Yesterday's Lie

"Yesterday's Lie" is the twenty-ninth episode of the Disney Channel animated series The Owl House. It premiered on August 14, 2021, and is the tenth episode in the second season.
==Synopsis==
Luz thinks she has found a way back home but questions if she is ready for what she will find on the other side.
==Plot==
Following Philip Wittebane's instructions, and gathering all the necessary ingredients, Luz, Eda, King, and Hooty have managed to create a new portal, though it is not entirely perfect. Luz goes in to test it out and check on her mother. But in the case it starts to close, she ties a rope around her so Eda, King, and Hooty can pull to safety.
Luz finds herself inside a strange void filled with floating cubes and where her magic is rendered useless. When she looks into them, she can see into other worlds through the reflections. Through the screen on her mom's phone, she is able to see her home and her mother, who is busy in the kitchen. Luz calls out to her but she cannot hear her over the music. Then to her shock, spots a doppelganger who looks like her. She confronts the imposter through the mirror in her room, frightening her. The imposter runs away to the abandoned house where Luz entered The Boiling Isles and gets caught in a trap. In her struggle, she changes back into her original form, which happens to be a snake like demon. Through a makeup mirror, Luz learns that the imposter is a demon named Vee, who came from the Boiling Isles looking for a place to belong, and upon meeting her mother she chose to live with her in Luz's place. After helping her free herself from the trap, the two begin to talk. Luz was planning to tell her mom where she had been over the last few months, but thanks to Vee she has not realized she has been missing. So she tells her to continue living her life until she is able to return home. However, Vee is unable to transform back. She needs magic to transform and she had just used up the rest of what she had. Remembering Eda's numerous visits to the human realm, Luz assumes that she might have left some magic stuff behind. So, they go into town to look for them. Little did they know they were being watched by a hidden camera.
Their first visit is a cafe where they hope to find one of Eda's enchanted pastries. Vee sniffs around and asks the receptionist about Eda. She confirms that she was banned from the cafe after trying to pay for a latte with a live raccoon. When they called the cops on her, she did something to the croissants that gave rats intelligence after they threw them in the trash. Luz and Vee go to the rats at the back of the cafe and try to ask them questions. But instead, they chase Vee away, demanding more of those magic croissants. Then they spot three kids playing with Eda's Hexes Hold'em cards, which she got rid of. Vee cannot smell any magic from them, which means they are now enchantless. However, the kids might know where they got them from. Vee goes up to them and asks about the cards. A person in black owns the cards, thinking they are tarot cards, offers to read Vee's fate before telling her where they got them. According to them, Vee is running from her past, a previous life that was not good to her. However, she holds guilt and fear that will eventually catch her in fulfilling a prophecy that she will not be able to escape from. This frightens Vee and makes Luz curious. Afterwards, the person in black tells Vee they got the cards from the Gravesfield Historical Society.
At the Gravesfield Historical Society, Vee meets the curator, Jacob Hopkins. He tells her about he bought the cards off of Eda a while back. According to him, she tried to dump them in the river. Now they have become popular among high schoolers. Jacob asks if Vee wants a set and she says yes. While waiting, Vee has a look around the museum. Curious about what the girl in black said, Luz asks Vee about it. Through tears, Vee resents Luz for running away. While she had everything, a mom who loves her, a home, and a life, Vee had nothing. Then she reveals her real name is Number 5, and she is a Basilisk who should not even exist. Her kind went extinct a long time ago, but Emperor Belos brought them back to life. He put them through endless experiments to see how they drained magic. For many of them all they ever knew was feed off magic. Some of them, including Vee were able to escape, but it was only a matter of time before Belos caught them again. When Vee saw Luz, she went through the same portal to escape. There she took on Luz's form and started living with her mother, who showed her the only kindness she had ever known. Suddenly, Vee picks up the scent of magic, leading her to the staff room. To her shock it is filled witch hunting tools, books about catching witches, and a conspiracy board with Eda's pictures on it. She also discovers that someone had placed cameras in the abandoned house, and knows who she is. Then without warning, she gets trapped in a cage and changes back to her original form. She is confronted by Jacob, who is obsessed with witches and demons. In the past, he had an encounter with Eda in her curse form, and has since been setting up traps in the hope of catching a demon, hoping to prove witches and demons are real. But he also believes they are being sent from Mars to harvest human teeth to power a time machine (clearly having mixed up magical beings with aliens). Now that he has Vee, he plans to show her to the world on MewTube and have her in a cage for the rest of her life.
Vee has decided to accept her fate, but Luz refuses to give up on her. She is determined to somehow save her. So calls for her Mom again and this time she is able to talk to her through the reflection on her phone. She tells her all about where she has been for the last few months and about Vee. Luz is able to convince her mom to rescue her, but is not convinced by her story. Even when she sees Vee in her true form, she thinks its only a costume. But she is quickly convinced and terrified when Jacob shows her the footage from the abandoned house, exposing Vee and confirming Luz's story about the demon realm. However, despite it all being so much to process, she frees Vee and gives Jacob a beating before locking him in his own cage. She also threatens to call the police on him for setting up traps and cameras on private property, 
It starts to rain by the time Camila and Vee return home. Through the rain and car headlights, Luz is able to project herself in front of Vee and her Mom. Vee thanks both Luz and Camila for everything, and Camila welcomes her to continue living in her house. She even got her Hexes Hold'em cards to feed on. Then she turns to her daughter, full of tears and emotions. She is finding it hard to realize her daughter is trapped in demon realm full of magic. She is scared that she will never see her again, but Luz assures her she will find a way home. Despite the heartbreaking distance between them now, Camila is proud of how mature Luz has become. But then Luz accidentally admits that she chose to stay, making Camila think that she hated being with her. Luz assures her it is not true, when the ropes starts pulling her away. Before fading away, Camila apologies to Luz for pushing her away and promises to become a better mother to her. Luz again tries to assure her she was not to blame for her leaving home, and promises to return to home, but her mother makes her promise it under the condition to stay in the human realm. Luz is pulled back to the demon realm just as the portal starts to collapse. However, Eda is convinced they will be able to create another and more stable portal. However, Luz is filled with mixed feelings after what she promised to her mother.
==Cast==
*Sarah-Nicole Robles as Luz Noceda
*Wendie Malick as Eda Clawthorne
*Alex Hirsch as King, Hooty
*Elizabeth Grullón as Camila Noceda
*Michaela Dietz as Vee
*Roger Craig Smith as Jacob Hopkins
*Grey DeLisle as Masha
===Additional voices===
*Eric Bauza
*Zeno Robinson
*Kari Wahlgren
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*This episode marks the midseason finale of Season 2.
*When Vee is going through Luz's closet, one of the shirts hanging up inside is the same one worn by Luz in the series pitch pilot.
*The curator, Jacob Hopkins, shares the name of a real world voice artist.
*Luz's hometown is known as Gravesfield, and was found in the year 1635.
**During that time two brothers went with a witch through a portal, it is possible it was Philip Wittebane and that he had a brother.
*Luz mentions the events of "The First Day", when a basilisk attacked Hexside.
*A picture of Luz's father can be seen in the kitchen of Luz's house, though his face is blocked out by the light reflecting on the picture.
*The "portal" Luz creates was more accurately a transdimensional crystal ball; given she could see and communicate between realms with a reflective surface.
*Luz almost spies on Amity with the faulty portal, but quickly stops herself, not wanting to invade her girlfriend's privacy.
*As a genre joke, it's brought up "that's what all bad guys say" when they think they're the hero.
*Vee likely brought Luz's stuff back from the trash after the events of this episode; since its likely she's been nonchalantly disposing of things she didn't like from Luz's room.
*The hidden message on the conspiracy board translates to "Of".
*The imposter Luz is revealed to be a basilisk named Vee.
===Allusions===
*This episode potentially makes reference to a fan theory that Eda was briefly married to Stan Pines of Gravity Falls, since the people in Gravesfield know Eda as "Marilyn", which was the false name which Stan says his ex-wife used.
==International premieres==
*August 15, 2021 (Canada)
*August 27, 2021 (Singapore)
*October 7, 2021 (Israel)
*October 20, 2021 (France, Switzerland)
*November 12, 2021 (Germany, Poland, Scandinavia)
*December 12, 2021 (Taiwan)
*December 21, 2021 (Middle East)
*December 28, 2021 (Turkey)
*January 19, 2022 (Latin America, Brazil)
*January 26, 2022 (United Kingdom, Ireland) (Premiere on Disney+)
*February 4, 2022 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand) (Premiere on Disney+)
*February 9, 2022 (Latin America, Brazil)
*April 13, 2022 (Italy) (Premiere on Disney+)
*May 23, 2022 (Portugal)
*July 6, 2022 (Japan)
*September 16, 2022 (Bulgaria, Romania)
*March 15, 2023 (Spain) (Premiere on Disney+)
==External links==
*
pt-br:A Mentira de Ontem
Category:The Owl House episodes