, Godmother Puzzles swoops in and restores the natural order of his script. Again, it’s plain and simple: Three is begging the audience to help them find an escape from this nightmare.

…well…

Notice how the one who broke the tie between the two was Mr Luigi, giving the last point to Princess!3, just as how Mr Yeast preferred to collab with Three instead of Four.

Remember how I said being the fairest is the equivalent of being perfect from that line told by Witch!4? This scene isn’t telling us that Three is perfect, but rather Four is imperfect. For the audience, we know that no one is perfect and that is okay. To quote from the animated show, Arcane:

"In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good."

[Arcane, S1 EP9]

From Mr Puzzles’ perspective and his ideology of being perfect, imperfection sounds like a bad thing.

The part where Princess!3 won was the same way how Three “won” in IGBP. Princess!3 won by getting what he wanted since the beginning of the story: money. Three, being the protagonist of IGBP, the 'good guy', won by beating the demonic keyboard and saving his partner.

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

And that is “Once Upon An SMG4”, a twisted version of “It’s Gotta Be Perfect”. One that Mr Puzzles would have preferred. But it’s not over yet, my dear fellows, as every story has a sequel.

“And SMG4, who knew you could play an antagonist so well! High marks from me.”

[SMG4: Puzzlevision Movie]

A new arc is approaching leading up to WOTFI 2024 and if the 'SMG4: Inside Out' episode has anything to go by, IGBP really affected Four. Perhaps we don't get to see it through his behavior but he still remembers it. (hmm, how curious that Once Upon an SMG4 gets an appearance here...🤔) According to Inside Out 2 movie, orange symbolizes anxiety, meaning that Four is terrified that he might cause another IGBP incident. Naturally, problems can't easily be resolved and at times, they relapse.

In the actual plot of the episode, Four drank that carton of "special brain juice" with Mr Puzzles' face plastered on it. This is a major problem:

(1) Because of Anger taking control of Four's emotions, Four destroyed the carton, getting rid of the only evidence there was for anyone else to make the connection that Mr Puzzles is up to something.

(2) He was alone when he did this. Remember: Three placed a hidden camera in Four's room when he decorated it. It has been confirmed in the actual merch with Three stating in his notebook that "it was a mistake" putting it there. We don't exactly know why he did it, but it can be assumed that he just wanted to keep tabs on Four to make sure another IGBP incident doesn't happen. If he couldn't use the camera, he would stop by to check up on him, making fake excuses on why he came. Except when Four took the carton, it was in the kitchen and Three wasn't able to come over to the castle.

At the end of the episode, we can assume that Mr Puzzles has taken control of Four's mind and used him to his advantage. With WOTFI 2024 coming up and new arcs beyond that, it will be up to the crew to rescue Four once again and stop Mr Puzzles from taking creative control of their real lives...

That is another post for me to work on but in the meantime, that’s just a theory…

AN SMG4 THEORY

🎶Thanks for dropping by🎶

#smg4 #smg4 theory #smg4 smg3 #smg3 #smg3 x smg4 #smg34 #< implied #once upon a perfect smg4 #smg4 puzzlevision #puzzlevision arc #smg4 its gotta be perfect #wotfi 2023

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whateverisbeautiful · 5 months ago

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What is something that you feel like the show didn't talk about or explain more on in TOWL and or TWD about Richonnes relationship or friendship?? I thought in TOWL Michonne would have asked what happened to Rick that left him injured on the bridge. Can u rank the TOWL episodes in your opinion about which one is the best and not as good? Can u also rank each episode 1-10 and give a reason why u gave it that number? Merry Christmas and I u have a wonderful new year 🥰🤩

Thank you! I hope it’s been a great holiday season for you as well. I think I’ll always remember 2024 as the Year of Richonne because we got to witness their beautiful return in TOWL and I got to revel in them all year with you all which I’ve really appreciated.

For the 1st question - I think in TWD it would’ve been impactful to have seen Richonne’s first discussion about Andre. They did subtly reference Andre once in season 8, but I think showing how that initial discussion about him went would just add even more insight into how Michonne and Rick connect, understand, and confide in each other. For TOWL, that would be interesting to have seen them share their side of what happened on the day Rick disappeared.

A TOWL episode ranking feels like the perfect thing to share on the last day of 2024. 😊 I wrote out my list from lowest to highest below. Happy New Year to everyone & thanks for reveling with me over here! 🥂💗:

TOWL Episode Ranking

#6: Episode 6 (7/10)

The Grimes family reunion was gold and so was the episode's opener. Plus, I liked the scene where Rick tells Michonne how much he missed her and when he shares he's mad about the time he missed seeing their kids growing up. There was just a few dialogue moments that I found forced or unnatural scattered throughout the ep. I didn’t mind how they handled the CRM stuff and wrapped up their plan tho. Some parts were a bit of a stretch, such as Pearl surviving that explosion, but overall I was fine with it. And seeing Rick and Michonne get their happy ending with their kids was everything. 🥹

#5: Episode 5 (7/10)

Ep 5 is placed here mainly because I felt the cuts to Jadis and Father Gabriel weren’t the most engaging and took up more time than it needed and I wasn’t really feeling the one-dimensional sibling trio. However, when it comes to the Richonne content in this episode, I absolutely loved their scenes together. 🤩 It was great seeing Rick and Michonne fully back on the same page and enjoying each other on the trip home. That souvenir shop scene and the lovely proposal were some of my favorite moments from the series.

#4: Episode 3 (8/10)

Episode 3 was a really good midpoint episode with a great memorable ending. For an episode where Rick and Michonne barely converse with each other, they did a great job of still having so much tension and impactful exchanges. This episode proved that all those two have to do is look at each other and it can communicate oh so much. Rick and Michonne having conflict and different approaches on how to save each other was interesting to see. Highlights from the episode were the scene when Michonne speaks to the portratist, Rick and Michonne's hot and heavy moment behind that boneless tree, and of course, Michonne yanking Rick out of a helicopter at the end. 🤭

#3: Episode 1 (8.5/10)

This was such a compelling premiere to me. Andy’s return as Rick Grimes in this episode was excellent as always and Okafor had such an impactful presence in just one short episode. I thought ep 1 did a great job of showing us the toll these years have taken on Rick and how the most resilient man could break and shut down the way he did. Rick finally deciding to stop fighting to get home strictly because he was willing to sacrifice himself to keep his family safe - the heartbreak and dejectedness Rick felt was palpable, especially in his final letter to Michonne. And I adore the dreams he had of Michonne in this episode. I’ll never forget how overjoyed I was hearing Rick say “5 pizzas and a wedding ring” the first time and realizing Richonne was going to reunite by the end of the episode. Iconic. 🙌🏽

#2: Episode 2 (9/10)

Man did they deliver with that Richonne reunion. 🔥 For that moment to be as highly anticipated as it was, it was going to be a tall order to successfully orchestrate Rick and Michonne’s first time seeing each other in years and they truly rose to the occasion and delivered something special. I loved seeing Danai reprise the role of Michonne and pick up where she left off from TWD, meeting one of my favorite additions to the TWD cast - Nat. Like Okafor, Nat made such a lasting impact in just one episode. It also makes a lot of sense why Danai got recognized for her performance in this episode because she knocked it out of the park with the emotion she infused into each scene. And then, Andy joined right with her once Richonne reunited. Another thing I love about ep 2 is that the Richonne reunion was already so well done but then they went and gave this episode an equally great Richonne scene between the CRM vehicles too. We were spoiled and I love that for us. 😇

#1: Episode 4 (10/10)

'What We' easily tops the list. Episode 4 is such a meaningful masterpiece to me and to so many. I’d list highlight moments from the ep but every scene is a highlight. Genuinely. 👏🏽 Just the other day I was thinking about the dialogue in this episode and started tearing up just thinking about it. What Danai crafted with this episode is so powerful and unforgettable. And Andy and Danai's performances were incredible. I love that this episode focused on just Rick and Michonne in one location, letting these actors and these characters shine.

There are so few things I’d give a 10 out of 10 to but this deserves it. I couldn’t ask for more. To watch two characters who love each other more than anyone has loved someone start the episode with more conflict than we’ve ever seen them have only to believably and powerfully reconcile by the end of the episode and bring each other back to life. Just wow. 😭❤️‍🔥

I’ve already said so much about Episode 4 but I can feel myself ready to type yet another novel about how exceptional this piece of television was. Before this gets even longer, I’ll just say that TOWL overall was already a big achievement for the franchise but Episode 4 is TOWL’s crowning jewel, and I’ll forever be in awe of how great and special that episode was in depicting the beauty of Richonne. 👑😌

#richonne #reflecting on richonne #asks & answers #TOWL Episode Ranking

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dhmis-autism · 1 year ago

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what do you think duck’s stance on love is?

Long story short, I think his perspective on it is insanely warped.

Short story long, I think he really really wants to love the other two, but is so insanely clueless on how to. I think my good friend Bear worded it once as “I don't think he's capable of providing much but he is absolutely going to force the others to let him try.”

I think that’s very apt.

But okay! Let’s get into it!

First things first we need to establish about my favorite little guy in the universe is that love is something that’s very important to him. He is the only one of the three who mentions love outside of it’s allotted episode. Once in the interview,

And twice in his song in family (which trust me we will GET TO)

It’s something that he obviously thinks about and is obviously important to him. I think if you want to get real nitty gritty you can even pick apart his individual lines in the Family song and see through his first line I’ve highlighted here as a definite facade, because in the second highlighted line he goes right back into what we got established about him in the (debatably canon) interview which is that not only does he want to love, but he wants that love to be reciprocated. To love and be loved in turn. Pretty easy goal right? Most people have that.

It’s how he goes about attaining this goal that I think makes him totally balls to the wall nuts. And to talk about how he attains this goal we NEED to talk about:

His Relationship with the Other Main Guys Around.

Now, if you read and really listen to what I have to say about this guy, you will often hear me saying that he makes a lot of assumptions and especially in regards to feelings. I have touched on it previously in this post. And with all things I say, I don’t say this without reason + evidence.

I think he does this fun little horrible thing where he assumes that HOWEVER he feels about the other two is the way they feel about him. Unquestionably reciprocated. I think this because of two scenes in particular, the Best Friend Debate at his funeral and his insistence that they are a family in Family.

Now, let’s break down these two scenes and I’ll highlight the bits I think are the most important to my point.

BFD (Best Friend Debate) is a classic, everyone knows it by heart, but the point I want to focus on here is these few lines-

Here we see Duck make an assumption about the nature of his relationship with Red Guy, namely, that it’s much closer than it actually is. Duck feels that they’re best friends, so surely the other party MUST feel the same way. When RG pushes back against this assumption and doesn’t respond the way Duck would like, instead of backing down or trying to realize that maybe he was mistaken, Duck pushes it further.

It does not matter if Red Guy doesn’t think they’re best friends. Duck thinks they are and so that is the truth. In his crazy little head, at least. Anyways, pay attention to this next bit, because it’ll crop up again, RG pushes further, emphasizing that he DOES NOT feel the same way and instead of accepting it…

Duck digs his heels in further and starts coming up with reasons. Here being, well you have to be my best friend, I’m leaving you my things, I wouldn’t do that if we weren’t close!

It is a little bit pathetic. And it gets pathetic-er!

Onto the scene in Family. It runs pretty similarly! Duck makes an assumption about his relationship with the other two, in this episode, it’s that they are a family.

The other parties involved in this assumption reject it. His immediate response to ‘No we aren’t.’ is “Yes we are!”.

Then he begins his reasoning….

And it goes on.

For the rest of the episode.

Just near-constant trying to justify his assumption and give reasons why they ARE a family and fit Lily and Todneys weird criteria (most notably trying desperately to emulate the Family Meeting) , no matter what the other two had to say. And he continues this weird bargaining (that is NOT working btw) until he is forcibly,physically removed from the other two.

That is the ONLY thing that gets him to stop. And even then all he does after is just sing his sad little song that just keeps emphasizing scenes of him with the other two, where the other two just fade away and he’s alone.

So! To establish what we know so far:

Duck wants to love and be loved in return.

Duck assumes the other two love him the same way he loves them.

When the other two object, or say they don’t, his immediate response is they they do, actually!

When that doesn’t work, he starts looking for evidence/justifications for why the other two are wrong.

WHICH IS A HORRIBLE CRAZY TWISTED VIEW ON LOVE. Like you cannot just ‘yuh huh’ someone into feeling the same way about you that you feel about them. You cannot just force these square pegs into these triangle holes!!

And all that’s not even GETTING into how weirdly obsessed he is with the other two, how I think that fuels his relationship with the house/their world and the weird complacency that plays into that.

The first point btw, I have touched on before! On these posts! ( https://dhmis-autism.tumblr.com/post/727102688807043072/my-headcannon-is-that-duck-has-been-in-a-state-of , https://dhmis-autism.tumblr.com/post/726233248232079360/i-feel-like-the-original-series-was-red-guy )

But for now!! That’s a rough intro to how fucked up I think this birds perspective is! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

#dhmis #my dhmis postings #dhmis duck #I HOPE THIS ISN'T TOO HARD TO READ/MAKES SENSE!! I HAVE THOUGHT A LOT ABOUT HOW TO MAKE THIS THE BEST AND MOST EASILY UNDERSTANDABLE !!#so yeah lmk wat u think of this and all my little evidence crumbs :3 #i think abt this dumb bird soooo much its nuts #LONG POST #MASSIVE POST ACTUALLY

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automaticllamacycle · 2 years ago

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the taste of your lips (is my idea of luxury)

Summary: You had never smoked weed before. A few puffs with your friend Matty couldn’t hurt, right?

Content: 18+, smoking, shotgunning, face sitting, fingering, unprotected sex, praise kink, spitting, slight dom/sub undertones if you squint, friends to lover but make it super speed

Word count: 5,451

You sit in his room watching one of his favorite documentaries, a typical Friday night for the two of you. Matty’s at his desk, leaning over it while he starts to roll a joint. He insists the weed helps him think more deeply about the documentary, no matter how many times you tell him that’s bullshit. You can’t help but linger on his fingers as he packs the joint, carefully working with the paper.

You and Matty have been friends for a few years now. Nothing had ever gone further than that, even though you’d like for it to. Painfully, in the friend-zone. So, you sit on his bed and watch his hands, wondering what they would feel like on you. On your body, squeezing your hips just right…

His curly brown locks are a mess, hanging in his face. You hope he can’t feel your eyes barring into him. Part of you wonders if he does know, by the way he grazes his tongue along the edge of the paper, slow and calculated in his movements. He lingers his tongue longer than usual. As soon as he finishes the task, your eyes jump back to the television, acting like you weren’t just staring at him.

“Matty, can I change this to something else? What even is this?”

“What? Don’t like my taste in documentaries?” he jokes with the joint hanging loosely from his lips. He stands up in the middle of his sentence, looking for a lighter in his bedside drawer.

“You know I don’t. This isn’t even true crime. Can I put it on Friends or something? Please?” The remote is already in your hand, ready to go. A wide grin spreads across your face as you try to convince him to comply with your request.

“Anything for you. I’ll be high anyway. Don’t really care what we watch.” He replies, now clutching the lighter in his hand. The words anything for you repeat in your head as he sits down next to you, making himself comfortable against the headboard. His shoulders press against you, not a space between the side of his body and yours.

“You know it’s a great show. A true classic.” you say as you put the show on. You turn your head to him and watch as he strikes the lighter and holds the flame to the joint. When he finally lights it, he responds.

“It’s a funny show, I’ll give you that much sweetheart.”

You turn your head back to the TV screen, attempting to ignore how close his body is to you. His every movement distracts you from the TV. Only a couple minutes into the episode, you look to him again, watching as he takes a drag. More specifically, watching as his lips wrap around the joint.

You haven’t smoked before. Not like you’re against it or anything, just never found a reason to, yet. Still though, you’re curious about it. “So…” you begin, “What does being high actually feel like?”

“Why, you finally interested after all these years?” he replies with his eyebrows raised. A small smirk lights up his face.

“Maybe.”

“Well, it feels… nice. You feel happy and relaxed, not a care in the world.”

“That does sound appealing.” Your eyes flicker between the joint in his hand and his eyes, trying to steer clear from staring at his lips. Maybe the high will distract you from your feelings. Distract you from how much you want him, right now.

“Why don’t you give it a try?” He straightens up from his position against the headboard and extends the joint out to your hand. You hesitantly take it from his fingers, before looking back at his face. Unsure of even how to hold the joint properly, you decide to hold it like a cigarette as you’ve seen him do so many times, between your pointer finger and middle finger. Your eyes meet his again, looking for some kind of guidance. His eyes are a bit red from the weed. It doesn’t look like there are too many thoughts going on in his head.

“Matty, I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve never even smoked a cigarette.”

“I can tell,” he chuckles. “You just breathe it in I don’t know how else to instruct you. You’ve seen me do it enough times by now.” Before continuing his sentence, he plucks the joint from your fingers and places it between your thumb and index finger, signaling for you to pinch your fingers around it. “It’s between these fingers. Easier to pass back and forth this way. Go ahead and take a hit.”

“Alright, fine.” You feel your confidence leave your body as you bring the joint up to your lips. You attempt to properly inhale, but you fall into a raging coughing fit when the smoke hits your lungs.

“Well shit, you weren’t joking,” he said, laughing as his hand goes to rub your back gently while you cough.

“Yeah, I don’t think smoking weed like this is going to work out for me.”

There’s a slight pause. A lull in conversation before he talks again.

“Wait. I think I have an idea.” His eyes light up alongside his smile. You could tell by the look on his face this isn’t going to be a regular, normal idea.

“I feel like I should be worried.”

“Come here and sit on my lap.” He holds his arms out, waiting. You stare at him for a moment, confusion on your face.

“I think you’re a little too high right now, Matty.” He’s not serious, right?

“I’ve only smoked like half of this, now come here. Don’t you trust me?”

Begrudgingly, you straddle his hips, and his hands steady you at your waist. You have never been this close to him. The look in his eye is one you haven’t seen before, and you aren’t sure you can blame the weed for it. His breath starts getting heavier with you on his lap. You’re just glad he has a shirt on. You find a voice to speak.

“Okay, what is your bright idea before I chicken out?”

“It’s called shot gunning. Basically, I’m going to take a big hit, then breathe it into your mouth while you breathe in. Simple as that.” His voice is confident as he explains his bright idea.

“That seems sexually charged,” you say. You feel the blush flaming on your cheeks, and he hasn’t even done anything yet.

“Oh, shut up, our mouths don’t actually touch.” Bummer, you wish they would. Matty doesn’t need to know that, though. He continues, trying to defend his idea. “I just think it’ll be easier for you to get a full hit this way, since I don’t have a bong with me. Those are less harsh on the lungs.”

“Matty, you seem more nervous than I am.” That is a lie, straight through your teeth. The nervous energy is practically surging through your bones at the idea of his mouth almost touching your lips.

“I just haven’t done this with a girl I wasn’t currently dating at the time,” he says, biting his tongue afterwards. That is a bit of information he should have left out. Matty’s hands move up and down on your waist as he waits for your response. The heat of his hands burns through your shorts.

“Okay, it’s time for you to be quiet and get on with it. So, what exactly do I need to do?”

“You need to lean in a bit and get closer. I’ll handle the rest, just remember to breathe in when I breathe out, okay?”

“Alright.”

The hand that rests on your waist makes its way slowly up your back, cupping the back of your head and your neck. Out of reflex, you grip his arm, steadying yourself. His eye contact is magnetic as he lifts the joint up to his lips. Your breath isn’t coming as easy to you now, the air becoming thick around the both of you while you watch his lips wrap around the paper.

He breathes in deep, filling his mouth and lungs with smoke, but not blowing it out. He lowers your face down to meet his. Lips a fraction away from touching. Your lips part, waiting for him. Matty opens his mouth, nearly grazing your lips and blows the smoke out while you inhale. His actions are slow, like he’s savoring the moment. Like he won’t get the chance to be this close to you again. You take in the smoke without coughing up a lung this time, feeling the high start to hit, just a little bit.

You turn your head away from him to blow out the smoke, so it isn’t directly in his face. When you face back towards him, the intensity of his eyes almost melt you into a puddle. His eyes stare straight through you, like he can read your every thought.

“How was that?” he asks, breathless. He can’t stop looking at your mouth.

“It was better that time. Easier on the lungs, like you said.” Yeah sure, easier on the lungs, but not easier on your nerves.

“Do you want to try again?” He tries to maintain eye contact, but his gaze falls right back down to your lips. You impulsively lick them.

“Yeah, sure.” You maintain your composure, but as the minutes go on it becomes harder. The way you sit in his lap makes you nervous about moving your hips at all. Every inch of your body pressed into him.

He repeats the same actions, this time however, more intense. His hand on the back of your neck holds you close, keeping you millimeters away from his mouth. Your grip on his arm tightens in response. Oh, how badly you want to lean in. To taste his lips and feel his mouth on you. His eyes never leave your face as he takes another hit. This time, his hand at the back of your head moves to grasp your jaw instead. The hold spans to your neck. Surely, he can feel the rapid pace of your pulse underneath your skin, but you push that thought away.

He pulls your face to his and breathes the smoke into your mouth. Once he was finished, you blow it back out. However, this time, you brought your face back to the same closeness. Maybe the high is giving you a newfound confidence.

“That was nice,” you breathe.

“Yeah?” he questions with his hand still on your face. “Think you want to try to smoke it on your own again?” His facial expression disagrees with the words he says. He doesn’t want you to move at all.

You nod your head at his question, but you also have a different idea in mind. “Can I shot gun you instead?” you asked, timidly. You want to stay on his lap for as long as possible, savoring the impression of his hips against yours. His eyebrows raise, surprised at your question.

“Sure, love. If you think you’re that advanced.” He teases. He hands you back the joint while you attempt to conceal your shaky hands. He notices, though, despite your best efforts. “Start whenever you’re ready, or you can stop if you want. No pressure.” His hands return to your hips as his thumbs begin to rub in a circular motion on the bone, reassuring you.

You are in too deep, there’s no stopping now. You take a hit of the joint, and this time, you managed to fight off the cough. With a shaky hand, you cup his jaw as you lean in. His lips part, ready for you.

Your lips, ever so slightly, graze his before you blow the smoke into his mouth. Electricity runs through you at the brief contact. He exhales away from your face before turning back to you. One of his hands holds your cheek while the other remains on your waist.

“How was that?” you ask, hesitantly. For once, you found yourself not able to read the expression on his face.

“That was perfect. You did a good job.” His brown eyes are blown wide. They flicker to your mouth, to your eyes, then back to your mouth.

“Oh, fuck it,” he exclaims.

In a split second, his lips meet yours, drawing a gasp from your throat. There is desperation in his actions, in the way his hands grip your face and waist like he never wants to let go. He moves against your mouth with fervor, slipping his tongue past your lips. Your free hand combs through his curls, pulling tight as you roll your hips against his lap. Fire runs across your skin as he kisses you deeper before breaking the kiss. He’s quick to say the first word.

“Shit. I’ve complicated things haven’t I? We can act like that never happened if you want to stay just friends.” He talks as though he is not already hard against you, aching for more contact.

“I don’t think I can just forget about this, Matty,” you reply, grinding against him. A groan leaves his lips as his fingers dig into your hips in a bruising grip. “Besides…” You lean down to his ear, breath hot as you speak. “I want you. I want you as more than a friend. Have for a while now.” He reacts to your word fast, grabbing the joint from your hand and putting it out on the ashtray laying on his nightstand. Before he continues, his eyes meet yours, still hesitant to continue.

“You sure?” He needs to make sure this is okay one last time before there is no going back to just friends.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything.” His lips are on you again as soon as the words leave your mouth. The kiss is hot, passionate, needy. Both of your hands tangle through his brown curls, tugging to hear another groan leave his throat. Your tongue licks into his open mouth, wanting more from him.

Matty’s hands are ambitious, traveling under your shirt he grabs the shirt hem. Goosebumps erupted across your skin as he lifts the shirt off of you. For a moment, he stops to take in your body. The heat in your cheeks tints your face pink as he stares, completely awestruck. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”

His lips attach to the newly exposed skin of your chest, nipping and sucking at the skin not covered by your bra. You draw in a sharp breath at the sensation of his teeth and tongue on your skin. Red marks are left behind by his mouth. You feel one of his hands drift up your spine to undo your bra clasp, leaving your chest bare to him.

Matty’s mouth moves onto your exposed breasts, tongue flicking over your nipples before his teeth barely graze them. You can’t keep the moans back from your lips. “Shit, Matty—”

Before he can leave even more marks on your skin, you push him back against the headboard. A dazed look is in his eyes as your hands find their way under his shirt, fingernails delicately grazing his lower stomach. “It’s not fair for only my shirt to be off,” you say as you lift the fabric over his head. You look over him, eyes trailing over his muscles and tattoos. He has more muscle than you remember, firmer underneath your touch, like he could break you if he wanted to.

You move before he does, beginning to mouth at his neck. Groans leave his lips when you suck on his pulse point, sure to leave a bruise. His hands at your waist frantically press your hips into his erection. Your mouth travels down his neck to his chest, and you about to get off of his lap and on your knees before he stops you.

“Can I taste you?” He licks his lips as he watches your face, gauging your reaction. It wasn’t typical for a guy to want to go down on you first. It was the other way around, usually.

“If you want to…” you trail off, feeling flustered at the idea of him knowing you so intimately so quickly.

“I want to make you feel good,” he insists, fingers finding their way under your waist band to remove your underwear and shorts in one go. You start to get up, to move to the place beside him for better access before he stops you. “No. I want you to sit on my face.”

Your eyes go wide. Unsure of what even say. “You want me to… what?”

“Sit on my face.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t. Besides, it would be a good way to go out.”

“Matty!” you exclaim, lightly hitting his shoulder.

“I’m just being honest,” he pauses in between sentences to lay down flat on the bed. You now found yourself sitting on his lower stomach with no separation. The arousal between your thighs was obvious to him now, hands digging into your hips. “Now, C’mere.”

He drags you by your hips to hover over his face before he pulls you down roughly. Waves of pleasure flow through your body as his mouth makes contact. “Shit— Matty,” you choke out, darting one hand to the headboard to hold yourself up, knees buckling from the sensation. The other hand drops down to his hair, trying to keep yourself grounded. He licks at your cunt like a starved man. He takes his time to run his tongue along you in a broad stroke before he narrows in on your clit, wrapping his lips around the bud and sucking. Hard. You jolt in his grip as a whine leaves your throat.

Feeling overwhelmed at the sensation, you nearly lift yourself off his face, but his grip is unyielding. Fingers hold onto your thighs tight. Your hand tugs at his hair in response, and his eyes look up at you as a deep groan leaves his throat. His pupils are wide as he watches you on his tongue. Instead of sucking, he begins to lap at your folds, indulging at the taste of you. A mix of saliva and your arousal begin to run down his chin as he works his mouth against you.

“Fuck, if I’d known you tasted this sweet, I would have done this years ago,” he says after lifting your body off of his face for a moment before bringing you back down.

“Make up for lost time then. Show me what you can do with that mouth,” you challenge. Oh, he delivers. At your words, the speed of his tongue increases, switching between sucking and circling at your clit. One of his hands leaves your thighs, lining up to your center to collect your wetness before pushing two fingers in. Your hips roll against his face. For a moment, you worry you could hurt his neck, but that thought leaves when his strong arms firmly pull you to his mouth. Matty moans against you, the vibrations increasing your ecstasy. His name leaves your lips over and over, not knowing what else to say. All you can think is Matty. All you can feel is Matty. His fingers curl just so, hitting that spot inside you. Hips rut against his face haphazardly now, chasing your orgasm. The heat is growing in your stomach. You’re on fire and his tongue is fanning the flame. “Matty— Matty, fuck, I’m close. Please, I’m close.” You sound unlike yourself, desperate and needy. He obliges at your request, his fingers rubbing over that spot inside of you at a rapid pace while his tongue attaches to your clit. With the harsh suck of his lips on your clit, you come undone.

You feel like you’re floating, and the only thing keeping you grounded is your hand in his hair. The world is hazy around you as you become enveloped in the pleasure his mouth brings you. He doesn’t stop, either. His tongue works you through your high, and his hand encourages your hips to move against his face. Matty loves having you like this. He loves making you lose your senses on his tongue. He loves to watch your face fall apart in pleasure all because of him. He knows his only job right now is to make you feel good, to make you feel better than anyone ever has.

When you finally come down from the high, Matty is still going at it. His tongue is overwhelming, like jolts of electricity through your body. With both hands at his hair you start to push off of him. “Too sensitive,” you reason with him, before moving down to straddle his hips again.

His looks at you with a hunger on his face. Eyes dilated as stare back into yours. A sheen covers his chin and swollen lips. He takes one of his fingers to gather the wetness on his chin before sticking the finger in his mouth, licking it clean. Matty’s lips curl into a smirk when he speaks again.

“Well, did I make up for lost time? Seemed like you liked it from the way you were pulling my hair, darling.”

Pink flushes across your cheeks. “I don’t know that once is going to be enough to make up for it.” You lean in, connecting your lips briefly. The taste of you is prominent on his lips and tongue. “I want more than that right now though,” you add, grinding your hips down on him during your sentence.

“Fucking hell,” he groans. ‘You’re going to be the death of me if you keep doing that.”

“Get on with it then.” He quickly flips you over on the bed so you’re pinned beneath his body. His lips attach to your neck, teeth biting at the skin. He sucks hard, leaving red marks in the wake of his mouth. Every nip of his teeth sends shocks to your stomach. “Shit, Matty, stop teasing me.”

“Just wanted to mark you up a little bit. You’d look good with some purple on your neck.” He stands up to go through his bedside drawer again, grabbing a condom.

You interrupt his actions before he opens it. “You don’t have to use one if don’t want to. I have an IUD.” You try not to sound desperate, but you want to feel him. All of him.

“It seems like you’re the one who doesn’t want me to use it. I didn’t peg you as the type to be that dirty. But if you wanna feel me that much, don’t expect me to argue.” he chuckles, before taking off his boxers. His cock is hard and leaking as he pumps himself a few times. Bigger than you expected. He gets back on the bed, kneeling over you. He kisses you quickly. “You ready?” His hand teases the tip of his cock between your folds, intentionally bumping into your clit.

You nod eagerly. “Please.” He enters you slowly, stretching and filling you as a gasp leaves your throat. “Fuck,” you cry out. Your hands grip his back, nails digging into his skin as he continues to fill you up. Your entire body is in bliss as he bottoms out, adjusting to his size. His mouth falls open as small groans escape his throat. His eyes close shut as he feels you surround him.

He stills, deep inside of you as he kisses you deeply, tongue licking into your mouth. His hands are on your hips, squeezing hard enough to leave bruises. “Shit, you feel so good. So good for me.” You clench around him at the praise, feeling flush spread all over you. He notices the affect his words have on your body. “You like that too, huh? Want me to call you a good girl next?” he taunts. You draw in a shaky breath at his words, but you bounce back fast.

“Just start moving.” The words leave your mouth more as a whine than a demand. Your hips arch against him, seeking friction.

“A bit demanding. I’ll give you what you want for now.”

He draws almost completely out of you, before thrusting back in. You shudder at the quick pace he sets. “Matty— shit,” you whine. He straightens his body back up to admire you underneath him, still snapping his hips at a rhythmic pace. His eyes examine every part of you. He watches the way your face falls open in pleasure as you moan. How your hips follow the movement of his thrusts, and how your muscles tense underneath him.

With his new position, you take your time to admire his body as well. Your hands move to trace the tattoo on his lower stomach, feeling the strength of the muscles there as he rolls his hips into you. His arms grab your attention, too. As his hands grip your waist, his biceps flex. His arms are huge, like he could hold you down and keep you there for hours, using you however he wants.

“Hey.” He interrupts your staring. One of his hands slides up your body to grip your jaw, making your eyes meet his. “Keep looking at me, yeah? Want to see your eyes. Want to see how good I’m making you feel. Got it?” You nod at his request without a second though, wanting to please him.

“Atta girl,” he responds. He takes one of your legs and places it over his shoulder, letting him hit deeper inside you.

“God,” you cry out at the new depth of his cock, pleasure tingling through your skin every time he bottoms out. The feeling is overwhelming, melting you down into a puddle. You can’t stop your eyes from shutting closed at the sensation, slipping into euphoria. Instantly, he stops moving. Your eyes fly open, not sure what’s wrong, why he stopped.

“What did I just tell you?” he asks, voice firm. His hand is back on your jaw again, holding on tight. Your mind was hazy, both from the weed and the pleasure. You pulse around him, unsure what he wants you to say. There’s a short pause before he speaks again. “I told you to keep looking at me. I want to see the look in your eyes when I make you come.” His eyes are dark and lustful while he talks. “You understand?” You nod your head frantically, desperate for him to start moving again.

“I want words this time,” he adds, your head nodding not enough.

“Yes, Matty.” Your voice barely sounds like you. Broken and whiney.

“There we go, that’s what I wanted,” he murmurs. His thumb goes to brush over your lips. “Now, open your mouth.” You listen to his instructions, opening your mouth wide while he holds your chin. Without warning, he leans over you and spits in your mouth. Your eyes widen at his actions, shocked at the way it makes you feel inside. Butterflies forming in your stomach at his next words. “Swallow it.”

Gulping it down quickly, you open back up your mouth, showing him you obeyed. “That’s a good girl, listening to me so well,” he praises. “I think you deserve a reward; would you like that?”

“Please,” you beg, nails raking down his lower stomach lightly. He obliges, placing one hand beside your head to hover over you as he sets a relentless pace again. His hips rock into you roughly, hitting every spot inside of you to fill you with pleasure. You refuse to close your eyes, staring back deep into his own. His other hand urges you to wrap your legs around his hips, grasping tight around your hipbone. This time, he gasps at the feeling of being so deep inside of you. Your cunt squeezes around his cock, making him curse. “Fuck, love. God, you’re so good for me. So fucking good for me, shit.” He was losing himself fast, getting lost in you.

“Matty, please—” you cry out, not quite sure what you’re asking for. The heat was growing inside your stomach rapidly. Every thrust inside of you bringing you closer and closer to release. Only holding on by a thread as he speeds up his hips, hitting you deep and hard. His thumb moves from where it holds into your hip, circling your clit. “Oh, God,” you sob. It was all too much. His cock ruthlessly fucks into you. The feeling of his rough, calloused thumb rubbing your clit without ceasing. His eyes staring into you, overtaken with pleasure as groan after groan leaves his throat. The world blurs around you, and only the feeling of Matty remains. Your orgasm sneaks up on you fast.

“Matty, shit. I- I’m right there.” You hold on just a little bit longer, wanting his permission before you let go. No, needing his permission before you let go.

His thumb speeds up, rubbing tight circles on your clit. “Go on, love. Come around my cock for me,” he encourages. That’s all it takes for the tension building inside your stomach to snap. You come apart for him, waves of euphoria washing over your skin. Heats spreads through your veins as your back arches against the bed. Matty is the only word leaving your lips as he continues his thrusts through your high. His hands hold you together, keeping you from falling apart at the seams. You listen to his instructions, keeping your eyes locked with his throughout your climax, watching his face fall in awe of you. The look in his eyes is the only thing keeping you from drifting off completely.

Matty groans at the sight of you falling apart underneath him. The way you fluttered and pulsed around him only brings him closer to his high. His hips become sloppy against you, losing precision as he starts to reach his own climax. With a series of deep, hard thrusts, he moans out your name as he spills inside of you, hips stuttering. His breathe is labored as he rests his forehead against yours, collapsing on top of you. You stay there in his embrace while you catch your breath, holding him close before he opens his eyes to look at you.

“Shit,” he chuckles. “That was better than I could have ever imagined.” He has a genuine smile on his face, but you take the opportunity to tease him.

“Oh, so you’ve thought about me like this before?”

“Only about a million times,” he replies. Matty slowly pulls out of you, wincing at the sensitivity. As he gets up and walks to the bathroom, dread fills you, thinking that was it. That he was done and expecting you to leave. You sit up on the bed, feeling his cum drip down your thighs as you try find the nerve to stand up and collect your clothes. He comes back in the middle of your attempt to stand with a rag in his hand, wearing a new pair of boxers.

“Hey, hey. Where do you think you’re going?” he stops you. Voice soft.

“Oh. I was just going to get my clothes…” you trail off, not wanting to make things more awkward than they already are. A look of hurt marks his face at your words.

“You know me well enough to know I’m not a complete dickhead,” he sighs. “Now, lean back, let me clean you up.” His hand is gentle as it goes to your knee, signaling you to part your thighs for him. The warm rag in his hands wipes off your thighs before trailing up to your center, taking extra care around the sensitive skin. “I’ll be right back,” he says this time, reassuring you before taking the rag to the bathroom. When he returns, he walks over to his dresser, grabbing a t-shirt and another pair of boxers before returning to the side of the bed. “Arms up.”

“Matty, I can get dressed myself.”

“Sweetheart, let me take care of you. Please?” You lift your arms, complying with his request as he puts the shirt on you. The smell of him immediately engulfs you. He also insists to help you put the boxers on. Finally, he crawls up in the bed next to you, pulling you to rest your head on his chest. You’re safe in his arms. It’s warm and comfortable. The previous feeling of anxiety leaving you.

“I really like you. You know that, right?” he speaks, sounding unsure of himself.

“I really like you, too.”

“Then, let’s just leave it at that for now, yeah? Figure out the rest later.” He briefly kisses your forehead. All that mattered right now is that you’re here in his grasp.

#matty healy #matty healy smut #matty healy x reader #matty healy fanfiction #the 1975 #the 1975 fanfic #the 1975 smut #my writing #smut #writing #shotgunning one shot finished who cheered #cross posted to ao3 go give it a kudos ily

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ryuichirou · 11 days ago

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BLLK shipping thoughts

Anonymous asked:

Will you be making a list of your favorite Blue Lock ships and your top/bottom preferences?

Anonymous asked:

Opinions on Ryurin (Shidou x Rin) as a ship?

You know what, since we’re receiving asks about ships, I decided to briefly talk about all of our current Blue Lock ships! I could’ve missed some of them, and ignored some others that I don’t have much to say about, but here are my thoughts for now. Oh, and to see a list of our top/bottom preferences you can check out this post!

Please keep in mind that for now we’ve seen two seasons of the anime, read some manga chapters here and there + 14 chapters of Episode Nagi (Katsu’s read more than that, but). So I am not aware of some developments the characters have in the future, plus haven’t met any manga-only characters for now. I’m mentioning it because I kind of ended up yapping about canon a lot… again. So yeah, what I wrote is obviously a mix of what actually happened in canon + my fujo rambling on top of it, but honestly it’s surprising just how much of the gay shit has actually happened in this title lol

Starting with this map I did with very shaky hands….

Reo/Nagi – what a gorgeous ship; they were actually the two characters whom we were assigned to draw for the event (which prompted us watching the show in the first place), but we weren’t even sure if we’d like them as a duo. We did end up absolutely loving them… but of course, with Reo as a top and Nagi as a bottom; why does this always happen?? But I digress; these two are so delightful, the more we learn about them, the more miserable I get lol Their story has a lot of “wow they went there” moments on its own, but now that we’re nibbing on their backstory a little bit (aka reading Episode Nagi) + stumbling upon some manga spoilers, woah, this ship really is a sandwich of all kinds of gay and all kinds of angst. I think I’ve dropped my sketching plans to draw these two instead at least 3 times already, just to boost our morale lol But drama aside!! They are also very funny together, and we have a huge soft spot for the “an obnoxiously rich guy becomes obsessed with a lazy unmotivated whiny guy” dynamic… I also genuinely feel like they are very good for each other, and both of them are insanely lonely, so now that they have each other they cling to each other very desperately, but in very different ways that ends up confusing them sometimes.

Isagi/Nagi – I am so shocked that this ship is so underrated, come on, bro straight up stole the guy from his boyfriend lol Nagi got so intrigued by Isagi, his feeling can be read as a straight-up infatuation at times. It’s absolutely delicious when paired up with the previously mentioned ship because the drama is really juicy; to be honest, this chunk of episodes is one of our favourites. This awkward aura because the great break-up’d just happened, and then another thing happened that caused these two to get stuck together, barely knowing each other, but still being kind of drawn towards each other. And I love the fact that even after this “stage” was over, it’s not like they became strangers again; they are very comfortable together and understand each other very deeply. I don’t know, they just have this vibe of a ship that could easily hook up and then just as easily go do their own thing/pursue other people. Anyways, whenever they call each other “tensai” and “striker” I bite my hand. I also really love the theme of Isagi being kind of surprised by the gap moe of Nagi-the-genius who is very used to being pampered by Reo and now has to rely on Isagi to help him with all kinds of stuff…

Isagi/Rin – I’ll start with a little anecdote: before we got to watch the Rin episodes and just knew him based on his merch appearances, at some point I said that he is wife-shaped, whatever that means. Katsu watched the Rin episodes before me and found it very funny that I’d call someone with such an awful attitude wife-shaped…… Anyways, I really appreciate the fact that Isagi also looked at Rin once and instantly decided that he was indeed wife-shaped 😭 and by that I mean that Isagi instantly wanted to beat Rin in soccer. If Blue Lock was a harem game, Rin would be the ultimate endgame that is almost impossible to achieve. It’s so fun to watch Isagi trying to approach Rin in different ways, trying to learn more about him, to force himself into his yoga routine, to figure out how to have a good chemistry with him while playing, and ultimately realising that Rin is actually quite childish and maybe a stricter approach would work well with him sometimes… but only sometimes. I also love it when two characters have a bond so obvious that pretty much everyone is aware of it. Ego, Barou, Bachira, Nagi – all of them kind of already concluded that the only one who can tame or at least cooperate with the insufferable genius that is Rin (and all 200 of the vengeful spirits slumbering inside him) is Isagi. The only thing I can say to that is good luck, Isagi. Get that bread.

Isagi/Chigiri – a gorgeous ship that we would absolutely pay more attention to if ReoNagi didn’t appear at the very end of a Chigiri-centric episode, instantly monopolising our minds 😭 I am so sorry, Chigiri… IsaChi’s dynamic has all the beats that we love: Chigiri was pretty much dead inside when they first met, but then wild Isagi appeared and expressed his interest, and then he got pushy, and then he got frustrated with Chigiri not wanting his help, and then he got upset that he made Chigiri upset, and then he got pushy again… it was very cute that he just couldn’t stop thinking about Chigiri’s potential lol And that he ended up being that aggressive push that helped Chigiri to get motivated again. They have that vibe of a ship where some things almost happened, but never did, and the crush still lingers in Chigiri’s heart. But he is a very self-sufficient, mature and frankly proud boy, so he tries to keep himself in check, even though every time they interact the feelings come back. Anyways! I also really love it when Isagi takes care of Chigiri’s injured leg. I want to think that he helps Chigiri with that every time they end up in the same room.

Shidou/Sae – oh my god these two found each other, of course we would love them. They are so perfect for each other and they are so ready to make it everyone else’s problem. Imagine seeing an aggressive beast that literally had to be tased and put into a straightjacket AND a muzzle and thinking ah yes, this is the man, I want this one’s ego. I love how Sae is surprisingly great at both keeping Shidou in check and enabling him, so this dangerous animal stays aggressive and chaotic (Sae loves him this way), but just doesn’t do anything that would cause too much trouble (for himself and Sae in particular of course, who cares about others). Sae is very forgiving when it comes to Shidou’s antics AND his unapologetic horniness, their dialogues during U-20 match are out of this world. They’re over there having conversations about how many times Shidou needs to score a goal for Sae to give him his phone number and for them to become roommates… and Sae doesn’t really seem to mind??? Whatever these two have, it’s fucking working, and once again, it’s a huge issue for everyone around them lol They are too powerful of a couple.

Shidou/Rin – HI ANON WHO ASKED ABOUT THEM! I LOVE THEM AS WELL!!! Or at least, I’m very intrigued by them for now. If Shidou’s chemistry with Sae is perfect, his chemistry with Rin is SO ABYSMAL IT’S GLORIOUS. Poor Rin can’t catch a break, he got hit by this man twice!.. But to be fair, he is also unreasonably mean to Shidou sometimes. I guess Rin is unreasonably mean to everyone to a degree, but there sure is tension between these two. They are Ego’s crackship, and as he was watching them murder each other, he had a “idk what I was thinking with this one” thought 😔👍 Anyways, it seems like I just keep repeating “wowza they hate each other”, but to us it’s a good thing. It’s a very spicy ship… I want to lock them in a room and see how they survive that.

Isagi/Niko – how could we ignore a ship that has a scene in which character A stares at character B while he’s on his knees, defeated and almost crying, and then character A thinks “woah that feels good”. Defeating Niko felt so good that Isagi’s post-nut clarity somehow just made him even hornier and made him reconsider his entire existence as a soccer player… And to Niko this was a very important moment as well, but for different reasons lol I feel like he also has a lingering crush, but he is also very conflicted about it. Also, Niko is a shy boy but also a bit of a dark horse (=a little freak inside), so I like to think about what kind of thoughts he has about what happened between him and Isagi back then. Also, he’s the only one of Isagi’s bottoms who is shorter than he is! Also also, see what I mean when I say that Isagi has a harem? He just invites himself into these boys’ lives, bruteforces his way in their minds, changes them and dips to get the next bitch while also continuing to live in the previous boys’ heads rent-free. No one is safe……

Zantetsu/Niko – damn that one additional time. A dark horse type nerdy boy and a beefy idiot, and surprisingly, they seem to be a very good symbiosis. There is just something so delightful in this combo of Zantetsu who isn’t smart but receptive to others’ advice as long as it makes him look cool + Niko who looks harmless but actually quite cunning and careful with the ways he interacts with others. Somehow it feels like it could lead to some very nice mutual “I’m using you for sex” situation, with both of them enjoying it more than they’ve expected. It’s like they have an unexpectedly good chemistry. I desperately want more of them.

Zantetsu/Nagi – not gonna lie I’m becoming more obsessed with these two as a ship each passing day. I love the little bonding moment they shared in Episode Nagi, and that that conversation made Zantetsu really respect and like Nagi. All it took was for Nagi to actually treat him like a human being and listen to his story… and call him cool, of course!! I love that Nagi also shared his feelings with Zantetsu, and I feel like this is the first time he explained his and Reo’s situation to anyone huh. Anyways, their bond is special, Zantetsu is an absolute chad for saying that he likes Nagi and would only listen to Reo, whom he hates, if Nagi, whom he likes, asks him to do it. In terms of actually shippy shipping, I can see them hooking up surprisingly easily, just because they felt like it. Is there a crush? Maybe from Zantetsu’s side. Would they enjoy having sex? Abso-fucking-lutely. And since Nagi’s team took in Zantetsu after losing Isagi to Rin, you better believe they fucked again the moment they reunited lol

Yukimiya/Nagi – their interaction during Additional Time segments are golden, Yukimiya is such a shady bitch, gossiping with Nagi about everyone, discussing which animals do everyone resemble, and then immediately going “you know let’s stop this conversation” like bitch, you started it! Twice! Anyways, their dynamic is also very fun, with Yukimiya being a gentlemanly nice guy (to his credit, he seems to be less shady than Trey Clover lol) and Nagi… just enjoying being around someone chill for a change? They’re like two introverts enjoying their weird little convos, but still keeping their distance. I also feel like Nagi feels that there is stuff that worries Yukimiya more than Yukimiya thinks. I also absolutely adore how Nagi calls him “Yukki”, it’s adorable.

Isagi/Jinpachi – are you really surprised? Isagi is such a teacher’s pet, it’s like Blue Lock was specifically designed to grow Isagi into an absolute beast lol We love to joke that whenever Jinpachi is ranting about something, Isagi is the only one who actually listens and understands everything, plus keeps thinking and reflecting on it afterwards. Ego Jinpachi out there creating the perfect top for himself, and Isagi is getting all the good grades, surviving and persevering. I also loved that Isagi got to actually yell at Jinpachi at least once lol He respects him deeply, he understands his ideas and develops rapidly, but he would still bite his ass when he’s all worked-up and angry. It’s difficult to explain this dynamic, but it makes so much sense in our heads lol

Isagi/Bachira – this ship punched us in our faces when we were watching Blue Lock for the first time, and I sketched them a couple of times thinking that I better do something fast before more characters come in and monopolise my attention. And it was a good call lol It’s a very good ship that is clearly written like a ship, and I still enjoy their dynamic, but after seeing more characters and seeing more of these two as well, I’d say that they aren’t a ship we’re super into. It’s almost like with Renga?? Like the story is good, but it’s not clicking as much as other ships, I guess. I still wanted to mention them though!

#replies

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indestructibleheart · 1 year ago

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Hi, fam! Okay, so I'm going to be out at an appointment tomorrow morning, so I'm kicking this off a little bit early. It's technically Wednesday in several timezones and very nearly Wednesday in mine. I'm... also a bit eager to share this, ngl.

I know that I've shared a lot of angst lately, but I swear that's not all I'm doing. 😅 In fact, the actor/playwright AU decided to wallop me in the face out of nowhere after sitting in my WIP folder for months. I'm really excited about it, so I'm gonna share the first scene!

(Also, those of you who have been to New York with me will recognize my favorite brunch spot in this scene lmao.)

---

You probably didn't even know I was in the room, but I noticed you straight away. You were talking with your friends, happy and animated and fully alive—a person living in dimensions I couldn’t access—and so beautiful. Your hair was longer then. You were the center of attention, but you weren’t afraid. You had a yellow ipê-amarelo in your pocket. I thought, this is the most incredible thing I have ever seen; I'd better keep it a safe distance away from me. I thought, if someone like that ever loved me, it would set me on fire.

INT. MOM'S KITCHEN & BAR - HELL'S KITCHEN - LATE MORNING

"I'm telling y'all," Alex is saying, punctuating with dangerously large bites of his pancake burrito. "The dude's a dick."

It's been two hours since the nightmare audition, but Alex has been on this tirade since June and Nora first slid into the retro diner chairs across from him (at least forty-five minutes ago).

They're at Mom's: a restaurant-bar in midtown that can only be described as millennial nostalgia incarnate. The trio fell in love with it two years back—post-karaoke, stumbling in right before closing—when Alex saw God in their Fruity Pebble pancakes. Since then, it's been his favorite place to eat his feelings.

Mom's is just really fucking comforting in general, honestly; whether it's the televisions cycling through episodes of 'Rugrats,' 'Dexter's Laboratory,' and 'Hey, Arnold!' or the rainbow straws and Lisa-Frank-looking menus, Alex can't be sure. It doesn't hurt that they've made friends with several of the waitstaff, including an eccentric bartender, Pez, whose pink hair and painted nails fit right in with the decor.

Today, it's the combination of breakfast sausage, bacon, eggs and cheese wrapped up in a syrup-soaked pancake that's really doing something for him. It could also be the margarita the size of his face, which Pez placed in front of him before making himself uncharacteristically scarce. But it's fine. He's probably just busy.

Alex won't admit it out loud, but what really helps is having June and Nora here to talk to… even though Nora is scrolling on her phone.

"I'm sorry," June says. She pokes an ice cube with her straw, and Alex watches as it bobs around her mimosa like a buoy. "That sounds like it sucked, but if he's really that rude… maybe you didn't want to work with him anyway."

Nora doesn't look up as she pops a home fry into her mouth.

"Several sources say he's difficult to work with," she adds, evidently reading about Henry on the internet. "Though, in his defense, his dad did just die, like, three years ago… and there was that whole thing when he came out after. Remember?"

Alex does remember. Henry's grandmother, Mary Mountchristen, runs a pretty major company that used to own half the theatres on the West End. When Henry came out last year, she tried blacklisting his shows from her properties to punish him—which totally backfired when it got around. At least a dozen other queer writers and producers started talking about how they were also denied the space, and Mary was stoned on the streets of the theatre district. Like, metaphorically.

Alex, Nora, and June had just moved to New York, but between June's position at Newsday and both Alex and Nora on the audition circuit, it was all anyone in their new circles could talk about. They were some of the first to know when the Mountchristens were bought out of their properties and Henry moved to the States.

This show is the first of Henry's being produced here—and it's autobiographical, which Alex has to admit is pretty fucking baller. So, yeah, Nora's not wrong. He has reason to be standoffish. Still, it doesn't explain why Alex was only halfway through his audition monologue when Henry abruptly stood up and exited stage left as if pursued by a bear.

He shoves another forkful into his mouth. "It's just, like, they're the only people who let me into the room," he says, barely finishing chewing. "Nobody wants to take me seriously, and I really thought this was my shot, you know?"

June and Nora both know Alex is having a hard time landing serious roles after growing up on a sitcom—Nora more than most, as his former co-star. What they don't know is that losing this role, specifically, feels like a kick to the stomach. From the moment Alex saw the script, he wanted to be a part of it. He can't even explain why, and now he'll never figure it out. Henry wouldn't give him a chance.

"It wasn't your only shot, and you know it." Nora fixes him with a look. "Seriously, I get it—I do—but it's just one play, buddy."

June nods. "Something will happen for you, baby brother."

At that, Alex finally groans. "Okay, calling me baby brother doesn't help me feel better about the entertainment industry infantili—"

"—itty bitty, teeny weeny—"

Alex throws a home fry at her face.

It bounces off her forehead and into the giant gauntlet holding her mimosa with a very unappetizing splash. Just as Alex throws his hands into the air with a victorious whoop, his phone buzzes on the table.

A glance is all it takes for him to see that it's his agent, Zahra.

"Damn," he says, deflating. There goes that upswing. "You answer it."

June balks. "Me?"

"I don't need to hear how fucking badly it went. Trust me, I got the message." Alex blinks innocently, like he's six years old again, asking her to lie to their mom about that broken vase. "Please, Bug? Besides, Zahra actually likes you."

"Everyone likes me." June rolls her eyes, but she caves—answering the phone with a haughty, "Alex Claremont-Diaz's office," before breaking into a smile. "Yeah, Z. It's me… No, Alex is feeling a little sensitive today."

(He throws another home fry at her. This one misses.)

To her credit, June's face remains totally blank as Zahra no doubt tells her how Alex insulted Henry Fox's name and all of his inbred ancestors just by showing up, or whatever—which is extremely annoying and unhelpful—but, once she says goodbye and sets the phone back down on the table, her face breaks out into a grin.

"Guess you didn't suck too bad," she says. "They want you for the part."

He doesn't know if it's Nora throwing herself at him or the shock that knocks him onto the floor.

Tagging some lovelies. If you haven't been tagged and you want to be, consider this your tag!

@anchoredarchangel, @barbiediaz, @cha-melodius, @cricketnationrise, @guillermosfamiliar, @hgejfmw-hgejhsf, @hippolotamus, @inexplicablymine, @jettestar, @junebugclaremontdiaz, @kiwiana-writes, @lizzie-bennetdarcy, @missgeevious, @mulderscully, @myheartalivewrites, @ninzied, @nontoxic-writes, @notspecialbabe, @priincebutt, @rmd-writes, @rosedavid, @three-drink-amy, @treluna4, @vanillahigh00, @welcometololaland, @orchidscript, @ships-to-sail, @stereopticons

#wip:snippet #m:wip #fic: breaking character

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misunhye · 1 year ago

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MISUN WITH NCT DREAM

word count 250+ each

note if you have anything you want to request for misun, please let me know!! <3

Mark. [ Marksun …? ]

Embarrassingly enough, Mark was one of her first hardcore crushes. The two met when Misun joined SM a few months after he did, and even though he definitely knew who she was when another trainee introduced her to him by saying “You know Kang Sumin’s affair daughter?” to him, he didn’t treat her badly. And, so, of course; she was twelve—thirteen years-old at the time and fell in love with anyone that gave her the slightest bit of attention. Yet, because she was this pre-teen girl, she dealt with her crush by making fun of him and acting like she hated him. Eventually, she grew out of the crush and started viewing Mark more as an older brother. She apologized for her actions, but never explained why she said those things, so everyone else thought it was because of jealousy. Ever since, she’s always looked up to him for advice, even though he was only a year older than her and he joined SM a few months before her. She always gets his opinion before deciding on anything regarding her career. She likes to make fun of him, similar to an actual sibling relationship, finding his reaction too funny not to. But she really does hold a lot of respect for him, debuting so young and already being looked up to as a leader, she knew it must be hard. She tries her best to be there for him, but she knows he likes to hold the weight of the entire world on his shoulders before handing it off to anyone else. She’s always looking for his approval 1/2. The first time anyone ever saw her cry, including NCT, was during Mark’s graduation speech. Misun is the little sister he never thought he needed.

Renjun. [ Minjun / Sunjun ..? ]

Misun is literally the founder of the I Love Renjun club; she was the first trainee he ever met. She can and will fight Haechan for his affection, and unfortunately for Haechan, most of the time, she gets it. Even if it’s in the most subtle ways; placing a hand on her knee or arm, grabbing her hand and squeezing briefly. These two are such conspiracy theorists, it’s crazy. She introduced him to Buzzfeed Unsolved when it first came out and every new episode, they’d watch. Now that it’s over, she sends him TikToks of conspiracy theories. My favorite delusionals. At first, Renjun thought they wouldn’t get along but after seeing how much interests they shared, it’s no wonder. It’s often thought that she’s the one chasing after him, but really, it’s definitely the opposite. He doesn’t usually dote on her but she’s the only one he’ll mostly allow to dote on him. He’ll bat her affection away but then beg for it a few seconds later once she starts paying attention to someone else. He’s just too shy to outright say he wants her attention. They’re always on the same wavelength, often thinking of the same thing and saying it at the same time. They, and NCTzens, genuinely believe they have a connection and can read each other’s minds. She can always go to him to put her in place when she’s acting up or being too delusional. She can also always go to him to help her with ideas for other members, like birthday gifts, etc. He always defends her when another member says something (lightheartedly) to her, and most definitely does when an anti is being an anti. Sunshine and sunshine protector.

Jeno. [ Jensun ]

Misun was so shy around him 1/2. She found him to be cute, and very quiet— not unusually, since she always was, but she’d literally never speak in front of him. He was shy, too, so he’d never talk to her, either, even though he was curious about her. It was just like a celebrity crush, because they weren’t very close at first. She got nervous when she realized she’d have to interact with him when they’d debut, and Haechan forced her to talk to Jeno. She has never regretted it. He’s usually one of the first to scold her because he’s literally the only one she always listens to when she’s acting up. He’s so doting on her, you’d think he was way older than her. There are so many compilations of Nomin being her bodyguards/parents. Probably the only member that will willingly go out with her whenever without complaints because she never asks Jaemin and she also knows he can rarely ever say no to her 1/2. She likes to use it to her advantage. She can always count on Jeno to be there for her when she needs him, and vice versa. He’s the protective brother, but he’s also the cool one. He lets her do her own thing, while also somehow protecting her subtly. Neither usually don’t speak out a lot against strangers but they are literally the meme “He asked for no pickles” for each other. He always encourages her to do things but never pushes. He has only ever been disappointed in her once, and she wishes she could forget all about it or go back in time and do it over again. She’s always looking for his approval 2/2.

Haechan. [ Haesun / Sunhyuck …? ]

These two are … literally chaotic. They’re the evil duo. When you see them together, run. They’re so hot and cold it’s funny. One second they’re playfully or for real arguing, the next they're acting like nothing happened. Their relationship was not like this at the start, the two clashed harshly and Misun was actually jealous of him because she thought he was just so good at everything and was so cocky about it. He thought the same but that she was so effortlessly good at everything (in his eyes). It was bad, neither could be in the same room together for years. It took Mark and Johnny forcing them in a closet together and locking the door for them to talk their rivalry out. However, neither of the older two knew that Misun was claustrophobic. It really took Haechan to calm her down for both to realize that maybe they should put their rivalry aside. Their relationship is barely ever serious besides when it’s called for. Surprisingly, sometimes he gives her good advice (even if she doesn’t ask for it). Admittedly, he brings the best and worst out of her. Haechan is the one who brought her out of her shell during their trainee days, making her make friends with the others. He pushes her to do things she’d never usually do in public but also knows when to stop. Like with all the other members, he ‘flirts’ with her (not during debut, never, but later in the years … yeah) and she responds with an insult or deflects. There was one time she blushed at his words and he (nor do NCTzens because it was on camera!) never lets her forget it.

Jaemin. [ Jaemsun / Jaemhye …? ]

Misun was so shy around him 2/2. She honestly thought he was an angel sent to Earth. (He is. He’s her guardian angel.) She would stutter when he talked to her, because he always tried to get to know her more. He eventually broke through her wall and … wow. Immediately best friends, they made everyone else so jealous of how well they got along and quickly. They understand each other way too much, they’re so similar it’s actually kind of scary. They never have to talk, they can just chill by each other in silence, doing their own thing and they’re fine with that. She goes to him the most for advice for the more personal things and he listens. He’s helped her so much in healing and her personal family problems. It literally crushed her when he went on hiatus and hates remembering memories from that time when NCT Dream weren’t complete. They were also each other’s first kiss because neither of them had kissed anyone and wanted to know what it was like. There was a period of time when they crushed on each other at the same time but missed anything real happening because they knew they’d be better off as friends and didn’t want to ruin anything. They don’t talk about it, but they know, and it’s kind of like a “what if?” He is literally so whipped by her. He spoils the crap out of her, literally like a sugar daddy. Despite them being only months apart, he acts like an older brother and is always taking care of her. He makes sure she’s ate, slept well, hydrated, etc. He can rarely say no to her 2/2. They are literally the embodiment of twin flames.

Chenle. [ Sunle …? ]

The number one pain in her ass. He’s another member that she didn’t like immediately, thinking he thought too highly of himself due to him already technically being famous before joining SM. He didn’t really hate her back, he just acted like he did because she did. She was genuinely so hard for him to understand, and eventually, he thought he did come to an understanding of her character. These two are constantly arguing, NCTzens would be concerned they actually hate each other, but from their actions, they know they don’t. Chenle just likes to get on her nerves, even more than Haechan does. He’s like a kid who is mean to his crush and pulls on her pigtails. They are literally the Tom and Jerry of NCT. He’s the actual devil, she likes to think, but she’s seen him when he thinks no one is looking. He likes to act like he’s older, and very rarely ever calls her noona; not that she really cares. He loves the game “Yaja Time” and uses it to his advantage, even though it’s really no different from their usual since they’ve dropped all formalities. They are never affectionate with each other on camera, it’s always awkward brushing of skin and snatching their hands away like they just got burned. The reason they got past their ‘hatred’ was because of Jisung. If she wanted Jisung, she had to have Chenle. If he wanted Jisung, he had to have Misun. Now, they can’t ever remember a time when they were apart and don’t know why they would want to be ever again.

Jisung. [ Sunsung / Minsung ]

Her angel. She took an immediate liking to him when they first met, thinking he was so adorable. If she was bad at his age, he was even worse. She convinced him to see her as just a friend, not an older sister, because she knew both of them needed some. They’ve seen each other at their worst and best, despite the age difference. He called her noona when they first met, but he’s dropped all formalities early on in their friendship and only really began doing it again for their debut and then stopped again. She likes to take him to fun places like the arcade and ice skating and other things so she can heal his childhood self. She pretends like she’s begging him to go because she wants to, but really, it’s for him. Neither really had a childhood due to debuting so young. Jisung always reminds her that her childhood was taken, too, way before his ever was because of her family problems. He reminds her it’s OK to be a kid every once in awhile. She is his number one hypewoman, she loves everything he does. She tells him almost everything, and they both calm each other down when they get too into the “what if?” scenarios. A hug from him, and all her problems are gone. They’re each other’s protector. She’s one of the only ones to rarely baby him, but when she does, he knows it’s just her way of showing she cares because she does it to the other members, too. He probably takes care of her more than she does him, weirdly. He takes a special pride in being her protector.

masterlist.

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ordinaryschmuck · 1 year ago

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Why I Love The Owl House: Part 3-The BEST Thing About The Owl House (I'm Not Kidding)

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Salutations, random people on the internet who are already skimming past this! I am—The best thing is Lumity.

Yeah, might as well rip that bandaid off right now. I’ve done enough teasing last time, so the least I could do is jump right into it NOW.

If you were to ask a fan to pick five things that perfectly capture The Owl House, I’m willing to bet a good chunk of them would bring up Luz, Amity, and their adorable relationship. And for good reason, because Lumity is the one thing that Dana Terrace set out to do when making her show. The woman wanted to make the gayest show Disney could allow, and went about it by creating a bisexual main protagonist with a lesbian love interest. The reason WHY is because Dana is bisexual too and wanted to give kids who were just like her a character to identify with. So given how Luz and Amity are a couple who the fandom obsesses over the most, I like to think Dana rubbed her hands together like a cartoon villain, going, “Good, good…”

And BOY did the fans obsess. Even before the writers gave the TINIEST confirmation that Lumity would be canon, these two were EVERYWHERE. There was fan art, fan fiction, fan comics, and even an animatic that was SO popular that its creator deleted it because fans were being too annoying about it. A lot of fans LOVED Lumity…and a lot more grew to despise them.

Yes, like most things that grew intensely popular, showing up everywhere no matter WHERE you look, it grew tiring to those who didn’t get the hype. Some members of the fandom grew sick of Lumity’s popularity and said that there’s more to love about the show than the love between two teenagers. And then there were the fans who DID like Lumity but hate that they had to dig through MOUNTAINS of Lumity to get fan content of THEIR favorite characters and ships. As for me, an INTENSELY biased Lumity shipper, I definitely see where both kinds of fans are coming from and even sympathize with a few of them. But you CAN’T hate Lumity in the actual show just because the fandom blew them up. They’re the one aspect of the show that the writers put EVERYTHING into, crafting a love story that’s MOSTLY perfect. You might doubt that, but allow me to explain how well their relationship went throughout the series.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: “Shmuck, you handsome bastard, didn’t you already analyze their relationship last year?” And you’re right. I AM a handsome bastard…Oh, and I DID in fact write two posts that went through Lumity’s journey into becoming a canon couple, one focusing on Luz and the other on Amity. But that’s not…ENTIRELY what I’m doing here. I mean, yes, I WILL have to discuss how their relationship developed, but I’m also going to focus on how well it WORKS. The ups and downs, pros and cons, and overall quality of their relationship. I love these two with all my heart and will gush over every bit of cuteness, but I would be lying if I said there weren’t SOME criticisms that I have with their love story. Not a lot, mind you, but enough worth discussing. And let’s finally discuss it before this review turns into forty pages…

(It's actually thirty three, gosh dang it...)

“I Was a Teenage Abomination”: Ah, where it all TECHNICALLY started. In this episode, Luz and Amity were in the enemies phase of their relationship. Amity was a bully that needed to be taken down a peg and Luz was an annoyance that made Amity look bad. That’s how they saw each other, and, as a result, they didn’t care how poorly they treated one another. It was worth it to Luz to cheat because it helps Willow and annoys a bully who looked down at her. Just like how it’s worth it to Amity to almost get Luz dissected because it proves that Amity isn’t one to be messed with. This is the most these two have been directly against each other, neither willing to talk, hear the other out, or apologize. It works out in their favor, because if Luz and Amity spent most of the series wanting to kill each other before becoming friends, it would make their inevitable romance feel…inappropriate. Like, NO ONE should want to go out with a person that continuously wanted to kill them. The enemies portion of the enemies-to-lovers trope is best used briefly to better sell that the romance works despite the early hatred. It would also help if the attacks on each other aren’t too heinous, and Amity nearly getting Luz dissected…isn’t that, but I’m more than willing to say that Amity either wasn’t sure what Luz was or that she expected Willow to come clean the second Bump pulled out the knife. It’s not too much of a stretch to think, as it has enough believability to make it line up more with the Amity we know now, a version of the character that Luz would know better the next time they meet.

Covention: Another and FINAL moment where these two were at each other’s throats, this time much more directly. Luz starts off nice enough, willing to bury the hatchet instead of making an enemy. She’s not really looking for a friend, either, but you can tell in the way Luz holds her hand out for peace that she wants to squash out all animosity between them and start over. Amity, still reeling from the fact that a HUMAN tarnished her reputation, rejects Luz’s attempts at peace and further sells that she’s not to be messed with by treating Luz and King with disrespect. Luz, who is likely numb to people bullying her, doesn’t react too much to how Amity puts her down. But when it’s KING that Amity messes with, that’s when Luz takes a stand. She cares more about her friends and found family than she does about herself, willing to go above and beyond for them. Even if it means doing something incredibly stupid.

Challenging Amity to a witch’s duel was NOT the smartest thing Luz has ever done. What it IS, though, is a moment where Luz directly goes up against Amity. Helping Willow cheat caused Amity to be upset, but the main reason Luz did it all was to help Willow. Annoying Amity just came out as a happy accident. But for the witch’s duel, Luz does it for the sole fact that she’ll go against Amity and make her stop being mean. It’s partially influenced by The Good Witch Azura teaching her that to stop your enemies from being so negative, you must best them in combat. Only for the consequences to quickly meet her head-on when Amity forces Luz in an everlasting oath that could potentially stop her from learning magic forever. Because while Luz wants Amity to apologize to King, Amity just wants Luz out of her life as efficiently as possible, so she’s perfectly fine with messing with Luz’s life like this if it means never dealing with her again. It’s that unexpected consequence mixed with Luz realizing how more proficient Amity is with magic that she gains a bit of a reality check. Ironic, considering she ran away to the Boiling Isles to escape getting that exact same thing.

Luz definitely learned to regret it during the fight, not because Amity was SEEMINGLY more powerful with a giant abomination, but due to Eda overcompensating Luz’s lack of skill with magical mines. Luz, the good person that she is, has major objections to this plan. First off, cheating goes against the whole point of the duel. Luz won’t prove that she’s the better witch if she has to cheat her way to victory. Like she said, “Even if I win, I still lose.” Then there’s the fact that Luz doesn’t want to really HURT Amity. Yes, it’s a fight and Amity’s out for blood, but Luz is still the one to stop Amity from stepping on a mine because she doesn’t want to MAIM the girl. Luz is on schoolyard fight rules where the worst that could happen is scraped knuckles and maybe a black eye. Not third degree burns and a potential impalement. So to prevent Amity from getting killed, Luz tries to stop her from taking a step too far. Only for Amity to get extra angry because Luz still cheated. To her, this is confirmation that all Luz is is a cheater who causes nothing but trouble. She’s about ready to leave, accepting that she’s the better witch…only for it to be revealed that Amity cheated too. Well, technically. She was unwillingly a tool for LILITH’S cheating because she expected Eda to cheat first. Didn’t matter to Amity, because just like Luz, Amity never wanted to cheat. What’s the point in proving that she’s the best if she didn’t earn it though cheating? Amity is as prideful as she is vengeful, being someone who worked so hard to prove everyday that she’s the best. So when it’s revealed to an entire stadium of her peers that Amity CHEATED…yeah, it breaks her a bit. Breaks her enough to run away crying and Luz, the kind person that she is, goes after her.

What follows is quite possibly the most pivotal moment in their relationship, one so good that I made a scene breakdown to it a few years back. To keep it brief, this moment is Luz once again trying to bury the hatchet, not wanting to have a relationship where she and Amity almost kill each other and one of them runs away crying. Seeing Amity in such a vulnerable state proves that it’s not good for EITHER of them, so Luz tries her best to apologize. Amity, of course, isn’t having any of it and chooses instead to yell at Luz for all the strife she caused her…and accidentally reveals some angst about Amity working so hard to be where she is now. It’s a taste of the real person behind the bully facade that Amity puts up to prove that she really is the greatest witch she worked hard to become. It’s why she’s DEMANDING that Luz admits to being the worst witch. Amity wants this brief moment of confirmation that all her work wasn’t for nothing and that she IS the best witch, the one that beat this scrappy human. And Luz caves, giving Amity what she wants…but a little something more: Perspective. Luz DOES admit that she’s not a real witch, but instead of leaving it at that, Luz performs a light glyph, explaining that while she isn’t a real witch like Amity, Luz still wants to be one. With that explanation comes this image:

THIS IMAGE! The beginnings of Luz and Amity’s relationship is perfectly surmised in this image of Amity being in the dark while Luz holds out the light. Of course, Amity recedes back into the dark at first, playing Luz’s efforts off as nothing special. But because of that moment of perspective and Luz doing what must have been this mind blowing thing with just a pen and paper, it’s enough to get Amity curious and point out that she’s never seen a spell cast the way Luz did before. Luz points out how she’s willing to work hard for her goals, not wanting to be the best but just to be a witch in general. After that, Amity unbounds the oath and walks away. And I really love how it’s up to interpretation for WHY she did it. Was it because Amity decided that because they both cheated that Amity decided that the oath was null and void? Or was it because Amity saw the passion in Luz’s desire to learn magic? There’s no direct answer, but either way you look at it, Amity unbounding the oath is still a moment of mercy. She didn’t NEED to do it and, knowing Odalia’s conditioning, it’s likely that Amity would have been encouraged to let Luz be unable to learn magic. Gets rid of even the POSSIBILITY of competition. But she unbounds the oath anyway, probably telling herself there’s a logical excuse for it when, in reality, it’s Amity doing something nice for someone.

“Covention” perfectly takes Luz and Amity’s relationship to a better direction. This is the last time they’ll actively go against each other as rivals, and for good reason. By the episode’s end, they gain new perspectives towards each other, Luz seeing a fragile side to Amity’s rough exterior and Amity seeing that there's a harmless desire in Luz wanting to learn magic. This perspective comes AFTER almost killing each other, but this is a work of fiction and you learn to accept an exaggerated reality. So the big fight doesn’t take away the sweet ending of these two making a sort of…LIGHT connection. They’re definitely not willing to be CLOSE, but they’re at least in a better place with each other. They’re not friends, not enemies. Just two young girls who acknowledge each other’s existence and are fine with it being just that.

Hooty’s Moving Hassle: Even though there was a BIT of back sliding. Amity all but directly called out Luz in a Penstagram post and Luz was more than willing to get back at her for it. It’s definitely a moment where they’re against each other, but it’s quick and comes across as two teens being bitter. We’ve all been there. Plus, I’m willing to bet that Amity was goaded by her peers into telling Luz to “bite it.” Knowing Boscha, she definitely wouldn’t stand someone in the group being showed up by a human and the last thing Amity wants is for Boscha to get suspicious of why Amity is soft on the human. OR it could be Gus pulling an illusion. Him and Willow were already dead set on showing up Amity and he just HAPPENS to find the Penstagram post that would convince Luz to join them? Even though Amity had no idea that Luz would see it because she has no way of knowing if Luz has Penstagram? I don’t know, I’m calling shenanigans on that.

Regardless, no matter what reason there is, this was clearly a blip in the relationship. The meat in the episode is mostly about WILLOW and Amity, not Luz and Amity. There wasn’t much of a need to develop their bond when it’s not a central focus. Still a LITTLE weird that they went back to old habits of being enemies despite the decent spot they were in last time, but I can wave it away. They got a GLIMPSE of who the other was, but nothing more to make them willing to commit to being friendly. But when they meet again…

Lost in Language: Things get more interesting.

Luz, recently swooning over the idea of befriending rivals, has the desire to befriend her own. I’ve heard some complain that it’s a weak excuse for Luz to reach out to Amity because she got inspired by a kids book. In fairness to Luz, not only does she CONSTANTLY use Azura as a source for inspiration towards EVERYTHING in the Isles (It’s the INITIAL motivation for why Luz wanted to stay), but with the way Luz said she wish she could befriend her rival, it almost sounds like she wanted to for a while. She got a glimpse of a complicated person at the Covention and likely saw someone worth being friends with. The problem is that Luz wasn’t willing to commit to that idea because all she got was a glimpse. And, yeah, being told to bite it wasn’t helpful either. Still, the way Luz swoons tells me that she isn’t AGAINST the idea. She just needs more of a reason to befriend Amity, and gets one pretty quick.

While avoiding the hell that is babysitting demons, Luz spends her day being taken in by the magic of a magical library. Everything amazes Luz about it, but what stuns her the most is seeing Amity reading to kids and being so happy while doing it. There is true joy and delight in Amity’s eyes and smile as she treats these kids nicely when reading to them. THIS is what Luz needed. In this moment, Luz has visual proof that there’s a sweetness to Amity’s sour personality. Amity tries to play it off as her trying to get extra credit, but there was no putting the genie back in that bottle. Luz saw the kindness in Amity’s eyes and knew that it couldn’t be faked. So, she goes all in with Friendship Mode, being over enthusiastic about wanting to help Amity read to kids so it can be something that they could bond over. What Luz isn’t aware of is that the library is Amity’s safe space, a place for her to go to, without her family getting in her face. At least, most of the time. And then here comes this human who caused nothing but stress in Amity’s life, even if accidentally, who then shows up to suggest that she could ALWAYS invade Amity’s space. Needless to say, you can’t blame Amity for snapping at Luz. She’s fine with Luz existing as long as she stays far away from Amity. Luz, very quickly taking the hint, apologizes and heads off. She really doesn’t want to cause conflict anymore, and it at least shows that Luz learned that it’s better to squash issues with Amity than make things worse with confrontation. She literally almost died in “Covention” and “Hooty’s Moving Hassle” all because she HAD to show up Amity for being mean. In a way, it IS Luz just not wanting to tempt fate, but you CAN tell in the tone of Luz’s voice that she DOES regret pushing Amity. And even Amity regrets something too. We’ll later learn in this episode that Amity doesn’t WANT to come across as a cruel person. The scene even hints at that with the way Amity almost reached out to Luz after she apologized. Except Amity stopped herself because, thanks to the conditioning of her family, she believes that kindness is a weakness. So there’s no apologies for Luz unless Amity wants that softness getting to her mother. Which she very much does NOT. But on the topic of her family…

After Luz is about to give up on befriending Amity, Edric and Emira showed up to do two things in this episode. First off, they confirm Luz’s bisexuality, because while she was VERY attracted to Nevereth and his angsty muscular energy, Luz still blushes at both Edric AND Emira when they wink at her. And when you want to start a romance between two girls, it’s important to prove that both of them are attracted to, well, girls. Ed and Em accomplish that feat while also providing MORE perspective for Luz. Through them, Luz gets a peek at Amity's home life. Or, at least, an assumption of it. With the way Ed and Em stand up for Luz and humble Amity, it leaves the impression that they’re the nicer members of the family and are as fed up with Amity’s behavior as Luz once was. And that’s…partially true. Luz will learn the truth later, but at that point they were, to her, cool kids that were more than fine to hang out with Luz. They got along perfectly with her, having what were originally harmless pranks and goofing around where no one got hurt. Luz went along with it because she’s living the teen girl fantasy of having cooler, older kids liking her (Ten bucks say that she was mentally debating on who to go out with). On top of that, Luz thought that it would be a great way to befriend Amity, getting to know her better by dating—I mean, hanging out with her older siblings. And I do like that Luz doesn’t give up on befriending Amity despite her earlier outburst. She’s still all for the idea of hanging out with her, but wants to go at it from a different angle, believing that connecting with Amity’s family would present a connection between her and Luz. It’s a valid plan…that goes to pieces that night.

At first, when the Wailing Star flew across the library, it was still harmless fun between Luz, Edric, and Emira. But when Edric and Emira find out that crazy things happen when you vandalize a book, it’s the first red flag Edric and Emira present that night. I really adore how obvious the episode makes it that Luz is uncomfortable with making innocent book characters suffer disfigurement. It shows that while Luz is up for fun and games, there are lines she’s unwilling to cross. That will become more relevant later, after Ed and Em take Luz to Amity’s secret room. Before we get to what goes down, I find it interesting how Luz adores the clubhouse, saying how much it’s something SHE would want to have. She COULD be saying that to appease her crushes, but it sounds like she was genuinely delighted by it. To me, it feels like a subtle hint that Luz and Amity have similar mindsets of what makes them comfortable, hinting that they’re not so different after all. An idea that is strengthened by the reveal that Amity is just as big of a fan of The Good Witch Azura as Luz is, shown by the collection of books and the fan art of Amity as Azura on her diary’s cover. BUT I’m getting ahead of myself. While this secret room reveals so much about Amity, it indirectly reveals Ed and Em’s true nature as they want to leak Amity's diary pages. While Luz was more than willing to brush off how sickly entertained they were to mess with that poor cartoon duck, likely thinking it was a little thing, Luz is IMMEDIATELY against it. For one, she still wants to earn Amity’s friendship, and there’s nothing that could ruin that more than DIRECTLY ruining Amity’s life. It’s also because Luz’s good nature would prevent her from stooping so low. She doesn’t care how sour Amity can be, she doesn’t deserve to have her private thoughts revealed to everyone. Edric and Emira tries making excuses about how it’s tough love and that Amity DOES deserve it, all to justify their actions that Luz finally realizes are awful. It’s why Luz tries to get them to stop and try to hide the diary when finding it… but not without taking a peek. It was involuntary, yes, but Luz STILL lingers on the diary’s passage a little longer than she should have. She should have closed it the second she realizes it’s the diary, but still leaves it open as a tiny Amity admits that she doesn’t want to be cruel. To me, this is showing a bit of selfishness in Luz. She WANTS to know more about Amity and here’s the very thing that tells her more about Amity. So Luz listens a bit, but stops herself when coming to her senses. She shouldn’t be hearing ANY of this, and goes about making sure that NO ONE does. Even when pages fall, revealing more about Amity’s loneliness, awkwardness, and occasional frustration, all Luz thinks is to grab each page before more is revealed. And, of course, that’s the moment Amity finally shows up.

Amity didn’t hear Luz defending her privacy, so when she finds her grabbing at diary pages, it really DOES look like she’s stealing Amity’s secrets instead of protecting them. What’s most interesting is Amity’s reaction. At first, she’s furious, and rightly so. But when she simmers down, Amity sounds almost disappointed with Luz. Amity admits that she was struggling to figure Luz out, proving that “Covention” DID have an affect on her in that she was willing to except that Luz wasn’t a bad person. An annoyance, maybe, but that moment they shared after the duel proved that Luz isn’t one to be malicious. But after causing chaos with her siblings and trying to steal her diary, Amity feels as though she was wrong from the beginning and assumes Luz IS a bully for all the ways she messed with Amity’s life. So, feeling both embarrassed and little betrayed, Amity runs off…from her room hidden away in the “romance” section. Don’t TELL ME that wasn’t an intentional hint from the show to where these two were heading in their future. But enough about obvious symbolism about Amity running away from her inevitable future. Luz rightfully ditches the twins to go make things right with Amity. She doesn’t want to leave things on a bad note and if Luz could bring out peace once, surely she could do it again. Except that Luz doesn’t get the chance, not just because Amity isn’t having it this time, but also because a twisted children’s book character shows up to kill them.

Now, it WOULD be bad that a monster attack spoiled a heart-to-heart moment, but Otabin’s useful for the fact that he shows what Luz and Amity are willing to do for each other despite everything. If Luz really was a bully, she wouldn’t have tried all she could to save Amity’s life. Sure…she fails. But Luz still tries, and doesn’t stop trying as she keeps coming up with plans to try to get them out of this situation. And when she acts all goofy despite the danger they’re in, showing her true self, Amity laughs. For what might be the first time in years, she lets down her walls just long enough to appreciate this small moment and laugh at the madness. By the time it was LUZ who’s in danger, it’s Amity’s turn to do all she can to save her. Amity was free and could have left, but she’s not a monster or a bitter rival to leave the hero to her fate. Amity’s a good person who is willing to help this weirdo girl who may have brought chaos into Amity’s life, but doesn’t deserve to be in a book forever. This crazy moment of escaping death led to Luz and Amity realizing that neither of them are bad people and are willing to help despite how they treated each other in the past few days. Even when the danger has passed, Amity sticks around to help clean up the mess Luz made. Things seem to be going well…until Amity decides to pretend that nothing they went through happened and is more than willing to move on. It’s a moment where Luz has an out. Amity now knows Luz isn’t a bully and they can go about their lives as they did before. But after everything, Luz doesn’t want that. So she does the best thing she could think of: Give a peace offering. Through astute observation, Luz notices that Amity is missing the last Azura book in her collection. Luz offers hers as a way of apologizing further, and you can tell that Amity appreciates it dearly in the soft way she says “Thank you.” This is likely the nicest thing anyone has done for her in forever, and I think it’s that reason Amity’s willing to let her walls stay down a little longer to admit that she’ll consider friendlier things with Luz. Amity didn’t HAVE to say that, she could have just said thank you and left, but this one small act of kindness that meant the WORLD to Amity helped make her realize that this annoying human isn’t so bad after all. So she leaves Luz, this sense of hope in the air that things might be better between them.

This whole episode does wonders to jumpstart Luz and Amity’s relationship. It allows both characters to see the true versions of each other, past the antagonism and annoyances. And given how this episode takes place in a library, the “Don’t judge a book by its cover” metaphor practically writes itself. By the end, I’d say the enemies phase has faded. I wouldn’t say they’re FRIENDS yet (I don’t think even THEY would say they’re friends), but it ends with BOTH of them being more open to the possibility. It’s smart to have them at this stage by the THIRD big episode together. The sooner enemies make peace, the easier it is to accept the very possibility of a romance. “Lost in Language” does that well, while also perfectly giving us cute moments like Amity laughing WITH Luz and showing how they have things in common. The pieces were there for an eventual romance and fans couldn’t wait for Luz and Amity to meet again to strengthen their romance. And by the time they did…

Adventures in the Elements: it was in a lackluster episode. If you love it, love it. That’s fine. For me, I’ve explained well enough in separate reviews how I feel about this episode and how it’s pacing makes Luz feel unreasonably impatient and whiny. BUT one addendum I WOULD like to make is how this was the ONE episode where I agree with the complaint about how Lumity feels rushed. For the most part, I don’t think they're rushed at all. I think that complaint is from people who are too used to an endgame couple becoming official near the end of the series, especially for same sex couples. To me, Lumity isn’t really badly paced, but instead…differently paced. I think it’s great that we got a couple who grew closer together with every episode they shared, giving us EXACT phases of their relationship. At first, I thought that “Adventures in the Elements” was the only time things felt poorly paced, as Luz and Amity seemed too friendly with each other. Amity went from “I’ll think about it,” to waving at Luz as if they were already friends. But then I looked at some subtle touches that makes me realize this is less of an episode where they’re starting out as friends, but more like they’re testing out a friendship.

Luz acting friendly is a given. She’s friendly with almost everyone, so when she’s engaging with Amity about the book, it’s no different than if it was anyone else. There’s a bit of excitement, but that could be attributed to the fact that she’s finally interacting with another fan for the first time in her life. It’s pretty obvious that, for both Luz AND Amity, their love for Azura isn’t common among their peers and they’re the only teens they met who really enjoy the books. So Luz is noticeably excited to talk about Azura with Amity, and Amity is a BIT more closed off. She simply calls the fifth book fine and burns her self-insert fan art out of embarrassment and being unwilling to let her nerd flag fly. Amity’s grateful for the book, there’s no doubt about it, but she’s not comfortable with fully expressing that gratitude. But she’s still polite enough to engage in Luz’s conversation, Amity just holds back a lot more of her feelings. In fact, being polite is the best way to describe Amity in this episode, especially with what happens next. When Luz announces that she’s going to Hexside, Amity’s voice, face, and even the musical cue in the background makes it clear that she is NOT ecstatic about this news. At least, initially. Once the shock comes and goes, Amity calmly explains to Luz the requirements to be in Amity’s class and asks if Luz knows enough to register. There may be a part of Amity that doesn’t want to see Luz more than necessary, but her willingness to act politely proves that Amity still wants to give Luz a chance.

The politeness continues later when they’re on The Knee. The parts where I always felt like we skipped a step was when Amity confided in Luz about breaking Ed and Em’s record and waved at her during practice. To me, it seemed like Amity was being too comfortable and friendly with Luz at this stage of their relationship. But again, I looked at the subtleties of these moments. Amity admits that she’s trying to break her siblings’ record, but she never shared about feeling under pressure to beat them or even that she’s struggling. It’s Edric and Emira who share that Amity can’t perform a fire spell without a wand, a clear attempt to annoy Amity by hitting where it hurts: Her pride. But what also annoys Amity is that they revealed that to Luz when she didn’t really want to. Heck, when Amity was telling Luz, she wouldn’t even look at Luz’s face, almost as if she couldn’t admit something as basic as beating a record. It’s exactly how Amity acted when discussing the Azura book. She’s willing to engage with Luz but is still holding back a lot of her TRUE feelings because, simply put, they’re not there yet. The most Amity is willing to do is wave at Luz from across the way. That was another short, albeit adorable, moment that made me think that they speeded past things, but now I’m starting to see it as a showcase of Amity TRYING. She’s trying her best to be better, even if she’s not willing to fully commit to a full on friendship. Unfortunately, Luz isn’t appreciating any of it at the moment due to being hyper focused on learning a second spell. The last thing she wants is to be in a baby class and be seen as a loser by her peers. She tries to hide it from Amity because they’re not at a point where Luz can confidently confide in her about problems like she does with Gus and Willow. Plus, Ed and Em are always there and something tells me that Luz doesn’t want to come across as a loser to two cool teens she still has a baby crush on. Either that or Luz is worried about being a target to their teasing, and judging by what they would do to Amity (Despite the constant apologies), it’s a justified worry. Any of those possibilities are equally valid, making Luz’s desire to hide her lack of skills understandable. Still wish we spent time on Luz’s impatience with Eda’s teaching methods, just so it can better justify what Luz does next.

Luz stealing Amity’s wand makes sense narratively, at least for where they’re at. It’s more than Luz wanting to hide that she doesn’t know two spells. They’re at a point in the relationship where Luz can’t simply come up to Amity and ask to borrow the wand for a few minutes. After all the strife Luz accidentally caused, she’s in no position to ask for favors, especially when Amity would likely say no. And the thing is that Amity wouldn’t have said no due to a dislike towards Luz. It’s more like Amity’s wand was low on charge and she didn’t entirely trust Luz to be careful enough with it. She gets mad later, sure, but it’s because Luz, once more, lied and cheated for her benefit. When Amity catches Luz with the wand and spell book, her expression is that of betrayal. Amity was actually trying—And say what you about the pacing of this episode, but it actually shows that Amity was TRYING to be better towards Luz. There’s no denying that. She’s actually putting in the effort and being as polite as possible, and here Luz is doing the exact same thing that made Amity assume that Luz was a bully. Narratively, this all lines up. But the piss poor pacing doesn’t do Luz any favors as it makes her uncharacteristically selfish. She is quick to regret it, both because of the scolding and the monster attack she indirectly caused, and you can tell through Luz’s voice and body language that she couldn’t be more remorseful. Regardless, it doesn’t change how bad this makes Luz looks and justified Amity’s anger. Though, I do like what happens next.

While Amity yells at Luz for putting Eda, Edric, and Emira, and rightfully tells Luz to stay put instead of helping, what Amity says next speaks VOLUMES. Instead of telling Luz that she’ll only make things worse, she says, “You’ll only get hurt.” Amity has every right to tell Luz off further and rub extra salt in the wound, but she doesn’t. Amity understands that Luz doesn’t cause problems out of malice. She just doesn’t think things through and ACCIDENTALLY makes things difficult. It’s one of Luz’s biggest flaws and Amity saying Luz will only get hurt by helping proves that she finally gets who Luz is. And I love that while Amity COULD stop trying with Luz, she still keeps at it because the night in the library didn’t JUST make Amity rethink being friends with Luz. The night made her rethink being mean in general, trying not to see kindness as a weakness and trying to treat others a little nicer. Her holding back what she likely WANTED to say to Luz is a testament to that. Though, I don’t think she’s likely be friends with Luz at this rate. Thankfully, Luz proves that she’s not too bad…again.

Once Luz slows down and allows herself to concentrate, she finally learns a second spell and comes up with a plan to save everyone. A plan that puts LUZ in the most danger and proves that she has enough power to back herself up…sort of. Eda’s the one to finish the fight and Luz is there to do most of the work. Still, the whole thing is a gesture that shows Amity the true extent of Luz’s selflessness and capabilities. This was Luz’s mess and she wanted to do all she could to clean it up. It proves that while she may not be perfect, there’s nothing Luz won’t do for the ones she cares about. Seeing that in action miraculously makes Amity willing to forgive and forget about the whole wand thing. Luz can and likely always will mess up, but will always make up for it. And I think at that moment, Amity decides that being friends with Luz isn’t too bad of an idea. She sounds genuinely excited by the idea of Luz going to Hexside now, and is willing to indulge in Luz’s desire for an Azura book club, albeit on Amity’s terms of keeping it secret. She’s finally gave in and decided to give Luz a chance, now knowing that Luz is GOOD despite her faults. It’s the right decision to make and it’s great that the episode ends with them being friends…but it’s still a mess.

“Adventures in the Elements” does great in showing the subtleties of Luz and Amity trying the POSSIBILITY of friendship. Luz is all in, while acknowledging that they’re not too close yet, whereas Amity’s on the fence but willing to be polite before deciding to make the friendship official. The pieces are there for a decent picture but Luz’s actions and the episode’s pacing makes her unreasonable, making it a miracle that Amity was willing to become friends. Luz’s rescue plan saves things, though it doesn’t stop this idea that if Amity wasn’t willing to be nice, she would have distanced herself from Luz further. Luckily, for Luz, Amity WAS trying and is willing to give the benefit of the doubt in the end. It works ENOUGH, but the journey to get there still feels a little messy. Regardless, this is the ONLY time that the relationship feels this way, as it’s handled perfectly from here on out. If you accept that this is the start of the friendship phase for Lumity, then the progression of their relationship will feel natural from there. Especially when you look at Amity’s little blush at the end of this episode. Now, I personally don’t think that this is a subtle hint that Amity has a crush, as this could easily be explained away as her being embarrassed of her siblings overhearing her CONSIDERING a book club. So when I hear people saying that this is the moment Amity has a crush on Luz, I feel like they’re jumping the gun a bit…but that doesn’t mean she isn’t questioning things.

The First Day-Not many Lumity moments in this episode. In fact, if you squint, there’s two. That’s because the meat of this episode is having Luz finally becoming a student at Hexside and making new, easily betrayed friends. But with the two moments we DO get, we see how they are as friends and hints of what’s to come.

Things start out nice, with Amity welcoming Luz to Hexside and congratulating her for getting out of the baby class. It’s genuinely sweet seeing Amity act this way towards Luz, even out in the open. It shows that Amity doesn’t really care who sees her being nice with Luz, because Luz tried harder to be nice to Amity despite every outburst and despicable action. Luz is her friend now, and Amity is willing to be a better person to her than she was with Willow (We’ll get to that). There’s some awkwardness with Amity’s abomination slapping Luz’s face with goo as Amity went for a high five, but it’s still sweet that Amity’s trying and Luz isn’t bothered by it. If anything, Luz is ecstatic to have this new friend, already treating Amity the same as Gus and Willow. And Amity is just as happy…but she is questioning her feelings.

Once alone in the hall, Amity tells herself that her and Luz going to the same school doesn’t change anything. Many people point at this moment as Amity denying she has a crush on Luz. For me, this is more like Amity questioning her friendship with Luz. She isn’t against it, but the two of them going to the same school presents changes to Amity’s status quo. She’s still the top student of her class and has a reputation to keep up. This could potentially lead to a strained friendship of Amity being forced to choose between Luz and a false image to keep up. Except that Amity likes Luz. She isn’t entirely sure why or aware of how much she likes Luz, but the fact remains the same that Amity likes her and is willing to be friends. Now that they go to the same school, Amity is questioning how she should treat Luz further, continuing to be nice or keeping up a rough exterior for her image. And then we get to her saying “That doesn’t change anything.” One way of looking at that line could be Amity deciding that just because they go to the same school now, that doesn’t mean she should change how people see her for Luz’s friendship. She should still act all high and mighty without worrying about coming across as soft. Another is that, despite being in the same school and people seeing them together, Amity shouldn’t change how she currently acts with Luz. I like to believe it’s the latter because it lines up with how Amity acts in the school courtyard. Amity is willing to be BETTER for Luz, reminding herself that things shouldn’t change just because more people will see that they’re friends now. Amity wants to be a good friend this time and NOT mess things up like her last friendship…

Understanding Willow-This is an episode about the friendship between Amity and Willow more than anything that goes on between Luz and Amity. Regardless, some big developments happen here.

Things start off great with the reveal that Luz wants to make Amity and Willow friends again. This could partially be Luz wanting her two new friends to be friends to make the group bigger and stronger, but I prefer to think that this is Luz wanting to make peace now that she knows the kind of person that Amity is. Amity wasn’t the one-dimensional bully Luz was introduced to, as there’s reasons behind her behavior and evidence that proves that Amity wants to become better. Willow, understandably, doesn’t want to be friends with Amity yet, likely still feeling the pain of how they separated. Though, it is interesting that Willow has no objections to Luz and Amity’s relationship. Some would say that it’s a missed opportunity to not have Willow get upset, but this episode reveals that she has a very unhealthy motto of “Out of sight, out of mind.” Add that with Willow’s more passive attitude (At this point), and it’s easy to believe that Willow is accepting of Luz and Amity’s friendship just as long as she doesn’t see it. Just like how she doesn't want to be friends with Amity, thinking it's best not to even SEE her. Luz is a little blind to this knowledge, though, and is still persistent to cause shenanigans, believing that it’s worth it because she knows Amity isn’t a horrible person and is willing to be better. Only for Amity to prove that wrong by burning Willow’s memories.

Effectively causing Willow brain damage was NOT Amity’s intention. She only wanted hide her face from Willow’s memory, to keep people from learning about that part of their history. It’s selfish and the way Amity did it was stupid, but you will come to understand the reason WHY she did it. Amity only kept her reasons a secret from Luz, because A. They’re not there yet. Amity likes Luz, she’s happy to be her friend, but is a little unwilling to disclose heavy stuff. And B. Amity likely doesn’t want Luz to see that part of her. The memory Amity burned features Amity at her worst, something that she doesn’t want Luz to see. Here’s a girl that, by some miracle, was willing to see the good parts of Amity, and seeing Amity’s worst traits, being a part of her since she was seven, could ruin a lot of how Luz sees her. So Amity keeps it secret, no matter how much Luz pries. Though, it is worth noting that while Luz does keep asking why Amity did all this, she never really FORCES Amity to explain. She knows that there’s a reason WHY, but also knows that it’s too personal of a subject. So Luz keeps giving Amity a chance to explain, ALLOWING her to do so at any moment, and only puts her foot down when they have no choice BUT to face the past. Luz has every right to be angry and demanding. After all, Amity BROKE Willow, Luz’s best friend. Amity wouldn’t blame Luz for getting upset, but Luz, the queen of causing problems and fixing them later, understands that the last thing a person wants after accidentally making a mistake is to be yelled at. She does raise her voice to remind Amity that she set Willow’s brain ablaze, but that’s as far as things get. All things considered, Luz is incredibly patient with Amity, to the point where Amity pretty much has to scold HERSELF, admitting shame to cause this much damage. It’s mostly because of guilt, but it can be argued that Amity acts like she’s expecting to be yelled at. It’s made pretty clear that Amity’s parents, mostly Odalia, are ones to scold her for failure and screw-ups. And with how often Amity yelled at Luz for HER mistakes, she probably assumed Luz would have done the same to Amity here. It would only be right, but Luz never does. For the most part, she remains supportive and understanding towards Amity, saying that they can fix things together. And it's at this point that I’d say that Amity realizes she has a crush on Luz.

Before this episode, saying that Amity’s feelings towards Luz were complicated is an understatement. Luz was frustrating, endearing, caused chaos, solved problems, was powerless with magic but resourceful in intelligence. Everything about Luz annoyed Amity, but she grew to appreciate the best sides of her and accepted the worst. And in “Understanding Willow,” when it’s Amity’s worst qualities on display, Luz still acts with kindness and understanding. It’s something Amity never experienced before, all from a person SHE disrespected in the past. Yet here Luz is, proving that yelling doesn’t solve much and is still willing to back up Amity despite everything. It’s a level of kindness that Amity’s never experienced, and getting it all from Luz makes Amity admire her more. She was less than willing to give Luz a chance at first whereas Luz gave Amity all the chances in the world, even now. It’s enough to make Amity finally understand her feelings, starting to blush a little bit due to Luz’s support and sudden proximity. Though, just because she realized her crush, that doesn’t mean Amity knows how to act around Luz. She KNOWS her feelings, but when it comes to figuring out how to go about them, she stumbles. Amity acts as she always does towards Luz, but still wants to be close to her. When the whole adventure is over, you can tell through how resistant Amity is towards going out the door and giving a short, awkward wave that Amity doesn’t want to leave. She does it for Willow’s sake, expecting that she doesn’t want Amity around, despite everything. If not for taking Willow’s feelings into consideration, she might have stayed, talked more with Luz and Willow, and her crush would have grown stronger. But instead, Amity leaves and it’s for the best. She has a lot to think about.

“Understanding Willow” is a fantastic episode primarily for insight into Willow and Amity’s friendship and seeing them reconcile. The Lumity moments are just a little cherry on top to something already perfect, not being the focus but giving great scenes all the same. It’s part of what makes Lumity so perfect: You see Luz and Amity’s bond growing every episode that they interact in, even in episodes like this where it’s not THEIR relationship that needs attention. It causes their relationship to flow all the better and makes what happens NEXT episode feel like a natural conclusion.

“Enchanting Grom Fright”- Ooooooh, this episode…

The episode where the cast and crew kept telling fans that they weren’t ready for it. The episode where there was NO heterosexual explanation for anything. An episode where the writers pretty much looked at the audience and said, “Yeah. We’re doing THIS.” An episode that will likely forever be remembered for the leaps and bounds it did for LGBTQA+ representation! An episode…that I like less and less the more I rewatch it.

Yeah, I’m that jerk in the fandom who thinks “Enchanted Grom Fright” is a LITTLE overrated. That doesn’t mean I hate it. Heck, I loved this episode upon its premiere, and you can see why in my review. But every time I come back to this one, the more the cracks tend to show. King’s subplot is forced padding in an already poorly paced episode, the fact that a responsible principal like Bump allows children to fight a nightmare demon is all kinds of questionable, Eda chaperoning the dance makes LESS sense, the episode feels like it takes place in two days when it’s ONE, some jokes feel awkward to me, and some dialogue is unnatural. All in all, this episode is a mess, with two things that make it worth a watch: Luz’s regrets toward lying to Camila and, as you could imagine, the Lumity moments.

Every scene these two share are pretty much the writers confirming that Lumity is going to be canon. There’s the little stuff, oozing with romantic energy. Like...

How Luz consistently makes Amity laugh and smile, showing how much Amity has come to appreciate Luz’s oddball personality

The scene in the forest is cute with how romantic the lighting is, how close their faces got at one point.

How Luz sits in the mud to make Amity more comfortable after getting messy.

That scene outside the gym, with the playful banter, the genuine admiration in Amity’s eyes, and the little music in the background that’s practically SCREAMING at these two to just kiss already.

All the little scenes are great but the juiciest, meatiest stuff comes from THE NOTE

It doesn’t take a shipper’s mind to guess that Amity’s little pink, love-colored scrap of paper is a note Amity wants to give to Luz, putting ALL her feelings out there. If “Understanding Willow” was the episode where Amity realizes she has a crush on Luz, “Enchanted Grom Fright” is Amity struggling to figure out if she WANTS to date Luz, and for a number of reasons. Because being friends with Luz is one thing, DATING her is another. Amity can always play off their friendship as her pulling a long con on Luz or maybe even faking it to keep the human from being a personal hindrance. There’d be holes in her logic, but Amity can still commit to excuses where anyone can be convinced they’re true depending on how well she sells them. DATING Luz will be harder to sell, as there are a lot of things a person couldn’t fake for a relationship. So the second Amity asks Luz out and they become official, any ounce of Amity’s image that’s left will get torn to shreds. And while Amity is willing to risk it for a FRIENDSHIP, she struggles to think if it’s worth it for a girlfriend. We already know how Odalia reacts to Amity being FRIENDS with someone like Willow and how a so-called friend like Boscha treats people below their status. If word gets out that Amity is dating a HUMAN, life for her will be hell. It’s the main reason why Amity doesn’t want Grom to reveal her fear of Luz rejecting her. It’s a gamble that Grom could take a vague or clear form of someone’s fear, which you see in Luz’s fight with it. It’ll take Camila’s form no problem, but when trying to look like Eda, it’s a lot more like a shadow. And Amity doesn’t want to risk either, because while it’s embarrassing enough to reveal that the great Amity Blight is afraid of rejection, it’ll be worse to show that she’s afraid of getting rejected by the unpopular human. Needless to say, NO ONE would let Amity live this down. And while we’re on the topic of Amity’s greatest fear, it does make sense why she’s so afraid of asking Luz out.

Some fans give the episode flack for making Amity’s greatest fear be her getting rejected by a girl. And out of all the problems “Enchanted Grom Fright” has, this is one criticism I understand but respectfully disagree with. Luz is more than just a girl Amity has a crush on. Despite all the chaos, Luz is the best thing that happened to Amity. She helped patch things up with Willow, gave Amity the final book in a series she adores, and offered kindness and understanding during moments when Amity didn’t feel like she deserved it. Even now, Luz is taking a bullet for Amity by facing HER fears as Amity’s fearless champion. Luz is the bright light at the end of the tunnel that Amity calls life, and she values that. She values Luz’s life so much that losing it terrifies Amity. Asking Luz out is a risk that she’s not willing to take because it’s a miracle that Luz still wants to be friends despite everything Amity has done to her and others. She has NO idea if Luz could like Amity that way or even if she likes girls. If Amity asks Luz out, she risks the gamble of Luz saying no and their friendship being awkward at best and over at worst. Because how can things go back to normal when Luz knows that Amity has a crush on her. It’s why Amity yanks the note out of Luz’s hands instead of letting her keep it. Amity doesn’t want to give it to Luz until she’s one hundred percent sure that Luz could say yes, holding onto the note right up until Grom starts, a point where most would say it’s too late to ask someone to a dance. The grip that Amity’s fear has on her is strong, even if SLIGHTLY unjustified. Most people understand the fear of being rejected by a crush, especially if you’re a teenager and this is the first time you’re feeling the butterflies in your stomach. But Luz isn’t someone who would sever ties with Amity because of a crush. She may be surprised at first, but the worst case scenario would be that Luz would let Amity down gently and politely. As for the best case, Amity bears witness to it.

Once Grom becomes too much for Luz to handle, Amity finally steps in to fight her own battles. And it's great that Luz is worried for Amity facing her fear, showing that there was NO resentment on Luz’s part. She willingly chose to do this for Amity…and partially for the selfish reason of proving that she isn’t as fragile as Eda claimed. Regardless, helping Amity is a big part of why Luz is willing to do this, and it’s her overconfidence that leads to Amity having her fear forced upon her, with Luz sounding more scared than Amity. Because while it’s not LUZ who realizes she has a crush yet, she still cares about Amity like any other friend, wanting to take her place before anyone would call Luz soft. So failing her hurts Luz more than Grom ever could. As for Amity, she weirdly lucked out in this scene. Grom DID reveal Amity’s afraid of rejection, but in a vague shadowy form where Luz couldn’t even tell it was supposed to be her, which is for the best. Amity wasn’t ready to tell Luz and having Grom do it for her would have been a BIGGER nightmare. Hell, it likely already was. The way Amity cringed in anticipation of Luz’s rejection, already assuming Luz had enough information to figure out the truth. Except when Luz picks up half the note that Grom ripped up, all Luz gets is that Amity was afraid of getting rejected by SOMEONE. Not only does Luz act sympathetically, immediately understanding Amity’s plight, but Luz also surprises Amity by volunteering to be her date instead. It was to go as friends, but that’s besides the point. Luz’s gesture proves to Amity that Luz is just…kindness personified. No matter what her feelings were to Amity or how Amity asked her, Luz would have said yes. Maybe she could have misread the situation (somehow) or said yes just to be polite. The point is that Luz would have said yes either way, and while it wouldn’t entirely be what Amity wanted, it’s at least enough to tell her that she has nothing to worry about with Luz. Whether or not Luz would feel the same way, she will NEVER break Amity’s heart. And it’s that confirmation that tells Amity that liking Luz IS worth it. There could be conflicts and consequences from this crush, but Luz is the nicest, warmest person who gave Amity exactly what she wanted without knowing it. Any feelings Amity has for Luz were STRENGTHENED by these events…but doesn’t make her brave enough to admit that she wanted to ask out Luz.

While Amity does understand that Luz won’t break her heart, her strengthened feelings for Luz don’t make her braver. She may be willing to dance with Luz for a beautifully animated combo move to kill Grom, but showing her the rest of the note? Yeah, Amity tosses that thing away immediately. And before I move on, I DO want to say how much of an expectation subversion the writers give with this scene. Most shows fighting for LGBTQA+ representation would have kept out who Amity was willing to ask out. They would have strictly implied it and left it to interpretation to make the studio executives happy…But not The Owl House.

You see it up front, baby! WHOO!

I will ALWAYS gush about how impressive and important this single image is. This is the first big show where a gay character having a crush on the main protagonist is shown EXPLICITLY through visual confirmation. We could have picked up the pieces in past episodes and even in this one. But to have this clear bit of PROOF that it’s officially happening between these two THIS EARLY in the series is all kinds of special. And it is the reason why I still don’t hate this episode despite its problems.

“Enchanted Grom Night” might be a mess, but the Lumity moments will always carry it. Everything that happens between these two in this episode is adorable, endearing, and groundbreaking enough to always make watching the episode worth it. If this was the last bit of Lumity fun we would have gotten this season, I would have been happy…but the writers snuck in one more episode.

Wing It Like Witches-There’s not a lot I could talk about here because a lot of it is pretty self-explanatory. Due to a magical night that proved once more that Luz is perfect, Amity became even more smitten and unable to be near Luz without blushing up a storm. Some fans grew to resent this episode because of how it ruined Luz and Amity’s reputation in the fandom, due to everyone latching onto this idea that Amity is a lesbian disaster and Luz is oblivious to it. As for me personally…I still love it.

The second Amity started nervously stammering in front of Luz, it blew my frickin’ mind. It IS a little weird that this is the only time Amity acts like this, but I can take it as the writers further confirming that this is in fact happening and we should get ready for it. And every moment that shows Amity being a blushing mess was hilarious and adorable to see. As for how Luz, the shipping queen, couldn’t see the obvious signs of a crush, there are two plausible explanations. There’s the boring one where Dana Terrace said that Luz just has a lot on her mind at the moment to notice. Then there’s the interesting explanation, where this is the first time that Luz has ever had someone act this way towards her. It’s pretty obvious that Luz isn’t used to the idea of people caring about her, whether as a friend or something more. This episode alone proves how inexperienced Luz is to friendship itself, making things more stressful for Willow when trying to help her. Before Hexside, Luz was unfortunately a social outcast, with Gus, Willow, and now Amity being the only kids her age who actually like her. So when Amity starts acting a little silly, Luz’s first thought isn’t, “Oh, she’s crushing on me.” It’s, “Gee, Amity sure is acting weird today.” While it’s INCREDIBLY obvious to everyone else, it’s a foreign concept to Luz because it’s not something that she’s used to experiencing for herself. It hurts to think about and is a lot more interesting, to me, than saying Luz has a lot on her mind.

While the fandom definitely went to far with the joke of Amity crushing hard and Luz being oblivious to all of it, the Lumity moments here are still cute. As for any development, this is the episode that cements Amity as part of the group, finally deciding that being with Luz (And, to a greater extent, Willow) is worth any consequence, not caring what someone like Boscha thinks. It’s great and it IS unfortunate that people don’t point that out as frequently as Amity being a blushing mess. But I kind of get it. It’s not as prevalent and you don’t realize it until the episode’s over with Amity sitting with everyone for tea. In a way, this development is more of a footnote in an episode that hammers in the idea that Amity has a crush on Luz, but it doesn’t make it any less important.

And that’s all for Season One. Due to a broken leg, Amity had to sit it out on the sidelines while some big, dramatic stuff happened in the finale. That’s really for the best because with how much Luz and Amity’s romance develops with every episode they’re in together, it makes sense to leave Amity out. Any growth they could have had would have hurt the finale in the long run as it would have been remembered as the episode where Lumity did X instead of…anything else that happened. Regardless, after three episodes in a row where Lumity got closer and closer together, it left fans demanding MORE and hating that they’d have to wait LONGER due to the show going on a nearly year long hiatus. But when that hiatus ended, they were given a good treat.

Escaping Expulsion-Oh, how this one ends beautifully…

But before we get to that, it’s worth noting that this episode is Amity’s last test of loyalty. Once Odalia finally learns about Luz and the others, she wastes no time in trying to cut them out of her life as much as possible. It’s living up to the threat Odalia gave Amity years ago about her friendship with Willow, only this time Amity doesn’t get the illusion of choice to break things off herself. Odalia uses her status and privilege to kick Luz, Gus, and Willow out of Hexside, with Luz begging, screaming, even getting down on her knees (Well, ONE knee—Hey, that’s an image for ya!) as she tries to convince Amity to help them. And you can tell that Amity wants to. She REALLY wants to. The look in her eyes and the way her body goes stiff as if she has to FORCE herself to do nothing shows that it’s tearing Amity apart to not help. Amity wants to be there for Luz like Luz was there for her, but doing so means going against Amity’s mom. Amity’s been allowing herself small rebellions, getting braver for Luz who brought out the best side of Amity. But when the consequences finally caught up to her as Odalia enacted a punishment no one deserved, it made Amity realize that no matter what she’d do, her mom will find out and make her life miserable. So Amity says no and is only brave enough to say sorry. It’s tearing her up inside to let Luz down like that, but she does it anyway. At least Luz eventually gave some motivation for Amity to fight…in an irresponsible manner on Luz’s part.

While Amity is too scared to face Odalia, Luz isn’t afraid of much of anything (Aside from facing her own mom, funnily enough). So Luz isn’t worried too much about going up to Odalia and willing to work things out. Luz goes in peacefully, hoping to set things right where no one gets hurt. Except that Odalia’s out for blood and decides to use Luz as target practice for all of her deadly weapons. Luz takes it all, hoping for it to be for the best until Odalia busts out the literal killing machine. Because earlier, Luz made the valid point that even though they don’t go to the same school together, Luz and the others will still be friends with Amity. Odalia very much disapproves of that fact and decides to take things to the next extreme by trying to kill Luz. Luz fights for her life, but it’s clear how outmatched she is with it taking a miracle to save her. Fortunately, one did.

It’s one thing to separate Amity from Luz or to use Amity as a test dummy, but putting Luz in danger is where Amity draws the line. And it really is amazing that Amity doesn’t waste a second to rebel and get the gang together once she knows Luz put herself in the line of fire (Read: Confronting Odalia). After everything that Luz has done for Amity, it’s great that she’s willing to step up when Luz finds herself in real danger. Getting expelled is one thing, but facing Blight Industries tech and mechs is another. And when the Abomiton 2.0 comes out, Amity rushes to get to a high enough vantage point to come to Luz’s rescue. Perhaps a little enthusiastically with the way she screams, “Stay away from MY Luz!” But she still swoops down like a hero from a fantasy story, standing between her maiden and a literal killing machine. Amity has saved Luz before, but this is the moment that has the most at stake for her as it risks Amity dealing with more hell from her mom. But if the choice is losing Luz forever or dealing with Odalia being MORE unbearable, it doesn’t matter to Amity. Luz has done everything for Amity out of the goodness of her heart, and Amity’s more than willing to do more than anything for her. It’s more than fair to her and she’d do it again no matter the cost. What Amity doesn’t know is that her actions rewarded her in a way she didn’t intend.

Luz liked Amity, there’s no doubt about that. She cares enough to help put out the fires in Willow’s brain and fight Grom for her. It was never a question for whether or not Luz liked Amity…but fans did debate HOW MUCH she liked her. Did Luz have a crush lingering above the surface but never quite knew THAT’S how she felt? I…don’t think so. I know fans like to say that she did (I used to be among them), but it’s clear that Luz’s feelings towards Amity were equal to any other friend. Anything Luz did for Amity isn’t different than how she would act for Gus or Willow. Case in point: The main reason Luz was in this mess was because she wanted to help her friends get back into Hexside. To Luz, Amity is just another friend…But then Amity saved Luz’s life and acted like the coolest witch that ever lived. Luz isn’t a stranger to getting her butt saved, especially when she was too close to death like in that moment. What makes things different here is that Luz is trying her hardest to survive, barely keeping ahead, and is out of luck when she reaches her limit. Just when things seem hopeless, Amity comes out of nowhere as a knight in shining armor, saving Luz in an incredible feat of magic and looking good doing it. In every other dangerous situation Luz found herself in, she either got herself out of it or expected someone to come to her rescue when things got dire. But because Luz didn’t tell anyone about what she was doing, she was all on her own with no one to help her with the Abomiton that she couldn’t keep up with. Then in comes Amity, swinging in holding down the thing that was seconds away from killing Luz in an impressive display of her magical prowess. And with the cape, the way Amity speaks, and how her magic leaves this intense glow in her eyes, it’s all enough to leave Luz a little star struck. This girl, close to her age, is standing between Luz and certain death for the sake of her own protection. It is like every crush fantasy that Luz must have had rolled into one, and it’s Amity doing it all for her. Luz, the fantasy nerd that is, likely DREAMED of a moment like this happening to her. Heck, remember that angsty teen warrior who was used as bait to lure Luz into a trap? He’s proof that Luz has a type and Amity is checking off every box at the moment, finally leading Luz to see Amity in a new light. And, really, can you blame her.

“Escaping Expulsion” is good for seeing Amity standing up to her parents, but Luz gaining a crush on Amity makes the whole thing a little sweeter. And I really do love that Luz gets her crush after Amity gets hers. It goes against the cliche of the nerd trying to win over the popular girl by having that popular girl already falling for her. It provides a decent twist on the concept while showing that Luz doesn’t have to do anything to earn Amity’s affections as that task has been done weeks ago. The problem is that Luz doesn’t know that as we’re now in the phase where the crush is mutual but neither is aware of it. This fact led fans to be excited about what happens next as we’re now super close to Lumity being canon and hoped they’d get closer sooner than later. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait too long.

Through the Looking Glass-This episode gets a bit of flack due to people focusing more on the Lumity subplot other than the main story of Gus being insecure and looking for a confidence boost. This is definitely part of a bigger problem of fandoms and their obsession with ships over other characters, and it IS worth discussing…But this Lumity discussion post, so we’re just going to save that problem for another day.

Luz and Amity’s subplot in this episode is everything I could have asked for and more. Due to their mutual crush, Luz and Amity spend most of their shared screen time as flustered, blushing messes who can’t pick up on the painfully obvious signs because they’re too busy looking away due to their equal nervousness. It’s adorable and I love how it’s STILL obvious to everyone else. Gus is straight up annoyed by Luz’s cowardly BS of constantly asking for his library card to see Amity but never asking her out, and Edric and Emira are willing to give the lovebirds alone time and support Amity for her crush. Everyone gets it, but never forces Luz and Amity together as it’s equally obvious that they need to work this out themselves…At least in this episode. We’ll get to what Hooty does later.

I will say that if “Through the Looking Glass Ruins" was just the cute antics of Luz and Amity being complete messes, it would be an easy 10/10 episode for me. Unfortunately for them, some angst got sprinkled in as Amity lost her job to help Luz find an old book. What’s interesting about this is that both parties have different ideas for who’s to blame. Luz, of course, blames herself. She’s the reason they got caught despite the many warnings Amity gave to be careful. It was her screwup, but Amity blames herself more. She could have just asked Malphus for the book or turned back when Luz first suggested it. Instead, Amity was so focused on helping Luz that logic went out the window. Look back at how Amity reacts to Luz suggesting to show Amity around the human realm. The second she puts it together that it could lead to a date, she yanks Luz further into the library just to get it faster. So when they get caught, Amity believes that she’s to blame because being around Luz makes her do stupid things and act without thinking things through. But when Amity vents her frustrations over it, it only makes Luz feel worse because it made her think that Amity’s upset about LUZ and not what she does to her. Amity was more upset about herself and her actions than she is with Luz, but Luz, already believing that everything is her fault, can’t help but take the message the wrong way. Amity’s quick to pick that up when she sees Luz tearing up, and that makes HER feel worse as she believes she accidentally made Luz think everything is on her. Except that Luz is crying is because SHE believes that Amity is finally tired of Luz getting them in trouble because Luz makes her do stupid things. It’s an entire moment of miscommunication and misunderstandings that’s a heck of a lot more believable than most romantic drama in fiction. Neither is mad at the other or gives up without a fight. Amity just goes home to think about her feelings and Luz instantly sets out to make things right, telling herself, in Spanish, that things won’t work unless she makes it work.

What gets to me is that despite going through hell to get Amity her job back, Luz is already accepting that Amity will never want to see Luz again. It speaks volumes of how accustomed Luz is to rejection that she already assumes that Amity will be the same like every other crush in the past and would want nothing to do with Luz after this. And yet, despite that mindset, Luz still goes through on getting Amity back her job to make things right. Because even though Luz believes that she no chance with Amity anymore, she’s the kindest person in the world and, after everything they went through together, Luz doesn’t want to end things with Amity without fixing her mistake. So Luz goes through a whole ton of trials for Amity’s job and comes up to her door with an apology already prepared. Only for her words to die in her throat upon seeing Amity’s new haircut.

You see, while Luz was busy facing her guilt, Amity was facing her feelings. Through a wonderfully adorable interaction between her and Emira, Em makes the great argument that it doesn’t matter how Amity acts now because of Luz because she’s never been this happy before. It’s a sweet moment that I always think about when it comes to Amity’s relationship with EMIRA, but the meat of it brings up exactly what I’ve been saying most of this review. Luz is the best thing that has happened to Amity, bringing out her best qualities and being brave enough to go against her parents. Remembering that gives Amity confidence to do something that makes HER happy, this time without Luz motivating it. I mean, Luz would have likely encouraged it anyway, but it is smart that it’s a decision that Amity makes without Luz’s input. After feeling frustrated by Luz making her do stupid, risky decisions, I like how we see Amity deciding to dye her hair as something SHE wants without the supposed source of Luz influencing it. It’s a risk that could cause Odalia to be upset about, but it’s worth it for Amity’s happiness…and the effect it has on Luz. But that last part is just a bonus.

Speaking of Luz, she once again proves why she’s so amazing to Amity. She didn’t HAVE to go through so much to get Amity her job back. Amity already blames herself for the incident and was willing to accept the consequences. Then here comes Luz, fixing Amity’s problem without her having to ask for it. It was done out of guilt, but it doesn’t change how Luz, despite any consequence, will always make things better for Amity. It’s a good deed that proves to Amity that any stupid mistake is worth it because she'll always be happy when she’s with Luz.

…And then Amity kisses Luz on the cheek. A moment that surprised everyone, including the audience, Luz, and even Amity. Seeing Luz and the hell she went through to get Amity her job back filled Amity’s heart with so much admiration that she was thinking on impulse. Only for her to immediately regret it because she just kissed her crush BEFORE admitting her feelings. It’s definitely a leap too far and revealed Amity’s crush to Luz before she was ready. And while WE can see the look of awe in Luz’s eyes, Amity’s more focused on the general shock in Luz’s expression and chooses to run away instead of explaining herself. A shame, too, because…look at this face.

That is the face of a girl who finally realizes that she has a chance with her crush. While Amity is too busy panicking about messing up HER chances, Luz numbly falls to her knees, overwhelmed by the most magical thing that’s ever happened to her. And that’s saying a lot.

Like I said, everything between Luz and Amity in this episode is perfect, with the adorable antics mixed evenly with some light angst. I love it a lot and I adore how the next episode quickly addresses the kiss. The writers KNEW that they couldn’t move on to other antics and adventures with new characters without at least ADDRESSING the kiss. All they had to do is have Willow say that Amity missed a school day and that’s enough to tell us all we need to know: Amity’s too embarrassed about the kiss and is avoiding Luz because of it. And Luz understands that. It took a kiss on the cheek to do it, but she finally understands that Amity has feelings for her. She also understands that the ball is very much in her court. If Luz wants to go out with Amity, SHE has to ask Amity out because Amity is too much of a nervous wreck to do it. The problem is that Luz has a different fear of her own, regarding the matter. A fear that a certain someone helped her out with…

Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door-Ooooooooooh, NOW we’re onto the good stuff…

“Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door” is the best episode of the show. Or second best. Honestly, it’s always a toss-up between this and “Thanks to Them.” Both are very good episodes of television for different reasons, with “Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door” being great for solely focusing on the members of the Owl House and what makes the show so damn good. You get some great comedy from King trying to figure out who he is, well-done drama and tragedy with Eda’s backstory and curse, and some cute, gay fluff with Lumity.

Luz’s vignette begins perfectly by showing how her feelings for Amity are distracting her from figuring out a way home. Luz KNOWS she has to ask Amity out, but due to being rejected one too many times, she isn’t sure how. Amity is the first crush Luz has had to ever show feelings for her and she doesn’t want to mess that up. Unfortunately, her anxiety has left Luz distracted and unable to focus on figuring out how to get the echo mouse to do what Luz needs and help her learn how to build a portal home. She could ask Amity about it, but how can she get Amity’s help without addressing the kiss and how they BOTH want something more from it. Luz can’t ask Amity for anything without revealing her feelings and asking Amity out, and she can’t do THAT until she plans out the perfect way to ask Amity out. It creates this never ending loop in Luz’s mind, adding in an extra bit of stress that makes her life hell. Thankfully, Hooty is there!

Hooty, like everyone else, picks up that Luz is head over heels in love with Amity and needs a push in the right direction. The good news is that Hooty’s there to offer his assistance. The bad news is that he’s there to offer his assistance. His idea to kidnap Amity and lock her in the basement is more than questionable. It’s downright disturbing with and without context, but Hooty DOES have the right idea. Luz and Amity were NOT going to talk to each other unless SOMEONE forced them into a room and finally see one another face to face. Although, things don’t start off well with Amity IMMEDIATELY suggesting that they pretend that the kiss never happened. Luz panics because that’s the LAST thing she wants. Amity may be willing to forget something beautiful and perfect for the sake of keeping Luz in her life, but Luz doesn’t want to move backwards in their relationship. She’s terrified of taking that next step, but Luz still won’t allow Amity to entertain the idea of forgetting the kiss, distracting her with the goal of getting out of the basement, deciding to talk about the kiss later. Unfortunately for Luz, Hooty literally drops her and Amity into the last thing Luz wanted.

Under different circumstances, Luz might’ve loved the tunnel of love. For all we know, she might’ve fantasized about doing something as cheesy as a tunnel of love. The issue is that cheesiness is something that Luz is trying to stay away from. Due to still having this image of this heroic, aloof badass who will save Luz’s life like a knight in shining armor, Luz thinks that something corny and cheesy will make Amity think that Luz is a loser. Except that Amity has not only seen Luz at her most loseresque and fell for her anyways, Amity is also a loser herself. She drew fan art of herself with characters from her favorite book series and acts as a blushing mess around Luz. Amity’s not the super cool witch Luz keeps remembering fondly and is just as much into cheese as Luz would be. The proof is in HER reaction to the tunnel of love. While Luz is cringing her butt off, Amity is…confused. She has no idea what they’re in or what this whole thing is about. It’s not until Amity starts looking around that she picks up SOME idea of what is happening. Upon looking at the messages on the walls, realizing that they’re describing her, Amity comes to the assumption that this whole thing is some elaborate grand gesture for Luz to ask out Amity. It’s HALF right, that’s the whole point behind the tunnel of love. But instead of knowing that it’s Hooty’s idea, Amity believes it’s Luz’s, which you can’t blame her for. Luz’s whole thing is making grand gestures for people she cares about. It’s the very reason why Amity kissed her on the cheek. So when looking at the tunnel of love and think Luz is doing it for Amity, it shifts Amity’s reaction away from...

Confusion

To realization

To elation

To nervous excitement. Finally, at long last, Amity has what she thinks is definitive proof that Luz likes her. The moment is awkward and she probably prefers NOT to being dragged into a basement, but Amity’s willing to sit through all of it now knowing it might end perfectly between her and Luz. Only for Luz to start tearing the place apart and tearing Amity’s heart to shreds in the process. WE know why she’s doing it. Luz is trying to save face and avoid embarrassment, not letting the chance for a perfect romantic confession be ruined by all this cheese. But to Amity, what Luz does is the very reason why Amity was too scared to ask Luz out. When Amity finally allowed herself to hope that Luz might feel the same way as her, Luz destroys what Amity took as a sweet love confession, burning it all to the ground in a savage display all to make one message clear: Luz doesn’t want any of this. She even makes it clearer later that the whole thing was Hooty’s stupid idea. Again, WE know that Luz meant the tunnel of love, but Amity is focused less on actual tunnel and more on its meaning. The whole thing was meant to convey that Luz wants to go out with Amity, and Luz just called it stupid. Amity was already shattered when Luz was wrecking the place, but hearing Luz calling the idea of them dating stupid just about brought Amity to tears. It’s not what Luz meant, but it doesn’t stop Amity from misinterpreting the words and, worst of all, accepting them. Amity wants MORE than friendship, but she also wants to have Luz be close to her so she tries to live past the pain and laugh it off with Luz. Only for a single tear to betray that, making Luz realize her mistake…And causing chaos to start.

After Hooty thinks that he failed his friends, with Luz being the last straw, Hooty proceeds to have an emotional breakdown that nearly destroys the Owl House. Despite King and Eda trying to explain that he indirectly helped them, Hooty still clings to the fact that he failed Luz, who might be the only person who was currently left worse off after Hooty’s “assistance.” Most of it’s on her, but that doesn’t stop Luz from being backed into a corner where if she DOESN’T ask Amity out, Hooty would only get worse. When Luz explains her situation to Eda, she doesn’t waste a second to give Luz support. She offers great advice that if Luz wants to ask out Amity, she should ask her out. Perfection is NOT something to strive for in a relationship, otherwise you’ll be driving yourself crazy with every little decision. And if you’re too scared to ask a big question, putting it off until the perfect moment, you’ll end up losing your chance, something that ALMOST happened to Luz this episode. Eda gets that idea across in just a few little words, being the exact motivation Luz needs to finally go for it. Though, not before Eda yanks Hooty away to give them a more calm, PRIVATE environment. Because while Eda’s advice rings true, she understands that asking a girl out while a house demon is crying wouldn’t be the most romantic moment.

So, Luz and Amity get their privacy, Luz FINALLY explains herself, and…says something that requires me to go on a quick tangent. You see, a buddy of mine has this sort of nitpick where he doesn’t like that Eda and King got cool, new power-ups where Luz…didn’t. It’s part of this bigger problem where Luz isn’t really shown to be as capable in Season Two as she was in Season One. I get where he’s coming from and I PARTIALLY understand what he’s saying here. It does feel a little weird that Eda and King got new powers where Luz got nothing, but…that’s not entirely the point of this episode. The main trio are all looking for SOMETHING. King’s looking for knowledge of what he is, Eda’s looking for control through the chaos in her life, and both get rewarded by confronting what’s REALLY bothering them. King gets a booming voice when he vents his frustrations about feeling abandoned by his father and Eda gets a new harpy form when she asks for a compromise with the beast inside that went through as much chaos as her. As for Luz, what she’s looking for is certainty. Two episodes prior, Luz comes to the realization that she isn’t sure what she wants anymore. By believing that her adventures in the Isles will lead to her being a witch, she forgot to consider what kind of witch she wants to be or if she wants to be a witch at all. And two episodes later, Luz will be given ANOTHER uncertainty on whether or not she’ll return to the Isles. Might even explain why she isn’t as capable this season, as so much uncertainty has bogged Luz down to the point where she’s distracted and unable to focus on anything other than what’s in front of her. She’s also desperate for some kind certainty in her life, something that‘s easy enough to grasp and obtain. And the only thing that Luz is certain about at this point in time…is that she wants to be with Amity. It’s not as big as her wanting to go home or being strong enough, but that’s the point. It’s small, it’s manageable. Plus, for a teenager, going out with a crush is bigger than anything in your life. There’s a lot of reasons why Luz hyper-focuses on Amity, as it all boils down to the idea that no matter what happens, all Luz wants is Amity to be there with her. All she has to do is ask a single question. A question that could change everything if Luz has the courage. And she almost does, the words were coming out of her throat. Except that Amity beat her to the punch.

I’m fine with that for two reasons. Firstly, Luz was NOT going to ask Amity out with all the tension surrounding the importance of a single question. Amity blurting the question out first takes away the stress and allows Luz to finally ask Amity out with confidence that the answer will already be yes. Plus, this is a good character moment for Amity. Her biggest fear was asking out Luz due to a fear of rejection. A fear she was basically living through back in the tunnel of love. And here Amity is, met with more evidence that Luz really DOES like her. Hell, she’s pretty much saying it to Amity’s face. There’s no reason to be afraid anymore and just have to wait for Luz to ask the question that Amity’s been DREAMING to hear. Except that Luz is taking too long and, either due to the anticipation was killing Amity or because she fears that Luz will change her mind, Amity blurts out the question first. She finally pushed her own fear aside and went for it, with the results being very fruitful. I mean, look at their faces.

Every time I watch this scene, I want to bottle and sell the pure joy radiating from both their bright, smiling faces. After all that pining and hoping, these two are, at long last, together. Things are awkward and these two are mutually scared of dating each other, but that’s to be expected. They’re both each other’s first girlfriend and are a little nervous about what that could mean for the future. One thing for sure is that Hooty’s right. They’re adorable and deserve all the happiness.

It’s a bit of a shame that “Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door” is primarily remembered as the episode where Lumity became canon as there are equally great moments with Eda and King that make it the best episode of the show. But…you can’t blame people. This is the first time that a bisexual main character and her lesbian love interest became canon HALFWAY through the series. In previous media, this kind of thing could be done through implications, side-characters who appear once or twice a season, or waiting until the series finale. Luz and Amity getting together is not only a huge step in LGBTQA+ representation, but it also gives us more than enough time to see these two act as a couple. And the writers didn’t waste time on doing just that by quickly jumping in and giving fans little moments and episodes about Luz and Amity growing closer and stronger as a couple. How quickly?

Eclipse Lake-The very next episode.

In no time flat, The Owl House delivers cute couple nonsense, giving us the perfect glimpse of what a canon Lumity would be like. From the get go, they both seem so excited to be dating each other. Luz is grinning from ear to ear about calling Amity pretty and Amity is calling herself Luz’s awesome girlfriend at any available opportunity. I also love that most of the awkwardness is fading. Amity still blushes over Luz hugging her and calling Amity an awesome girlfriend, but that’s as far as things go. At least in this episode. So much of their interactions show how happy they are to FINALLY be dating, and you’re right there with them. As someone who’s been hoping these two get together since the damn near beginning, seeing them just slip into this pure, fluffy relationship with equal love.

But as adorable as things are—And they ARE adorable—this episode shows us the first problem in this relationship, particularly with Amity. Throughout “Eclipse Lake,” Amity’s dealing with the idea that she has to EARN Luz’s love. It’s not true, we know it’s not true, and even Amity didn’t think it’s true at first. But due to some meddling from Hunter, it gets into Amity’s head that if she ever fails Luz, they’re done. And the reason it gets to Amity so easily is because that’s how she functioned her whole life. With her parents, mostly Odalia, Amity grew up thinking that love comes with conditions and that if you don’t do what you’re supposed to then you don’t deserve love. Of course, it’s complete nonsense. Still, look at Amity in the beginning of the episode. Her treating Luz’s cold as this big crisis is the type of adorable overreaction that we would come to expect, but it’s more than Amity caring deeply for Luz. It’s Amity stepping up proving that she can be an awesome girlfriend to Luz. And looking back, with every time Amity keeps calling herself an "awesome girlfriend," it CAN come across as her going, “Yes. This is real. It isn’t a dream, it’s a reality.” With each “Awesome girlfriend,” Amity is reminding herself that she and Luz ARE dating and that they won’t break up as long as she keeps proving herself. Thankfully, near the end, Amity remembers that this is Luz they’re talking about. Luz loves grand gestures. After all, it was a grand gesture that made her fall for Amity. But Luz took an interest in being Amity’s friend due to warmth and nerdy fun that only Luz got to see, feeling attraction by seeing Amity’s strength, bravery, and just how cool she looks. Luz loves Amity for who she is and not what she does, and she proves that by hugging Amity the second she gets back. Amity doesn’t have to earn anything. She already has Luz’s heart and it’ll take more than a partially failed mission to change that. Her love is condition-free and I am so glad that “Eclipse Lake” immediately addresses this issue as Luz and Amity start their relationship. Us fans are ready for all the cute moments. Like Luz, in the next episode, immediately thinks of seeing Amity. She’s in the middle of a mission, and all she can think of is her girlfriend. The writers are quick to confirm that we’d get tons of the cute moments we were hoping to see, but an episode like “Eclipse Lake” proves that things won’t be perfect and that there are SLIGHT issues that these two have to work through. I honestly love that more than just giving us constant Lumity fluff. I wouldn’t mind it, but it’s sweet that we get to see them navigate being in a relationship. Instead of doing this on again/off again nonsense or holding off becoming canon until the series finale, we finally get to see a couple BE a couple as they persevere through every obstacle. Even in episodes that you wouldn’t expect.

Follies At the Coven Day Parade-Given the episode’s description and every single expectation going into the second half of Season Two, I was surprised to see that we’d get some more Lumity moments and an entire subplot about their relationship. Things start off cute enough with pet names, Amity getting flustered by Luz’s proximity, and Luz giving Amity a cheek kiss, completely shutting down Amity’s brain in the process. Things are adorable, but they don’t last when Amity notices Luz acting strangely.

Previously, Luz faced a fear of her own by finally telling Camila the truth about Luz’s summer. Things didn’t go well and it resulted in Luz feeling unsure about a lot of things. Will she return to Isles? Will she see her friends again? Could she and Amity be together? All these questions bounce around in Luz’s head and leave her anxious and trying not to show it. The only people she feels comfortable talking about her problems with are King and Eda, and that’s because as close of a connection that Luz has with someone like Amity, it’s nothing compared to what she has with King and Eda. They’re family to her and she trusts them with anything. With Amity…she and Luz have JUST started dating. Luz trusts her, but there’s more of a limit to it, all due to some issues that become MUCH clearer in another episode. While Luz feels she can say SOME things to Amity or share some secrets, Luz isn’t sure what would be too much baggage to drop on someone you’ve dated for a few days. Nor does Luz want Amity to worry. Being new to a relationship, Luz is too focused on keeping Amity nice and happy, not wanting to bring personal drama or conflict when things are going so perfectly between them. Except that Amity wants things to go differently.

Because Amity picked up that Luz was going through something, she wanted to figure out what. This time, it’s not out of wanting to prove herself worthy of love but instead wanting to just…help. To Amity, that’s what couples do: Help each other through mutual love and understanding. And with all the times Luz helped her, Amity only feels like it’s fair to return every single favor. But she can’t do it without knowing what’s wrong with Luz and it’s with this conundrum that the universe decides to give Amity a test. You see, Luz forgot her phone at school. A phone that has a video that can tell Amity exactly what she needs to know. Amity COULD play the video and figure out how she can help Luz…but that would be an invasion of Luz’s privacy. And given how Amity freaked out over her siblings and Luz nearly getting Amity’s diary, I’d say that the last thing Amity wants to do. Yet she still wants to. A small, selfish part of her wants to just play that video and finally help Luz. But if she does, she’ll breach Luz’s privacy and potentially risk losing some of Luz’s trust. It’s a situation where Amity knows the right answer, but it frustrates her so much that she’s desperate for any justification to act a little selfishly. Ultimately, she sticks with the right decision, and I’m glad that she does. All on her own too. Amity DID go to Willow for advice, but Willow basically gave a non answer, leaving it to Amity to figure out what to do. It’s for the best, because if Amity was told what to do, even though she already knew the answer, it would take the punch out of her final decision. But by far, the best thing about this, is how Amity reacts when she asks Luz what’s wrong.

When Luz saw that Amity holds out Luz’s phone and fears the worst, Amity’s quick to act. She doesn’t yell, act confrontational, or feel betrayed like most love interests in bad romantic dramas. Instead, Amity voices her worries, carefully asks Luz what’s wrong, and speaks with understanding when Luz makes her case. THIS is how a couple SHOULD act in a story. Not get into big fights and force a breakup to milk that drama, but actually TALK to each other for the sake of figuring out this problem together. Though, things aren’t perfect. Primarily on Luz’s end. In this scene, we see how Luz handles telling the truth about something uncomfortable. She looks away to hide how upset she is and forces a smile to give the illusion that everything is fine. It’s unfortunately something Luz does a lot around Amity, acting out of this “Keep things peaceful” mindset that does more harm than good. Avoiding the problem doesn’t get rid of it, nor does it stop Amity from worrying. The only way to fix things is by facing what makes you uncomfortable head on. Otherwise, it’ll fester and get worse. Luz was lucky this time, both for Amity catching on early and for being understanding enough to why Luz would want to be secretive. But if Luz remained tight-lipped longer, telling Amity the truth way later, Amity could have felt a little more betrayed by Luz keeping this secret from herand they would have LESS time to process it and figure out what to do. And I will admit that it IS a little strange that they never talked about what COULD happen if Luz couldn’t return to the Isles. They just kind of ignore it and go about things as normally as they could, almost as if they were expecting things to be fine between them. To be fair, the episode ends with them agreeing to take things one step at a time, but they don’t really go past more than one step. Despite that, I still love this interaction between these two.

I expected Luz to tell Amity the truth eventually, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon and so well. The writers found the perfect time for them to discuss Luz’s promise to Camila, nixing unnecessary drama for the sake of showing how healthy Luz and Amity are as a couple. EVERYONE appreciates that decision, because while couples CAN fight and argue, it doesn’t mean we want to see them do that. You root for a couple to get together and be mostly happy. Some angst can seep in, but don’t forget the good stuff. While Luz and Amity met with their first real obstacle, it’s nice seeing them work through it without an argument breaking out. It’s a good mix of fluff and angst that shows just what makes Lumity so good.

Although, not every story these two have together is perfect.

Any Sport in a Storm-I am NOT a fan of the Lumity subplot in this episode, which is CRAZY for me to admit. I love seeing these two together and seeing how perfect they are for each other. But this episode was NOT doing it for me.

I get the intention that the writers were going for. Luz and Amity spouting theories about who Azura’s author could be is meant to show that they’re both of the same mind, coming up with equally crazy theories together. On paper, I love this idea. It SOUNDS like a cute idea. But in execution, it makes Luz and Amity seem a little TOO dumb. They fully believe everything they come up with is plausible and it doesn’t sit right. I can KIND OF buy it with Luz, she’s said weirder stuff with conviction. For Amity, I don’t think any of it lines up. Again, I get that the intent is to prove that Amity can be just as weird as Luz, but there can be better ways of showing Amity’s weird side that doesn’t involve degrading her or Luz’s intelligence. Plus…did we really NEED this subplot? Did we really need Luz and Amity figuring out the mystery behind their being Azura books in the Isles? Just an off-hand comment about how Amity found her books in a box that washed up onto shore would have been more than enough. Over complicating it with having it be this big scam from Tibbles of all characters makes the whole thing weird and leaves me wishing that Luz and Amity went off to do anything else. There’s some good stuff like Luz calling Amity “beautiful” in Spanish, Boscha being jealous of their relationship, and Luz and Amity deciding to start a writing club after realizing they’re equally creative. I love this, but I’d much prefer it happening in a better written story.

But while we’re on the subject of better written stories…

Reaching Out-This…might be the best episode between these two.

Things start…not great. Not for Luz. We catch on quick that Luz is missing something big and is throwing herself into anything and everything just so she won’t think about it. Nothing that she’s doing is healthy and everybody, from the characters to the audience, can pick up on it. Still, Luz refuses to acknowledge her problem and hopes for SOME kind of distraction. And here comes Amity, having problems connecting with her dad and providing Luz with the distraction she wants.

It’s worth noting that Luz would have helped Amity any other day with no objections. That day, though? Luz’s main reason for helping Amity was so SHE wouldn’t think about her own problems. Luz still cares enough about what Amity is going through and offers nothing but support throughout the entire Bonesborough Brawl. The issue is that Luz’s heart and mind isn’t in the right place, leaving her both distracted and a little reckless. Er, well, more so than usual. And, of course, Amity picks up on it. After all the things that they went through together, Amity knows Luz enough to figure out that she’s a little off. Plus, Eda telling Amity that today’s a bad day for Luz definitely helps Amity figure out that something is wrong. And Luz…does the exact same thing she did in “Follies At the Coven Day Parade.” She brushes off the very notion that there’s a problem and pretends to be happy despite the emotional weight adding pressure to her heart. Now, there ARE a few reasons for this. Luz still isn’t sure if her and Amity are close enough for this emotional of a discussion, she doesn’t want to worry Amity while she needs help, and Luz is trying her best to avoid THINKING about the topic altogether. She doesn’t even go into the details with King and Eda, being vague with why it’s a rough day for her. If Luz can’t divulge the details to the people she considers family, then it’s not really anything against Amity. This is just a touchy subject that makes Luz uncomfortable to talk about it with anyone. But that doesn’t change how things would have gone smoother if Luz wasn’t so tight lipped.

If Amity knew what was going on with Luz, she would not have gone to her for help. Amity’s problem is more than winning the Bonesborough Brawl. It’s all about her trying to form SOME kind of connection with Alador, her father who was always too busy to notice Amity being in the same room as him. This is personal to her, and she wouldn’t want to burden Luz with more problems when she’s already going through something. But since Luz doesn’t offer the exact details, Amity allows Luz to help, only if she’s sure she’ll be okay. Except that Luz isn’t okay, she’s practically bursting at the seams and is making risky decisions with riskier moves. Amity notices all of it and CONTINUOUSLY asks Luz if she’s STILL sure everything’s fine. Luz lies and digs herself deeper into a hole when covering a mistake by attacking an Abomiton that Alador sent to watch Amity. Luz was acting out of anger, and didn’t tell that to Amity because then she’d have to explain WHY. So, she kept it a secret, hoping that Amity would win the brawl before any consequences came up. A decision that would quickly bite Luz in the rear as Alador showed up, called off the fight, and revealed to Amity that Luz lied. Again. Lying once in “Follies of the Coven Day Parade” was one thing. Amity figured quick that Luz was going through something and that there were no personal stakes to her at the time to make it an issue. Here, Amity has no idea what’s wrong with Luz. This was supposed to be a day to help AMITY, and Luz did nothing but lie all day. Doing it once is understandable. By doing it twice, Luz presents a pattern. It tells Amity that Luz would sooner lie to her instead of letting Amity know that something is wrong. It’s that realization, added with Alador’s pestering, that causes Amity to run away from BOTH of them. Alador is understandable enough, but for Amity to run away from Luz, a person that made her feel safe and comforted, just tells you how badly Luz screwed up. As for what happens next…Do you remember how I said in part one that Eda’s talk with her dad was my second favorite interaction in the show? Well, what happens next is my ABSOLUTE favorite.

We find Amity sitting at the tree she and Luz made, a symbol of their mutual trust and teamwork. And now its leaves are falling, making the tree look like it’s wilting away just like the trust Amity feels for Luz. Once Luz shows up, asking to take a seat, Amity doesn’t verbally respond. She gives a small, barely noticeable nod, but doesn’t speak. She doesn’t even look at Luz because of how betrayed she feels. Once more, I cannot emphasize enough how badly Luz messed up with all the secrets and lying, and she knows it too. She tries to apologize, but Amity wants more than that. She doesn’t want this to become a pattern and makes it clear she wants the truth now, no matter what it is. With Luz now backed in a corner, she finally comes clean about what’s been bothering her: Today was the anniversary of her dad’s death.

That truth is already sad enough, but the way Luz explains it is almost sadder. She forces a smile, acting like this isn’t a big deal and prefaces it in a way that’s almost rehearsed. Luz saying it happened a long time ago and how it’s no excuse for how she acts tells me she was scolded for acting up with people telling her those same things. Luz says it to Amity because she expects to get the same treatment from her, anticipating that exact same reaction. But when Luz looks at Amity…

All Luz gets is empathy, shock, and horror. On a day when Amity is dealing with a strained relationship she has with her father, she dragged Luz in to help when she's trying not to think about HERS. Not only that, but it’s a day when Luz WISHES she could be with her dad again, that they could just talk or do anything. And on that day, she spends it helping Amity and failing to do just that. It’s not like Luz can do anything else. She can’t go to the human realm, she can’t be with her mom, she can’t pick FLOWERS. It’s all these thoughts, realizations, and feelings that Luz has been trying to avoid all day, and it’s all coming out at once, breaking her. As for Amity, she gains an even better understanding of Luz than she ever had before. Luz is more than a nice person. She is someone who would push aside her own issues for the sake of helping someone through theirs. In this case, it’s partially for selfish reasons, but it’s no less true. Luz has a great amount of care for all of her friends, caring less about herself when they need her. Just look at all the times that Luz threw herself into danger for someone she loved. This episode is sort of the one time Luz thinks of herself first, using Amity’s problem as a distraction to hers, but every decision she makes is to help Amity, even if her focus isn’t a hundred percent on Amity’s problem. And when a new problem arises and Luz is too emotionally distraught to stand, let alone follow Amity, Luz makes a joke, fakes another smile, and says she’ll catch up later as if she’s not going to spend the next few minutes crying alone. All of it proves to Amity that there’s a tragedy behind the kindness that is Luz, as she would pick helping people over helping herself.

So Amity decides that she won’t let this stand anymore. If Luz won’t help herself, then Amity will help her, pushing aside her previous betrayal and says that when everything’s over they will pick flowers together and do as much as they can while Luz is stuck in the Isles. Because Amity understands Luz now, and realizes that even the helpful can feel a little helpless at times, wanting to be there for Luz like Luz was there for her. It’s a beautiful sentiment, and you see in the astonishment in Luz’s eyes, mixed with the blush, that she finally realizes how much Amity really cares about her. Amity’s ALL IN with this relationship. No matter if it’s uncomfortable or is about something difficult to talk about, Amity will be there when Luz needs her. That realization astonishes Luz, and leaves her realizing she shouldn’t take Amity for granted.

“Reaching Out” didn’t really need to go as hard as it did. If it was just an episode about Luz helping Amity with a problem, it would have been fine enough. Instead, it gave us AND Amity insight about the sadness Luz hides away so no one would be brought down by it. And on top of that, we STILL got cute moments. Luz spinning around Amity while calling her pretty, Luz blowing Amity kisses, Amity being flustered by Luz’s awesome entrance. It’s all adorable, WITHOUT having these two kiss like it was originally planned. Speaking of which, as mind blowing as it would have been to see these two kiss, I’m glad they didn’t. It would have been too much and fans would have remembered this episode more as the one where Lumity kissed instead of the one where Luz opened up about her dad. Not to mention that it would have been a bit inappropriate for Luz to kiss Amity after opening up about her father. Luz saying, “Thank you,” and admitting that she can’t wait to pick flowers with Amity is more than enough to show how grateful she is. We don’t need a kiss to top off what’s already perfect.

And…that’s about it when it comes to Lumity episodes. Due to the show’s shortening, everything was coming to a close and we had no time to have an entire episode dedicated to their growing relationship anymore. We still got cute moments, though. Stuff like Luz and Amity sending messages with a ton of love hearts between episodes is always adorable to see and it shows that these two don’t need to be the center of attention to have an endearing relationship. It’s just that there’s no time to focus on JUST Luz and Amity anymore, so the writers have to squeeze them in at any opportunity they can…But still knew when to throw in the important stuff.

Clouds on the Horizon-People would call this a Lumity episode, but I wouldn’t. There’s so much focus on setting up the season finale and stuff going on with Amity’s family that the Lumity stuff, while incredible, isn’t what the episode is about. With that said, we still got ONE big moment that’s worth discussing. And we’re gonna break it down…

We start with Luz being nervously excited to see Amity again. They’ve been a week apart from each other and the first thing Luz does is climb up to Amity’s balcony as if she’s the Romeo to her Juliet. Luz is probably quoting the play in her head right now as she fusses with her hair to make it look better before seeing Amity. That is, until Luz overhears Amity’s little breakdown.

Amity’s whole life is crumbling down before her eyes. Her parents are helping the emperor do something terrible, she has NO idea where Luz is, and Amity is locked away in her room, unable to do anything about all of it. She’s trapped with nothing to do, and all she can do is think about Luz and what SHE’S going through. With the thought of Luz being in MORE trouble making Amity feel worse.

Funnily enough, it’s thinking about Luz that also makes Amity feel better. It’s just that she focuses on what Luz would say in this moment instead of what bad things COULD be happening to her. And Amity has an accurate understanding of what Luz would do and say, with the very idea of Luz’s warmth and kindness being enough to make Amity smile again, getting enough determination once more to fight to stop everything because she’s not letting a genocidal madman destroy everything before she has her first date with Luz.

Unbeknownst to Amity, Luz was hearing the whole thing, and agreeing with every word with gusto. In fact, I’m willing to bet that Amity said the exact speech Luz had planned to say, word for word. That just tells you how well Amity knows her girlfriend to take the words right out of Luz’s mouth.

And I love that the second they see each other, they both immediately run to each other, with Luz calling Amity "Sweet Potato,” keeping that nickname alive, and Amity jumping into Luz’s arms. It’s already adorable, making the Lumity fans happy with this incredibly cute moment. There’s only one thing to make it more perfect…and the show does just that.

BOOM! On screen kiss! And one with the smoothest animation possible, too! I like to think that’s an extra middle finger Dana gave to Disney, using so much of the budget all for a kiss. A progressive kiss between two girls, but a kiss nonetheless. And I can’t help but appreciate Luz’s facial expressions throughout all of it.

“Heh, my girlfriend is so pretty…”

“Wait what’s happening—“

“OH, we’re kissing!”

“Oh, we’re kissing…”

“Oh, wow…”

It is everything I could have asked for. And a little bit more.

Luz and Amity’s awkward reactions to the kiss is just a little cherry on top that I didn’t know I needed. Amity is embarrassed and astonished that she was brave enough to kiss Luz. The girl keeps making first moves and somehow STILL ends up being surprised that she made them. As for Luz, she’s embarrassed over the fact that she reacted to the kiss by going “Crikey.” Of all the things she could have said in this moment, it’s one random word that nobody would have expected. It’s perfectly Luz and helps sell this scene as a teenager’s first kiss. It’s ALMOST perfect, but the awkwardness and inexperience makes it a moment Luz and Amity will both cherish and regret. It’s the exact type of normalization that the LGBTQA+ community has been BEGGING to see, with The Owl House expertly delivering it.

And that’s…really the last big moment in this series. Don’t get me wrong, we still got cute bits afterwards. Like Amity defending Luz’s honor and Luz being amazed by Amity’s strength. Or in the very next episode where all Amity can think about is saving Luz or how it’s Amity tearfully begging Luz to run that temporarily convinces Luz to leave behind the Boiling Isles. You get the sense that their relationship is still going strong, but there’s rarely a sense of progression or focus, especially when we get to—

Season Three-Yeah, might as well lump the whole “season” together. Because with the writers only having three specials to wrap up the rest of the story, we have no time to build off of Luz and Amity’s relationship more than we’ve had. There were SOME cute moments, like…

Luz’s little video that she used to come out to her mom. The fact that Luz calls them Lumity in universe is perfect.

Their little dance in the rain was precious and everything fans expected.

All the little touches and kisses these two shared proved how comfortable they’ve gotten with each other over time. They’re past the awkward stages of their relationship and finally accepting that this IS their reality.

Their couple costumes are the best and it’s kind of funny that they become their default outfit for most of the season.

Luz knowing she’s in a nightmare because Amity misquoted Azura is how it should be done. Luz knows Amity enough to know that would NEVER happen.

And their last on-screen kisses just feels like a final middle finger to the network that screwed the show over.

I couldn’t get enough of these moments, and I appreciate all of them. But it doesn’t change how Lumity is never something that takes the focus in an episode. Instead, it’s something that just simply exists, which is honestly good for a different reason. It allows Luz and Amity to just…be. To prove that their relationship doesn’t have to be the center of attention to be a good couple. They’re in a comfortable enough state and have already gone through so much that there’s not much to do that wouldn’t be repeating what we’ve seen already. Besides, we do get SOMETHING beyond cute moments.

Due to there being three specials left with the series, a lot of characters got the short end of the stick, even for fan favorites like Amity. And while Luz’s role this season is to go through a goth phase, Amity’s is there to…just be Luz’s girlfriend. I explained in part one how fans didn’t appreciate this decision, but I learned to accept it. I see it less of a downgrade and more of a character progression. And it can be best explained through ONE image:

Luz is in a dark time in her life and Amity brings her attention back into the light. That’s Amity’s real role this season: Being to Luz what Luz was toher. With Luz shrouded in guilt about Belos and The Collector, Amity is there to do as much as she can to help cheer Luz up. Planning a way back home in the hope of surprising Luz with a win, coming up couple costumes, reassuring Luz that life is better with her in it, giving advice about the egg, and motivating Luz to save the world one last time. Luz was the person who helped Amity through the darkest part of her life and Amity’s trying to do the same. It’s a culmination of her character development, showing her being the same supportive person Luz was and proving that she can give as much as she takes. The best part is that it…ALMOST works on Luz. Everything Amity does is effective enough to temporarily take Luz out of this funk she’s in, to the point where most of Luz’s genuine smiles came from Amity’s mere existence. But it wasn’t enough to completely help Luz get out of her depressed state. It worked in spades, don’t get me wrong. Whenever Luz was at her lowest, Amity was there to cheer her up a LITTLE. It’s just that Luz was too deep in her guilt that it would take more than Amity being her wonderful self to snap Luz out of it. Still, it was better than nothing, especially considering how Amity was the closest source that left Luz indecisive about leaving the Isles forever.

Eda and King would have likely driven Luz to stay…but they’re not there at the moment. They’re separated from Luz, with any knowledge of their fates left unknown to her. As for Luz’s friends, she’ll miss them dearly but she can always tell herself that they’d be better off without her. And with Willow and Gus already getting along great with Hunter, it just makes Luz’s argument easier to convince herself with. But with Amity, things are different. Dating her was an act of Luz trying to gain some sense of certainty in her life after all the crazy things that left her unsure of even who she wants to be. Being with Amity is something Luz fought for and, if she wanted to give it up, she had two chances to break things off if having a girlfriend wasn’t an option. She could have confessed that they should break up after telling Amity about her promise or take the L in “Reaching Out” after screwing up Amity’s moment to shine. But She didn’t. Because Luz wants to be with Amity, more than anything. And Luz knows that if she stays in the Human Realm, then that’s the end of their relationship. With that being the LAST THING Luz ever wants, it makes her decision weigh heavier on her heart, making Luz feel even more guilt with each soft moment she has with Amity. Because Luz KNOWS she has to confess about staying eventually and actually plans on doing it this time. There’s no ignoring the problem and solving it on her own or lying about things being perfectly fine. Luz planned to have one last happy memory with the people she loves before bringing down the mood about her staying in the human realm. Then Belos happened, but instead of putting it off for a better moment, Luz still decides that she HAS to tell the truth. The only reason she doesn’t is that Camila stalls things by saying that they’re BOTH going to the demon realm to fix things. Luz agrees with that for now, but is still convinced that she has to stay home. She’s even ready to say that to Amity later, only to get interrupted by Kikimora’s insane plan to rule over teenagers. And by the time THAT’S resolved, Camila managed to help Luz get through her angst and help her understand that leaving the Isles isn’t an option. Which means that there’s really no reason to tell Amity or anyone else about the whole thing anymore. She could, but it’s not so big of a deal that she HAS to. Not anytime soon, at least.

To me, Luz wanting to come out and say that she’s staying in the Human Realm is done well enough to make it where she SORT OF learned her lesson in “Reaching Out.” I used to think the opposite and…yeah, it’s not perfect, but it’s good enough. Luz might still stall from saying the truth, and never does, but she still wants to. Luz was just struggling to find the right words or stalled for the right time. As for Amity, she knew that something was wrong but respectfully didn’t pry. Amity offered support when needed, but understood at this point that if Luz was hiding something, it was likely for a good reason. She’ll say it in time and Amity’s willing to trust Luz to do so. And while Luz never does, again, there’s no real reason or urgency to. Plus, trust me when I say that the last thing I want in the final season of The Owl House is more Lumity angst. I am perfectly content with there being primarily fluff between these two with just the SLIGHTEST angst sprinkled in.

I’m also content with the series ending with Luz and Amity STILL being together. They don’t break up, they’re not forced to separate, and neither die.

…Well, not permanently, anyways. The show ends with them together and still dating up to three or four years if the time skip is anything to go on. They got a chance to go on more dates, say “I love you” to each other constantly, hold hands and share soft kisses, go to Grom WITHOUT the drama, have disagreements they can work through, and…likely do adult things in the future when they’re ready for it. They get to go through it all together, likely for forever. I know that there’s this opinion about how it’s unrealistic for teen couples to stay together, especially ones who only ever dated each other, but…I don’t really care. For one, it’s a work of fiction. In a work of fiction, I WANT to see the cute couple get together, stay together, and ALWAYS be together. No sane person should want Luz and Amity to break up unless their reasons are “I don’t ship it.” These two are cute and have a healthy relationship that communicates well and learns WITH each other. These reasons make Luz and Amity one of my favorite fictional couples in animation, as well as the best thing in the show.

Lumity being the best thing in The Owl House goes beyond them being a cute couple. It’s ONE reason, but there are still others. Luz and Amity’s relationship normalizes LGBTQA+ romance, trading spectacle for sweet, awkward teen love that was a joy to see every time. It was also a joy to watch their bond grow stronger every episode, seeing the natural progression of rivals to friends to now girlfriends. There’s no forced drama or stretching out the romance. The writers figured that fans would want a cute couple to be a GOOD couple, so they prioritized as much as they could to make it as appealing as possible. It’s why Lumity works so well. It’s a part of the show that the writers knew they needed to get right, so they tried their best to do so. With it came an impressive romantic subplot that I, and others, couldn’t get enough of, for the adorable moments, showing us how far these two grew, and giving them both a happy ending they deserve. For me, I couldn’t have asked for anything better from a show I love.

Now, a normal person would stop their big, six part long review after talking about what they call the best thing about their favorite show. Save the best for last, and all that. But I…am an idiot who didn’t think this through. And there’s two more things I want to get out of the way before the conclusion. So tune in next time as we discuss the STORIES within The Owl House.

Next Part

#the owl house #luz noceda #amity blight #lumity #what i thought about #the owl house reviews #long post #really long post #again #sorry #my bad

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