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Book Be
Gone
When the show first began, Ludo was seen as an average
half-pint villain desperately trying to claw his way to power for power’s
sake. One of the strengths of Season 2
was giving him strong development and a personal arc of fighting to forge a new life for himself after losing everything. He eventually mastered using his own piece of the wand and successfully stole Glossaryck and the spell book from
Star. Not to mention, it was revealed
that his personality comes from being horribly mistreated by his own family. It’s actually really impressive
that he’s made this much of a name of himself when you consider how he started
out.
Of course, much of his
accomplishments, including beating the Magic High Commission in the Season 2 finale,
come from the fact that he’s unknowingly possessed by Toffee. This also explains his wad piece’s weird
ability to speak to him. As for defeating the Magic High Commission, Ludo is
under the impression that he did it, and proceeds to record his accomplishment in
the spell book. However, the book won’t
let him do that and closes on its own through all of Ludo’s attempts. Glossaryck claims that it’s because the book
doesn’t belong to Ludo anymore in the same nonchalant manner as he did when he
told Star he belongs to Ludo now. It’s basically his usual way of explaining
things no matter how difficult he ends up being to others.
From there, the episode is nothing but Ludo’s
feeble attempts to get the book to do what he wants. While this is a fairly humorous direction for
the episode, it really falls flat for being the same constant running gag. Ludo just makes a fool of himself lunging at
the spell book which dodges everything he tries. The more he does it, the more tiresome the
episode becomes and you can’t help but wish Ludo would just understand that the
book doesn’t follow him anymore. Plus,
his wand keeps telling him that they should just go take over Butterfly Castle
in Mewni now, but writing that chapter is more important to Ludo. I know he has
reasons for the importance, but putting that over something far more productive
just makes him look stupid. That’s
disappointing considering his newfound depth.
There’s some enjoyment to his attempts to get to the book. When Ludo casts a spell to get in the book,
it leads to a random yet creative scene where he’s whisked far away to a beach
where he’s befriended by sea creatures.
Then there’s a more plot-relevant scene all this endless slapstick was
building up to. After a funny scene of
Ludo declaring his love for the book, it still doesn’t open up for him and
Glossaryck just laughs at him talking to the book. Ludo responds in a fit of rage by throwing
the book into a campfire with Glossaryck inside it. It’s capped off by the episode’s most
intimidating moment where Toffee gains full control of Ludo again, pleased that
he can move forward with his plans with Glossaryck gone. The selling point is that he’s still talking
to Glossaryck and declaring him gone even before the fire turns him to
ashes. The shock isn’t too genuine with
Glossaryck content with apparently getting destroyed, but that’s just me. This is still a solid payoff building
potential for great future events.
However, the way to this moment is too dull and repetitive and doesn’t
do justice for Ludo. Maybe if his
attempts to the book didn’t go on too long it would be more effective.
B-
Marco and
the King
Most of the royal Butterfly family has some solid development
to them, even if some develop slower than others. One of these characters is King River.
When it was first revealed that he had a less regal and more adventurous mindset, it was an interesting aspect to show a side
to him Star wasn’t familiar with. As the
show went on, that part of River’s character appeared to be the only part. It was present so much it even became
overbearing to other characters, including the ever-reckless Star. At times, he was shown to be more than just a
rough brute through showing genuine concern for his wife whenever she went off
on dangerous missions like this one. It
was even true for their youth. As a
matter of fact, this episode shows just how lost River is without Moon. He clearly has no idea how to properly run
Mewni, spending most of the beginning of the episode throwing a wild party
three times in a row. It’s all of
River’s worst qualities on full display, making him seem like an incompetent
fool.
While he doesn’t feel like the
best character to be a lead, he soon gets a more reasonable character to work
off of. Marco suddenly arrives out of
concern for Star since she left Earth in a hurry, but gets sidetracked by
River’s recklessness. Speaking of which,
his leadership becomes even more concerning when Marco presents him to the
people of Mewni. They are the perfect
way to show how much of a failure River is as their king, although he doesn’t
seem to get it. He believes that as long
as he’s happy, all of Mewni is happy, begging a lot of questions on his
logic. He fortunately understands the
people’s concerns about a monster in the cornfield, but he lacks the knowhow to
get it to go away only managing to get it to come closer to Mewni.
Through all this, it’s very concerning that
so much time is spent on how bad a king River is. Like the previous episode, it makes
everything dull for drilling in the same point.
The good news is that something is done about the obvious problem with
River much sooner. When Marco confronts
River, he explains that part of his inability to lead well is his concern for
Moon. She apparently left him supplies
to last a long time, and River fears this means she and Star may never come
home. This explains a lot about his
persona and gives more light to his devotion to his wife which is always nice
to see. Marco gives meaningful advice
that someone needs to make sure his wife and daughter have a home to return to,
and River is the only one powerful enough to do it.
While the people of Mewni still don’t like
him, River makes it his goal to boost morale to get the invading monster to go
away. He does so by reminding the Mewmans
who think they can’t do anything that they have strengths in many areas that
can solve the task at hand. Amazingly,
this strategy works and River goes on to lead all of Mewni to get a run at the
monster. The actual confrontation is
anticlimactic with the monster turning around at a simple order to go away and
only came near Mewni because of a misunderstanding. Even so, River gets solid praise for taking
action as a king for once and that’s acceptable thanks to the genuine feel of
his growth.
However, the episode ends
with Ludo and his rat army suddenly appearing to attack. It suggests that River will fight to beat
them all back, but considering what’s revealed in episodes yet to come, this is
disappointing following all of River’s development. Still, his efforts, chemistry with Marco, and
undeniable care for his loved ones bring significant merit.
B
The Ranking
- Moon the Undaunted
- Return to Mewni
- Marco and the King
- Book Be Gone
The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review brings the theme of monster prejudice to the forefront when Moon meets Buff Frog and we see what follows Ludo's attack on Butterfly Castle.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is an episode about a lost clan from Hilda.
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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