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Mathmagic
Sometimes
entertainment can come from Star doing common everyday tasks, and for people
her age, the most common one is going to school. She’s gotten herself in academic trouble a few times before and this episode basically adds to the trend.
The story is basically about Star being
called up to the board to do a complex math problem after being called out for
laughing at a joke from Janna instead of paying attention. However, Star’s really bad at math and
insists that the answer is a cat face no matter how far off from the point of
mathematics she is. It’s mildly funny
for sure, but it doesn’t stray too far from typical class clown nature.
Eventually, the equation solving process gets
more interesting when the scene begins again for an inexplicable reason. As a matter of fact, for much of the runtime,
the scene continues to restart, only differentiating itself in a few areas. There's
the punchline to Janna’s joke, Janna wearing an unusual hat, and what Marco
says he needs to know the math problem for.
That said, the ending of the scene is always the same with Star being
called up to solve the problem and the restarts occurring every time she
refuses. It makes the whole ordeal
more interesting than it would be if it didn’t happen. At the same time, it gets repetitive and
dull, not helping that most of the episode is like this.
The plot does make for something different
when Star escapes math class to investigate the repetitions. If you recall the episode “Freeze Day,”
there’s a dimension called the Plains of Time where all time is controlled by
Father Tie operating a giant wheel. That’s the best guess for the reason why
the math scene keeps repeating. When Star gets there, it doesn’t seem like Father Time has anything to do with
what she’s going through. He's enjoying running the wheel the way he was
rearranged to do so last time.
The real
being Star has to talk to in the Plain of Time is another Magic High Commission
member, Omnitraxus Prime, who’s in charge of space time. He’s mostly made appealing through his
creative design of a simple talking scull inside a humanoid body, though most
of his appearances simply feature him in a sphere. Despite looking big and threatening, he’s
actually quite entertaining as he explains that Star can get out of this time
loop if she just does the math problem instead of refusing. After all, there’s no good reason
for Star not to do the problem.
Then
through putting Star through his body, Omnitraxus brings up another interesting
point of there being different versions of Star in various dimensions. They're all able to solve the math problem while the real Star is the only one
unable to. Adding to the creativity is
all the different Stars represented as a galaxy of crystals all of which keep
bringing weird occurrences to the real Star’s timeline. It’s kind of stretching it that Star’s
timeline is falling apart just because of a math problem. It’s never really
explained why Star not doing the work has these consequences, but I can’t fault
this reveal for making the simple math problem stand out more. Plus, we get a creative climax out of this as
Star finally solves the math problem as she and the world around her randomly
change forms and fall apart. Even
though she gets the problem wrong, it’s still nice that Star is praised for
trying, even by her disgruntled teacher Ms. Skullnick.
While a bit monotonous at parts, I still
can’t fault the episode for giving a creative edge to one of life’s common
challenges.
A-
Even
if the location has only been seen a few times in the show, the Bounce Lounge is
a favorite place for Star’s friend Pony Head.
Basically a place where people from different dimensions hang out, the
Bounce Lounge is perfect for a character like her.
That said, as is common for Pony Head, it’s
uncomfortable and grating that the first thing we see in this episode is how hard she cries that the Bounce Lounge is closing. Thankfully, this doesn’t last long when she, Star,
and Marco go to the Bounce Lounge to investigate the closing. They find that the whole place is dilapidated
and deserted. The owner, Milly Sparkles, explains that the party is ending simply
because business is slow.
Star and Pony
Head bring up that they haven’t been to the Bounce Lounge for a long time,
which admittedly is a nice take on the fact that it hasn’t been seen much in
the actual show. Out of this comes a
believable message on the importance of paying respect to what you value since
they can be gone at any time. This can transcend to things even deeper than
party spots. From here, the plot is all
about saving the Bounce Lounge which involves getting back the old crew. Among them is Kelly who gets more development
from her first appearance in “Goblin Dogs” as she deals with a breakup with her
boyfriend, Tad, leaving a noticeable bald spot.
While it would’ve been nice for the breakup to get more focus, helping
to save the Bounce Lounge does serve as a good coping outlet. As for the rest of the crew, Star and Pony
Head get a little too reckless recruiting them for their cause, taking them
away from their new jobs and forms of partying.
Fortunately, what happens is too exciting for this point to matter
much. The crew obviously isn’t enough to
pay off the mortgage the Bounce Lounge owes. Since they’re together, they
make the most of the Lounge’s last night for their own party. It’s really fun and exciting to watch
everyone hang out and enjoy themselves, selling how they value the Bounce
Lounge. It’s also interesting that
through not trying so hard to save the Bounce Lounge, the crew attracts many
interdimensional creatures. This
inspires everyone to try harder to attract even more creatures, and the more guest
show up, the more exciting the party becomes.
With shots of dancing and fast-paced rocking party music, you never want
the party to stop. The last dollars for
the cause come from Tad which does devalue what him and Kelly breaking up
could’ve meant. Them dancing together as Tad puts himself back on Kelly’s
head is still a pretty nice scene.
However, even with all this partying, Milly Sparkles still says the
Bounce Lounge is closed giving the real reason for this. Although she looks young and keen to party,
there’s a nice twist that she’s actually old and tired, thus needing to stop. As understandable and
interesting as this is, it begs the question why Milly didn’t say this in the
first place. It does make for a more realistic ending of everyone dealing with their favorite place being gone
since it would’ve been too easy to keep the Bounce Lounge open.
Ultimately, in spite of a few questionable
character moments, there’s enough fun and excitement, and even mature messages,
to allow this episode to leave a strong impression.
B+
The Ranking
- Bon Bon the Birthday Clown
- Ludo in the Wild
- Into the Wand
- Hungry Larry
- Raid the Cave
- Running with Scissors
- Game of Flags
- Baby
- On the Job
- Sleepover
- Is Mystery
- Naysaya
- Mr. Candle Cares
- Wand to Wand
- Page Turner
- Starstruck
- Girls’ Day Out
- By the Book
- Friendenemies
- Gift of the Card
- Starsitting
- Star on Wheels
- Mathmagic
- Camping Trip
- The Bounce Lounge
- My New Wand
- Red Belt
- Spider with a Top Hat
- Star vs Echo Creek
- Fetch
- Goblin Dogs
- Pizza Thing
- Trickstar
The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review puts Rhombulus in the spotlight, and reveals how Glossaryck is doing serving Ludo now.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode "We've Got Fleas."
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.
