If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:
We're starting another set of reviews on a show about the Disney princess from another dimension:
Star vs the Forces of Evil (Season 2)
Basic
Premise
When I first decided to take up cartoon reviewing, one of my
main goals was to get better acquainted with animated series I knew about, but
hardly saw. One of these shows was Star vs. the Forces of Evil. I saw little bits of it here and there and it
certainly looked like a really fun and likable series, but for some reason, I
never felt motivated to watch it a lot like I do with other shows. It’s especially odd since it comes from a
company I have a lot of respect towards regarding animation,
Disney. However, reviewing the first
season soon got me to see the appeal of the series. It wasn’t perfect, but it had a lot of charm
from the upbeat and positive lead character and her relationships with people
she knew. Along with creative worlds to
explore and underlying threats that grow as the season went on, the show as a
whole soon became enticing enough to keep watching and find out what the show
will do next.
Even if reviewing the first season got me to fully see how
good this series was, it’s still one that I’m learning about and leads me to
wonder how future seasons build upon what came before. One way to discover that is through this set
of reviews on Season 2 of the show. The
events of the previous season certainly leave a lot of potential for this
season with Star’s wand being destroyed and reformed with half its star power,
her primary antagonist Ludo thrown into a portal after losing his army and
castle, and a sense of mystery if the even bigger force of evil, Toffee was
truly defeated so easily. This review
set will dissect every episode to see if Season 2 truly does live up to its
great potential. So whether it’s an
adventure on Earth, Mewni, or any dimension in between, a new look at the
adventures of Star Butterfly and her friends begins now.
Now on with the reviews:
My New Wand
The premiere of a new season is one you’d expect to follow-up
on the best moments of the one that came before it. Is that the case with this premiere? Kind of, but it’s not exactly the most grand
or exciting way to follow up the events of the Season 1 finale.
Even the title is a bit misleading. You might think that it will be about Star
getting used to using her new wand, but instead, the plot is mainly about her
trying to get it and Marco out of her closet, so she technically doesn’t learn
how to use it. Also, the wand ending up
in the closet is a really random moment.
Star doesn’t even say a spell, she just lets go of it and it flies
straight into the spell book, basically its instruction manual, which in turn
hurls itself into the closet.
Now, while
the wand isn’t exactly tested, the episode does introduce a new aspect to
Star’s usual role in the series. It’s
all about her getting some training and guidance from Glossaryk, the little
blue figure who lives in the spell book.
He only made a few brief appearances in Season 1, but starting with this
episode, he gets a much bigger role in teaching Star about her wand, or in this
case, retrieving it. Through it
all, his advice is very vague and confusing which can either make everything
seem like he’s not being helpful at all, or simply teaches the way he does to
make Star think hard about what she needs to do so she can become more clever
and quicker with thinking.
All he tells
Star is to simply “dip down” in order to do magic without her wand, and he
never really explains what he means, only using reaching in for the chunks of a
cauldron of hobo stew as a metaphor. He
also isn’t clear with helping Marco get out of the closet either, saying that
the only way to open the door is to find Star’s “secret” in the closet, which
is even vaguer because her closet is literally full of secrets. Then Glossaryk doesn’t even provide more
support no matter how much Star and Marco both need it, going through the lock
of the closet door and hiding in the spell book. He isn’t completely unhelpful though since he
does look over the wand.
From there, the
majority of the episode is mostly just Marco trying to find a secret and Star
tearing her room apart in hopes of dipping down, though she does uncover an
interesting fact that she’s learning to dip down much earlier than her mother,
Queen Moon, did. In the end, however,
it’s interesting and also somewhat amusing that both of Glossaryk’s forms of
advice come together when Marco uncovers a journal of Star’s secrets. Star freaks out when he finds it, but really
loses it when he reads a section on how she feels about him. It’s not what Marco reads that opens the
door; that’s not even revealed. It’s him
about to do it that brings about a new magical occurrence in Star where she dips down and
magically gets the door open. The door
only opens so the result doesn’t reach the magnitude it set up, but it’s still
interesting to see how meaningful Glossaryk’s vagueness turned out to be. By the time the closet’s open we do start to
see how the wand is in a poor state without all its power as it shoots a random
spell, but by then the episode is over, so we don’t really see how broken it
is. It does leave potential for future
explorations though.
While it’s honestly
not the most exciting way to follow up on the previous strengths or the best
way to utilize new plot threads, this episode is still enjoyable for its
interactions, moments, and surprises from the characters.
B
Ludo in the
Wild
This episode, to me, is much stronger when showing the
effects of the previous season, coming off as more interesting and exciting. It focuses on what happened to Ludo after his
castle was destroyed and Star threw him into that void. Such a primary antagonist who just lost
everything he had now must brave the harshness of nature, which is already an
interesting premise and one that really pays off at that.
For one thing, the episode is documented
as a log, highlighting all the days of Ludo’s time in the wild. There’s also some nice staging to highlight
the emotional effects of Ludo simply trying to survive. Moments simple as him starting his trek by
floating through space while trying to get a bag of chips that’s randomly
present have such a weight to them that sell Ludo’s desperation for nourishment
and him finding out how harsh the real world truly is. His lack of survival skills are especially
highlighted when he winds up in a strange forest dimension. His inabilities to keep himself safe and warm
from the elements and natures harshest creatures like a bird and a huge spider
are a very good starting point for his adjustment to his new way of life. They really sell how lost and weak he is on
his own and how put down by the challenges of the real world he is.
However, over time, Ludo slowly adjusts to
these new surroundings through, in an interesting turn of events, befriends
some of his predators through following the giant spider and mimicking her
method of catching fish through ice. The
befriending process isn’t that easy at first since the spider does steal the bag
of chips Ludo had claimed earlier that suddenly appears. Ludo has to fight the spider to claim the
best food available, and it’s thrilling to see him become a master of
wilderness survival when he actually beats the spider in a fight through wit
and resourcefulness. Then, he sees how beneficial the spider can be when he ends up riding her as she nibbles
on the chip crumbs.
So, these little
moments of survival end up doing wonders for Ludo’s character, allowing him to
become more than just a little comedic villain wanting nothing but power. He’s stronger and more resourceful, as the
following scenes of him and the spider, who he ends up naming Spider, show. They regularly
capture food, and even work together to catch the bird who caught Ludo earlier,
who he calls Bird, and make it part of the team. The episode closes with a brief monologue of
him claiming to have survived the wild by finding the wild within himself,
which proves beneficial to him when a mirage of Star suddenly appearing in
front of him reminds him of his true goal in life, which he’s now able to
pursue with the help of his new team. In
addition, he finds the missing piece of the star power of Star’s wand and is on
the outskirts of Mewni, setting up a lot of potential for what could happen
with his goals he can now approach with his new survival skills and a wand of
his own.
This leaves this episode
standing as one of the show’s strongest with an interesting premise, Ludo
becoming much stronger as a character, the unique travelogue setup, and several
moments of silence to help you take in the feel of what happens. It’s one of the most impactful treks through
the wild to experience.
A+
The Ranking
- Ludo in the Wild
- My New Wand
The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review covers Star try to find an alternate career path from being queen of Mewni while Marco and Tom bond over their feelings for her, and Marco stop at nothing to earn his red belt in karate no matter how much his sensei takes advantage of him.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the third OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode, "You're Everybody's Sidekick."
If you would like to check out other Star vs the Forces of Evil reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment