'Toon Reviews 20: Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 2 Episode 20: Collateral Damage/Just Friends

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Collateral Damage

This is technically another episode of Star getting in trouble through recklessness which often vary in quality.  However, it has a noticeable distinction of starting while she’s understandably bummed about her recent huge losses. 

While dropping in on Janna’s detention to pick up trash with a stabby stick, Star rambles on about her problems and doesn’t pay attention to what she’s picking up.  One of those things is a statue of a popular possum in Echo Creek named Otis.  This situation of causing a problem through not paying attention is a common thing to happen in life, even to people who are good. In Star's case, it's nice that she has some regret for her careless action which is an appropriate change of pace from avoiding problems as usual. 

However, while Star understands that she messed up, the episode becomes devoted to the entire school never letting up on what happened to the statue.  It’s only within the first few minutes of students crying over the statue’s demise when it feels like everyone is going too far with their grief.  Yes, it’s appropriate to feel sad over the loss of something, but at the same time, they’re mourning an inanimate statue which is honestly ridiculous. 

The thing that pulls the plot through and makes it work though is Star taking initiative to do something about it, including making a new one to replace what she broke.  Unfortunately, the students are far too dense to move on, accept change, and get that Star was only trying to help them feel better.  They complain about the statue’s lack of similarities to the old one even though the differences should be obvious since this is clearly a replacement statue.  This just makes what’s going on even more ridiculous than it already is. 

To be fair, the episode does attempt to give legit reasons for why everyone is saddened by the statue’s destruction, and they’re brought about in an interesting way.  It’s told through a story illustrated with still old-world style photographs and narrated by Marco doing a pioneer accent.  It’s about how pioneers of the Bonner party traveling to the new world.  They ultimately decided to settle in the land of Echo Creek instead when they didn’t have enough resources to get by.  However, they had to fight a herd of possums before they could fully settle down. 

At first, the story makes it seem like the settlers actually hated the possums meaning that the grief everyone has for the statue is completely unwarranted.  Then the story ends by pointing out that even if it’s of an enemy animal to Echo Creek, the statue still commemorates the only time the town won anything and give it some identity.  It may not be a huge reason to hold the Otis statue in a high regard, but it does make everyone’s reactions more understandable.  Also, Star’s ultimate solution to the problem does justice for her character.  It's all because she truly gets that losing the Otis statue caused the school to lose their sense of self.  She gives an inspiring speech to encourage the students to play to their strengths and forge their own identity, and maybe even be better than a possum.  The fact that the speech works along with another version of that old-world style Marco narration, this ending is very impactful for Star's sake. 

While you do have to sit through a lot of ridiculousness to get there, what it leads to makes it all worth it.

A-

Just Friends

The friendship between Star and Marco has always been one of the biggest strengths of this show.  This is what makes this season’s plot point of Star developing a crush on him work.  We’ve gotten a few hints of this, especially in “Bon Bon the Birthday Clown”, and while could make Star possessive, she never feels that way.  She understands that Marco is with someone else.  However, like most people, her true feelings are unable to be restrained for long, but as this episode shows, she puts in a good effort to respect her friend’s love life. 

As a matter of fact, Star further attempts to stick to this fact by getting tickets for Marco’s official girlfriend Jackie Lynn Thomas to have her join them for a concert of their favorite band.  She strives to make the concert experience great for the three of them so to get used to the new dynamic, making her thoughtful. 

In the process, the group’s time together helps develop Jackie’s character.  Her portrayal is a far cry from just being a standard love interest with very few lines in Season 1.  She's laid-back and open for fun, having a similar idea for concert accessories to Star’s, and finding pleasures in things that get in the way of making it to the concert.  It’s these traits that have Jackie get along so well with Star, but she’s considerate of Marco too.  She's never hard on him for any mishaps he causes and quick to let him know that she wants him around.  Little moments like these have enough endearment to this group dynamic. 

It’s put to the test when the three guys finally get to the concert featuring a performance of the title song, “Just Friends.”  It’s a moving rock ballad that can speak out to anyone, especially the youth.  We all have people we’re particularly fond of in certain stages of life, but it’s a common occurrence that the person you crush on has someone else who means a lot more to him/her.  Through great synchronization in singing and the soothing nature of the tune, the song is a nice way to get the message across. 

It stands out even more with how it speaks to Star, and not just with how she and her concert companions lip sync to the song.  From early on in the series, she’s been supportive of Marco getting together with Jackie, and it shows that she knows that accepting this is the right thing to do. However, given how she herself now feels about Marco, seeing him get intimate with Jackie makes that hard to do.  That’s not even counting shots of other couples, including some to further represent the LGBT community, kissing as the song plays.  That's enough to make Star feel more left out since now she can only be “just friends” with practically everyone present.  The last scene of Star leaving the true love couple while taking out her jealousy by blasting a sign is a perfect representation of her interesting portrayal through.  She does what’s right by letting her best friend be with his girlfriend, but isn't exactly being happy about it. 

As a result the episode ends up being just a friendly watch with great character moments, an effective use of music, and a mature approach to one of life’s hardest aspects.

A+

The Ranking

1. Bon Bon the Birthday Clown
2. Ludo in the Wild
3. Into the Wand
4. Just Friends
5. The Hard Way
6. Hungry Larry
7. Raid the Cave
8. Running with Scissors
9. Game of Flags
10. Baby
11. On the Job
12. Sleepover
13. Is Mystery
14. Naysaya
15. Mr. Candle Cares
16. Wand to Wand
17. Page Turner
18. Starstruck
19. Girls’ Day Out
20. By the Book
21. Friendenemies
22. Crystal Clear
23. Collateral Damage
24. Gift of the Card
25. Starsitting
26. Star on Wheels
27. Mathmagic
28. Camping Trip
29. The Bounce Lounge
30. My New Wand
31. Heinous
32. Red Belt
33. All Belts are Off
34. Spider with a Top Hat
35. Star vs Echo Creek
36. Fetch
37. Goblin Dogs
38. Pizza Thing
39. Trickstar

The next Star vs the Forces of Evil has Star's life head towards a whole new direction because of a song.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is one of the last episodes of Xiaolin Showdown Season 1, "Mala Mala Jong."

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.

'Toon Reviews 20: Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 2 Episode 13: Page Turner/Naysaya

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

Page Turner

As Star’s trainer, Glossaryck often uses riddles or vague statements to teach her how work her wand.  Confusing as they are, there’s a certain charm to his teachings, and he mostly knows what he’s doing. This is the case in this episode when Star is interested in learning a forbidden spell, and Glossaryck is hesitant to let her do it.  He then becomes the episode’s main focus when he’s called to meet with a major group of Mewni known as the Magic High Commission. 

Learning about them takes a while when Glossaryck is told by Sean, the security guard, that magic isn’t allowed.  Glossaryck has to go to the top floor on foot while being tailed by Sean to make sure he sticks to the rule.  Although the moments of him getting up to the top floor aren’t exciting, it is interesting to see Glossaryck constantly get messed with by Sean.  He’s putting up with vague information, like what Star puts up with from him.  Sean sends him through a magic detector which detects lots of magical stuff on him and none on someone clearly carrying that stuff.  Then he messes with Glossaryck by acting like he forgot where he’s going.  Finally, he makes the elevator stop at every floor.  While this behavior takes away time to see the Magic High Commission, Glossaryck dealing with his own difficult person after being one himself makes these scenes bearable. 

Eventually, Glossaryck snaps and uses magic anyway to get to the top of the building, and there don't seem to be any negative consequences.  Then we finally meet the Magic High Commission, consisting of some creatively designed creatures. There's a goat man, a living scull inside a sphere, a princess with a flame over her head, and a crystal shooting creature with snakes for hands called Rhombulus.   The biggest factor to the Magic High Commission is that Queen Moon is in charge.  It’s big new information to expand on Moon’s role.  Even bigger is a mention of something setting an interesting plot point in motion. Someone is draining magic from the universe, the Magic High Commission is investigating it, and it means Star has to master her wand faster. 

During this time, while frustrated with what he had to put up with, Glossaryck reveals how Eclipsa was the only queen who let him teach his way.  He also says that Eclipsa is the writer of the spell that intrigued Star so much, making the promise of what’s to come even vaster.  As for Star’s interest in that spell, it connects to the final point where Glossaryck reveals that he teaches the way he does because it’s what’s right for Star.  This is an endearing way to show that for all the frustration he brings, deep down he gets his pupil.  On a side note, it’s nice to see Moon understand what Glossaryck is laying down agreeing she should be more trusting of her daughter training to become a queen. 

Although more time could’ve been spent on the big reveal, this is still a strong starring role for Glossaryck. There's development for how he works as a mentor, and uncovering interesting facts of Mewni’s inner workings.

A-

Naysaya

Starting in an early part of Season 1, much of Marco’s character has been defined by his crush on Jackie Lynn Thomas. As is the case with most crush plot threads in shows, he’s too nervous to confess his love.  Even after he admitted his crush earlier this season, he’s still very nervous around her.  In fact, it gets to the point where he's saying uncomfortable remarks to her. As the episode goes on, Marco saying such disturbing things while talking to Jackie seem to go beyond nervousness.  He starts writing such things too. 

All this awkward talk reaches its freaky point when Marco sprouts a little growth on his neck. This growth is the source of the inappropriate comments.  Just as the growth’s existence looks like a plot hole, the supernatural specialist of the cast, Janna, looks into it. She deduces that it’s called a naysaya, a demon curse that appears whenever someone’s trying to win over a lover and proceeds to reveal its victim’s darkest secrets.  It’s pretty commendable that the episode explains why the naysaya is here, and even adds to the background.  Marco interrogates the only demon he knows , Tom, who cursed him with it.  It was all in the name of making Marco not ask out Star.  The naysaya will also last last until it says all of Marco’s secrets. 

All this information makes Marco’s problem a creative highlight of the episode, and the subsequent scenes of Marco meeting its demands to keep it silent are funny.  You’d think a demon growth would want Marco to do something embarrassing or even evil against his will.  It turns out to want frivolous things like eating cereal.  As for whether or not the naysaya holds up its end of the bargain, it does seem loyal at first.  Marco and Jackie finally have a normal, civil conversation and become more like a couple worth supporting.  Then, in an ultimate jerk move, the naysaya goes back on its promise and keeps spilling dark secrets.  The only reason we have for this is that it doesn’t know what a promise is, and I suppose that makes sense. 

Marco comes clean about the cursed growth to Jackie. While many other kids are realistically weirded out, Jackie listens to Marco and understand where he’s coming from.  What’s more, Marco beats the naysaya to the punch by revealing all his darkest secrets on his own, leaving the naysaya with nothing more to say.  As for Jackie, she continues to be one of the most open-minded love interests.  She accepts Marco’s secrets, and even describes one of them as deep.  Marco gets a movie date set with her, and it actually feels nice to see the naysaya come along with them as a last request. 

At the end of the day, even if the secrets it revealed were embarrassing and annoying, the naysaya was still doing what’s part of its nature.  It was mostly an innocent being with reasonable requests, so it feels like it warrants a happy ending just as much as Marco does.  On the whole, this episode is a creative escapade with strong character moments to officially win Marco his dream crush.

A

The Ranking

1. Ludo in the Wild
2. Into the Wand
3. Hungry Larry
4. Game of Flags
5. On the Job
6. Sleepover
7. Is Mystery
8. Naysaya
9. Mr. Candle Cares
10. Wand to Wand
11. Page Turner
12. Starstruck
13. Girls’ Day Out
14. By the Book
15. Friendenemies
16. Gift of the Card
17. Starsitting
18. Star on Wheels
19. Camping Trip
20. My New Wand
21. Red Belt
22. Spider with a Top Hat
23. Star vs Echo Creek
24. Fetch
25. Goblin Dogs
26. Pizza Thing

The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review is on a double-length episode where Star finds it hard to accept the new Marco and Jackie pairing while awaiting Bon Bon the Birthday Clown.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews, you have to care that "You Have to Care" from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes will be reviewed.

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.

'Toon Reviews 9: Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 1 Episode 9

Freeze Day

The main plot is yet another instance of fun and hijinks from Star’s magic, but it’s still a ton of fun with great moments from the characters involved.  Star’s wand spell here is freezing time which is cast when Marco panics about being late for school.  It’s not because of needing to be in time for class or to keep up a perfect attendance record.  It’s all about being there for something as simple as nodding at his crush, Jackie Lynn Thomas, who apparently passes by his locker at a specific time every day.  Even if what Marco wants to do is a relatively minor concern, it’s still great that Star reserves her spells to help him.  At the same time, she also allows Marco to take advantage of time being frozen as they spend a lot of time messing around with everything immobilized.  Personally, I wouldn’t call this too reckless because when it’s revealed that Star can’t unfreeze time, it’s made clear that this would’ve happened regardless of her and Marco’s lollygagging.  You see, they have to travel to a dimension called the Plains of Time to fix time, and they learn the reason time hasn’t gotten unfrozen is because Father Time was knocked off his wheel when the spell was cast and didn’t get back on it.  Now, Father Time himself is a pretty enjoyable character for finding pleasures in simple things like mud which is believable considering all the time he spends running on that wheel to keep time going.  Of course, he’d jump at the chance for a break from it even if time needs to keep going.  So, Star and Marco chase Father Time through the plains which provides the bulk of the episode’s creativity particularly with clocks that alter their ages.  It’s only when they track Father Time in a part of the plains that record all of the universe’s history which houses a one-eyed creature that shows the lives of anyone it looks at.  It’s a truly creative addition to the dimension and makes for cute looks at Star and Marco’s childhoods.  As for Father Time, Star and Marco see firsthand that he really hasn’t done anything besides running on the wheel, so they set something up for him to see everything while doing his job.  This is a more interesting and considerate direction for the story to take than the easy route of convincing Father Time that boredom from his job is something he has to deal with.  The adventure also proves beneficial for Marco when they get back with time working properly.  He not only nods at Jackie, like he’s done for years as shown by the creature, but even talks to her.  It’s just a simple “hi” but it really is a good first step in the progress of his relationship with her.  Ultimately, I can say that this spell-hijinks episode is made good by the character development woven into the mix. 9/10

Royal Pain

After seeing how Star and her father, King River, are more in common than they may seem in “Diaz Family Vacation,” an episode of them spending time together would be a pleasing one to look forward to.  Well, in this episode, he comes to stay with his daughter after getting kicked out of the castle in Mewni, and his presence becomes annoying to not just Star, but the audience as well.  At first, their interactions are pleasing with River approving of Star’s recklessness with her wand.  The two share a lot of nice scenes of exploring what Earth has to offer and putting their own spin on them such as throwing random things into the toilet as they watch the water go down and using their own powerful clubs while playing miniature golf.  However, as time goes on, River becomes too destructive for everyone around him, and Star’s growing annoyance is easy to see.  She may be reckless too, but even earlier in the season she’s had some restraint.  What her dad’s doing is going too far.  It just gets worse when he acts like a slob late into the night when Star isn’t even remotely up for messing around, and the next day, he throws a wild party with all his interdimensional friends without any notice to his daughter's feelings.  As frustrating as it is to see Star have to put up with this unruly behavior, she never seems to take the hint that the way her dad’s acting is similar to how she sometimes acts around Marco, especially since he’s constantly suffering in this episode by getting his socks wet.  Fortunately, Star goes on to see Marco’s point of view when she takes care of an uninvited party guest, a living sun called Helios, who harasses everyone at the party in his own way complete with a spell that nicely connects to Marco’s wet socks problem.  Plus, River realizes how inconsiderate and reckless he’s been too which is the best payoff to his grating antics we could get.  Ultimately, they both learn to give others a heads-up before acting, and that does wonders not just for Star and her father’s bond, but also for Star and Marco’s bond.  This episode can get tiresome with how much emphasis is on the recklessness of the central characters, but the payoff makes everything worth it. 8/10

The Ranking

1. Blood Moon Ball
2. Mewberty
3. Diaz Family Vacation
4. Fortune Cookies
5. Sleep Spells
6. School Spirit
7. Party with a Pony
8. Freeze Day
9. Quest Buy
10. Monster Arm
11. Cheer up Star
12. Star Comes to Earth
13. Brittney’s Party
14. Matchmaker
15. Lobster Claws
16. Pixtopia
17. Royal Pain
18. The Other Exchange Student

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where, after so many mentions and scared reactions from certain characters, we finally pay a visit to "St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses."

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.