TV Recap: "Wizards Beyond Waverly Place" Opens Season 2 with Mischief and Mystery

Billie and the Russo’s are back in Season 2 of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. The sequel series returned tonight on Disney Channel with a double-episode premiere, and we’re chronicling the fun with episode recaps. Step through the mirror and into the season premiere!

Season 2, Episode 1: “Curse Me Baby One More Time" - Written by Jed Elinoff & Scott Thomas

In the wizard world, Minister of Education Bigalow McFigglehorn (Kirsten Vangsness) enters a gothic courtyard wearing bright green. A dark and mysterious figure awaits her there, Lord Morsus (Tobias Jelinek), whose face is concealed. He performs a spell on her that puts her fully under his control, transforming her green highlights to black. Lord Morsus needs the Russo family’s power to fulfill a prophecy, and Minister McFigglehorn is tasked with placing something inside their house to break the family apart.

On Staten Island, Justin Russo (David Henrie) is ready to teach magic to not only Billie (Janice LeeAnn Brown), but also his sons, Roman (Alkaio Thiele) and Milo (Max Matenko), now that they’ve shown signs of magical abilities. Roman has already mastered a levitation spell, while Milo just uses his wand as a backscratcher. Roman thinks he’s a shoo-in to be the champion of the family wizard competition, but Billie’s competitive nature is going to give him a fierce challenger. She uses the “Bibbidi Bobbidi Board" spell to conjure a counter that tracks each of their progress, determined by the number of spells they’ve learned. While Billie had a 3,000-point lead on her brothers, within a month, Roman is already at 500.

While folding laundry with Giada (Mimi Gianopulos), Justin gushes about how great Roman is doing, with his son even surpassing his own pronunciation skills. She asks how Milo is doing when she realizes his focus seems to be solely on their eldest son. “He’s a joy to have in class," Justin says, which she points out is what teachers say at conferences when they have nothing else to say. She’s worried that he’s playing favorites and that Milo and Billie are going to get upset. Just then, Milo rushes down to proudly show off his first learned spell - Junkus McTrunkus. Milo’s butt enlarges with the spell, accidentally knocking the laundry basket off the coffee table. Justin suggests that he go practice in the lair after Milo repeats the spell, and on the way through the mirror, his gigantic butt causes him to get stuck. Justin casts a spell to undo it.

Billie and Winter (Taylor Cora) hang out in her room, with Billie clearly worried that Roman will progress past her in their personal competition. Winter suggests that Billie should study harder, but she has a different plan to slow him down. She conjures a curse that’s meant to reverse Roman’s progress, but what it actually does is turn him into a baby! She and Winter take baby Roman to the kitchen to try to find a way to turn him back. Giada comes back from shopping and sees the baby. The girls tell her they’re babysitting, but she soon realizes this is her son. Billie lies, telling Giada that Roman did this to himself by accident.

Milo is alone in the lair when Minister McFigglehorn enters through the door from the wizard world with a glowing item in a bag. She pretends to be there to check on their progress, but what she really wants is to get into the family’s home to plant the item for Lord Morsus. When Justin joins Milo in the lair, he’s surprised that the minister of education says she heard of issues with the children’s education that prompted this unannounced visit. She asks to meet with them in the house. He pokes his head through the mirror to find Giada telling him about Roman being turned into a baby. Justin tries to stall.

Billie decides to try the same principle for reversing a spell to the curse, saying it in reverse. Roman temporarily returns to his 14-year-old self, before aging in the other direction into an old man!

Justin whispers to Milo that his brother was turned into a baby. Milo gets an idea that involves the only spell he knows. Justin agrees to let Minister McFigglehorn into the house, taking her wand before stepping through the mirror first. Before Milo can pass through, he casts the Junkus McTrunkus spell and gets his butt stuck in the frame again, this time blocking Minister McFigglehorn from getting through.

Instead of finding baby Roman, Justin meets his eldest son as an old man. Billie comes clean, telling them that she cursed Justin as part of their competition. Justin casts a spell that undoes all of the day’s magic, including changing Milo’s butt back to normal size, sending him tumbling into the living room. Billie apologizes to Roman, sharing her fears that he and the Russo family won’t think she’s special if she’s not the best. He hugs her, calling her his sister and saying he will always think she’s special.

Minister McFigglehorn took Milo’s wand out of his back pocket and used the upstairs mirror to enter the house, placing the item for Lord Morsus while the family was distracted. She tells them she has to go, but will be back, zapping herself back to the wizard world. Milo apologizes to his dad for putting his wand in his back pocket, saying Roman wouldn’t have done something so careless. Justin apologizes to Milo for making him feel like he has to be just like Roman. He tells his youngest son that he knows he will be a great wizard in his own way.

That night, we see Billie sleeping in bed. Something under her bed is glowing… the mysterious object from Lord Morsus…

To be continued in Season 2, Episode 2 - “Ooze!... I Did it Again."

New episodes of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place air Fridays at 7/6c on Disney Channel. Episodes from Season 2 will be available to stream on Disney+ beginning Wednesday, October 8th.