Star vs. the Forces of Evil Review: Monster Bash

"It was a great party! I mean yeah, sure, some monsters got trapped in a closet, and Mina probably traumatized some people, and we got busted by the cops and I... am not helping at all, right now."

What a way to leave the audience grasping for more, Star vs. Even in terms of the standards of a midseason finale, "Monster Bash" was a mass deposit of so much new information, yet at the same time, as based on revelations as it was, this was an episode deeply invested in the characters. Not just Miss Heinous, henceforth to be known as Meteora, but everyone, to varying degrees.

First of all, there's the obvious: Meteora is more than she seems. Not only is she a Butterfly and Eclipsa's daughter, but she's the daughter of a Mewmin and a monster. She's a character bred out of adversity and strengthened with repression, and while the show explicitly plays her as rather sympathetic, it's upon closer inspection of the tragedies surrounding her character that she's so compelling. (Also worth noting: even with this much more knowledge gained of Eclipsa, we're still no closer to understanding her motives. Star vs. is slick, y'all.) There's also the return of Mina Loveberry, who sort of gets wedged in for the sake of delivering exposition and more firmly establishing her role in the show after everything that was "Starstruck," but we'll get to her a bit more in a second.

Star, however, even without as meaningful of a reveal, had equally meaningful development here. More than ever, she's realizing the extent of her ambitions and how they conflict with what she's actually capable of, let alone that she's becoming less and less confident with each discovery of how well she knows her family, let alone herself. If the ending shows anything, it's that she still stands by her principles and that she's doing everything she can, but the fact that it's not going as plan as self-defeating; "Monster Bash," more than anything else for Star, is a wake-up call.

As a more interesting tangent, the show very subtly works on explaining Tom's place in the show, too, with "Monster Bash" making it incredibly clear that Tom is nothing more than a fling for Star; she takes his advances as jokes and makes it clear that she has other priorities she needs to address in spite of his attempts to swoon her, let alone that his attempt to help her in the battle against Mina proves horrendously ineffective - I don't think there's any clearer way of establishing that they aren't as much of a team as Tom would like to think than to have him going full force only to be flung across the ground. (Poor dude's no more effective than Spider in a Top Hat.) The final scene especially where, in spite of Tom's consolation, Star only becomes more and more stressed and unsure of herself, makes it obvious that Tom isn't of much help to her by this point.

(That being said, Marco spent the latter half of the episode throwing romance novels and drinking hot chocolate, so maybe there's hope for you Tomstar shippers out there.)

That's not to say the episode didn't have any faults here and there. I think chiefly is the fact that the episode sort of abandons the whole "bringing monsters and Mewmins together" plot device entirely at the episode's midpoint, and while the reveal certainly makes up for that, it feels disruptive instead of at complete ease. If anything, the show barely focused on their divide at all, which is a bit of a strange leap from "Starfari." As such, aside from foreshadowing here and there, nothing particularly meaningful actually happens until 8 minutes in; there's a looming presence, and we know something's gonna go down, but instead of being tense, the lightheartedness of the party in contrast to what the show is slowly unfolding leaves us playing the waiting game moreso than sitting on the edge of our seats.

There was just a sense that the show struggled with integration; Meteora obviously finds a sensible way in, but Mina Loveberry's appearance, while enjoyable in its own right, feels like unnecessary elevation, let alone that she leaves rather anticlimatically at the end. I don't daresay she's tacked on - I know better, and I know the show's got something mischievous under its sleeve - but she just doesn't play too much of a role except as a diversion. By now, too, it's clear that Meteora is going to become this season's Ludo/Toffee as the leading antagonist, so it's difficult to say what Mina will amount to, though that being said, I'm optimistic.

Then again, just speaking for the rest of Season 3, I suppose we all are.

Notes and Quotes:
-"Sorry, sorry, just gonna stop you right there, Marco. I'm not into politics." "Dude, you're a prince. Everything you do is political."
-Rich Pigeon's vengeful 20 second cameo was a delightful way to tie back into "Death Peck." ("Legs heal, Marco. Grudges last forever.")
-I can't help but feel like Marco was a suspicious non-entity here. At the end of the day, "Monster Bash" is a deep exploration of Meteora and Star, but the first half employs him sparingly, while the second half hardly uses him at all...
-I really hope that Meteora's persistence of Marco being Princess Turdina in her mind becomes a long-running joke.
-Also, if we're talking about mending the monster-Mewmin relations... where's Buff Frog when you need him?
-Rhombulus quietly remains a strong source of comedic relief; in all of the questions his appearance raises, his snake hands perfectly compliment everything he says in their glares and well-timed raspberries.

Final Grade: A. "Monster Bash," above all else, is as fascinating a reconstruction of our perceptions as a deconstruction of its characters. I know I may have been a bit harsh in criticizing the general path the episode takes, but ultimately, assessing the episode in terms of how much it leaves us wanting more, "Monster Bash" is a brilliant joyride, and towards the end, we're eating out of the palm of its hands. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but it's hard to find shows that are able to do that nowadays.

Anyway, the past two weeks have been fun - exhausting and middling, but fun nonetheless. I can't say if I'll be picking up reviewing the show again when it comes back since there's already enough smart people around to do my job better with stronger investment in the show... but only time will tell. At the very least, for now, I'm walking away having gotten a few more writing skills under my belt.

In the meantime, here's links to all of the past two weeks in case you missed anything:

Week 1:
S03E08E09: "Scent of a Hoodie / Rest in Pudding" (A-/B)
S03E10E11: "Club Snubbed / Stranger Danger" (B-/A)
S03E12E13: "Demoncism / Sophomore Slump" (A+/A)
S03E14E15: "Lint Catcher / Trial By Squire" (B+/B-)

Week 2:
S03E16E17: "Princess Turdina / Starfari" (B/regrettable C+)
S03E18E19: "Sweet Dreams / Lava Lake Beach" (A-/B)
S03E20E21: "Death Peck / Ponymonium" (A+/no-regrets D)
S03E22E23: "Night Life / Deep Dive" (B+/A+)

Keep on keeping on.