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Crystal
Clear
Since
there have been different episodes highlighting different members of the Magic
High Commission, it’s fitting that this one continues the trend. This time, it’s on the commission member who
got the most attention in their first appearance, Rhombulus. Like the other
members has an interesting design; he has a crystal with just one eye for a
head and snakes for arms.
Back then, he
was established as the most temperamental of the group constantly picking fights
with others and needing to be put in timeout.
The events of this episode show that his actions go beyond just not
being able to control his temper. He has several issues to work
out.
Star and Marco nonchalantly go
about their business at night when Rhombulus suddenly appears and uses his
snake hands to crystalize them. The
moment he brings them back to his layer is when he starts coming off as
dangerous. It's not just because of his powers, but also his convoluted reasons why
he uses them so much. His layer is
filled with many interdimensional creatures he crystalized, some for little to
no reason. It’s true that the Magic High
Commission discussed someone draining magic from the universe which incites Rhombulus’ crystal powers. However, his evidence in
thinking that they’re the culprits is severely lacking and makes him look like
a deranged lunatic. When others like a
goat-man of the Magic High Commission, Lekmet and even
Rhombulus’ own hands try to reason with him, the
messed-up motivation to his crystalizing persists. It particularly happens whenever they try to report him. It feels like Rhombulus isn’t really thinking about
catching the magic culprit and is just trying to cover his tracks for his own unreasonable
actions. It goes beyond just
being a bad habit when he opts for crystalizing one of his esteemed comrades;
that’s just messed up.
Eventually
though, Rhombulus frees Star and tells her that the reason he crystalized
her and everyone in his layer was because he was following
his gut that they were evil. Since this
still doesn’t help how much of a danger he himself is, it’s nice
that all this is made up for when Star reasons with Rhombulus. For how impulsive and reckless Star usually
is, she reflects on all the trouble she’s gotten into and admits
that following your gut isn’t enough to determine how morality. As she talks with Rhombulus more,
for all his faults, he does gain some humanity. He regrets being wrong about
others’ moralities and being a disgrace to the Commission. They even bond over common concerns like how
they feel about Glossaryk, and Star even recounts her own mistakes like losing him and the spell book.
All in all, it
can be said that this talk with Star ends Rhombulus on good terms, at least for
the time being. It makes the episode a
very good one to show that even the most dangerous people have some rationality
to them, even if you should look out around them.
A-
The Hard
Way
All we know about what’s become of Star’s spell book and Glossaryk
is that they were both stolen by Ludo and Glossaryk is now complacent with him.
Apparently, it's because the spell book now belongs to Ludo. We’ve had a few episodes devoted to how far Ludo has come as an antagonist. For that, it’s fitting that we get an
episode all about him actually learning magic from his newly acquired
teacher.
Earlier episodes showed that
while Ludo can perform powerful blasts with his wand, he’s yet to perform
actual spells like Star can. This is
where Glossaryk comes in for guidance, more than willing to do so with the
spell book now belonging to Ludo. The
training session he puts Ludo through stands out not just for showing
noticeable progress, but also for revealing some information on
core elements of the series.
Following
some intense, seemingly unrelated, physical labor with the spell book, Ludo questions
why he’s not learning any of the spells Star knows. The answer to this is that Star has been
making up her own spells long before she lost her book. All this time, she’s been using her
imagination when using her wand for basic narwhal blasts, sentient clouds, and
other spells based around everything nice and colorful. The wand simply responded
to what she said. It’s an interesting
explanation for how Star’s been able to create such unusual spells ever since
the beginning. Her way of
casting spells just isn’t the same as Ludo’s.
Since he apparently doesn’t get the concept of imagination, he can only
learn basic spells as they’re listed in the book.
We also get some background to Ludo’s
personal life which gives a strong suggestion for his behavior. He never learned anything from his
parents and had to struggle and fight to learn everything himself. That's why
he's obsessed with rising to power thus making him a much more in-depth
antagonist than in his first appearance.
Now that he has Glossaryk, Ludo has a better chance at achieving the
power he never had before.
When
Glossaryk teaches Ludo a basic levitation spell, he gets the instructions to
it better than Star ever could. Ludo relishes in using his
wand to levitate anything at will and sees himself as well on his way to
becoming all powerful. It may just be
the one basic spell he knows, but the thrill of the progress feels incredibly
believable. In addition, Ludo shows that
he knows that it’s going to take time to get to more advanced spells which is a
state of mind worth getting behind.
That said, there's something out of his control that leads him to learn more advanced
spells anyway. His
wand appears to “speak” to him by manipulating him into uncovering the spell in
the dark chapter. Glossaryk shows Ludo that spell since he already showed it
to Star. However, when Ludo reads the
chapter, a big twist to the episode occurs. He becomes magically possessed
and speaks as Toffee, showing that he wasn’t defeated so easily after all.
With all that happens, this episode helps
propel the show into a whole new direction with a lot to look forward to. It’s an especially great package of appeal
with enjoyable character interactions, relatable tones, and interesting looks
into the inner workings of the show.
A+
The Ranking
- Bon Bon the Birthday Clown
- Ludo in the Wild
- Into the Wand
- The Hard Way
- Hungry Larry
- Raid the Cave
- Running with Scissors
- Game of Flags
- Baby
- On the Job
- Sleepover
- Is Mystery
- Naysaya
- Mr. Candle Cares
- Wand to Wand
- Page Turner
- Starstruck
- Girls’ Day Out
- By the Book
- Friendenemies
- Crystal Clear
- Gift of the Card
- Starsitting
- Star on Wheels
- Mathmagic
- Camping Trip
- The Bounce Lounge
- My New Wand
- Red Belt
- Spider with a Top Hat
- Star vs Echo Creek
- Fetch
- Goblin Dogs
- Pizza Thing
- Trickstar
The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review is on two of the weaker episodes. One has Marco's parents easily buy into the claims of Ms. Heinous, and another has that infuriating brat, Jeremy Birnbaum, threaten his way into being the top karate student.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a Xiaolin Showdown episode that's "Big as Texas."
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.
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