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Puddle
Defender
Giving this season a slight edge is a theme of how
hard monsters have it on Mewni. It’s
quite remarkable how Star started out the series fighting monsters for fun, but
over time has discovered they have humanity.
However, while she’s softened up on monsters, the rest of Mewni isn’t as
accepting as, and that includes her mother.
This episode is the start of Moon gradually conquering these
prejudices.
When the magic sanctuary is
overrun by a mysterious black substance, Star and Moon need another place to
stay. The best place Star knows is the
home of Buff Frog, a monster she’s befriended.
Continuing from the idea of Moon being unaware of what her daughter regularly
does, she’s uneasy about Star being acquainted with Buff Frog. Even so, Moon is reasonable enough to know
that there’s no other safe place. Star,
who’s more open to staying with Buff Frog, ends up keener to leave upon
learning that Ludo, possessed by Toffee has successfully taken over the royal
castle. On a side note, this is the first
sign of major disappointment on River’s part after seemingly growing to be a
better king in the last episode. Star’s concern for her father is a genuine
cause for escape, but Moon, worried for Star’s safety, insists that they stay
at Buff Frog’s despite her ever-apparent monster prejudice.
On that subject, it’s touched upon in a very
interesting way. Star convinces Buff
Frog to distract Moon while she escapes to defeat Toffee. He does so by treating her to a board game
which may seem random, but says a lot about Mewni’s societal problems. The featured board game, Puddle Defender,
puts the Mewmans players in a bad light by having them try to capture monster
babies. It’s a reversal of the old
convention that monsters are bad and eat children while people are the good
guys.
While they play, Moon brings up
this convention, saying she grew up learning that monsters eat Mewman
babies. The catch is that she only heard
about this but never knew any actual monsters who did such a thing. Believing this had to have come from
somewhere, she sticks to these rumors hard causing the game to get tense. When Moon insists that Buff Frog doesn’t
understand about protecting children, it especially hurts since it’s well known
that he cherishes his tadpole babies. Buff
Frog finally settles this by suddenly calling off helping Star escape behind
Moon’s back, and sets up precautions to keep her and his babies safe
inside. The nicest thing about this is
that Moon is open to noticing that even if he is a monster, Buff Frog is very
much a caring nurturing parent like her.
Of course, she has a long way to go to truly overcome her biases of
monsters, but Moon realizing this is still very bold.
As for Star, she’s still insistent on leaving
to beat Toffee, and a cute scene with Buff Frog’s babies, especially Katrina
the only one who can talk, gets her a way out.
Sadly, Star turns out to not be worth getting behind when she leaves
without a plan, saying she’s just going to rely on raw strength and dumb luck. This wouldn’t be so bad
if not for her constantly calling out Moon for not having a plan when she’s just
winging it. Star not only looks dumb and
reckless for this, but also very hypocritical.
It says a lot when a tadpole baby has more common sense than her.
In the end, the inciting conflict to the
episode ends up totally one-sided.
However, it still comes out strong for acknowledgement on the deep
relatable conflict between monsters and Mewmans as well as creatively showing
it through a simple board game.
A-
King Ludo
Following up on Ludo (unknowingly possessed by Toffee) taking
over Mewni, this episode is largely a comedy of events which, in the long run,
feel like they’re just stalling for time.
First there are Ludo’s concerns that he’s not well-liked as king which
feel pretty mixed in execution. It is
admirable that despite being a villain who delights in conquering, he wants to
be looked at as a genuinely good king.
It gives further weight to his lust for power brought by his cruel upbringing. However, the narrative
expecting to take it seriously isn’t all that impactful as Ludo idiotically
doesn’t get that the people don’t like him because he’s the enemy. It’s one of those things that’s better as a
joke and not a major plot point.
The
thing that does qualify as a major plot point is Marco and River trying to
escape imprisonment. It’s disappointing
enough that they ended up captured just as River started showing a backbone as
ruler, but his stance on this plot point gets progressively worse. When he refuses Ludo’s order to command Mewni
to like him, Ludo inadvertently leaves him and Marco a decent means of escape. There’s a stick of butter Ludo used to put
the key to Marco and River’s shackles around his neck which seems like a good
tool to have both prisoners slip out.
While Marco gets out, River, in the ultimate idiot move, destroys the
success of the escape by eating the butter.
It’s honestly hard to believe that he only just learned that Mewni needs
a good king to rule them. How can he be
that if he’s still locked in the dungeon?
The rest of the episode is slightly more enjoyable. While finding a way out through the castle’s
vents, Marco finds a trio of royal advisors forming a resistance against
Ludo. There’s Ruberiot, the minstrel who
once wrote a song that messed with the Butterfly family’s reputation, Foolduke,
a jester, and a mime. They’re an enjoyable
group in how they live it up in the royal bedroom when Ludo isn’t around. However, since this is all they’re doing,
they’re not exactly productive or effective.
Fortunately, Marco inspires the resistance to use their strengths and
talents to steal the key from Ludo and free River. Despite their insistence on lollygagging when
Ludo leaves the room, breaking into petty fights, and judging Marco’s choices
of words, the resistance is swayed to try his plan. Just as the plan is about to backfire,
they’re quick to rush in for an impromptu late night serenade for Ludo which is
a pleasant listen. More impressively,
even when it seems like they’re going to ruin things with a lame argument, the
resistance proves productive by getting the key amidst their insults.
However, even though they have the key, they
fail to free River simply because he doesn’t want to be rescued. His reason sounds noble for wanting to go out
with honor for his kingdom, so it can be argued that he did learn something
about being there as a king. However,
he’s still being levitated away from Mewni and leaving them without a good
ruler. It doesn’t make the ending scene
where Ludo levitates him away any less intense and effective though. So now Marco and the resistance are the best
chance at freeing Mewni, and they do show promise for an effective team. This promise makes what becomes of the
resistance all the more disappointing.
This episode is still well-told and has many solid character moments and
imaginative scenarios. However, it’s
held back by a few less-than-pleasing character moments and the whole thing going on
longer than needed. It builds up the
final battle for sure, but maybe a little too much.
B+
The Ranking
- Moon the Undaunted
- Return to Mewni
- Puddle Defender
- King Ludo
- Marco and the King
- Book Be Gone
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the last part of the "Battle for Mewni" arc with the ultimate move to take down Toffee.
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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