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Princess
Turdina
Among the iconic character moments in the show is Marco in a fancy princess dress leading a revolution for all interdimensional princesses to rise up and be true to themselves.
This particular moment has left a striking image and stands as one of the biggest things Marco has done in the grand scheme of
the series. Now that he’s living in
Mewni fulltime, Marco is open to making a great impression through frequent
visits to St. Olga’s Reform School for Wayward Princesses.
The place that was once a dark prison where
all untraditional, fun-loving princesses were stripped of their identity is now
a central hub for all princesses to hang out and party. In fact, there’s not much to the majority of
this episode apart from exploring all the details of how wild and crazy the
school has become without anyone to utilize harsh unforgiving rules. Yes, everyone seems to be too out of control,
but these actions are understandable when past events have shown them to be
under such oppression. This is just all
these youths expressing happiness that they’re finally free to enjoy life as
they know it.
Other than this, there
isn’t a major hook to the look around the school. It’s just different princesses having fun and
talking about how amazing Marco, or Princess Turdina as he’s referred to, is
for inspiring the movement. That makes
the episode drag a little and even feel repetitive. The best thing we have to a conflict is Marco
uneasy about telling the princesses that he’s a boy. It’s a relatable instance where he finds with
legit reasons to tell the truth as well as reasons to keep it a secret. His movement has gone on and let itself be
known for so long, yet no one knowing that it didn’t come from a princess has
it built on a lie. This would especially
be a problem given that the school’s host, a princess with four arms, shows
disdain of the idea of the movement being built on a lie. However, all the moments of the princesses
being happy for what Marco started, monotonous as they seem, are reasons for
Marco to not want to let them down. It’s
especially worth noting that this strong point comes from a true delinquent
like Pony Head which Marco finds himself siding with. That’s at least true at first when Star
pushes him to be open and honest.
By
then, however, it’s too late for that. The school’s former headmistress, Ms.
Heinous, suddenly appears to expose his boyhood by a single chest hair she
noticed in Marco’s phony apology video.
This would be the part where everyone would just turn on Marco exposed
as a liar and say he’s horrible because of this one misstep which would be cold
and depressing. In a pleasing turn, the
princesses are very understanding of Marco.
They think nothing of this reveal and know that what he pushed for is
still very true. While this is great to see
and refreshing from the usual liar reveal setup, it shows that all the worry
Marco and his friends had was for nothing.
The princesses’ fun continues as normal even before Ms. Heinous showed
up.
That said, the episode ends with
something to look forward to. Following up on an inadvertent claim Ms. Heinous
made that she needs the princesses while trying to get the school back, she
appears to suck the energy out of one of the princesses. That brings more light to clovers in her
cheeks really suggesting something big.
That’s one of the key sources of substance in an episode mostly
dedicated to showing the effects of Marco’s revolution and a conflict that
turns out to not matter.
B+
Starfari
This episode explores the theme of monster
prejudices on Mewni which soon gets
apparent how unreasonable their treatment is.
Out of it is strong development for Star, the only one to notice how
ridiculously unfair monsters have it such as how they’re separated from
Mewmans. She even confronts her own
mother about the treatment and its blatant hypocrisy. Moon says monsters are kept out because
they’re dangerous. However, there are
plenty of supernatural creatures not deemed monsters. These include some Magic
High Commission members, the Pony Head kingdom, Tom’s demon family, and a
family of pigeons with human legs.
Moon’s reasoning for why they get a free pass have shallow excuses like
their royal status or being rich. This
is concerning since she has realized monsters can be wholesome and caring too. It’s like that development never
happened. She does tell Star of the
right person to see on the matter, the royal monster expert, Dr. Jelly
Goodwell.
However, when Star storms in
on Dr. Goodwell, something about her doesn’t line up with the prejudices. Rather than openly exclude monsters, she
studies them and has wished to meet someone who shares her interests. Along with a calm positive attitude, Dr.
Goodwell certainly makes good first impressions. It does beg the question of how she’s
allowing monster treatment to persist this way if she’s in charge of these
matters. Fortunately, change in
treatment seems imminent when she and Star venture into the forests of Mewni to
explore monsters in their habitat. It
comes with a lot of strange yet enjoyable steps like wearing flimsy disguises,
and doing field research work in a small treehouse.
During the research work, there’s a reveal of
monsters living civil lives in a village outside of Mewni’s borders including
Buff Frog and his babies which is nice background. It’s here where Dr. Goodwell’s
stance on monsters feels confusing.
She’s fascinated by them instead of hating them, but chooses to observe
them from afar instead of getting to know them when they live like regular
Mewmans. When it comes to reasons for
this, she too is irrational when she says that Mewmans and monsters should be
separated to prevent bad things from happening to each other. She does so with a crazy plan to blow a dam
and flood the whole monster village.
After following this crazy charade for so long, Star takes action and
formally introduces Dr. Goodwell to Buff Frog and they both seem to get along
well. Buff Frog even shows
acknowledgement of her watching him for years.
Their interaction inadvertently blows up the dam though causing all the
monsters to rush and stop the flood in an exciting fast-paced sequence. Star helping them out shows Dr. Goodwell the
truth of what monsters and Mewmans are like together, and the results please
her. Despite all this, it’s a little
frustrating that she ridiculously thinks this all means Mewmans should act
barbaric like monsters which she proceeds to do. For that matter, for all her observations,
how can she not get that the monsters live as civilly as Mewmans? Even with this disappointment, Star proves as
developed and proactive as ever as she steps in and names Buff Frog as the new
official royal monster expert. This is a
welcome direction with a lot of potential that sadly goes nowhere, but that’s
for another episode.
As for this
episode, in spite of making the monster prejudice issue rather one-sided, it’s
made strong by proactiveness doing justice for the characters trying to resolve
it.
A-
The Ranking
- Moon the Undaunted
- Stranger Danger
- Return to Mewni
- Rest in Pudding
- Demoncism
- Toffee
- Club Snubbed
- Puddle Defender
- Sophomore Slump
- Starfari
- Lint Catcher
- Princess Turdina
- Scent of a Hoodie
- King Ludo
- Marco and the King
- Book Be Gone
- Trial by Squire
The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review develops the nature of Star's new butterfly form, and shows a potential new love life for Marco.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is two scary Hey Arnold cartoons "Headless Cabbie" and "Friday the 13th.
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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