Review: Star vs The Forces of Evil – “Mewnipendance Day” & “Banagic”

This show has now officially confused me. After the awesome double-length episode, we’re pretty much right back where we started. Except it’s worse.

The first episode is “Mewnipendance Day.” (Yes, they misspelled independence.) Star invites all of her classmates (and Troll Skullnick) to the Diaz house to celebrate Mewnipendance Day. That is the day that humans came to Mewni. When they arrived, they found monsters inhabiting the land. So the humans fought the monsters and won the land for themselves. Star called her friends together to re-enact the battle. Marco reads Star’s history pop-up book and figures out that the battle was actually a massacre. He points this out to Star and she is completely stunned.

Meanwhile, Ludo sends a camera shaped like the All Seeing Eye to spy on Star. Toffee comes up with a weapon to steal Star’s wand. Buff Frog volunteers to go to Earth with the weapon to get the wand. Unfortunately, Buff Frog fails and Ludo kicks him out of the castle. Star sees Buff Frog moping about in a tree and leaves him an ear of corn on an open windowsill.

This is the beginning of my confusion. I understand the point of the plot. But the show just stops. There is no real ending to the episode. Star comes to an understanding about the history of her people – though she doesn’t actually act on this newly obtained knowledge. Instead of some sort of “Hey, what we did sucked” moment, all we get is Star leaving an ear of buttered corn on a windowsill for a monster. It definitely left me with a “THAT’S IT?!?!” feeling.

“Banagic” doesn’t do much better. A bored Star sits in a bathtub reading magazines. She comes upon an ad for a Banagic Wand. Thinking that this is some sort of Earth magic, she decides she has to have it. She tries to get Marco to take her to the store but he has to go to karate class. So Star travels downtown by herself. Of course, she wreaks some havoc but, in the end, manages to get what she wanted. And it turns out to be nothing more than an ice cream maker.

In Marco’s karate class, he is learning how to channel his emotions into his karate. For some reason, the sensei wants them to walk over hot coals. After failing his first attempt, one of his classmates begins to make fun of him. Marco gets angry and chases him around the dojo. Surprisingly, Marco ran across the coals without even knowing it. Mission accomplished. Marco goes back home, where he apologizes to Star for underestimating her. Star replies by gently smacking his banana ice cream out of his hands.

Once again, this episode just ended without an actual ending. We don’t know why Star was offended by Marco’s apology. Heck, we aren’t even sure she WAS offended. She just stared at him for a second then smacked the ice cream down, saying there was a fly. Absolutely no resolution. I have no idea what the writers were going for this time but they need to knock it off. These were the worst episodes so far. I really hope this isn’t where the show is going.