Any Sport in a Storm

"**Any Sport in a Storm**" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of *The Owl House*, and the thirty-second episode overall.

It premiered on April 2, 2022.

## Synopsis

*Hunter goes undercover at Hexside for his most important mission yet. Meanwhile, Willow becomes determined to succeed at an exciting new sport.*

## Plot

Inside his room at the Emperor's Castle, Hunter is sewing a sigil onto his cloak when two Coven Guards knock on his door. One of them hands him a letter from Emperor Belos, in which he says that because his duties are keeping him busy, he entrusts Hunter to lead the Coven Heads for the day as a test.

Hunter heads over to the throne room just in time to see some of the Coven Heads coming out. He prepares to tell them to get ready for a recruitment meeting, but they all ignore him and push past him. Hunter angrily storms into the throne room and finds Darius and Eberwolf inside looking at some scrolls before asking why everyone's leaving, to which Darius replies that they rescheduled the meeting. He asks Hunter to go away, noticing the sigil on his cloak and grabbing it with his abomination goo. After taking a look, Darius declares that it is impressively bad, before seeing that it's the old Golden Guard sigil. Despite this, Hunter angrily yells that he cannot treat him like that, and Darius mockingly asks him if it's because he is Belos' nephew. He goes on to say that Hunter's predecessor is one of the strongest witches he had ever known while looking at him judgingly. Hunter retorts that Belos told him he doesn't need magic to serve the coven, and Darius replies that he doesn't deserve to wear the sigil either, walking off with his cloak. Feeling insecure, Hunter asks him how he can earn the sigil, to which he replies that he can try to do something like finding new recruits for the Emperor's Coven, then only maybe can he get his cloak back. Hunter declares that he will do it, and Darius mockingly replies that he knows that, as he is very good at doing what he is being told to do.

Meanwhile, Willow is training relentlessly with Clover as she has found something new she can be good at – flyer derby. On Hexside's Club Fair day, she is walking inside the hallways when she sees Luz and Gus being chased by a rogue locker. The duo runs up to Willow and hide behind her while she constrains the locker with vines. Gus reveals that the locker went rogue because he put his lunch inside it. Luz then asks Willow if she wants to join her and Amity's Azura Book Club, but she replies that she is interested in something more exciting, like flyer derby, and shows Luz a video of the sport. Willow goes on to reveal that she had been playing the sport ever since the grudgby match with the Banshees, and announces that she will be starting Hexside's first flyer derby club.

Willow opens up a stand to recruit new members. While trying to attract people, her old teacher, Professor Hermonculus, appears, and declares that he doesn't think Willow's club is worth investing in. He is planning on shutting down the club unless Willow steps down, as he doesn't think quitters make good leaders. Gus retorts that he is just mad that Willow dropped his class and asks him to give her a chance. Hermonculus agrees, and says that if Willow can put together a team and win against his team in a flyer derby match after school, he will consider approving her club. This worries Willow, as she doesn't know where to find enough decent players in such a short time.

Meanwhile, Hunter decides to go undercover as a student at Hexside and tries to recruit the students there to join the Emperor's Coven. However, no one is interested at all. At one point, he accidentally steps on the tail of Viney's pet griffin, Puddles, causing her to chase after him. Hunter then displays his proficient skills at flying on staff while evading Puddles, which happens to be witnessed by Willow, and she is amazed by it. She ties Puddles up and calls out to Hunter. He notices Willow's vines coming at him and tries to escape, but she promptly ties him up with vines and brings him back to her. She eagerly asks him if he wants to join her team, and introduces herself and Gus to him. She then proceeds to ask him if he's a new student, while Gus remarks that he had never seen Hunter before, and asks for his name. Not wanting to reveal his identity, Hunter introduces himself as "Caleb Jasper Bloodwilliams", and comes up with a fake backstory. He goes on to say that he's not here to play sports, as he's on a mission. Willow hands him a pamphlet before he walks away, and after seeing the phrase "best and brightest" on it, Hunter immediately turns around and asks Willow if she really thinks her club will attract the best witches, which she confirms, saying that the sport is not suitable for the faint ones. Hunter then agrees to give it a try, and asks how the members are being evaluated, naming a few extreme tests as possibilities. Willow denies those will be used, but then says that Hunter could use his skills to attract new members. Later, he proceeds to do so, which impresses the other students at Hexside.

Eventually, three new members join the team: Gus, Skara, and Viney. Originally, upon looking at the new members' skillset and attitude, Hunter walks away angrily, thinking they are lousy. Willow asks him to give them a chance as he just met them, and he retorts that where he came from, even chances need to be earned. When Hunter walks away again, she ties his feet up and brings him to the playing field, where the new members are now demonstrating their positive attitude and skills after warming up. Willow pops up from the ground and informs Hunter about the members' strong suits, explaining that all the members including her had all been misjudged before in their lives. Willow then proceeds to ask Hunter if he still thinks they are pathetic, and he shakes his head, ashamed. After that, Willow proceeds to ask everyone to paint their faces.

Before the game starts, Hunter calls Darius and informs him that he had found potential new recruits for the Emperor's Coven, much to Darius' annoyance. After Willow calls out to him, Hunter hangs up the phone and runs over to the team. The game soon begins, and after an exhilarating and action-packed battle, Hunter manages to score the final point for the team, securing the win. Professor Hermonculus begrudgingly walks up to register Willow's club, and asks her for her team's name. Willow realizes right then that she hasn't thought about the name, and Hunter comes up with the name "Emerald Entrails" on the spot, as their team color is green and there's more to them than people think. The other members like the name and chant it, with Willow proceeding to take a selfie with the whole team.

Hunter then apologizes to the members for almost bailing on them, and thanks everyone for giving him a shot while the members also thank him for helping them win. Hunter then goes on to reveal his true identity as the Golden Guard, much to everyone's surprise. Willow hesitantly asks Hunter if he is the person Luz talked about, which he confirms, before proceeding to change into his Golden Guard outfit. Right then, multiple Coven Scouts appear and surround the team. Hunter asks them why they are here, and Steve explains that they were sent by Darius to collect his recruits. Later, the team are brought to a police precinct and locked up in a cell. Hunter takes away their staffs and puts them outside. He then asks the team why they don't want to join the Emperor's Coven, and names a few benefits he can think of. Skara retorts that none of them wanted this, while Hunter replies that they will eventually want to, claiming that he is their friend now. Gus snaps that friends don't backstab each other, and he doesn't seem to understand this, as he sees the Coven Heads backstabbing each other all the time. Hunter then asks Willow if she's on his side, but she doesn't directly reply back, and only blames herself for getting the team into trouble because she made a bad call, calling herself half-a-witch Willow.

As soon as Willow finishes, Darius uses his abomination goo to wrap up the team members and teleport them to his flying ship while the palismen are sent up by another Coven Scout. Hunter happily rushes outside to tell Darius that he had managed to find new recruits, but he is greeted with an annoyed response from him, as he had to work on his day off, and proceeds to give Hunter his cloak back. Hunter asks Darius if he can wear the sigil properly now, but he only gives him the same question in return before flying off in his ship. Right then, Steve comes out from the precinct and says that he does not envy the members for having to join the Emperor's Coven. Hunter replies that they only have to go through some basic training before becoming Coven Scouts, but Steve goes on to remind him about the grueling tests they all went through, and the fact that Belos collects everyone's palisman before they join the coven. At the end of the conversation, Steve grumpily says that he is starting to regret that he had joined the coven and walks away, leaving Hunter alone. Looking up at Darius' ship, Hunter feels guilty for causing everyone trouble and chases after Darius on his staff.

On the ship, Darius is scrolling on his scroll while looking at Penstagram. Skara and Willow try to reach out to their palismen, but are promptly stopped by Darius. Right then, Hunter teleports to his side, surprising him. While Darius is temporarily distracted, the team members jump off the ship. Hunter and Darius rush over to look, and immediately realize that those were just illusions. Behind them, the real team members gain control of the ship and proceed to crash it into the sea, destroying it. They then grab their staffs and try to escape, but Darius blocks their path with an abomination. He angrily asks them if they thought they could get away with endangering a Coven Head, while transforming his right hand into an abomination scythe. Willow tries to attack Darius with vines, but he manages to destroy them easily. Willow then tries to shield everyone by forming a protective layer made of vines, but Darius slices that open easily as well. Right as he is about to finish off the members, Hunter rushes forward to protect them. He goes on to call the members insolent agitators who aren't fit to be in the Emperor's Coven, and gives Darius his cloak back, saying that he doesn't deserve to wear the sigil either. Hunter then turns around and begs Willow to leave with the members, which she does. Furious, Darius confronts Hunter about befriending outsiders and disobeying him. Expecting an attack, Hunter recoils in fear, but Darius instead pats him on the head. He admits that he was wrong about Hunter before, and that it's about time he made connections outside the castle since he's already sixteen. Darius then proceeds to give Hunter a scroll, telling him to sign up for Penstagram. He goes on to reveal that he was actually going to drop the team members off at Hexside, since they already have more than enough recruits in his opinion. Hunter asks him if he will tell Belos about what happened, and in response, Darius asks him if he will tell Belos about his secret palisman. Admiring his bravery, Darius fixes up the sewing of the sigil on Hunter's cloak, and tells him to get some sewing lessons.

Earlier in the day, back at Hexside's Club Fair, Luz tries to attract people to come join her Azura book club, wondering why nobody is interested. Boscha appears and tells Luz that the art on the book covers is one of the reasons why no one in particular seems to care, and becoming irritated, Luz retorts by saying that no one should judge a book by its cover - there is magic inside of the words. Boscha proceeds to read out a part in the book, which uses a lot of uncommon words and old school grammar. Luz takes back the book and proceeds to list out some other elements which make the books interesting. Right then, Amity runs up to the stand and informs her that the author of *The Good Witch Azura* series is having a book signing event at the Book Nook that afternoon. Luz is confused by that, as the author is supposed to be human, but Amity denies this, claiming that the author is from the Demon Realm. She asks Luz how else she could have gotten the books, and Luz proceeds to compare the pictures of the author on both books, noticing that they're the same, except that on Amity's book, the author has pointy ears. This makes both Luz and Amity wonder if the author could possibly travel between the two realms, and they proceed to run off to meet her, leaving Boscha behind.

On their way to the book shop, Luz mentions her disbelief that they've never touched upon this mystery before, stating that the author's name, Mildred Featherwhyle, sounded too delightful to be a real name anyway. She then proceeds to make some wild suggestions with Amity about the real identity of the author. Amity suggests that the author could have a portal in possession, she could be related to Philip Wittebane, or she could be Luz's mom as a teenager sent forward in time to train Luz in the ways of witchcraft. Meanwhile, Luz suggests that maybe the author is Eda, and she is using an alias because she is embarrassed by the spelling mistakes inside the books. Eventually, they reach the Book Nook, but find out that the event has been canceled, which is a huge let down for Luz.

While sitting outside the book shop with Luz, Amity notices someone who looks like the author walking away. After realizing that she has been noticed, the author proceeds to run away, with Luz and Amity chasing after her. The duo follows her until night, catching up to her at the beach. Although she successfully evades the duo's efforts to stop her, she eventually runs into a dead end. While trying to climb up the wall, the author's disguise falls off, revealing herself to be Tiny Nose. Amity calls her by her real name - Tinella Nosa, which surprises Luz, as she didn't know that Tiny Nose had a real name at all.

Tinella then brings the duo to a cave. Luz is surprised to find Tibbles and Mattholomule inside, and Tibbles proceeds to reveal that a year ago, he found a box of books which was washed ashore. He tried to sell the books and had Mattholomule edit the author's pictures so that the readers would think a witch wrote them, but no one ever bought them, and according to the owner of the Book Nook, only one customer has ever purchased from the series. Amity immediately blushes and swears to Luz that she didn't know it was a scam. Tibbles then angrily kicks off a pile of books, calling it the worst scam he had ever run. Luz is disappointed to know that the author is human after all, and Tibbles mockingly asks her if she expects some sort of dramatic discovery. Angered by his response, Amity forms a fist with abomination goo and punches Tibbles from below, sending him flying upwards.

Later, the duo walks along the beach while chatting with each other. Amity asks Luz if she's disappointed to find out that Mildred is a human after all, to which Luz replies that she is human too, and it is nice to be reminded that one doesn't need to be an ancient powerful witch to make something special. Amity admits that she had fun coming up with those wild theories earlier, as it felt like their own stories. This gives Luz the idea to make their club into both a book club and a writing club, and Amity asks Luz what would be their first writing prompt. Right then, Luz notices the Emerald Entrails walking towards them and suggests that they can write about the mystery of what the members had been up to all night.

The Entrails notice that Hunter has just created a new Penstagram account and laughs at his slow typing speed. Willow notices Luz and Amity nearby and waves at them. The duo comes up to the team, and Luz compliments them on their outfits. She proceeds to ask them about their day at school, and if she and Amity had missed anything. Willow informs them that her team had just scored their first win at school. Luz eagerly runs up and asks to see the pictures, and Willow shows them the selfie she had taken earlier after the competition. The duo notices Hunter in the picture, and both scream out "What!?" in astonishment.

## Cast

* Sarah-Nicole Robles as Luz Noceda
* Tati Gabrielle as Willow Park
* Issac Ryan Brown as Gus Porter
* Mae Whitman as Amity Blight
* Zeno Robinson as Hunter
* Eden Riegel as Boscha
* Dana Terrace as Tinella Nosa
* Ally Maki as Viney
* Kimberly Brooks as Skara
* Noah Galvin as Jerbo
* Keston John as Darius Deamonne
* Parvesh Cheena as Tibbles
* Jorge Diaz as Mattholomule
* JB Blanc as Professor Hermonculus
* Matt Chapman as Steve

### Non-speaking cameo

* Emperor Belos (flashbacks)
* Raine Whispers
* Terra Snapdragon
* Eberwolf
* Mason
* Hettie Cutburn
* Adrian Graye Vernworth
* Osran
* Vitimir
* Cat

### Mentioned

* Eda Clawthorne
* Emira Blight
* Kikimora
* Camila Noceda

### Pictured

* Lilith Clawthorne
* Alador Blight

### Other characters

* Flapjack
* Clover
* Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo
* Viney's Palisman
* Skara's Palisman
* Barcus
* Puddles
* Mary
* Unnamed spiky student
* Mary's Palisman
* Unnamed Sloth Palisman
* Jerbo's Palisman

## Trivia

* **Viewership:** This episode was watched by 0.32 viewers on its premiere.
* This episode uses a shorter version of the main theme.
* This is the first episode in the series where King and Eda do not appear on-screen.
	+ King is fully absent from the episode, while Eda is only mentioned.
* The secret message for this episode is found on the bottom wall of the cell. When translated, it says "Above".
* This was the last episode to be produced in 2021, according to the credits.
* Not counting the pictures seen in "Labyrinth Runners", this is the final episode in which Luz wears her Hexside uniform.

### Revelations and significant events

* The position of "Golden Guard" existed before Hunter took the role.
	+ The Golden Guard immediately prior to Hunter was a mentor to Darius.
* The Golden Guard sigil is identical to Gravesfield's town seal.
* Flyer derby is formally introduced as a sport on the Boiling Isles.
	+ Willow has been working out to prepare for playing this sport.
* The Hexside abomination professor's name is revealed to be Hermonculus.
* Professor Hermonculus holds a grudge against Willow for dropping his class.
* It is shown that Gilbert and Harvey Park, Hermonculus, and Principal Bump played Flyer Derby during their younger years.
* Hunter states that he has never spoken to any witches around his age before. This excepts Amity, who he spoke to in "Eclipse Lake", albeit as a rival and not socially.
* Willow forms a Flying Derby team, the "Emerald Entrails", with five members: herself, Gus, Skara, Viney, and Hunter.
* Willow and Gus meet Hunter for the first time after Luz told them about her encounter with him.
* Viney's pet griffin, Puddles, is revealed to be a female.
* All new members joining the Emperor's Coven have to go through a series of grueling tests. These include:
	+ Dueling each other.
	+ Going through mazes with traps.
	+ Being left at the top of a mountain and having to come back down alive.
* New members of the Emperor's Coven have their palismen taken by Emperor Belos.
* Penstagram has had an update to version 2.0.
* Penstagram usernames of Raine, Eda Lilith, Alador, Emira, and Willow are revealed. Eda is also shown with a new username:
	+ Raine's username is "rainey.day".
	+ Lilith's username is "Chilly.Lily".
	+ Alador's username is "Alabomdor\_1".
	+ Emira's username is "EM\_IRA".
	+ Willow's username is "Hello\_willow".
	+ Eda's username is now "THEOWLLADY"
* Eda is trying to get Raine to contact her by leaving comments under their Penstagram posts.
* Hunter creates a Penstagram account, but he is a slow typer.
* Darius learns of Flapjack's existence, and tells Hunter that he has no intention of telling Belos.
* The books of *The Good Witch Azura* series are riddled with spelling mistakes and overly dramatic prose.
* The author of the *The Good Witch Azura* novels is a woman named "Mildred Featherwhyle".
* The Book Nook is the only bookstore which sells *The Good Witch Azura* series in the Boiling Isles.
	+ Amity is the only person to have purchased the *Good Witch Azura* series from the Book Nook.
* Tiny Nose' name is revealed to be Tinella Nosa.
	+ Amity knows Tiny Nose by her real name.
* Amity and Tibbles meet each other for the first time.
	+ Tibbles is responsible for the distribution of the *Good Witch Azura* novels on the Boiling Isles, after having come across a box of the novels washed ashore.
	+ Tibbles hired Mattholomule to alter the author images on the book to resemble a witch, as well as having Tiny Nose disguise herself as Mildred Featherwhyle for public appearances.

### Continuity

* A Grom picture taken in "Enchanting Grom Fright" can be seen pasted on a mirror inside Willow's room.
* Willow mentions the grudgby match with the Banshees from "Wing It Like Witches".
* Willow now wears the braids Amity made for her in "Follies at the Coven Day Parade".
* A poster for flyer derby poster was previously seen in Willow's room during "Eda's Requiem" and "Follies at the Coven Day Parade".
* Flashbacks from "Hunting Palismen" are shown.
* Alador's Penstagram post contains a comeback (the hashtag "#whosthehacknow") to Darius calling him a hack in "Eda's Requiem".
* Tibbles states that the *Good Witch Azura* books were washed ashore on the Boiling Isles one day. This event was shown on a newspaper article in "Through the Looking Glass Ruins".

### Production notes

* According to Dana Terrace, the name of Gus' palisman, Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo, was intended to be revealed in this episode, but it was cut for time.
* Concept art by Tristan Yuvienco shows an alternate shot during the scene where Darius is scrolling through Penstagram: instead of Lilith's post, the second post seen was of a family photo under the username "Ulrich\_M12890", with the person in the middle resembling Mason.

## Allusions

* **Any port in a storm** - The episode's title, "Any Sport in a Storm", is a play-on-words of this proverb, which refers to when someone is in such a bad situation that they will accept any available help.
* ***Digimon*** - The picture on the cover of Willow's pamphlet shows players of flyer derby riding on their staff. These players and their palismen bear resemblance to the protagonists and their Digimon from the original *Digimon Adventure* series.
* ***Eye of the Tiger*** - Willow's reference to the "eye of the liger" references this 1982 hit song by the band Survivor.
* **Mona Lisa** - A painting found on the stand next to Luz's stand bears a striking resemblance to the real-life painting.
* ***The Little Prince*** - The moniker that Darius refers to Hunter as matches the title of the book by Antoine de-Saint Exupéry.

## Errors

* When receiving Belos' letter, the line art of Hunter's scar is briefly the same color as the scar itself.
* After Willow introduces Hunter to the rest of the team, a portion of Skara's legs briefly vanish as the scene pans from her to Gus learning how to fly.
* As Willow talks about leading the team after introducing Hunter, the button on her uniform disappears for a frame.
* At one point, after talking to Hunter, Willow runs off with her staff. In a scene focusing on Gus a while later, her staff can be seen leaning on her stand.
* When Boscha shoves Amity and Luz away from her, Luz's eye disappears for a frame.
* In the scene after Luz and Amity find out that the *The Good Witch Azura* book signing is canceled, Amity's hair is briefly colored incorrectly.
* In a scene where Darius is looking at Hunter from the blimp, his hand appears to not have a glove on, but in the next, it does.
* In several shots after Hunter is covered in punch, the punch soon disappears.
* When Skara approaches Hunter (after he emerges from the ground), his eyebags disappear for a few frames.
* After Hunter gets his boot back and flies past Willow, her glasses change from gold to black for a brief moment.

## Videos

Owl House S2B OST – Ep. 13 “Any Sport in a Storm” MUSIC SUITE-2Any Sport in a Storm - The Owl House - Disney Channel Animation
## Memorable Quotes

“
The... Emerald Entrails! Because we're... Green... And there's more to us than people think?
”

—Hunter, suggesting a name for the Flyer Derby team

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Disney Animation Promos on Twitter" (Tweet) (March 10, 2022).
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "April 2022 Programming Highlights". *Disney General Entertainment Content* (March 21, 2022).
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Metcalf, Mitch (April 5, 2022). "Saturday 4.2.2022 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals". *Showbuzz Daily*.
4. ↑ "Any Sport in a Storm - Tristan Yuvienco concept 3".

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