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Scent of a
Hoodie
Although Toffee is now gone, Star has to stay in Mewni in the event that even bigger forces of evil threaten the balance of her home kingdom. Among the many adjustments is saying goodbye to Marco who goes back home to Earth. The emotion and difficulties of Star and Marco parting is very telling of how valuable their friendship is and how special they are to each other. It kind makes up for the fact that they’re both cool with each other considering what happened between them before Star left for Mewni. Ultimately, all Star has left of Marco is his battered hoodie which reminds her of all the fun times she had with him as she smells it.
This is all emotional and is
an interesting way of showing how hard moving on from her best friend is for
Star but it shouldn’t be the only thing followed up on. What about how Mewni is handling being
conquered by Toffee, or River becoming king of eagles, or Star’s strange new
butterfly form? Granted most of this is
followed up on later, but for the episode immediately after so much drama, it’s
concerning that none of this is even briefly mentioned. It’s as if it feels Star missing Marco is the
only important matter. Even then it
turns into a big joke when Star’s friend Pony Head shows up.
Regarding Pony Head, she was on a downward
spiral of appeal in the last season, but Season 3 is where she really starts
getting bad. First, she comes too late
to fight against Toffee despite knowing it was happening, and even says that
getting her hair done was more important.
If you think that’s inconsiderate, she just takes Marco’s hoodie from
Star despite her friend’s objections and throws it down to be washed. Yes, the hoodie smells bad, but Star has
reason to keep it that way and shouldn’t be judged for it.
The joke part of Star missing Marco comes
when she and Pony Head venture down to the castle’s laundry room to save the
hoodie from being washed. They meet a
launderer knight named Lavabo whose gimmick is treating something as simple as
washing clothes as a heroic quest. It’s
funny how serious he takes this mundane task, but it doesn’t really work when
the episode still expects us to feel for Star.
Pony Head continuing to not care about Star’s goal doesn’t help
either. At least random circumstances
get Pony Head to support her friend, and the following chase through the
laundry room is very exciting. While it’s still silly that all this is over a hoodie, Star comes to a mature
conclusion that she is obsessed with Marco after Lavabo calls her out for
stopping him with bloodlust. Also, the hoodie ends up washed, but she still smells the same Marco scents in its clean
form, but that’s just in her head. Then
again, this is a more relatable way of moving on from being separated from a
friend.
In the end, the episode pulls
off the featured topic well, but considering the big things that have happened, it
really shouldn’t have been the only thing covered in their follow-up.
B+
Rest in
Pudding
This episode is much more tonally in line with recent series
events. It also follows up on one of the
more emotional moments of Season 2.
The Magic High Commission is now short one member since Lekmet the goat
man turned himself into dust to save everyone.
His death is the cause for this episode’s more somber than average tone
as it opens up on his funeral. The
atmosphere of the event feels very real to actual funerals with everyone sad
that he’s gone while also enjoying talking about his good moments.
While the scene is somber, since
we barely saw much of Lekmet when he was alive, it’s easier to view the event
through Star’s perspective. While
saddened by the funeral, she’s clearly more saddened by another loss of
Glossaryck considering she met him in the afterlife realm. This is emphasized by her constantly getting
visions of Glossaryck in random places, even in public places like a punch bowl
at the funeral. Out of her fanaticism
with these visions, there’s a nice motherly moment where Moon comforts Star on
the emotional toll of funerals and how hard it can be to let the deceased
go. It’s very telling how much she
values her daughter’s well-being and how great a mother character Moon is. Star even understands her mother’s
advice which does suit the process of enduring grieving and tries it out
whenever she can.
However, simply saying
she’s letting Glossaryck go isn’t enough.
She keeps seeing visions of him back home, some out of unnatural
occurrences like water in her sink overflowing.
Considering the supernatural aspect of this world and the staging of the
times she sees Glossaryck, Star’s encounters feel very real and not just something
in the mind. As for how Star confronts
this, she does so by calling one of her human friends from Earth for help. Most of them are not very strong, but it’s
great that the person Star calls is the most entertaining of all the side
characters from Earth, Janna. She’s also
the perfect person for help, given her interest in the supernatural. Throughout the episode, Janna is keen to give
Star the advice she needs to stop Glossaryck from haunting her. Each time Star calls her brings a humorous
scene where she talks about something strange while everyone in public is
weirded out.
Star needing help so much
attributes to her continuing to see Glossaryck no matter what she does. Each time goes all out with creative imagery
like his eyeball in dirt, his fingers emerging through the carpet, and his
face decorated all over her room.
Eventually, Star goes to Glossaryck’s most sacred place, the magic
sanctuary from the season premiere to bury the remains of his prized
possession. There, she gives a
passionate speech on while Glossaryck was very frustrating, like he is now with
his haunting, his teachings got her to be independent and find out things for
herself. That shows that he believed in
her when no one else did and how he was always there for her, even at times when it
didn’t feel like it. It’s a relatable
way to show you really don’t know how important people are to you until you
lose them.
Now, Star ultimately doesn’t
lose Glossaryck since that speech is apparently enough to bring him back to
life. This does undermine the idea of
loss, but there is a catch that he acts infantile and can only say
“Globgor.” However, there’s a catch to this catch as
well. As it stands, this is a pretty
strong episode built on relatable themes and creative imagery.
A
The Ranking
- Moon the Undaunted
- Return to Mewni
- Rest in Pudding
- Toffee
- Puddle Defender
- Scent of a Hoodie
- King Ludo
- Marco and the King
- Book Be Gone
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Star gets involved in romantic drama with Tom, and officially meets Eclipsa for the very first time.
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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