Thanks to Them

"Thanks to Them" is the forty-first episode of the Disney Channel animated series The Owl House. It premiered on October 15, 2022, and is the first episode/special of the third season.
==Synopsis==
After months of trying, Luz and her friends make a daring attempt to return to the Demon Realm.
==Plot==
Shortly after returning home and a meal, Camila takes in Luz's friends and provides them with shelter until they can find a way back to The Boiling Isles. Luz is in the bathroom to get bandages and Hunter checks on her, and thanks her for not telling them his secret. A concerned Hunter asks how she's been since the mindscape, Luz is still torn with guilt by her unintentional involvement in Belos' plot against the witches, and is afraid their friends might hate her for it if she comes forward with it. Hunter tries to comfort her; he has his own concerns that he is a clone of a witch hunter who Belos once knew, and is too afraid to open up about it with their friends, so they agree together that they will tell them when they are ready. 
Camila now knows everything that happened, the identity of Belos and about the Collector. They do not know how to deal with the Collector, but they have to find a way back to the Demon Realm. The next day they go back to the old abandoned house, Luz and her friends set a goal to reopen the portal back to the demon realm. But without any magical elements or Titan's blood this task proves to be somewhat impossible. Meanwhile, Luz comes out to her mother as being bisexual and introduces Amity as her girlfriend. The four witches experience what the human realm has to offer and fashion themselves with new looks, especially Vee, who adopts her own human appearance. Luz wonders what happened to Eda, King, and everyone in the Demon Realm all this time.
Some time passes, and now it is late October. While Luz has been attending school, her friends hang out at the abandoned house, still trying to figure out a way to return to the Isles. It has been months and they have been unsuccessful in finding a way back. One day, Amity steps into a hole in the floor of the old house, which Flapjack has been pecking at, and finds a small box under the floorboards. Inside, the kids discover a small scroll, which they hope could be the clue to finding a way back to the Isles. Meanwhile, Luz remains guilt-ridden about her actions with Belos, and cannot stop blaming herself for it. She is no longer the enthusiastic girl she used to be.
The next day, while Luz and Camila are working at the vet, Amity, Willow, Gus, and Vee head out to find the clues on the scroll, with the absence of Hunter. They visit a store called The Magic Circle, the Gravesfield Library, and the zoo where they meet the giraffes. All these visits lead them to nowhere close to figuring out the scroll. Noticing the disappointed looks on their faces, Vee suggests they visit the Gravesfield historical society, where they would most likely find the answers they seek. Vee is still traumatized by her previous experience when she went there, but luckily the facility is under new management, Masha. Jacob Hopkins was fired after he started making edits to the exhibits. The kids show Masha the scroll, which they reveal is a rebus, a riddle where pictures and symbols make up words. Thanks to Masha's insight, and Vee realizing the rebus is a map of Old Gravesfield, the kids manage to figure out what the rebus says. It also turns out to be a map leading to Titan's blood. Meanwhile, at the vet, Luz is sketching what form her Palisman may be.
Meanwhile, Hunter has started seeing Belos, and becomes very scared. He confronts Luz about it, and the two decide to check out where he last saw him, in the abandoned house. They only find a possum, and assume that it is all just in Hunter's head. Hunter is glad their friends are safe, but Luz says Hunter himself should also be protected since he is part of the family. Hunter, moved by Luz, starts to cry and Luz hugs him in comfort. They go up from the basement but Hunter's shadow is different. They return home to find Amity, Willow and Gus designing their costumes for the upcoming Haunted Hayride. Gus is going as Captain Avery from his new favorite book Cosmic Frontier and suggests Hunter can be Chief Engineer O'Bailey. Willow is going as a bat creature, and Amity suggests she and Luz can go as Azura and Hecate. Luz likes the idea, but she still remains distracted by her thoughts. That evening, while everyone is sleeping, Luz goes downstairs to make a vlog on her laptop. She says how much she wanted to be good at something, and to be around people who also liked that something. And when she found the Demon Realm, she believed she found it: a place where she could learn magic, become a witch, and no longer be a weirdo. But now she feels she has messed up too much and has to make things right. 
The night of the Halloween Festival arrives, and Luz and her friends show up all dressed in their costumes. They all get on the Haunted Hayride, where they meet Masha again, who tells them the mysterious unsolved mystery of Gravesfield: The tale of the Brothers Wittebane. The year was 1613. Two orphaned brothers named Philip and Caleb arrived in Gravesfield. Caleb did his best to take care of his younger brother, and they tried to fit in to their new town and its unsavory practices. They grew up to become witch hunters. Local lore suggests that the two brothers met a real witch from another world. Her name was Evalyn. Caleb was spirited away by her, dazzled by magic and visions of a strange yet beautiful place. Philip set off to save his brother and bring the witch to justice. But neither of them were ever seen again. Nobody knew what happened to them, but Masha believes Caleb fell in love with a witch and Philip became upset by this. It is clear to everyone they were talking about Belos. After the frightening ride, Hunter starts seeing Belos again, and again tells Luz about it. He also tells her about the scroll they found leading to Titan's blood and how her friends plan to surprise about it. Hunter can only assume that Belos is after it as well. Concerned for their safety, Luz and Hunter get Flapjack to swipe the rebus and go looking for the Titan's blood themselves. Meanwhile, Camila finds Luz's laptop and starts watching all the vlogs she has made all the way to the day before she went to the Boiling Isles, as well as the one she made the other night. To her shock, Luz has decided to tell her friends she is going to permanently stay behind in the Human Realm. 
Luz and Hunter have ventured deep into the dark forest, following the map on the scroll. Along the way, Hunter begins to feel strange, and Luz quickly loses sight of him. She finds herself lost, with no clue of which way to go or how to find the Titan's blood. Then an idea comes to her. She takes out one of her light glyphs, and when she taps it, it magically turns to light. Glyphs are powered by the magic of the isles. The closer she gets to the Titan's blood the stronger the glyphs become. This eventually leads her to an abandoned flooded cemetery where she finds Hunter, who is now possessed by Belos. He even finds a vial of Titan's blood buried in the dirt. Luz uses her restored magic to fight Belos while being careful not to harm Hunter. Amity, Willow, and Gus also show up with Vee and Camila. Belos continues to mock Luz for helping him find the Collector, and how he plans to finish off what he just started. He starts to attack Amity, Willow, and Gus. The kids put up a fight, including Vee, but Belos quickly overpowers them. He even injures Flapjack and tries to drain the magic from him. But Hunter regains some control and turns the fight into a fight between two people in one body. With all his will power, Hunter tells the fallen Emperor that he has had enough of him and declares he will never do what he tells him again. He tells Belos what he wants to do in his life. Then he grabs the vial and throws it in the water, vowing to never allow Belos to harm anyone ever again. Belos regains control and dives in after the vial, but drowns. Camila dives in and saves him. After bringing him back on dryland, Belos removes himself from Hunter's body back to his monster form. He is enraged by his treachery, only to be told by Luz he had himself to blame. Instead of killing them, Belos uses the vial of Titan's blood to open a portal back to the Demon Realm and walks through it, intending to finish his goal of destroying witchkind.
Hunter is still lifeless. Nobody knows what to do and fear the worst. However, the wounded Flapjack limps up to his friend and sacrifices his own life force to revive him. Amity confronts Luz about what Belos said earlier, and she confesses everything about how she used the time pools to meet Belos, how she unintentionally helped him find the Collector. She apologizes to everyone, and just before she could tell them her decision to stay behind, Camila steps up and declares her intention to accompany her to the Demon Realm. Luz’s friends also tell Luz she is not to blame for what has happened: Belos tricked her, like he did with everyone else. Nothing would have changed if it was someone else, and Luz is someone who can fight him back. Her friends encourage her to return to the Demon Realm with them and help fight Belos.
The portal is starting to close, so everyone wastes no time. One by one, they enter through the portal, but Vee chooses to stay behind and keep an eye on things for Camila. Luz and Camila are the last to enter the portal. Luz is afraid of what they might see on the other side. But after picking up her Azura hat, Luz and Camila walk through the portal as it closes, leaving Vee to head home (at which point she realizes Camila still has the car keys on her).
==Cast==
*Sarah-Nicole Robles as Luz Noceda
*Mae Whitman as Amity Blight
*Zeno Robinson as Hunter
*Issac Ryan Brown as Gus Porter
*Tati Gabrielle as Willow Park
*Elizabeth Grullón as Camila Noceda
*Michaela Dietz as Vee
*Matthew Rhys as Emperor Belos
*Grey DeLisle as Masha
*Roger Craig Smith as Jacob Hopkins
===Additional voices===
*Erin Fitzgerald
*Crispin Freeman
*Daniel DiVenere
*Tara Strong
*Kim Mai Guest
*Parker Simmons
*Richard Horvitz
*Dani Chambers
*Alan Oppenheimer
*Dave B. Mitchell
*Stephanie Lemelin
*Jessica DiCicco
*Erika Harlacher
==Videos==
The Owl House "Thanks to Them" Exclusive NYCC Clip 1 - Disney Channel Animation
The Owl House "Thanks to Them" Exclusive NYCC Clip 2 - Disney Channel Animation
The Owl House Season 3 Premiere Special - Trailer - Disney Channel Animation
Season 3 Intro - The Owl House - Disney Channel Animation
Returning to the Demon Realm - The Owl House - Disney Channel Animation
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*This is the first hour-long episode special of The Owl House.
*This one hour long special picks up where the events of "King's Tide" left off.
*The first six minutes of the episode was released at the 2022 New York Comic Con.
*The flag of the Dominican Republic is seen in the living room of Luz's house, implying that she and her family are Dominican.
*Vee gets a new human form in this episode.
*The name of Luz's father was revealed to be Manny Noceda.
*The bottom right corner of the desktop in Luz's laptop reads "@FriendofOwlsandTitans (ORIGINAL ART - DO NOT REPOST!)"
*Luz's Juliet costume from the first episode can be seen hanging in the basement next to a sewing machine.
*Luz comes out as bisexual to her mother.
*One of the pins on Luz's beret is of the bisexual flag.
*Luz and Amity made an online production company named after their ship named "Lumity Studios".
*As Camila embraces Luz and Amity after seeing their film, Gus conjures illusions of himself waving bi flags and shooting rainbows, the former animation looking as if it was reused from "Wing It Like Witches".
*As Willow's scrapbook shows, Luz finally got to take Amity on the "mundane slice-of-life date" she promised her.
*Vee's goth friend Masha is revealed to be non-binary as they have they/them pronouns in their nameplate and their nails are painted in the colors of the non-binary flag.
**Masha is the second non-binary character to appear in the show after Raine Whispers.
*When searching for Belos in the abandoned house, Luz & Hunter's masks resemble King & Hooty respectively.
*The hair style of Amity in the Hecate costume is similar to that of Talia from Batman: The Animated Series.
*The origins of the Wittebane brothers is revealed; in the 1600s two orphan brothers named Caleb and his younger brother Philip came to Gravesfield and became the town's witch hunters. One day, Caleb encountered a witch named Evelyn and was swayed by her and entered a portal to another world, Philip followed Caleb through the portal and tried to save his brother.
*Hunter's eye color has changed and receives scars over his body after Philip possessed him.
*Luz, Hunter, Amity, Gus, and Willow return to the Isles in this episode.
*Amity makes reference to the fact that she used to be "top student" as seen in "I Was a Teenage Abomination".
*Camila goes to the Isles while Vee stays behind in the human realm.
*This episode aired on the last day of Hispanic Heritage month since this show references Hispanic culture.
*Throughout the episode, Luz is never seen talking to Willow, Gus, and Vee; she only talks to Amity, Hunter, and her mother.
*When Amity encourages Luz before crossing the portal, she replicates part of what Luz said to her when she asked her out in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door".
*Willow, Gus, Hunter, and Vee have started learning Spanish.
*While Gus and Hunter are getting settled in the basement, a Puerto Rican flag can be seen in the box Gus takes the bubble wrap from. This suggests that Luz, through either her mother or father, might have Puerto Rican heritage.
*The bandage box that Luz gets at the beginning depicts a cat-like skeleton with horns, a witch lady, and an owl. These are clear references to King, Eda, and Hooty.
*This is the only episode to not take place in the Demon Realm.
**This is also the only season premiere in which Willow, Gus and Amity appear.
*The license plate on Camila's car is 450H-399. 450H is the production code.
*According to one of Luz's video diaries, she and her mom moved to Gravesfield so they could be close to the hospital her father was emitted.
**It is also revealed in another video that Luz's father was the one who introduced her to The Good Witch Azura, and gave her the book before he died.
*The Hexside squad learn about Hunter being a grimwalker.
*According to a February 2023 posthoot, a number of scenes were cut: 
**Vee was originally gone to be uncomfortable with Hunter in the House since he was a member of the Emperor's Coven but was cut for time. 
**There was gone to be bog bodies from the graveyard with Belos jumping between decaying corpses. 
*Despite being in the Human Realm for months, Belos is never observing the modern era.
===Allusions===
*Cosmic Frontier is a parody of the popular science fiction franchise Star Trek.
**Captain Avery in Cosmic Frontier is likely named after Avery Brooks, who plays Captain Benjamin Sisko in the Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine.
**Among Camila's Cosmic Frontier collection, there appears to be a box of a Cosplay for her husband, Manny, for a character called Circuit. A possible homage to Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
**Chief Engineer O'Bailey, the character which Hunter takes an interest in, appears to be a homage to Chief Engineer O'Brien, who appears in both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. However, his costume resembles either a Borg or Ensign Rutherford from Star Trek: Lower Decks.
*During the montage, Willow wears a shirt that looks like Mabel Pines' shooting star sweater and Amity wears a hat that heavily resembles Vivian's from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Hunter also wears a shirt that resembles Rocko's from "Rocko's Modern Life".
*Luz is shown recording a video diary on her laptop. Among the icons on her desktop, there are two for presumably games called "Holler Knight" and "Moonfarm Valley". These are likely homages to the video games "Hollow Knight" & "Stardew Valley" respectively. Luz's laptop also shows that she's working on or has recently written a Good Witch Azura fanfic.
*In the Noceda house, there is a game console called a "Swap", a likely homage to the Nintendo Switch.
*Willow's scrapbook features a photo of the group having a movie night, watching Hocus Pocus. The Sanderson Sisters can be seen on the TV screen.
*The character on Vee's phone case appears to resemble Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
*The Amphibia cameo seen at the end of the previous episode is reused here, but a snail from the rainy scene in the intro looks very similar to Bessie the snail.
**At the veterinarian clinic, a poster featuring Hop Pop Plantar can be seen on the cork board next to Luz. In the same scene, Luz draws several sketches as to what her Palisman will look like, one of which resembles Polly Plantar.
**During Camilla's nightmare, the two moms that were complaining about Luz on a bench resemble Marcy Wu and Sasha Waybright respectively.
**During the Halloween Festival, one of the attendees is dressed as Captain Grime.
*At the Halloween Festival, one of the attendees is dressed as Rarity from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
*While Gus and Willow were fooling around in the Magic Circle store, Ness' clothes from EarthBound, Mae's attire from Night in the Woods, and a uniform from the anime series Little Witch Academia can be seen in the background.
*The Hexsquad are shown learning Spanish from a parody of Duolingo.
*The new students seen talking to Luz are caricatures of crew members Mike Austin and Bridget Underwood.
==Goofs==
*After Camila leaves to pick up Luz from school, the next scene shows the end of Vee's tail is missing.
*After Amity moves Vee away from Belos' attack, the storyboard background was shown on the right side of the screen for a split second.
==International premieres==
*October 16, 2022 (Canada)
*April 8, 2023 (Japan)
*June 14, 2023 (Australia and New Zealand; Disney+)
*June 17, 2023 (France)
*June 24, 2023 (Portugal)
==External links==
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pt-br:Graças a Eles
Category:The Owl House episodes
Category:Television specials
Category:Halloween episodes
Category:LGBTQ+ representation