Friday, August 31, 2018

'Toon Reviews 20: Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 2 Episode 14: Bon Bon the Birthday Clown


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Bon Bon the Birthday Clown
In this double-length episode, the show begins to put a lot of focus on romance-related drama.  Normally this wouldn’t be the best course since bigger areas of the series require more drama, but how it’s presented here makes it work. 
For one thing, it’s an after effect from two different things Star and Marco do. Marco goes to a school dance with Jackie and Star joins Janna for a séance of a dead birthday clown.  The former activity shows that Marco has come a long way with being around Jackie, especially after the last episode. The latter is a creative activity backed by a flashback with one of the cutest death scenes I’ve seen. 
Each subplot has its own appeal to make them stand out.  The séance portion brings more charm from Star’s bond with Janna as they both see pleasure in finding out if the legend of Bon Bon is true. Adding to the charm is their enjoyable banter with Glossaryck who tags along.  As for Marco and Jackie, their chemistry is strong and does justice for Jackie’s character.  She’s quick to see Marco’s desperate attempts at conversations and lets him know that he doesn’t need to trouble himself. She reminds him that he’s good at picking himself up from any awkwardness.  Jackie is also a thrill seeker for opting to spend time with Marco as a date as opposed to going to the even more awkward school dance. 
Both subplots come together as the relationship drama kicks in.  It’s been hinted a few times this season that Star is getting a crush on Marco.  She was originally excited about going to the dance with him before Jackie invited him.  Despite technically being possessive, Star does know of Marco’s true crush and tries not to intrude when Jackie gets involved. Joining Janna for the séance makes it easier.  Star does allude to being justice over Marco and Jackie together, but does attempt to restrain her jealousy through subtle questions about why he’s going out with Jackie and not her.  She even puts a lot of effort into Bon Bon’s shrine, and only checks on Marco when the ghost clown doesn’t show up. 
However, circumstances lead her to the ultimate move to spy on him when she summons a forbidden dark magic spell from Eclipsa’s section of her spell book.  It lets her see Marco hanging out with Jackie instead of going to the dance.  Even crazier is that it lets her control the vision when her jealousy accidently gets her to shoot one of the wheels on Jackie’s skateboard.  Star is kept likable for regretting the action though. 
We also get a big climax for the episode when she and Janna are ambushed by Ludo and his associates.  The ensuing battle is one of the show’s most evenly matched with many big and creative spells from both Star and Ludo’s wands. It eventually looks like Star will win with a black hole spell sucking Ludo up.  However, Marco showing up with Jackie causes the spell to backfire with Star about to get sucked in.  The confrontation ends with an intense moments of all four teens saving themselves from getting sucked.  Even so, Ludo steals Star’s spell book with Glossaryck in tow. 
The big thing about this is that while there is still some drama over crushes, the fact that Star’s spell book is gone is treated like the bigger deal it is.  That offers a huge direction to take the show in.  It’s not easy to treat romance drama tactfully, but through strong efforts of restraining it in favor of bigger plot points and charming character moments, it all works out to something great.
A+

The Ranking
  1. Bon Bon the Birthday Clown
  2. Ludo in the Wild
  3. Into the Wand
  4. Hungry Larry
  5. Game of Flags
  6. On the Job
  7. Sleepover
  8. Is Mystery
  9. Naysaya
  10. Mr. Candle Cares
  11. Wand to Wand
  12. Page Turner
  13. Starstruck
  14. Girls’ Day Out
  15. By the Book
  16. Friendenemies
  17. Gift of the Card
  18. Starsitting
  19. Star on Wheels
  20. Camping Trip
  21. My New Wand
  22. Red Belt
  23. Spider with a Top Hat
  24. Star vs Echo Creek
  25. Fetch
  26. Goblin Dogs
  27. Pizza Thing
The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review covers the follow-up to this episode as Star and Marco make their first attempt to get Glossaryck and the spell book back, and the show hits a new low when Star meets a birthday magician and everyone is too dense to believe her discoveries that his magic is real.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is another Xiaolin Showdown episode, "Chameleon."
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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