Sunday, February 3, 2019

Book Be Gone / Marco and the King (Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 3 Episode 2) - 'Toon Reviews 27


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Book Be Gone


When the show first began, Ludo was seen as an average half-pint villain desperately trying to claw his way to power for power’s sake.  One of the strengths of Season 2 was giving him strong development and a personal arc of fighting to forge a new life for himself after losing everything. He eventually mastered using his own piece of the wand and successfully stole Glossaryck and the spell book from Star.  Not to mention, it was revealed that his personality comes from being horribly mistreated by his own family.  It’s actually really impressive that he’s made this much of a name of himself when you consider how he started out. 
Of course, much of his accomplishments, including beating the Magic High Commission in the Season 2 finale, come from the fact that he’s unknowingly possessed by Toffee.  This also explains his wad piece’s weird ability to speak to him. As for defeating the Magic High Commission, Ludo is under the impression that he did it, and proceeds to record his accomplishment in the spell book.  However, the book won’t let him do that and closes on its own through all of Ludo’s attempts.  Glossaryck claims that it’s because the book doesn’t belong to Ludo anymore in the same nonchalant manner as he did when he told Star he belongs to Ludo now. It’s basically his usual way of explaining things no matter how difficult he ends up being to others. 
From there, the episode is nothing but Ludo’s feeble attempts to get the book to do what he wants.  While this is a fairly humorous direction for the episode, it really falls flat for being the same constant running gag.  Ludo just makes a fool of himself lunging at the spell book which dodges everything he tries.  The more he does it, the more tiresome the episode becomes and you can’t help but wish Ludo would just understand that the book doesn’t follow him anymore.  Plus, his wand keeps telling him that they should just go take over Butterfly Castle in Mewni now, but writing that chapter is more important to Ludo. I know he has reasons for the importance, but putting that over something far more productive just makes him look stupid.  That’s disappointing considering his newfound depth. 
There’s some enjoyment to his attempts to get to the book.  When Ludo casts a spell to get in the book, it leads to a random yet creative scene where he’s whisked far away to a beach where he’s befriended by sea creatures.  Then there’s a more plot-relevant scene all this endless slapstick was building up to.  After a funny scene of Ludo declaring his love for the book, it still doesn’t open up for him and Glossaryck just laughs at him talking to the book.  Ludo responds in a fit of rage by throwing the book into a campfire with Glossaryck inside it.  It’s capped off by the episode’s most intimidating moment where Toffee gains full control of Ludo again, pleased that he can move forward with his plans with Glossaryck gone.  The selling point is that he’s still talking to Glossaryck and declaring him gone even before the fire turns him to ashes.  The shock isn’t too genuine with Glossaryck content with apparently getting destroyed, but that’s just me.  This is still a solid payoff building potential for great future events. 
However, the way to this moment is too dull and repetitive and doesn’t do justice for Ludo.  Maybe if his attempts to the book didn’t go on too long it would be more effective.
B-
Marco and the King
Most of the royal Butterfly family has some solid development to them, even if some develop slower than others.  One of these characters is King River. 
When it was first revealed that he had a less regal and more adventurous mindset, it was an interesting aspect to show a side to him Star wasn’t familiar with.  As the show went on, that part of River’s character appeared to be the only part.  It was present so much it even became overbearing to other characters, including the ever-reckless Star.  At times, he was shown to be more than just a rough brute through showing genuine concern for his wife whenever she went off on dangerous missions like this one.  It was even true for their youth.  As a matter of fact, this episode shows just how lost River is without Moon.  He clearly has no idea how to properly run Mewni, spending most of the beginning of the episode throwing a wild party three times in a row.  It’s all of River’s worst qualities on full display, making him seem like an incompetent fool. 
While he doesn’t feel like the best character to be a lead, he soon gets a more reasonable character to work off of.  Marco suddenly arrives out of concern for Star since she left Earth in a hurry, but gets sidetracked by River’s recklessness.  Speaking of which, his leadership becomes even more concerning when Marco presents him to the people of Mewni.  They are the perfect way to show how much of a failure River is as their king, although he doesn’t seem to get it.  He believes that as long as he’s happy, all of Mewni is happy, begging a lot of questions on his logic.  He fortunately understands the people’s concerns about a monster in the cornfield, but he lacks the knowhow to get it to go away only managing to get it to come closer to Mewni. 
Through all this, it’s very concerning that so much time is spent on how bad a king River is.  Like the previous episode, it makes everything dull for drilling in the same point.  The good news is that something is done about the obvious problem with River much sooner.  When Marco confronts River, he explains that part of his inability to lead well is his concern for Moon.  She apparently left him supplies to last a long time, and River fears this means she and Star may never come home.  This explains a lot about his persona and gives more light to his devotion to his wife which is always nice to see.  Marco gives meaningful advice that someone needs to make sure his wife and daughter have a home to return to, and River is the only one powerful enough to do it. 
While the people of Mewni still don’t like him, River makes it his goal to boost morale to get the invading monster to go away.  He does so by reminding the Mewmans who think they can’t do anything that they have strengths in many areas that can solve the task at hand.  Amazingly, this strategy works and River goes on to lead all of Mewni to get a run at the monster.  The actual confrontation is anticlimactic with the monster turning around at a simple order to go away and only came near Mewni because of a misunderstanding.  Even so, River gets solid praise for taking action as a king for once and that’s acceptable thanks to the genuine feel of his growth. 
However, the episode ends with Ludo and his rat army suddenly appearing to attack.  It suggests that River will fight to beat them all back, but considering what’s revealed in episodes yet to come, this is disappointing following all of River’s development.  Still, his efforts, chemistry with Marco, and undeniable care for his loved ones bring significant merit.
B
The Ranking
  1. Moon the Undaunted
  2. Return to Mewni
  3. Marco and the King
  4. Book Be Gone
The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review brings the theme of monster prejudice to the forefront when Moon meets Buff Frog and we see what follows Ludo's attack on Butterfly Castle.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is an episode about a lost clan from Hilda.
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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