Original air date: 3/20/2020 (produced in 2019)
Production code: 108
When an adventure with Eda's staff goes awry, Luz and her friends have to earn the staff back from a mysterious forest creature or lose it forever.
Tropes:
- All Webbed Up: The Bat Queen uses magic to seize Willow and Gus in webbing. It turns into a Running Gag when Gus keeps breaking himself free only to have the Bat Queen immediately web him up again without missing a beat.
- An Aesop: Animal companions should be treated with respect, or they'll remember that you betrayed their trust.
- Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Luz tries this by complimenting the Bat Queen on the greasiness of her hair and the hideousness of her children. Gus' reaction suggests that this isn't the case on the Boiling Isles.
- Bad Liar:
- Eda seems highly skeptical about King's lie of not remembering how they ended up in an animal control cart.
- Owlbert claims that Luz took him out for ice cream when Eda asks why he's not on the staff. Eda immediately calls out his terrible lie, but she's tired and doesn't feel like digging any deeper.
- Bait-and-Switch: At the end, it looks like the Bat Queen is going to read a bedtime story to her children, but she feeds them the pages instead.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: A lighter example than most; the snot-nosed kid really was trying to depose King, and taunts him about giving up his throne to save Eda.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Gus's description of the day's events:Gus: There were action-packed trials, I got to do my flag wave, and I'm slightly traumatized. Hooray!
- The Bus Came Back: The demon hunters are back, reduced to local Animal Control.
- Call-Back:
- Luz recalls Eda babysitting the bat babies and reminds the Bat Queen that she owes Eda a favor, but the Bat Queen won't honor it in this case.
- Owlbert ends up joining Luz, King, and Hooty in the Boo-Boo Buddy Club.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- King's "squeak of rage" is used to bring Eda back to her former self.
- Eda explains to Luz that the slot on Owlbert's foot is an interlock that fits in her staff. Later, Luz sees a similar interlock on the Bat Queen's foot, making her realize that she used to be a palisman as well.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Throughout the episode, King treats a random kid playing games with him as his Sitcom Arch-Nemesis, thinking he is plotting to take over as king of the playground. It is not until Eda gets snatched up by animal control is it revealed that the kid actually was conspiring to take over the playground.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: King says "close call" after convincing Luz to leave with Eda's staff, only for the camera to pan slightly left and reveal that Luz is standing a few feet away. King lies about saying it and Luz just brushes it off since she's in a hurry.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Played for laughs when King tries to get Eda to blow up the snot-nosed kid for the perceived slights against him, then played straight when he sics owl Eda on the playground and loses control of her.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The way Eda speaks about the curse ("Someone gave it to me, and I don't know who") definitely comes off like a magical metaphor for an STD. Her curse becoming unaffected by the elixer paints a picture of the aforementioned disease growing worse with time.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Downplayed with Eda, whose reaction to Luz's attempts to care for her is a mere "Gross! Sympathy." before shooing her out so she'll spend time with her friends, instead.
- Dragon Hoard: The Bat Queen sits atop piles of treasure.
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: The demon hunters have been reduced to working as Animal Control, much to their frustration.
- The Fog of Ages: The Bat Queen has been around for thousands of years, and has long forgotten what happened to her owner. Luz offers to help her find out.
- Foreshadowing: Several empty potion bottles falling out of the satchel King grabbed, combined with Eda's semi-feral state, is an early sign that Eda's potions are becoming less effective. Plus her earlier nightmare and her transformation during the day! Regarding her nightmare, she wasn't even asleep this time; she just blacked out!
- Forgiveness: Owlbert is very hurt by Luz, both physically and emotionally, when her careless decision to take him without Eda's permission results in her accidentally crashing him into a tree. However, after seeing Luz express her sincere regret over the incident and work so hard to regain his trust, he forgives her, and later even lies to Eda about what happened. The Bat Queen takes a bit more convincing, but eventually relents and forgives Luz as well after seeing how Owlbert cares about her and wants to go home with her.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: As the Bat Queen chases Luz, the interlock on her foot is briefly visible, foreshadowing the episode's big reveal.
- Groin Attack: A rare female variant, Luz manages to injure herself while performing a split.Luz: (grimacing) Well, I never did that before...
- Humans Through Alien Eyes: Gus credits Luz's ability to run a fair distance without tiring to her dorsal fin, as opposed to her being taller and more athletic than him.
- Hypocritical Humor: "Ahh, a monster!" says the child with the incredibly deep voice and a face that's a giant mouth with fangs.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Not exactly a fight, but King manages to get Eda to transform back by squealing, which amused her earlier.
- Ignorance Is Bliss: Invoked by Willow, who insists that the bones she's stepping on are merely crunchy twigs so long as she never looks down.
- Moving the Goalposts: Luz completes the Bat Queen's trials and earns back Owlbert, but the Bat Queen webs up Owlbert and insists on one more: fighting Luz herself.
- Nose Nuggets: The playground kid who keeps trying to play with King has a perpetual drop of snot hanging from his nose.
- Ominous Crack: Owlbert's head cracks when Luz accidentally runs into a tree while Luz, Willow, and Gus are riding the staff, which causes him to detach from the staff and fly off.
- The Reveal: The Bat Queen is actually the palisman of a giant. They were separated thousands of years ago, and now she takes care of other lost and discarded palismen.
- Sequel Hook: Luz offering to help the Bat Queen search for the truth about what happened to the giant who owned her staff.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: This is notably the first episode where Hooty appears but has no lines, possibly to make the mood more serious.
- Tempting Fate: King states "I'm feeling confident about this plan!" as he prepares to use Eda in her mostly-owl form to get his revenge. Sure enough, he loses control of her.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: The Bat Queen insists that Luz complete the trials alone, which she agrees to because she wants to prove to Owlbert that she didn't mean to be a bad friend to him.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Bat Queen is antagonistic towards Luz, but she genuinely wants to protect Owlbert and the other abandoned palismen in her forest, and relents when Owlbert shows that he wants to go with Luz.
- Wham Episode: Eda's elixir is no longer able to reverse her transformation.
- Wham Shot: As the Bat Queen grapples with Luz, Luz sees an interlock on her foot, revealing that she is actually a palisman.
