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Sad Teen Hotline
When it comes to romance, at this point, it’s very easy to see that the narrative is pushing to get Star and Marco together. Right from their conversation in “The Curse of the Blood Moon” you can tell that even if they’re intending to not fall in love with each other, their love is becoming more natural. This is fine, but then you consider what it’s doing to other couples that had their own potential too. Ever since Season 3, Star has healthily rekindled her old love with Tom, and they’ve gotten along well as a couple. Then everything had to change once Marco kissed Star, and Tom had to find out about it from Marco while Star told him nothing about the event. This was an unfortunate sign that such a good couple would have to be compromised for another no matter how charming that other couple seemed to be. The only positive to this has been Tom taking it well and holding his word to not get so upset.
So, with this episode, it’s impressive that he takes the initiative to tell Star that they don’t work very well as a couple and that they should break up. While this is a sensible conclusion, it’s bogged down by several story decisions. For one thing, lots of things are majorly dragged out, such as how long it takes Tom to tell Star about his feelings. He’s constantly drowned out by a helicopter making it impossible for Star to hear, so she has to freeze the helicopter in place. I don’t know if it’s funny or disturbing that the police notice this later on.
As for the break-up, when Tom does finally talk about it, things continue to go on longer than necessary. He goes to the extreme measure of saying that he and Star can’t even be friends at this point and proceeds to leave. However, his fire powers prevent him from going back to the underworld, and even Star is unable to help him with her butterfly powers. For much of the runtime, they’re both under the impression that their emotions over the breakup are keeping their magic from working. Things only become more convoluted when the cops and Marco’s parents get involved and try to do something about it. This part is mildly funny, but the appeal is lessened by the fact that they’re barging in on a matter they really no nothing about and no one brings that up.
By the time Star and Tom have a heart to heart about their emotions, it’s kind of easy to tell that their inability to use their powers isn’t really because of that. All throughout, they don’t seem that saddened by the break-up, and if they are, it’s not done convincingly. It’s also at this point where you feel that it should have happened in “Doop-Doop” when Tom saw that Star didn’t have herself figured out, even when with him. That would have been a perfect episode to end their relationship without leading to this dragged out mess. At least at the end when it’s discovered that a supernatural force is preventing them from using their powers, the stakes are nicely raised for the rest of the season. Just Star telling Tom and Marco that they have to go back to Mewni is all the excitement that’s needed.
However, that doesn’t shake off the fact that this episode is built upon a frivolous topic that specializes in making scenes go on longer than they should. Apart from a few good moments, it’s a work that’s largely inconsequential except for the end.
D+
Jannanigans
It’s surprising how big a role Janna has played in Season 4. After being portrayed solely as one of Star’s Earth friends and offering minor assistance in big episodes for so long, she’s practically become a mainstay. I mean, she’s the only human besides Marco who’s spent a long time on Mewni, even if a lot of her roles were mostly to add to the fun. Considering that messing around is in her nature, it would have been acceptable if her just randomly showing up on Mewni was left as a joke. However, this episode goes the extra mile by making it a plot point to figure out how she came there with Mewni in trouble and Star and her friends needing to get there fast.
The quest to get answers out of Janna make for something very insightful and substantial to her character highlight the fun aspects, but also the more human and endearing ones. She’s first seen doing something completely random by collecting spare parts at a monster truck graveyard for some unknown reason. When Star and the others ask her about how she got to Mewni, she nonchalantly says she doesn’t know. In the typical fashion of Janna, she seems like she’s in her own world and doesn’t take everyone’s urgency seriously. All she can do is take them through the motions of what she usually does on Thursdays, which was the day she remembers coming to Mewni. This leads to a collection of many random tasks that make Janna really stand out from the crowds. Apparently on Thursdays, she feeds her neighbor’s possums, goes to an alley to get a new hat from a knitting street urchin, and grabs tennis balls from a court to pay for the hat. It’s a random collection of moments that are naturally funny as they work to Janna’s unpredictable nature.
However, in a story like this, it’s best for characters to not be based on funny randomness alone, and this is where Janna stands out. When confronted about not knowing how she got to Mewni, she feels sad about this circumstance, wishing she could help. This turns out to be Janna’s most human portrayal to date, and it’s great that a lingering threat to Mewni is what brings this on. For that, it becomes rewarding when Janna slowly does realize details behind her sudden appearance on Mewni during lunch at Britta’s Tacos. The gang discovers that she’s wearing a t-shirt that was actually the prize Marco was trying to win, thus jogging a few more memories.
There are reveals to much more deviant behavior in line with Janna’s character as she reveals that she straight-up stole the shirt, revealing many strange instances. When they all enter the employee room of the place, there’s a secret passage leading down. In addition to what looks like murals of flowing magic, there’s also something filled with a glowing liquid substance. Upon investigation, Star discovers background of the covering containing hand prints. Those prints are the very ones left by her and Moon as they were messing around in wells of the Realm of Magic in the finale to Season 3. Ultimately, they all end up finding their way to Mewni as the episode ends, which becomes even better for Janna’s sake as she turns out to be a valuable asset after all.
So the end builds up to grand events for the rest of the season in what turns out to be a look into the real Janna as someone who’s truly here for more than just joking around.
A
The Ranking
1. Cornonation
2. The Monster and the Queen
3. Gone Baby Gone
4. Escape from the Pie Folk
5. Meteora’s Lesson
6. Swim Suit
7. Cornball!
8. Yada Yada Berries
9. Moon Remembers
10. Jannanigans
11. Beach Day
12. Britta’s Tacos
13. Junkin’ Janna
14. Queen-Napped
15. Ghost of Butterfly Castle
16. The Knight Shift
17. Ransomgram
18. Butterfly Follies
19. Kelly’s World
20. A Boy and His DC-700XE
21. Surviving the Spiderbites
22. A Spell With No Name
23. Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell
24. Down By the River
25. Out of Business
26. Lake House Fever
27. Doop-Doop
28. The Ponyhead Show
29. The Curse of the Blood Moon
30. Sad Teen Hotline
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Star and the gang go through the Realm of Magic to get to Mewni, and the plot to save Mewni starts with an awesome battle with a giant warrior.
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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