Review: Star vs The Forces of Evil “Match Maker” & “School Spirit”

 

Spoilers Below

Almost two and a half months after the premiere episode aired, the second episode of Star vs The Forces of Evil aired on Disney XD. I’m not sure why Disney insists on waiting so long between episodes. It makes it difficult to stay enthused about a show. Well, let’s see if the second episode was as good as the first.

The episode begins with “Match Maker.” Star is upset that she received an F- on a test while Marco got an A+ with a smiley face. She decides to strike a deal with her teacher, Miss Skullnick. If Star can find her a love match, Skullnick will change her grade to an A. Unfortunately, instead of casting a love spell, Star changes her teacher into a troll. Then she accidentally transports Troll Skullnick, Marco, and herself to her room. As they try to figure out how to change Skullnick back into a human, evil Ludo realizes that Star may be distracted enough to defeat. Skullnick escapes from Star’s room, just as Ludo and his gang arrive to fight Star.

As Marco and Star fight the various minions, Star notices that one of the baddies likes Troll Skullnick. She quickly sets the two love-monsters up and defeats the rest of Ludo’s army. When Star and Marco return to their classroom, she regales the class with the tale of Skullnick’s sudden disappearance. Just then, a portal opens in the ceiling, dumping Troll Skullnick onto her desk. It turns out her monster man dumped her and now she is back to teaching. Only now she is a troll.

While this portion of the episode was enjoyable, it did feel a little lacking. Since this is only the second episode, there isn’t enough backstory for Skullnick to fully hash out a lonely teacher story. Sure, we get a throwaway line about her being left on a dock by a rich man but it seems really lame. I think this would have done better in a later episode, after the side characters have had time to become actual characters and not just tropes.

Score

6/10

The second portion of the episode is “School Spirit.” Star and Marco are at a pep rally for their school football team. Their team, The Awesome Opossums, are about to take on their biggest rival, The Warriors. The Opossums have yet to win a game against the Warriors. When Marco tells Star that their team is going to get slaughtered, the princess misunderstands and thinks the teams are actually going into battle. Wanting to help the team, Star takes Marco’s suggestion to join the cheer squad. But the cheer squad doesn’t want anything to do with the weird girl. So Star prepares for battle on her own.

Meanwhile, Marco finds out that the opossum mascot has bit the dust. In its place, his friend, Ferguson, becomes a opossum-suited mascot. Knowing that The Warriors will try to steal their mascot, Marco does everything in his power to keep his friend safe.

As the football players take the field, Star confesses to Marco that she has boobytrapped the playing field. Marco explains to the princess that it is just a game, not actual battle. But her boobytraps have already been set loose. Giant monster squirrels, huge flaming alley cats, and other random Star-created creatures rush the field, trying to take down everyone they can. As Star and Marco rush off to defeat the creatures, two of The Warriors kidnap Opossum Ferguson and run onto the field.

Of course, Star and Marco defeat all of the creatures. Well, almost all. When the students lift Star and Marco onto their shoulders, Marco is grabbed by a strange bird creature. It seems that Star forgot one.

I liked this part of the episode much better than the first part. This seemed a bit more “Star-like” compared to “Match Maker.” We had Star misunderstanding Earth slang, resulting in an epic battle on the football field. Again, it would have been nice to have a bit more characterization from the side characters, but it wasn’t completely necessary. I hope that we will learn more about those characters in the future. Shows are better when all of the characters are fully fleshed out and not just the main protagonists.

Score

8/10