Just Think of It As... Good Customer Service

We've had a really great run of solid to excellent episodes up to this point, but it all had to end sometime. "Once Upon a Swap" isn't a bad watch or anything, but the problem is it doesn't do much to stand out from body-swap stories in other cartoons, and plays itself as casually as possible without much thought as to what it's supposed to amount to. Thus, it fails to leave an impact compared to other episodes of the show. It's mostly just three stories playing out independently of each other before loosely conjoining at the end, none of which are able to be as fleshed out as they could've been. And even though not even story needs heavy stakes or dramatic tension, it seems like they wanted to convey at least some with the three ending up in some form of danger, yet the threats are consistently underplayed with how rushed most of the story beats end up being.

The first story we get is Eda in King's body, titled "Eda's Catastrophe", which is probably the one I enjoyed the most, largely thanks to it being the most out-there idea. It's pretty funny just to see someone as old, talented, and crazy as her full-on embrace the life of being an adorable little creature, and encounter a danger to the status that she frankly couldn't have anticipated. Sure, it's mostly because it's a break from being chased by the law, but Wendie Malick's performance really makes you buy that Eda is genuinely enjoying it. It does unfortunately get halted just as it feels like it's starting to get going, but it still consistently entertained me.

"King's Brush With Death", however, is downright dull. King wanting to use Luz's teenage body to exploit the young minds around him is a pretty amusing idea, and sure enough the way it escalates does get some chuckles. However, the way it plays out barely feels different from how Luz herself would act, just with different intentions and being a little more proactive every so often. The moments where this happens could've stood out much more if this was a more fleshed out story, but because it's so rushed they feel like blips on the radar at best. And apart from a little Gravity Falls reference, and the fact we get more character out of Boscha, there's not much to it in general. Just him pulling some pranks, and then getting into a race.

"Luz's Deals In Heels" is probably the one with the most substance, as not only does Luz have trouble controlling all the power contained in Eda's body (which is plain cute) but she has a run-in with Lilith that shows a new facet of their relationship, particularly how Eda once had dreams of joining the Emperor's Coven herself before having a change of heart. It's not much, but it's always great to witness regardless. Beyond that, there's a decent lesson she faces about why Eda has to keep on the down-low despite her line of business, and it's quite fun to see her prove to be a natural as far as selling goes, which nicely demonstrates that she can get genuinely talented at certain skills despite her struggles in magic.

Rough Draft's animation is pretty good throughout, but the episode doesn't do much to take advantage of the studio's strengths, making it feel somewhat wasted. Knowing what we now do about how held back the majority of the first season was due to executive demands, the way this concept comes out and how it's played out very much gives off the impression this kind of episode was an executive push. In fact, while this show is far from a stranger to standard cartoon premises, the middle portion of the season is unfortunately going to be plagued with stuff like this. Still strong material here and there for sure, but this is going to be a bit of a rough patch.

Luz using her light spell to create a flashy sign for the stand is a pretty nice start. Eda does reject it to avoid being seen, but I still have to question why she expects to stay on the down-low by being at the marketplace to begin with.

The fact that Boscha's Penstagram scroll apparently has a camera interface is pretty weird if you think about it. The eye separation on Luz is pretty weird, but it works with the context.

Well, those are certainly some cursed filters.

Eda's stupid outfit of human clothing and accessories is a pretty humorous, out-there visual.

Luz references body-swapping by showing this really stupid-looking movie. It's almost like they're being self-aware about how forced this trope is.

All three swapped characters together. The 'voices swap with minds' thing doesn't bother me as much as... some people... likely since this is mostly a farce anyway. Plus I do really enjoy how they still emote exactly like themselves, mostly thanks to the eyes and stuff like the gold tooth on King!Eda.

Each story gets a title card, which... honestly aren't very interesting, with all of them using the same fairly simple pattern with standard poses backing them up. I really wish they would've gotten more creative.

I like Roselle and Dottie. Their designs and voices are deceptively sweet, but there's a domineering vibe to their inflections and actions. They even walk down a dark alley path with what looks like a jail cell door. Subtle, but it works to get the tone across.

"Well, my creep alarm is ringing, but I can't argue with num‐nums." Malick is having too fun a time with some of these lines.

This is certainly an unsettling twist, with all these brainwashed creatures sitting like toys. Even the explanation is a great bit of dark humor: "They've been coddled so long, they forgot how to live on their own." Probably the most 'Owl House' bit of this entire episode.

The hangout with Boscha and friends isn't too imaginative, mostly just the standard teenage stuff. Meh.

Luz!King wins over the friends by spawning giant tentacles across Bonesborough. I do find it amusing how he's able to do something like this without suffering any consequences; the Boiling Isles is just that twisted.

In the montage of pranks we get, easily the most memorable is Luz!King calling Hooty and letting him ramble over the loudspeaker. I would probably get really annoyed by that too.

I did say there wasn't much to what King does in this story, but the fact he gets into racing with Boscha by insisting he doesn't get babied is a great twist that works so well with him.

Ah, now here's the kind of imaginative visual I expect from this show: glow-worms that flash back and forth like an actual warning sign. Very cute and Flintstones-esque.

Get it, cause Alex Hirsch voices King and Dana Terrace was an artist on Gravity Falls...

Not much to say about this screenshot, King!Eda's pose and sass just makes me laugh.

Here's what I was talking about earlier with the facial work. Even though Luz is in Eda's body, she's still animated exactly like how Luz would normally be animated. Look at this face when she makes a broken lamp "unnecessarily extravagant", for example, it's adorable.

I also get a kick out of how Eda!Luz does a genuinely great job selling Eda's crap for a hot minute, such as when she sells feather dusters to this guy by tickling him. I wish we could've gotten more out of this.

Don't be sad, things will get better... Does someone want a hug?

Lilith's appearance is, without a single doubt, the most memorable thing about this entire episode. She doesn't do much, mostly trying to get Eda to join the Emperor's Coven by force, but she initially tries to persuade her with kindness and enthusiasm, and she gets a number of pretty good expressions when she does this. Great stuff.

The fact they pay off a little running gag of Luz accidentally causing huge blasts due to not having proper control of Eda's powers by her unwittingly using it as a means of escape is pretty satisfying.

By far the biggest laugh of the episode for me. "It's not kidnapping if they entered our store. Just think of it as... good customer service."

And now they're all unswapped. NGL I kind of dig Eda in that bee outfit, as horribly out of place it is. The color scheme just works so well with her.

As much as it annoys me that all the conflicts get resolved this easily, it is very thematically fitting that Eda uses body-swap magic on everyone so they could get away. Just don't stare at Eda's face here.

Really attractive shot, with both the red sky gradient and the silhouette flying across the moon. It may've taken this to the very end of the episode to get an image like this, but still.