Star vs. the Forces of Evil Review: Lint Catcher / Trial by Squire

"'Ooooh, hey Star, I just showed up out of NOWHERE. Why don't you give me a job to do?' Okay, Marco, here's a job. 'NooOOo, not that job, another job.'"

After all of the narrative-driven heaviness of the past few episodes, perhaps it's a nice blessing that "Lint Catcher" and "Trial by Squire," despite bearing some significance, felt straight out of Season 1. People can rag on that season all they want, but it bore an enjoyable lightness while establishing the role of Star and Marco within the show, allowing us to slowly familiarize ourselves with them and how they bounce off of one another.

This set of episodes works in the same way; just as Star and Marco's introduction in Season 1 meant they needed ample room to slowly figure themselves out, their current reunion means that the show will have to do the same thing again. Things are a-changing on Star vs., and with romantic investment seeming far more repressed here, the show's clearly trying to build a new framework for the pair's dynamic.

As such, I can forgive "Lint Catcher" and "Trial by Squire" at least a little bit. They're certainly not the strongest episodes, but you can't fault them for failing at something they weren't going for. Everything's a lot looser, and not in a bad way; it's just a nice return to Star and Marco as a fun-loving duo.

First of all, yes, "Lint Catcher" did have some serious subject matter it had to address - it marks our leads' reunion, after all. But it's interesting how it used a relatively playful scenario to construct its emotional obligations around. Compare it to the last two episodes, for instance, that forced Star and Marco to act out on their instincts; in "Lint Catcher," it's all about Star reconsidering the situation at-hand and coming to terms with everything that's happening.

Obviously, Marco's return marks an introduction to some conflict, too. This is Star's past and her present colliding, and while it goes externally well - Tom and Marco are on surprisingly amicable terms - the frustration of it all is skewing her judgement, and the only solution that allows her to move on initially is to push Marco as far away as possible, making him the squire of Sir Lavabo (the laundry knight from "Scent of a Hoodie").

Once Eclipsa brings up the underlying dangers of Marco's position, however, Star's forced to reconfigure how she feels. Throughout the episode, she's very clearly in the wrong, but it takes a near-death experience at the hands of a humongous lint monster to drill into her mind that she hadn't reached a solution and that, as much as she cast Marco as the root of her problems, a bulk of them were within herself, too. Realizing her wrongs, she creates a solution that satisfies everybody, and Marco becomes her squire.

"Trial by Squire" is thus the mandatory filler episode that weeds through how this new revelation changes things, and seeks to address how that alters Star and Marco's relationship.

Basically, Marco deems it necessary to prove his worth as a squire by going all out for a discount sale at Quest Bay to ensnare all of the best equipment, and the show uses its simplistic premise to explore Marco's underlying vulnerability and his sense of inferiority. He feels the need to prove his worth to Star, sure, but also to himself, and the fact that the episode repeatedly deprives him of every possible victory only pushes him further down.

That's where the episode succeeds: it lets Star serve as Marco's reality check. The whole episode reminded me a lot of "Sleep Spells," one of my favorite Season 1 episodes, because it pushes Marco into self-constructed adversity only for Star to pull him back out and knock some sense into him. The whole reason he's a squire is simply because she wants things to go back to normal and she wants to have him around, and upon finally realizing that, Marco is able to move on for the better.

That being said, the episode wasn't exactly perfect, by any means. Most frustrating was the introduction of Higgs, a squire after the same supplies as Marco who exists solely to mock him and impede his progress. Her character is essential, but she's gratingly antagonistic for the sake of it. I feel as if the episode would've fared better if she was the spitting image of what Marco sought to become - an idealistic squire - as to make the tension more underlying instead of explicit and out of provocation, but instead, Higgs feels underbaked.

Especially considering the episode's focus on Marco's irrational, self-inflicted stress, Higgs feels superfluous. There's a nicely done undercurrent through which his anger mounts across the episode, with every small defeat compounding until he finally breaks down. The issue is far more psychological, so why do we need a character that breaks that, yet without really having a point?

Ultimately, though, my complaints are relatively minor, and "Trial by Squire" marks a nice return to the Star-Marco dynamic that defines the show.

Notes and Quotes:
-I'm curious to see how Marco relocating to Mewni seemingly permanently will affect the show; I feel like we didn't get nearly enough time with a lot of the cast back in Echo Creek and I'm interested in how the show's going to balance all of that out.
-More interesting, though, is the show's use of Eclipsa, making a brief appearance in "Lint Catcher" and giving Star something to think about. I like how the show is being deliberately vague not only on her purpose, but in terms of what her deal even is; the show seems to be playing her off as a passive force for other characters to read into.
-"Attention Quest Buy shoppers: the 10,000th annual Squire Blow-Out is starting in... now minutes."
-Apologies if I don't have too much to say; this past week has seriously fried my mind, but I'm trying as hard as I can.

FINAL GRADE: B+/B-. "Lint Catcher," while feeling a bit imbalanced with the lightness of its core plot, was a nice respite from the hair-tearing drama of the past few episodes, taking the opportunity to reorient the show and promise a more grounded return. Together with "Trial by Squire," both were a nice reminder of what makes Star and Marco such a strong team; they've always got their backs, and their camaraderie is infectious and lovable enough to make up for where the episodes fell flat.

For yesterday's reviews of "Demoncism" and "Sophomore Slump," CLICK HERE.