Lobster
Claws
A good character is one who isn’t completely good or
completely bad. They should have some
flaws, but enough likable qualities to make them worth getting behind because
that’s what makes them relatable. This
is the idea explored in this episode where another failed attempt to get Star’s
wand leads Ludo to fire one of his henchmen named Lobster Claws. When Star and Marco find him upset about
being out of a job, Marco feels sympathetic and offers to help Lobster
Claws learn to be good. We then get a montage
of Lobster Claws trying to be good, but all his attempts constantly get shut
down by his monstrous tendencies such as punching people, putting a cat he
rescued from a tree and its owner in his mouth, and causing destruction while
helping an old lady cross the street.
There’s a humorous feel to how all of Lobster Claws’ goodness attempts
go wrong, but you can still buy that he’s trying, so it’s nice that Marco
continuously believes in him. At the
same time, Star doesn’t seem at her best here by constantly shooting down all
of Lobster Claws and Marco’s claims that Lobster Claws can be good just because
he’s a monster and all monsters are bad.
That’s a major one-track mindset which never is welcome. Just because some beings are part of a
notoriously bad group doesn’t mean they’re like everyone else. There can have depth and other sides to them
people hardly see, and if Star can’t consider this, that costs her value as a
protagonist. She even convinces Lobster
Claws that Marco’s just trying to make him into something he’s not and that he
should be trying to hurt people, and has him stage a fake fight to get Ludo to
hire him back meaning that Star is so rigid, she’d stick to the black-and-white
good-hero, bad-monster way of thinking.
Now during the fake fight, we get some creativity when Lobster Claws
does take Star’s wand, and it, along with him, turns dark and monstrous as a
result. Plus, Lobster
Claws actually appears at war with himself as he can’t decide whether to give
the wand to Ludo or Star, and his internal conflict is reflected by the wand
changing its eye as he turns to different opponents. Thankfully, this gets Star to realize that
there is good inside monsters after all, so she’s saved from being completely
unlikable. Also, everything’s wrapped up
nicely with Marco getting Star’s wand back and Lobster Claws getting rehired by
Ludo. The latter point may be
disappointing considering what Lobster Claws went through, but at least we know
that he isn’t completely bad. Overall,
this is a fine good episode brought down by an outdated one-track
mindset. 8/10
Sleep
Spells
This is another episode that explores how strong of a duo
Star and Marco are. Its strength is
shown through how willing they are to put up with each other despite how
eccentric they are, particularly with Marco willingly doing something about
Star and her spells. He realizes that
Star has a habit of casting spells in her sleep which cause havoc all about his
home. His way around this involves
simple psychology practices, and while it takes a while for Star to grasp how
they work shown to humorous effect, Marco does find some success by uncovering
a reason for Star’s habit with an ink blot test. While the rest of the episode doesn’t further
explore the reason, it does provide more value to Marco’s psychological
talents. When it seems that Star has
just gone back to sleep-spelling, it’s revealed that she was defending herself
from a monster called Princess Smooshy.
Her story is that she’s on the run from St. Olga’s Reform School and
thinks that stealing Star’s face is her way out of it. It’s as ridiculous as it sounds, but its
threat is genuine when she makes it clear that she means what she says. As for how this whole thing is resolved,
Marco uses his psychology to great effect.
When Smooshy says she doesn’t have ears, Marco points out that this is
the problem which gets Smooshy to reveal that while she actually does have
ears, she only listens to her mind and doesn’t want to listen to people. While this psychological therapy only
increases Smooshy’s desire to steal Star’s face, Marco still gets his moment to
shine by using force as his last resort and comes out on top while Smooshy is
taken away. To be honest, after seeing
Star’s magic and wand work be the means of solving every problem for so long,
it’s a nice change of pace for Marco to be the big hero with simple non-magical
practices proving that this show knows how to stay fresh. Plus, it leads to a nice ending moment to
serve as closure to Marco constantly calculating how much he and Star save each
other. Star, taking on the role of a
psychiatrist herself, lets Marco know that he’s great as he is and that the
both of them being there for each other is what’s most important, and it’s
especially great that Marco gets it just as the episode ends. While this episode mostly exists as a
standalone entry, the strength of Star and Marco’s friendship, the strong
comedy, and the different than usual ways of resolving things make it a strong
entry of the season. 9.5/10
The Ranking
- Mewberty
- Diaz Family Vacation
- Sleep Spells
- School Spirit
- Party with a Pony
- Quest Buy
- Monster Arm
- Cheer up Star
- Star Comes to Earth
- Brittney’s Party
- Matchmaker
- Lobster Claws
- Pixtopia
- The Other Exchange Student
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where we meet Star's old crush, Tom, when she attends the "Blood Moon Ball" and we also meet Ludo's new assistant, Toffee, who plots to get Star's wand by taking advantage of her new obsession of "Fortune Cookies."
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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