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Lint
Catcher
Marco deciding to leave Earth behind is immediately followed
by him returning to Mewni. His decision
feeling sudden is appropriately emphasized by everyone surprised by his
unannounced return, even Star.
Although
it probably would’ve been better if there were more episodes of him not fitting
in on Earth, the one episode of that subject gave enough legit reasons for him
to leave. However, this episode takes an
interesting direction with both reasons resulting in disappointment considering
what we’ve seen Star get up to on her own.
He thinks coming back will get him closely acquainted with Star again,
but he’s shocked to learn she’s reconnected with Tom.
Then there’s his “status” as a knight given
to him by King River himself where he only has a cape to show for it. When the other knights claim him as an
intruder, they just laugh right in his face when he says he’s an official
knight. It’s later explained that Marco
being named a knight was never meant to be taken seriously. The cape is River’s
old meat blanket and people need to work hard to become a knight. These facts make too much sense to the
process of knighthood and kind of make Marco look dumb for thinking he actually
was a knight just from a cape and offhand remark. Then again, he has constantly been a loyal
partner to Star in the heat of battle for much of the series and just recently
helped save Mewni. Not to mention, he’s
aged 16 years and has become a macho fighter in another dimension. With these facts in mind, it’s kind of
frustrating that no one sees how Marco has done a lot to prove he should be
given a chance as a knight.
However,
even Star feels that Marco needs to go through the proper motions of becoming a
knight, the first one being to serve as a squire of an established knight. The only knight in need of a squire is one
the audience met not long ago, Lavabo.
What this moves leads to is kind of unreasonable on Star’s part. Marco suggests finding a better job for him
than working with a laundry knight so he and Star could be closer, and she’s
offended by this. She may be trying to
follow the rules like a good princess, but it doesn’t feel right for her to be
this inconsiderate of her friend’s feelings.
Heck, her parents even suggested that Marco could stay with her for the
time, so even when following the rules nothing’s stopping her.
This may not be Star’s best moment, but her
attitude to the whole thing leads to another nice moment from Eclipsa. Star suddenly finds her outside, albeit
chained up, and their conversation brings Star some sound advice. Since Marco’s her best friend, she should be
glad that he’s here, and since she’s a princess she has the power to bend
customs a bit. That’s appeal to Eclipsa
right there. Her nonconformity may make
her look bad, but she seems to know how to use it to make herself happy and not
hurt anyone. She also subtly lets Star
know that being a squire for Lavabo can be dangerous. This leads to a fun sequence where Star helps
Marco beat back a monster in the lint catcher of Lavabo’s laundry machine. From here, it’s clear that Marco would be
better off working for Star, so in the end, she bends the customs to keep her
friendship with him strong while also giving Marco work. She makes Marco her own squire, and while
it’s questioned if princesses even need squires, she’s far more open to take
advantage of her being a princess who can do what she wants.
This episode goes in a direction that
shockingly devalues some accomplishments, but ultimately satisfies in the name
of a nice friendship.
B+
Trial by
Squire
This episode may exist to show how well Marco is as Star’s
squire, but really, it’s easy to see that he’s a strong fit from her when
looking back on most of the series. As a
result, this episode is mostly there in the name of a light-hearted escapade
with only a small tie to recent major events.
Once again, they’re going on a shopping spree at Quest Buy where
something dangerous always seems to happen when they’re trying to buy
something. While those other times had a
reason to go out to buy something, this time they seem to just be buying something
for the sake of it on the day of a huge sale.
Marco in particular has this shopping spree planned out with an
extensive list of what to get and whatever is available.
There is a catch to the shopping this time
though. Marco isn’t the only squire at
Quest Buy. Many others who have been
squires for actual knights are here to get things for those they serve. They seem like they’re on friendly terms with
Marco, greeting him warmly, introducing the knights, and admiring his shopping
practices, especially a young girl named Higgs.
These good traits feel so genuine that what follows leaves an unpleasant
shock.
One earlier comment from Higgs
basically guarantees competitiveness from the squires when it comes to racing
each other for certain items to make knights look their best. However, what happens goes beyond basic
competitiveness as Higgs and the other squires seem to deliberately ruin
Marco’s shopping. They unscrew the
wheels on the shopping cart, ruin items with their facial impressions, take so
much of one item that there isn’t one left for Marco, and get him attacked by
dragons. It’s very disturbing that they
would go this far just to sabotage the new squire. If they were all doing it to each other, it would
make more sense, but all of them making things difficult for one squire is a
way harsh move that makes them look like total jerks.
Higgs does give a reason for this behavior
though. She had to work hard doing
lots of menial work for her knight to become a squire while Marco just got the position
handed to him out of pity. That’s
understandable that she wants Marco to know how hard squires have it, but
purposefully sabotaging him is going too far.
What’s more, this attitude devalues the fact that Marco has done a lot
of heavy work to get a chance at being a squire for the bulk of the series, so
it further feels wrong.
Fortunately,
this bad stretch of jerk moves reaches a solid conclusion. While all the other squires look down on
Marco, Star lets him know he’s her squire because of how much she values him as
a friend. She also gives a solid reason
for Marco to not trouble himself over what the other squires are getting their
knights because she doesn’t need them.
She’s a princess, not a knight after all, and that’s one of the most
legit points she’s ever brought up. In
addition, when Star and Marco use their shopping time to buy fun things, they
get the last laugh when the knights show more interest in what they got than
what their squires got. Well Higgs’
knight anyway.
This episode is not very
vital to the main story and can get unsettling with the amount of jerks that
can catch you off guard. However, the
way it builds up to a point that princess squires, i.e. good friends, can be
just as beneficial as knight squires makes the story pleasing when all is said
and done.
B-
The Ranking
- Moon the Undaunted
- Stranger Danger
- Return to Mewni
- Rest in Pudding
- Demoncism
- Toffee
- Club Snubbed
- Puddle Defender
- Sophomore Slump
- Lint Catcher
- Scent of a Hoodie
- King Ludo
- Marco and the King
- Book Be Gone
- Trial by Squire
The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review follows Marco realizing the revolution he started at St. Olga's Reform School, and Star meet Mewni's royal monster expert.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews from Hey Arnold it's "Full Moon" and "Student Teacher."
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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