An Animated Dissection: My Top 5 Least-Favorite Star vs The Forces of Evil, Season 2 Segments

Ok fans of Star vs the Forces of Evil, it’s time I delivered some good news, and bad news. After a show’s season concludes, most reviewers decide to make…some lists.

Given that we had 22 episodes for Season 2 (comprised of three 22-minute segments, and thirty-eight 11-minute segments), I thought I would do like last season, and do some lists regarding the 11-minute story segments.

First up: let’s just get those least-favorite segments out of the way, with this Top 5 list.

*Note: Keep in mind this list only covers the segments that run 11 minutes, not full-length episodes. Given how much extra time is given in full-length episodes to tell a story, this list judges the shorter segments on their merits, and faults.*

__________

5. Crystal Clear

This season, saw the introduction of many new characters to the show, several of which seemed to be connected to some very important roles, within the show’s multiverse.

Crystal Clear attempts to give us a little backstory on Rhombulus, and Chancellor Lekmet, who are members of the Magic High Commission.

Rhombulus ends up bringing Star and Marco before Lekmet, claiming that Star is somehow responsible for the draining of magic in the universe. However, as the segment goes on, it just feels like a loud, noisy, and meandering romp.

Each member of the Magic High Commission was given a segment, to show a bit more about themselves, and who they are. However, out of all of them, Rhombulus’ storyline feels the weakest for all members of the MHC.

Rhombulus himself seems to be the ‘muscle’ of the group,  acting on his gut first, and asking questions later. In small doses this works fine, but with this story, it feels like director Giancarlo Volpe, was asked to stretch out a concept, that just didn’t feel like it could hold together entertainingly, for 11 minutes.

Star Butterfly shines a bit here, given that she becomes the voice-of-reason to Rhombulus’ little tirades, but even that isn’t enough to make this story appealing. We even get some hints of things that I assume will be paid off in the future…but as some stories have shown, there aren’t any guarantees if that will happen or not.

Maybe Season 3 will redeem this story, but for now, it made my list.

__________

4. Wand to Wand

This story plays out as a tag-team storyline of sorts.

We see Ludo running across some rats on Mewni, along with him finding out that he can coax power from his newly-acquired wand, usually when he finds himself getting upset.

On Earth, Star attempts to get out of doing chores, and summons a creature named Cloudy to do her work. However, he ends up making a mess, and Star’s attempts to fix his attitude, don’t go over so well.

After watching more of Season 2, it feels like this story was not meant to give us any easy answers, and to maybe draw our own conclusions about what is happening, let alone how emotions affect the power of the wand.

Ludo’s storyline is the more interesting of the two, but when put together, it feels like a slog as each storyline, goes from one incident to the next. It’s one of the first examples we get of Star’s magic going green instead of pink, showing how her emotions can affect her wand’s magic, but I almost wish it could have been done a bit better.

I like a good puzzle, but this storyline just felt like things got a bit too vague at times.

__________

3. Girls Day Out

This is one of those stories that feels like they had a decent concept, but then when it came to building it up…it just ended up becoming ‘filler’ for the season.

After freeing her classroom’s pet hamster Marisol out of sheer boredom, Star is put in detention, and Marco is tasked with getting Marisol back.

Star being thrown into detention, and then working with Janna to help their fellow classmates endure their time, feels like it just attempts to be a wacky adventure, with very little substance. I couldn’t help but imagine a story where Star and Janna go on an inter-dimensional adventure might have been more entertaining, or if the story became a more group-oriented piece, where Star and the detention gang all make it out and run amuck (the story at one point seems to make it like this could be an option, but then just sidesteps it).

Marco’s subplot feels pretty unnecessary, almost like it was a last-ditch effort to somehow include him in Star’s story.

Personally, the title made it sound like a weekend adventure was in store for Star and a couple of her girl friends (like the more entertaining segment, Sleepover). I also feel the story should have had a different title: Coup D’etention.

__________

2. All Belts are Off

For Season 2, very little has been mentioned in regards to Marco’s karate training, with just two stories (Red Belt, and All Belts Are Off), focusing on the relationship between Marco Diaz, and his strip mall dojo’s Sensei. While both seemed to meander, All Belts felt like the weaker of the two.

We get a much larger role for Marco’s arch-enemy, the rich little punk named Jeremy Birnbaum, who is chosen by Sensei to represent the dojo.

The underlying message of “you don’t need to be awarded to be considered a good person,” just feels shuffled away til’ the last few minutes, along with a heart-to-heart between Sensei and Marco, that I wish could have been better expanded upon.

Trying to get us to focus on how much of a jerk Jeremy is, and trying to make it funny, is where the story just falls off a cliff for me. Some of the season’s stories can really push my buttons when it comes to humor, but the attempts to make Jeremy’s escapades seem funny, just felt like a lost cause.

__________

1. Starstruck

I think any fan of the series will have to admit: this segment just felt like a huge letdown!

Following early imagery of warrior-girl Mina Loveberry, many of us were expecting big things from this woman whom Star seemed to look up to. Unfortunately Mina just came across as another ‘looney from Mewni.’

The story is meant to show how sometimes you should follow your own judgement, but it just gets bogged down in Mina doing something weird or strange, every other time she’s on screen.

Marco largely is on the sidelines, making this a story where Star is forced to draw her own conclusions, but sadly, it just feels like a lesser variation on that ‘good girl gets drawn in by the wrong crowd’ afternoon special like I’d see on TV when I was younger.

There’s also some minor stuff about government, that feels shoehorned in in a rather throwaway moment in the last few minutes, and Mina’s reaction to Star’s resistance, feels like a shoehorned concept that could have been better handled with more time.

What’s weird is in the last 5 seconds, there’s a strange little emotional moment, that almost attempts to make us forget Mina’s crazy shenanigans. Sadly, by this point, the damage has been done,  and those 5 seconds cannot salvage the story.

__________

Keep in mind that these are just my opinions, and I’m not saying you have to go along with them.

There were a few other 11-minute segments in this season that I did consider putting on this list, but in the end, each of the ones listed here, were stories that I just kept having issues with, when I would go over them after they premiered.

If you liked what you read, leave a comment, and tell me if you have any agreements or disagreements. Or, maybe there’s an 11-minute segment that you felt was deserving of being in this list. Always up to hear what others in the fandom think (other than the constant fanship wars that never seem to end!).

Next time we discuss “Star vs the Forces of Evil,” we’ll talk about something a bit more positive: My Top 10 favorite 11-minute segments, from Season 2! Hope to see you soon in a few weeks for that post!

Episode Review: Star vs The Forces of Evil (Season 2, Episode 4) – Star vs Echo Creek / Wand to Wand

Four episodes into Season 2 of Star vs the Forces of Evil, and it’s pretty clear that the style of storytelling, already is much different than what we experienced during the first season.

Most series tend to be this way, with the first season putting the series’ feet on the ground, and pretty soon, it learns how it wants to walk, and where it wants to go.

We’ve had quite a few revelations so far that tied into the first season, as well as seen some character development in the last few episodes.

With episode 4 of Season 2, we get the chance to open the door a little wider regarding Star Butterfly, as well as the enigma that is, Mewnian magic.

__________

-Star vs Echo Creek-

After Star wrecks a Police Car while on a major sugar-high, Marco is concerned that she might end up going to prison for what happened! Fearful of what might be in store for her, Star decides to run away. However, her journey from Inter-dimensional Princess to local fugitive, leads her down a few paths she didn’t expect.

Star vs Echo Creek is a bit more of an introspective experience than a comedic romp like last week’s Star on Wheels segment, and I welcome these kinds of stories into the show’s episode mix.

From the start, the title made me think that Star would end up on some sort of rampage that could lead to bad news. What we get instead, is an episode focused moreso on studying how she copes with making a rash decision. This almost feels like a continuing ‘growth’ study of Star, after last week’s segment Fetch, where we saw how she handled various problems.

The journey here, leads to Star meeting several different characters, each with their own personality quirks, who guide her along on what she’s done. In a way, the episode almost plays like those after-school specials I saw as a kid. The specials would show a kid making a bad decision (running away from home, doing drugs, etc), and then try to have them work through their decisions, to come to a sensible solution.

So far this season, director Giancarlo Volpe has seemed to find just the right buttons to push, when it comes to showing us more about Star Butterfly as a character. In episode 2’s Mr Candle Cares segment, Star slows down to a point where we get to see her worried about one day becoming a Queen. Here, we see Star wrestle with external and internal thoughts, in a way that works perfectly for a show such as this one.

The humor of the episode may be a bit uneven for some in where it goes, but it never gets too crazy. Given that the segments are storyboarded rather than written, it does make one wonder how the group of writers come up with a lot of the strange things we encounter. Star even gets to be a part of a song that has a rather catchy beat, almost putting one in mind of something from Alice in Wonderland.

Marco has a very small role in this segment, but overall, his minimal appearance is used very well (though maybe he did go overboard in being worried about Star going to prison, and what could happen to her in there). I’m also pretty sure that like some parts of Mr Candle Cares, Starco shippers will also end up reading more into this segment than was intended.

Best Star Butterfly line from segment: Food is anarchy, dude. Live by your own rules!

Final Segment Grade: B

__________

– Wand to Wand –

At the end of Season 2’s first episode segment, titled Ludo in the Wild, Star’s diminutive nemesis found the remains of her ‘cleaved’ wand. Just what that could mean for the planet Mewni, we were left to ponder.

As Wand to Wand starts, we see that Ludo is still getting acclimated with the other half of Star’s wand. However, as he attempts to figure out how it works, he has to contend with quite a few new problems.

Meanwhile, on Planet Earth, Star is tasked with helping to clean the Diaz’s house, and summons a creature she knows named Cloudy…however, something about her wand seems to have changed Cloudy…and not for the better.

This segment (also directed by Giancarlo Volpe), attempts to walk a fine line in explaining more about Star’s ‘cleaved’ wand. We were given some little glimpses at its changes earlier this Season, but still have not had anything concrete regarding just what the ‘cleaving’ of it has wrought.

Unlike some of the more straight-forward segments, much of what goes on with the episode, may take viewers a few returns to figure out just what is going on. Even the normally useless Glossaryck of Terms, might have given us a small hint about what can influence the wand.

Ludo’s segment almost feels like it could have picked up right where we left him the last time we saw him. Though given where he is currently on his journey, one wonders how soon we’ll get him and Star to face-off. The title Wand to Wand, almost made it sound like Ludo would confront Star on Earth, and we’d get to see what would happen when both wands clashed.

The show’s attempts to juggle both parts of the Royal Mewnian Sceptre, feels like a struggle, as if the writers were afraid that another Ludo-only segment might be a bit too blase after having one a few episodes ago.

It has some okay moments, but overall, Wand to Wand doesn’t work for me. It feels like trying to fit together two parts of a mis-matched jigsaw puzzle.

Best Star Butterfly line from segment: …no help as usual.

Final Segment Grade: B-

__________

Best honorable mention line from episode (said by Marco): Keep your sacrilege off my taco!

If there’s one thing that stands out to me most about this week’s segments, it’s that their titles could have used a little more work.

Star vs Echo Creek sounded like she was going to possibly wage war on the small California community. I feel a more appropriate title could have been Runaway Star, or maybe Star’s Big Mistake.

Even so, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise, in showing more about character development for Star, but not falling too far down the rabbit hole for off-the-wall craziness.

Wand to Wand attempts to give us more clues on the ‘cleaving’ of the Mewnian Royal Sceptre, now in the hands of both Star, and Ludo. Both end up in unexpected situations with their portions of the wand, though we are still no closer to fully understanding what happened to the wand following the end of Season 1.

__________

*This week’s episode had some introspective points, with the first segment to me, being the highlight. Next week, we get the titled segments “Starstruck,” and “Camping Trip.” We get to see Star encounter another magical princess, named Mina Loveberry, and also a return of her father, the King of Mewni. Mina’s been seen in the new opening credits image, so I think many like myself, are eager to know more about this other crazy, unkempt princess. See you guys back here in 7 days.*