Matchmaker
As a being from another dimension, it’s only natural that
Star doesn’t have that strong of an understanding of how Earth works even
little things such as life at her high school, Echo Creek Academy. This is the source of this episode’s comedy
and it’s not just fun to watch, but also makes for an interesting center in a
story that brings about a change that actually lasts for the entire
series. It happens during a humorous
moment of Star learning that the F she got on her recent test means she failed,
and she thinks that she can simply ask the teacher, Ms. Skullnick, to change it
to a better grade. When she hears her
lament about being dumped by some guy, Star decides to play matchmaker in
exchange for a better grade by casting a spell to get Ms. Skullnick the perfect
date. However, in keeping with her
recklessness with magic, Star ends up turning Ms. Skullnick into a troll. As one might expect, the main focus on the
cartoon turns to trying to change Ms. Skullnick back to normal which is a
challenge since Star doesn’t know how to simply undo her spell her only being a beginner with her wand at this point and all.
Adding to the challenge is her fear of her parents finding out and
getting her sent to St. Olga’s Reform School which eliminates calling them as
an option. Ultimately, they don’t find a
way to change the teacher back to normal, but there does seem to be another way
around the issue. When Ludo and his men
attack to get Star’s wand again, amidst another fun fight scene with cool and
at times creative combat moves from Star and Marco including a humorous bit
where Star and Ludo debate over whether Star killed one of his henchmen or not,
Star notices some intimate ties between Ms. Skullnick and one of the
monsters. She convinces Ms. Skullnick
that the monster likes her and they leave for another dimension together. It seems like a solid conclusion to Ms.
Skullnick’s story even if she’s still a troll, but she soon ends up back to her
miserable self when she gets the impression that the monster dumped her. While it is technically a problematic
conclusion where nothing was accomplished, it’s worth noting that Star praising
Marco for the fight to her class gets his crush, Jackie Lynn Thomas, to say a
few words to him, which Marco feels is a step in the right direction towards
winning her over. In other words, Star
did somewhat succeed as a matchmaker because of this. Plus, since Ms. Skullnick is still a troll,
this cartoon does have the benefit of consequences that affect the show, even
if it is in a small way thus giving it some edge. On the whole though, this is a basic episode made
entertaining by Star’s interpretation of how Earth things work and little
effects on the status quo (emphasis on little). 9/10
School
Spirit
The last episode gave us a taste of how Star doesn’t fully
understand how things work on Earth, and this one shows off that concept in
much bigger proportions. The final
result is one crazy and hilarious watch.
The main subject of the episode is a football game against Echo Creek’s
Opossums against the opposing team, the Warriors. Everyone talks about how the Warriors are
going to destroy, slaughter and do other horrible things to the opossums, and
Star, as anyone from another dimension probably would, doesn’t get that all
this means the Warriors keep beating the Opossums in football games every
year. In her mind, different teams of
Opossums actually get killed in battles every year around this time and her
showing sorrow for the many teams at one point is both hilarious due to her
misunderstanding, and somewhat emotional if you view the scene with her
mindset. Her feelings for the team and
all the advice she picks up to prevent another “tragedy” all add up to the
night of the big game where she rigs the football field to take down the
Warriors with booby traps. It comes with
a lot of crazy and exciting events with bombs setting off sparkling explosions,
and other traps that release monster cats and birds, and Star putting on an
awesome display of magic to beat them all back, though at this point it
shouldn’t be surprising. It even leads
to a satisfying conclusion for the Opossums when the Warriors become so freaked
out by what occurred that they forfeit, giving victory to the other team. While all this clearly shows that Star still
has a lot to learn about Earth and self-control, her being able to fix
everything and have things turn out good for who she’s trying to help in the
end keep her likable and the story entertaining which is good because of how
fun the antics are. There’s also a subplot
of Marco attempting to do something about the Warriors constantly kidnapping
the Opossums mascot, who this year is played by his friend, Ferguson. Through it all, you can really admire Marco’s
devotion to keep his friend safe but also see his obsession through the crazy
strategies he teaches him, which appears to set him up to learn to not worry so
much. In the end though, the Warriors do
kidnap Ferguson, which is a bit anti-climactic.
However, it does lead to Ferguson, who’s been seen as a total wimp the
whole time, get a moment to shine by breaking free on his own and even
surviving one of Star’s traps, so I can at least say the subplot has a humorous
conclusion. This is easily one of the
most entertaining episodes so far mostly fueled by Star’s literal take on life
on Earth. 9.5/10
The Ranking
- School Spirit
- Party with a Pony
- Star Comes to Earth
- Matchmaker
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Marco gets a "Monster Arm" right before an important karate match, and Star is shown to enjoy the Diaz family's hospitality a little too much when "The Other Exchange Student" comes to visit.
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.
