Monday, January 20, 2020

The Ponyhead Show / Surviving the Spiderbites - (Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 4 Episode 6) - 'Toon Reviews 38

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The Ponyhead Sow



In my reviews of Season 3, I pointed out that a major weak point was the presence of Pony Head.  Whenever she had a big role to play, her overly rude and obnoxious attitude always put a damper on the experience.  At times, she could even become unacceptably authoritative, even over her own family.  To be fair, her roles in Season 4 are a tad better than those in the previous season, but that’s honestly not saying much.  Having her appear in her own variety show certainly doesn’t help her cause.  If that’s not all, unlike most of her starring roles which are more light-hearted side stories on frivolous matters, this one ties into one of the major plot threads of this season. 
When Star hears that Pony Head has her own show, she advocates to have Eclipsa perform there in an attempt to get the Mewmans to like her.  However, in spite of the show needing to work for a productive cause, Pony Head does nothing but waste everyone’s time with a collection of scenes all about her.  From rambles on shallow inconsequential matters to musical performances that don’t even have actual singing, it really doesn’t deliver on promised entertainment.  Honestly, more charm and entertainment come from a segment that’s said to happen, but never really does, and it doesn’t even feature Pony Head.  It's Marco and Kelly in a cooking segment that never goes anywhere.  At least out of it are a few nice interactions foreshadowing them really becoming close later in the season, but also disappointment with what becomes of that later on.  There’s also the fact that she has her creepily happy seahorse boyfriend hack all of Mewni’s broadcasts so that they can’t turn off the show.  Attention may be necessary for the program, but it goes too far if they’re going to force people to watch. 
The biggest issue is that Eclipsa is constantly stalled with Pony Head showing no consideration or cooperation to what the show needs to do with her.  All she does regarding her is insult her proposed talents, and has her sisters solely focus on her appearance, resulting in something incredibly gaudy.  Star even goes as far as to question why she even listens to Pony Head which I really can’t fault for her asking.  I also can’t fault her convincing Eclipsa to just ignore direction and go out and do her own thing. 
The result is Eclipsa performing a moving ballad on a guitar made of bones straight from the heart.  It highlights all her turmoil of suddenly appearing in a whole new age, but remains positive and caring to her subjects, striving to be a good loving queen. It’s a true testament to why she’s such a great character.  Frustratingly though, the Mewmans are still really bitter about Eclipsa and keep disliking the show.  Maybe the argument can be made about being forced to watch it, which is understandable, but it feels like they don’t know a great performance when they see one.  At least Eclipsa proudly declares that she’d rather be hated for who she is than liked for what she isn’t which is a great attitude.  In addition, her performance gets one like from a child, a decent form of hope for her cause. 
This episode shows that just the presence of Eclipsa is enough to make anything better, otherwise it’s just another unpleasing starring role for Pony Head.
 

 
C

Surviving the Spiderbites

For the most part, the hatred towards Eclipsa and monsters has been largely unjustified.  While the new Queen of Mewni does have a few understandable points of concern, monsters have acted perfectly civil and respectable, yet the populace is too dense to see this.  In fairness to the last episode, it did start a sign of the Mewmans starting to turn around.  This episode continues the trend by showing some form of openness, but also an introduction to a major plot point that goes nowhere. 
There’s an important meeting with rulers of another kingdom called the Spiderbites, but Eclipsa is nowhere to attend, so Star has to stall for her.  When the Spiderbites show up, they show the same amount of denseness as most Mewmans.  You can tell all the effort Star put into the affair with silverware, artwork, and even an elaborate dance routine performed by younger monsters.  However, King and Queen Spiderbite completely bash it all while their daughter, who’s made a few appearances before, is very engrossed in her mirror phone.  Hearing so many complaints and no consideration for the effort is understandably frustrating.  In fact, Star lashes out at them all with the real problem for this entire aspect of the series.  It’s not the monsters who are the problem; the Mewmans just have bad unwarranted attitudes towards everything. 
By perfect timing, the Spiderbites then prove that they’re not as closed-minded as they seem.  Back in the episode “Monster Bash” Princess Spiderbite bonded with a slime monster over how his fluids got rid of a huge spider bite on her head.  Their genuine bond was questioned when she didn’t vouch for him when he was arrested in the end, but this episode confirms that their friendship is real.  They’re even romantically involved, and her parents are in complete support.  As great as this is to see, a deeper layer to the matter is revealed out of this.  The Spiderbites are actually fine with monsters, but their real hatred is over Globgor, the king of monsters, and since Eclipsa’s married to him, they don’t trust her either.  The reason for the disdain is also very legit, as it’s over him devouring Eclipsa’s Mewman husband who happened to have Spiderbite blood.  Apparently, all the things Star showed them have a connection to Globgor which is why the family was so bitter. 
When Star later finds Eclipsa digging for something, she’s quick to see fault in what Star put together as well, but knows how to set things right.  Through apologizing for being late, acting civil with the guests, and proving that her monster husband is not escaping his crystals, the Spiderbites are most satisfy.  They leave with a promise for alliance, signaling the promise of Eclipsa’s reputation getting a much needed improvement.  The shocking reveal about her husband still leaves a foreboding tone.  Eclipsa also claims that she was digging for pieces of the long destroyed Book of Spells she can repair with special silk worms that Glossaryck owns.  Star is then revealed to have a piece of it in her closet, and keeping it secret is her way of showing her own form of distrust in Eclipsa. 
While this makes the story interesting, nothing about Globgor eating Eclipsa’s Mewman husband is touched upon at any other point.  The truth is said to be complicated, but we never get the truth, and this is actually a legit cause for his bad reputation too.  While this episode has its good benefits, it also has pretty sloppy storytelling beats that can’t be ignored.
B
The Ranking
1.      Escape from the Pie Folk
2.      Swim Suit
3.      Yada Yada Berries
4.      Moon Remembers
5.      Ransomgram
6.      Butterfly Follies
7.      Surviving the Spiderbites
8.      Down By the River
9.      Lake House Fever
10.  The Ponyhead Show

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode about the sendoff of Quest Buy, and Marco and Kelly starting to get closer.
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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