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By
now, Marco’s reputation on Mewni has grown a lot, and Tom has matured
significantly up to the point of being open to hang out with someone who used
to be his sworn enemy. That’s the
biggest reason for this episode to exist where it’s revealed that Marco has his
own team of dragon-cyclers specializing in huge dangerous drives through
dimensions. The team consists of all the
interdimensional beings other than Star Marco has established a strong
connection with like Kelly, Hekapoo, and Talon.
There’s also a Quirky Guy named Quirky Guy who is just along for the
rides and doesn’t offer much apart from random offhand comments. If you’re into biker gangs, this team-up
should be the least bit interesting to see.
On this day, Marco surprises everyone by revealing that he’s allowed Tom
to join them for dragon-cycling, apparently including an annual jump of a
crevice called Devil’s Mark. The catch
is that Tom is portrayed as way more inept than average when it comes to
dragon-cycling. He’s clearly going along
with this because it seems cool and not because he actually wants to. There are several key factors to the sport he
simply fumbles through like keeping the dragon-cycle’s eyes covered when
driving it and fearing it instead of trusting it. It’s staged pretty awkwardly and certainly
doesn’t grant him the best reputation among Marco’s gang. For that, a lot of time is spent on Marco splitting
from the team trying to help Tom get started with dragon-cycling.
At this point, even if Tom is clearly faking
interest in riding a dragon-cycle, it’s still hard to believe that he’d have
this hard a time grasping how to work such a vehicle/creature hybrid. If that’s not enough, right in the middle of
this awkward sequence is an offhand resolution to one of the relationship
aspects of this season. When Tom’s
dragon-cycle is finally airborne, he asks Marco about how he and Kelly are
doing, and Marco just casually says that they’re not an item anymore. This is confirmed by the next immediate scene
where Kelly unnaturally casually tells this to the other dragon-cyclers. This has got to be the most half-hearted way
of ending a couple ever. Not only does it
make everything devoted to bringing Marco and Kelly together pointless, it also
feels like an afterthought in an otherwise inconsequential escapade. It also catches the audience off-guard since
all their appearances together showed Marco and Kelly to genuinely enjoy being
a couple.
After that tacked on
resolution, Tom’s dragon-cycle conflict is settled when it’s time to jump Devil’s
Mark where riders literally get a fist mark of a devil punched into them. Tom states the obvious about only doing this
to be cool enough for Marco as if his constant awkwardness didn’t give it
away. I still say it’s a good sign of
friendship between the two of them, and Marco does give some interesting words
to inspire Tom’s final actions. Tom
decides to let his dragon-cycle go free with the wild rider-less ones, and
jumps Devil’s Mark with his fire flight powers instead, and everyone’s
impressed with that. Really, pulling off
the stunt his own way is something worth being impressed over, so I can call
this conclusion good. It may be in an
episode that mostly eats up air time and treats resolutions to big plot points
like nothing, but it’s handled well enough as a work on its own.
B
The Monster
and the Queen
Certain
parts of this show may have catches that prevent them from being as great as
they could be, but there’s at least one thing about it I can give the utmost
praise to. It’s all about the
characterization and background of Eclipsa.
Even with her bad reputation and at times controversial decisions she
gets called out for, she’s such a well-written and entertaining character. She never lets the animosity towards her and
her decisions get her down, but also shows some consideration towards getting
the kingdom to like her as a queen. One
other big thing about her is her elopement to the king of all monsters Globgor,
and this episode gives endearing insight to how they are as a couple.
It unfolds the moment Star realizes that the
piece of the destroyed Book of Spells she’s kept in her closet is missing. This is a suggestion that Eclipsa’s gotten
hold of it to put it back together and free Globgor from his crystal
prison. From there, there’s an effective
mystery of how she ultimately ends up meeting him for a date. It could be that she freed him although there
are no fragments of crystal. It could
also just be a flashback since there are apparently no Mewmans active in the
kingdom as they go about their way.
Either way, there’s an interesting characterization to the first time
Globgor is shown to be active which can catch the audience off guard in a good way. Rather than mean and threatening, he’s very
charming and a supportive partner to Eclipsa.
Just from their conversations you can easily see the purity of their
love, especially during a love ballad of their desires for when they don’t have to
date in secrecy. Globgor’s creative
ability to shapeshift during any given circumstance helps the appeal as
well.
As for development to his apparent
monstrous qualities, they mostly appear in his passes for humor as he jokes
about hatred for and attacks on Mewmans.
He doesn’t mean it as it’s reported that he’s a vegetarian, but they do
feel genuinely frightening. Even so, it
does question the validity of a claim that he ate Eclipsa’s Mewman husband.
Then following a long-winded
spiel of Globgor’s fabricated story he and Eclipsa see characters of, it’s
finally revealed that this interaction is taking place inside Globgor’s
mind. It turns out Eclipsa just used a
spell to go inside his mind just to be with him and tell him that she’s going to
let his body out with a spell involving a rooster crow. The best thing about this is that Globgor
maturely decides that he should not be let out until Mewni is ready to see him,
and without a doubt, this kingdom is not.
Further showing the strength of her relationship with him, Eclipsa
doesn’t argue and concedes that this is for the best, no matter how much she
wants to see him again. She also has no
trouble admitting this to Star who confronts her about her actions while also
admitting that she used that spell to go into Star’s mind to get the book
piece. So to ensure an end to these
disturbing spells, the episode ends with Star setting out to give Eclipsa a
coronation so Mewni will have no choice but to take her seriously as queen.
With the genuine tone of her decision to keep
Globgor imprisoned, things seem set up for Eclipsa to truly embrace being a
Queen of Mewni. However, you can’t help
but wonder, or even hope, that this isn’t the last we’ll see of the
couple. It’s all because of a well-written
endearing love story between a monster and a queen that shows mature
consideration to both sides of a conflict.
If only all this show’s conflicts were like this.
A+
The Ranking
1. The Monster and the Queen
2. Escape from the Pie Folk
3. Meteora’s Lesson
4. Swim Suit
5. Cornball!
6. Yada Yada Berries
7. Moon Remembers
8. Junkin’ Janna
9. Queen-Napped
10. Ghost of Butterfly Castle
11. The Knight Shift
12. Ransomgram
13. Butterfly Follies
14. Kelly’s World
15. A Boy and His DC-700XE
16. Surviving the Spiderbites
17. A Spell With No Name
18. Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell
19. Down By the River
20. Out of Business
21. Lake House Fever
22. The Ponyhead Show
23. The Curse of the Blood Moon
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode on Eclipsa's coronation and the whole experience delivering on delightful classic Disney-style charm.
But before that, stay tuned for a special review for Valentine's Day.
But before that, stay tuned for a special review for Valentine's Day.
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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