Labyrinth Runners

"Labyrinth Runners" is the thirty-seventh episode of the Disney Channel animated series, The Owl House. It premiered on May 7, 2022, and is the eighteenth episode in the second season.
==Synopsis==
When the Emperor's coven comes to Hexside, Gus teams up with an unlikely ally.
==Plot==
A lot of things have started to change around Hexside. Students are now engaging in multiple tracks, especially, Mattholomule, Emira, and Edric. Mattholomule is now in both construction and illusion, Emira is in healing and illusion, and Edric is now studying beast keeping, potions, and illusions. At lunch, Amity, Willow, and Gus talk about their concerns for Luz as Willow reveals the Owl House was surrounded by Coven Scouts when she went to assess the situation, but Amity interrupts her before she can finish her sentence.
As Gus goes to throw his lunch away, he sees Flapjack rummaging through the trash and chases him to the paranoratorium where he finds Hunter hiding. Apparently, after running away from the Owl House he came to Hexside, and has been living in the paranoratorium evers since, especially since it is closed for repairs. When Gus asks him why he is hiding in the paranoratorium, Hunter barely gives an answer, not wanting to tell him the true nature of his situation, Gus asks Hunter if he knows where Luz is, Hunter is surprised that Luz isn't with Eda. Just then, Principal Bump calls every student to the gym. Once everyone is gathered, they are greeted by the head witch of the Illusion Coven, Graye Vernworth. He has come to warn that the Emperor's Coven is planning to stop multi-track studies by inducting every Hexside student into a coven before the Day of Unity. Graye has come to prevent this by creating a fake sigil for each student before the Coven Scouts arrive. Edric is the first to be brought forward. But just when Graye is about to place a fake sigil on his wrist, Gus realizes the whole thing is an illusion. He exposes Graye, revealing him to be a Coven Scout. There are even more Coven Scouts hidden by illusions, including the real Graye Vernworth, and they all surrounded the teachers and students. Graye was actually trying to trick everyone into getting sigils. Angry with Gus ruining his plans, Graye grabs him and threatens to give him a sigil against his will. In his panic, Gus accidently casts a spell that covers the school in a series of illusions influenced by his memories. In the midst of the chaos, the whole school gets separated from one another, and Hunter comes to Gus' rescue. Graye is somewhat impressed, especially by the illusion of the Looking Glass Graveyard. He orders the Coven Scouts to find him.
Amity and Willow are wandering through Gus' illusions till they find themselves at carnival from a few months ago. Amity learns from Edric through Penstagram that he, Bump and a bunch of others are in the Healing homeroom. So the two make their way there as well, while at the same time dodge Coven Scouts. Meanwhile, Gus and Hunter find themselves in an illusion of the Bonesborough streets. One of Gus' eyes are glowing, and he can see between what is real and what is an illusion. But since he has never made an illusion this big before, he does not know how to undo it. Nor does he believe he can. While trying to find their way through the illusion streets, Gus asks Hunter why he tried to trick him into joining a coven when they first met and now helping stay away from one. Hunter cannot tell him excatly why but then they bump into two Coven Scouts. When they recognize Hunter, they tell him that Emperor Belos has been looking for him. After Gus and Hunter escape to an illusion of Gus' room, Hunter falls into a state of panic after knowing Belos is after him. Gus manages to calm him down, and tries to ask if he ran away from the Emperor's Coven. Again, Hunter does not answer. Gus can tell he is in a position where he does not feel he can trust anyone. Gus understands how it feels. Everyone who has tried to be his friend always had some ulterior motive until he met Willow, Luz, and many others. He tells Hunter that while not everyone is great, not everyone is all bad. He assures Hunter he can trust him, but he remains cautious.
Meanwhile, Amity and Willow find themselves in an illusion of the Bonesborough Public Library, where they are being attacked by Coven Scouts. The two witches are able to fight them off, but get in each other's way, especially Amity. She feels she needs to protect Willow, but the latter assures her how more strong and confident she has become. Then they are found by Principal Bump who creates a breech in the illusion.
Gus and Hunter also make it out of the illusion and in the actual hallways of Hexside. They also bump into Willow, who is glad to see them. But as they follow her to find the other, Hunter realizes something is off. He aims his staff at Willow, saying it is not her. Realizing she has been exposed, Willow is revealed to be a Coven Scout in disguise. Graye appears and captures Gus while two Coven Scouts apprehend Hunter and put him to sleep. When Hunter regains consciousness, he finds himself in the Healing homeroom where other students are being treated for their injuries. Luckily, it is not an illusion. The school saw him being dragged and the Flying Derby team insisted on rescuing him. However, Bump is not convinced of his innocence, and demands to know where Gus is. Clearly, everyone knows he is the Golden Guard, and they do not trust him. Hunter has a hard time convincing everyone that he is not with Emperor's Coven. Luckily, Willow believes him and takes his side. Together to formulate a plan to save Gus and drive Graye and the Coven Scouts out of the school.
Graye has taken Gus back to the gym, where he interrogates him about his illusion of the Looking Glass Graveyard. Apparently, he has been looking for the Galderstones for the Emperor for years. Gus refuses to reveal the whereabout of the graveyard. So, Graye tries to force the information out of him with his magic amplifier. This ends up hurting Gus, causing him to have another magical outburst. Meanwhile, Bump and the students attack the Coven Scouts guarding the gym. Hunter, Amity, and Willow find Gus inside a magical bubble. He is trapped in his head with bad memories. Graye is also under the affect of Gus' memories, and is in agony. While Willow and Amity hold off the Coven Scouts, Hunter goes into Gus' memories. He sees many of Gus' memories of him being unable to learn anything, getting tricked, or being able to trust himself. Hunter eventually manages to get through to Gus. He understands how Gus feels, as he too has spent all his life believing he was doing something good for someone good only to realize everything was a lie. But some part of him still believes in that lie like Gus wants to believe he is dumb. Hunter assures him what he believes is not true and he would never mess with him. This helps Gus undo all the illusions and returns the school to normal.
Graye and the Coven Scouts are defeated, and are driven out of Hexside. Graye is dragged away in a vegetable state. Apparently, what Gus did had really messed Graye up. Everyone crowds around Hunter, asking many questions. Hunter answers that Belos has been lying to everyone; wild magic, the titan and the Day of Unity. He then gets down to what the Day of Unity is really about.
==Cast==
*Issac Ryan Brown as Gus Porter
**Carter Jones as Young Gus
*Zeno Robinson as Hunter
*Mae Whitman as Amity Blight
*Tati Gabrielle as Willow Park
*Bumper Robinson as Principal Bump
*Erica Lindbeck as Emira Blight
*Ryan O'Flanagan as Edric Blight
*Noshir Dalal as Adrian Graye Vernworth
===Additional voices===
*Dee Bradley Baker
*Kimberly Brooks
*Matt Chapman
*Jorge Diaz
*Rachel Macfarlane
*Ally Maki
*Dana Terrace
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*This is the first episode where Luz is completely absent, though she is mentioned and photos of her are seen.
**Since Hunter ran away in "Hollow Mind", he didn't know what happened to Luz after that and is surprised that Luz isn't with Eda.
**As of this episode, every single character in the show has been absent for at least one episode.
*Adrian Graye is credited as "Graye Vernworth" in the credits.
*Several students have transferred to dual multi-tracks.
**Emira: Healing and illusions.
**Edric: Beast keeping, potions, and illusions.
**Mattholomule: Construction and illusions.
*Gus's giant illusion consists of scenes from "Covention", "Something Ventured, Someone Framed", "Really Small Problems", and "Through the Looking Glass Ruins", as well as illusions of the Glandus High students from the latter episode.
*The secret code appears when Gus and Hunter run into the illusion wall. When translated, it says "Below".
*The episode is similiar to "Marcy at the Gates" as both Amity and Anne became overprotective to their friends Willow and Marcy due to their fear of losing them again before they made it up after they were convinced to trust and put a faith on them.
*This episode reveals how Willow and Gus first met.
===Allusions===
*The title is a reference to the Maze Runner book series.
*There is a poster in Gus's bedroom that resembles the 1982 film version of The Thing.
*Adrian Graye's name is possibly a reference to The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, about a man who falls in love with his own portrait and wishes that it would age instead of him. This somewhat matches with Graye's personality as he is vain.
*When Amity and Willow fight off one of the scouts, they do a Sailor Moon pose from the titular anime.
*Near the start of the episode, when the illusions of Gus' former classmates dissapear, one shouts "I don't wanna go", as a nod to Spider-Man's death in Avengers: Infinity War.
==International premieres==
*May 8, 2022 (Canada)
*July 6, 2022 (Portugal)
*August 6, 2022 (France)
*August 6, 2022 (France)
*August 8, 2022 (Germany)
*August 9, 2022 (Israel)
*August 22, 2022 (Italy) (Premiere on Disney+)
*September 7, 2022 (Latin America, Brazil)
*September 8, 2022 (United Kingdom and Ireland) (Premiere on Disney+)
*September 14, 2022 (Poland)
*September 28, 2022 (Bulgaria, Romania)
*March 15, 2023 (Spain) (Premiere on Disney+)
==External links==
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pt-br:Correndo por Labirintos
Category:The Owl House episodes