This episode is perhaps one of the strongest representations
of Star and Marco’s friendship and it’s told in a pretty interesting
manner. We open with them in the middle
of a battle with Ludo and his monster army and it begs the question as to why
this battle is happening. Star and Marco
end up hiding in a toolshed and as Marco explains that the monster attack is
all his fault, we start to get a sense of his strong bond with Star. As you can see, the meat of the episode is
told in flashback which is a creative way of getting information across. Anyway, in the flashback, we see that Marco
had a bad day consisting of missing the school bus, getting bullied, and even
embarrassing himself in front of his crush.
Star, being the good-natured, albeit hyperactive, friend she is, did
everything in her power to cheer him up and it worked. As for Marco, he soon got his chance to
return the favor, when Star met a boy named Oskar Greason and became instantly
smitten by his music which everyone else considered torture to their ears. Heck, she was so taken in by Oskar’s music,
her fantasies of him she has in the present interfere with the flashback in a
humorous turn of events. Anyway, Star
was soon down in the dumps when she left Oskar her phone number and he never
called. Personally, it’s hard to get
behind Star’s feelings since Oskar didn’t seem the least bit interested in her
back when she left the number, so this outcome should kind of be expected and
she shouldn’t even be making him worth her time. That said, everything Marco does to cheer
Star up after she did the same for him really demonstrates how much he values
her as a friend, making that a true bond to get behind. As for how the monster fight started, it’s
all because Marco used Star’s wand as bait to lure a monster to Earth since fighting
monsters is something Star loves to do, but it actually lured a whole bunch of
monsters to them causing the current conflict.
Ultimately, Star beats them all with cool wand spells just as she always
has throughout the season and is totally cheered up. She even gets that call from Oskar during the
fight which still doesn’t present a reason to get behind them getting together
since they don’t discuss anything meaningful or get to know each other in any
way. Well, no matter how you feel about
Star and Oskar together, there’s enough strong points to Star and Marco
together present in this episode, and that makes it one of the most pleasing
watches so far. 9/10
Quest Buy
Shopping can be either an easy thing to do or very confusing
especially if you’re doing it in a big store.
This idea makes for a fun episode that’s relatable and also, given the
fantasy element of this show, works in a good amount of magic and monster
related creativity. The plot gets going
when Star can’t find a charger needed to power her wand, which is a bigger deal
than you’d think because it’s revealed that when a wand completely runs out of
power, it will stop working for good effectively raising the stakes of the
conflict. She and Marco then head over
to the dimension known as Quest Buy to buy a new charger which seems to have
everything anyone could need, but the store is designed like a maze, making it
hard to navigate. This is where we see a
clash of methods of how to get through the store to the wand charger aisle. Star, having been here before, believes she
can get to the right aisle easily which leads them through obstacles like an
ancient system of navigating the store that’s hard to decipher, aisles they
need to answer riddles to get to, and somehow ending up back where they started
explaining how creative and mysterious this store is. Marco’s method ties into his idea of staying
organized he’s shared throughout the episode, particularly how Star not staying
organized led to her old charger getting lost.
He simply reads a map which appears to work, but certain factors, mostly
involving the elevator, make everything harder than they need to be. Even Ludo and his men get up to enjoyable
antics at Quest Buy from the henchmen trying to sneak in stuff they don’t
really need and getting cramped inside an elevator with a huge passenger, which
doesn’t seem too uncommon in real life.
Their battle with Star and Marco is also very interesting since they
have to fend them off without the help of Star’s wand which is still in its
weak state, and mostly work with the store’s products lying in certain aisles,
so to say the least, that’s an interesting turn of events. Of course, our heroes find the charger they
need and leave Ludo to pay for the damage, but that leads to them finding out
that Star’s old charger was there the whole time sucked up into Marco’s vacuum
causing it to levitate. This may seem
that the Quest Buy adventure was a waste, but since Star opts to keep her new
charger and let Marco have a flying vacuum, this does still leave some
possibilities for new creative adventures, maybe not a lot, but I think some
potential is good enough. On another
note, it’s not exactly clear if Star truly learned about the benefits of being
organized from this so the episode’s value is questionable. Still, it’s a very good one for its
creativity and how relatable it can be. 9/10
The Ranking
- School Spirit
- Party with a Pony
- Quest Buy
- Monster Arm
- Cheer up Star
- Star Comes to Earth
- Matchmaker
- The Other Exchange Student
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Star takes Marco and his parents on a "Diaz Family Vacation," and once pigs start flying, Star finds herself invited to "Brittney's Party."
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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