Friday, January 31, 2020

Cornball! / Meteora's Lesson (Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 4 Episode 10) - 'Toon Reviews 38

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Cornball!



The prejudice between Mewmans and monsters may be relatable to real world prejudices, but the execution doesn’t make it very pleasant.  There’s little to no prompting for monsters to be as hated as they are.  At best, the hatred is backed up by the statement that the king of monsters, Globgor, ate a Mewman king, but given what’s done with that reveal, it’s not enough warranty.  However, giving Season 4 credit are legitimate steps in settling this unfair prejudice once and for all, something Season 3 tried and failed to do. 
For this episode, Star has arranged a fun-sounding match for a sport called Cornball, only this time it’s integrated with both monsters and Mewmans.  Confident that both groups will come together because of this, she’s even convinced Buff Frog and his children, who have now grown significantly, to come watch.  Considering that nothing’s been said about Buff Frog since he left in “Is Another Mystery” it’s kind of contrived that he just shows up after a long absence at this episode’s start.  I suppose it’s believable enough that his most talkative daughter, Katrina, has secretly kept in contact with Star even if that’s also never been seen.  When watching the game, a lot of principal characters spice things up in their own distinctive way.  Eclipsa takes the role of a great caring mother as she spends most of the game looking for Meteora and making sure she behaves herself.  Marco and Kelly also have great chemistry as they commentate on the game with Kelly being all enthusiastic about everything while Marco struggles just to read the rules. 
As for the actual game itself, it’s majorly held back by the established denseness of the monsters and Mewmans.  Not one member of each group is willing to give the other group a chance.  Rather than complying with integration, monsters play with monsters and Mewmans play with Mewmans.  Then everyone, including the audience members, get mad at each other over nothing substantial and break out into a brawl.  Not even Star’s magic is enough to stop all this, but Buff Frog is starting to become convinced that it’s still doubtful if he and his children will ever return to Mewni. 
However, this is when progress has an endearing way of improving attitudes for the better.  The kids, monsters and Mewmans alike, notice that there’s no cornball game they came to see.  To make up for that, they leave the stands and set up their own game.  Unlike the adults though, none of them see anything wrong with the other group.  They get in real cornball on their own and it comes together to sweet effect.  What’s more, their game gets the attention of their parents, and instead of forcing their kids away from the other species, they’re happy that they get along well despite who they are.  Adding in another exciting commentary from Kelly cements this game as an exciting payoff to so much time spent on unwarranted bigotry.  Heck, there’s really only one monster and Mewman argument after this game, showing that things are getting better.
In the end this game is the reason the new Mewni generation convinces Buff Frog to return.  Ultimately, if you can tolerate a big showing of the shallow prejudices, you’ll be in for a great payoff filled with genuine hope for the future.

A

Meteora’s Lesson


The idea of having a half-monster daughter surprisingly turns out to be very cute.  Meteora, being such a daughter to Eclipsa, proves this as this episode touches upon her magical roots.  It especially brings her second chance at life to a great new start considering how destructive she became during her first one. 
This episode is all about her learning to use magic without a wand, something even Eclipsa can’t accomplish easily, and it’s all taught to her in interesting ways.  With Eclipsa out for the evening and Janna being totally incompetent as her babysitter, Meteora’s real care comes from Glossaryck.  His moments with her aren’t even the first time he’s taught her as it appears.  He asks Meteora if she’s been brushing up on the ability to dip down, which is what performing magic without a wand is referred as.  Seemingly deliberately ignoring that she’s just a baby who can’t understand things easily, Glossaryck decides to take Meteora on a trip through the ages. 
By extension, it gives visual insight on the fascinating history and world building the series has built up for a long time.  Their guide is a bald giraffe known as Reynaldo who specializes in rhyming riddles.  Tastes on Reynaldo’s riddles may vary, but they do give the first insightful bit of world-building in the episode.  First of all, this very being used to be a member of the Magic High Commission, and his interest in riddles got him expunged from the group.  When Glossaryck and Meteora make their first stop, Reynaldo silently refers to Glossaryck as his dad.  It’s the only verbal confirmation that tells where the magical beings of the Magic High Commission came from, meaning that everything they’ve done is because of Glossaryck.  Concerning, this is also the background of their scandalous things.  
The world building doesn’t stop there either.  Glossaryck presents first hand to Meteora all of the key moments in Mewni history, though he also guides the people in the flashbacks along with callbacks to older episodes.  They first come across a ship of Mewmans on the shores of Mewni.  They look dazed, suggesting they’ve been in the anesthetic Realm of Magic.  Quickly settling the matter, Glossaryck reads the Mewmans the pop-up book of Mewni’s history seen in “Mewnipendance Day” right down to telling the abridged story.  He also incites the creation of the wand by taking Meteora’s rattle, and powering it with a baby unicorn from the Realm of Magic, and giving it to a female Mewman.  Plus, he sets the groundwork for the more obscure Stump Day by telling the Mewmans to huddle around a stump during a storm. 
Finally, Glossaryck and Meteora visit a flashback of an army of lizards led by Toffee which is apparently the same flashback where Glossaryck broke his arm.  It seems like taunting Toffee is very deliberate where just as the young, less collected lizard king is about to break Glossaryck’s other arm, something clicks in Meteora. She proves to be more than just a babbling baby and successfully dips down, unleashing magic, and saving Glossaryck.  Toffee showing disdain for the baby’s magic is pretty telling of what becomes of magic later on.  As a result, Glossaryck saying magic is in good hands as Eclipsa returns home to Meteora unbeknownst is totally ironic.  I guess that’s one of the interesting ways this look into Mewni history works.
 
A

The Ranking

1.      Escape from the Pie Folk

2.      Meteora’s Lesson

3.      Swim Suit

4.      Cornball!

5.      Yada Yada Berries

6.      Moon Remembers

7.      Ghost of Butterfly Castle

8.      Ransomgram

9.      Butterfly Follies

10.  Kelly’s World

11.  Surviving the Spiderbites

12.  Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell

13.  Down By the River

14.  Out of Business

15.  Lake House Fever

16.  The Ponyhead Show

17.  The Curse of the Blood Moon

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Marco finally becomes a knight, and Eclipsa is apparently kidnapped, leaving Star and her friends on a crazy quest to find her.
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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