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chuckroThis season was a hell of a ride. We open with Ludo possessed by Toffee, magic falling apart all over Mewnie, and Star and her mother on the run.
The first four episodes are the battle for Mewnie which resolves the Toffee plotline. With it clear that Star has left Earth for good, Marco goes home...very briefly, then decides he’s going to come live on Mewnie. “Starco” shippers get teased a lot, as Star gets back together with Tom, Marco gets a few bits of being a jealous jerk, it looks like a Marco/Kelli thing could be happening, then Star and Marco eventually kiss.
I still don’t want Star and Marco to get together, for the record. I want them to be best friends. I want them to support each other in their romantic relationships. I want two people of opposite genders who love each other in a non-smoochy way, damnit!
I thought it interesting that while Star saves the day against Toffee, the final blow that kills him comes from Ludo. Only the villain is allowed to murder, even when we’re talking about a regenerating lizard-turned-eldrich-abomination who should have died several times already. Ludo’s “redemption” is a long and curious thing, as he’s not actually good at being evil, he’s mostly just a figure of pity.
King River arriving with the Eagles (and a choir!) after his apparent death was such a Tolkien spoof I don’t even know where to go with it.
They lean hard into calling out fantastic racism against monsters, with Star getting an entire speech about how arbitrary the mewman/monster divide is. (It’s almost, but not quite, “Why does this group count as white?” “Well, we tolerate them because they’re rich.”) That gets revisited a bunch of times, including when Buff Frog takes a bunch of monsters and leave Mewnie.
They’re also quietly subversive about gender roles and norms. The eight heirs of the noble house line up gender-separated, but clearly they all dance with each other regardless of gender. Marco has no problems being “Princess Turdina” again and none of the others are bothered by a boy princess; and he’s also perfectly fine referring to himself as the “croissant girl.”
We wrap this season with Heinous being turned back into a half-monster baby, and the wand being given to Eclipsa, who goes to revive her monster husband. How much of a villain Eclipsa actually is has been teased since she appeared, and the finale answers nothing. We go into season four with Ludo still in Limbo working out his issues (but his brother Dennis likely to return), Queen Moon vanished to somewhere (but presumably with the purple cleared from her arms), the kingdom in shambles but everyone un-ballooned, Glossarick sorta-recovered (I think his mental state is tied to the wand and whoever “owns” it) and Star having a reasonable hold on using magic without her wand.
Overall: Wasn’t sure I’d be back, but I appreciate the building mythology and tight use of detail / callbacks / references. Also, it’s often cheerful and funny.
The first four episodes are the battle for Mewnie which resolves the Toffee plotline. With it clear that Star has left Earth for good, Marco goes home...very briefly, then decides he’s going to come live on Mewnie. “Starco” shippers get teased a lot, as Star gets back together with Tom, Marco gets a few bits of being a jealous jerk, it looks like a Marco/Kelli thing could be happening, then Star and Marco eventually kiss.
I still don’t want Star and Marco to get together, for the record. I want them to be best friends. I want them to support each other in their romantic relationships. I want two people of opposite genders who love each other in a non-smoochy way, damnit!
I thought it interesting that while Star saves the day against Toffee, the final blow that kills him comes from Ludo. Only the villain is allowed to murder, even when we’re talking about a regenerating lizard-turned-eldrich-abomination who should have died several times already. Ludo’s “redemption” is a long and curious thing, as he’s not actually good at being evil, he’s mostly just a figure of pity.
King River arriving with the Eagles (and a choir!) after his apparent death was such a Tolkien spoof I don’t even know where to go with it.
They lean hard into calling out fantastic racism against monsters, with Star getting an entire speech about how arbitrary the mewman/monster divide is. (It’s almost, but not quite, “Why does this group count as white?” “Well, we tolerate them because they’re rich.”) That gets revisited a bunch of times, including when Buff Frog takes a bunch of monsters and leave Mewnie.
They’re also quietly subversive about gender roles and norms. The eight heirs of the noble house line up gender-separated, but clearly they all dance with each other regardless of gender. Marco has no problems being “Princess Turdina” again and none of the others are bothered by a boy princess; and he’s also perfectly fine referring to himself as the “croissant girl.”
We wrap this season with Heinous being turned back into a half-monster baby, and the wand being given to Eclipsa, who goes to revive her monster husband. How much of a villain Eclipsa actually is has been teased since she appeared, and the finale answers nothing. We go into season four with Ludo still in Limbo working out his issues (but his brother Dennis likely to return), Queen Moon vanished to somewhere (but presumably with the purple cleared from her arms), the kingdom in shambles but everyone un-ballooned, Glossarick sorta-recovered (I think his mental state is tied to the wand and whoever “owns” it) and Star having a reasonable hold on using magic without her wand.
Overall: Wasn’t sure I’d be back, but I appreciate the building mythology and tight use of detail / callbacks / references. Also, it’s often cheerful and funny.
