Monster Arm
It’s interesting how a safe kid like Marco has
proven to be useful in the fights we’ve seen so far not to mention turn out to
be so skilled in karate. Because of
this, it’s great that we get an episode dedicated to these talents of his. He’s shown to be competing for a karate
competition against Jeremy Birnbaum who, in an amusing turn of events, turns out
to be a bratty little boy. Star’s magic
is worked into the issue when Marco breaks his arm while practicing. Using a spell book that came with her wand,
which was never used before this which brings some unfortunate implications to
Star’s personality, Star finds a spell to heal Marco’s arm, but it instead turns
the arm into a monster tentacle.
Although this further shows Star’s tendencies to get reckless with
spells as shown with a collection of scenes of Marco’s life being
inconvenienced by the monster arm, it’s cool to see how Marco actually grows to
benefit from what’s happened. He not
only beats a school bully with it and obtains more popularity than ever, but he
also becomes stronger than ever for his karate competition.
As for Star, she also
shows off a lot of admirable qualities when she takes it upon herself to fix
Marco’s arm, literally staying up for hours to get the spell right before
jumping in to use it. She also points
out that while Marco is benefitting from the arm, it could be a bad influence
on him, especially when it talks to him and convinces him to take out all
humans. While Marco doesn’t get this at
first, when the arm tries to actually destroy Jeremy Birnbaum, he finally sees
sense just as the arm starts destroying the karate stadium. Everything’s resolved with another battle
with a creative magic display from Star where she turns a lot of random things
into arms, and they prove helpful in getting her to finally defeat the monster
arm, and turn Marco’s arm back to normal.
Ultimately, it makes the story kind of just come and go aside from a
slight hint that this isn’t the last of the monster arm, but we are still left
with a well-told story for Marco and Star making a significant step towards
getting a better control of her wand.
So, there are some significant benefits here. 9/10
The Other
Exchange Student
While Star’s friendly and loyal side has made her a likable
character to get behind, with this episode, we learn of an unfortunate catch to
this part of her character. She’s so
loyal to the Diaz family letting her stay with them while she’s on Earth, that
she becomes possessive of them and their hospitality. What’s more, as the beginning of this episode
shows, she takes the Diaz’s treatment of her way too well which is a problem
due to how excessive the treatment is involving them literally throwing a
party for her every day. It’s like Star
thinks she’s the most important being in the world which is not a very likable
trait to get behind. This really comes
to a head when an exchange student called Gustav from Scandinavia arrives. He almost instantly wins over his hosts with
his hospitality, thoughtful gifts, and especially his meatballs. While Gustav seems like a really nice guy,
Star completely dreads his presence the moment he arrives all because he’s
getting a lot of attention from a family who don’t get to see him all that
often. It not only makes her come off as
jealous, but also highly inconsiderate.
What’s more, it isn’t long before she starts making wild accusations about
Gustav without any proof all for the purpose of making him leave so she can
have her precious Diaz family to herself even if it would cost them the genuine
happiness they’re getting from the visitor.
Granted, there are some suspicions that are justified such as her
getting that Gustav’s faking his Scandinavian background after going through
his bag, and catching some strange actions from him in the dead of night. Still, her irrationality comes clear when she
comes to the ridiculous conclusion that Gustav wants to cook the Diazs into
meatballs making her still open to put a damper on their fun when Gustav
invites them for a meatball picnic in the woods. It does lead to a nice revelation to flesh
out Gustav’s character. Star really was
right that he had something to hide.
He’s from a small unpopular town who wants to start his own meatball
business to stand out, and Gustav isn’t even his name. Everything else Star suspected about him is
proven false as everything he did the previous night was related to the making
meatballs…though we never get an answer of why he measured Marco’s
parents. This is welcome depth to
Gustav’s character as opposed to him just being a happy visitor, but Star STILL
is inconsiderate by being happy that he's leaving in exchange for her keeping his identity secret and
even goes back to enjoying the unnecessary parties for her. She really isn’t at her most likable here,
but she’s still enjoyable for how funny and over-the-top she is, even when
she’s acting jealous. That good humor,
Star being right in some instances and Gustav proving to be a likable guest
character save this episode from mediocrity even if the issues are hard to
ignore. 7/10
The Ranking
- School Spirit
- Party with a Pony
- Monster Arm
- Star Comes to Earth
- Matchmaker
- The Other Exchange Student
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where see more heart to Star and Marco's friendship in "Cheer Up Star" and when they go on a shopping spree and find Ludo at "Quest Buy".
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