Hallo. I mean, Hello. Ween.
Welcome back to Star vs. The Forces of Evil Review...2.
Are you ready for a scaaaare?
Are you ready for a shock?
Are ready for something that will scar you for a very undetermined amount of time rendering you unable to do certain things that somehow remind you of said thing to a certain extant, crippling a part of your life for a veeery long time??
...Weeell, this is the wrong place.
But this episode does come close to all that. To a lesser extent.
This fourteenth episode of Season 2 was the very first Halloween episode.
Or supposedly, one Halloween episode airing in early October tied with an episode about a seemingly-long-forgotten weapon from the annals of Star's wand. And it was more than okay.
Let's start with the better of the two.
So, every Halloween, Marco's dad Rafael holds a scary haunted house routine at the Diaz Family Home. And every Halloween, it's a bust because it's not scary enough. Plus, every Halloween, Marc pays kids to go to this excuse of a haunted house to help Mr. Diaz keep it together.
So Star and Janna decide to help out (after ignoring Marco's warning order at first) by summoning a small, skinny ghost by the name of Hungry Larry. Larry's appearance would later be a crux for what happens next. Star & Janna, later Marco & his mom Angie, and then many neighborhood kids disappear, leaving Rafael alone to find them all. Larry becomes much more...fuller, revealing he ate everyone.
This episode starts off okay. The plot is well-structured and chugs along well. The jokes were definitely light, but the scares were pretty good. I would definitely call this a slightly lighter version of "Summerween" from Gravity Falls. The Summerween Trickster is replaced as the one-shot scared-witless Halloween-based character by Hungry Larry, and the character suddenly disillusioned about the holiday goes from Dipper Pines to Rafael Diaz (except Rafael is genuinely sad his corny haunted house isn't scary, not because he wants to blow off traditions with his twin sister to go to a party his pointless crush is going to).
I kinda did expect all to happen from the word "go" (well, not literally). But it all was executed really well. I looved this episode. One of the best Halloween episodes of the 2010s so far.
Random Thoughts:
--Everyone in this episode wore an adorable, yet badass costume:
-Star dressed as Ludo (although I don't know what the tail is for, since he--a bird--never had one [maybe it's a mix of him and Toffee]).
-Marc as a karate-animal something-or-other (??).
-Rafael as a pumpkin
-Janna as a dead man in a suit (maybe a zombie)
-Some of the kids' costumes too
--Don't let the cute little white sheet fool you; Hungry Larry may be the most scariest white non-human (possibly) talking spirited presence since the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
--When Star touches the liquid and licks it, she deduces it was saliva. Uhh...how does she know this?? For all we know, it could be blood, or tears, or...fecal matter. (Maybe...)
--If an evil force compliments me on how pretty my wife is...I'd also thank him. Then I'd kick his ass.
--I haven't seen a group of sophisticated animated kids acting dull about not being scared in a while. They probably watch Black Mirror more than Goosebumps.
Fave Moments:
--Rafael trying to make a scary haunted house.
--Star doing her best to help him out (even if it lead to their downfall)
--Everything with Hungry Larry (and not just because he's voiced by VA legend Billy West)
--Rafael saving the day (or rather, night) and defeating Hungry Larry.
--The kids enjoying the scary event, thinking it was all staged (little did they know...)
--
If you've always wondered what the inside of Star's magic wand looks like, and if the animals featured in it are just spirits manifested into strong beings featured in her attacks live in it? Then have we got an episode for you!
So, Spider with a Top Hat is a member of Star's arsenal of adorable yet badass animals; ready, willing and able to strike at will at any minute's notice. While he's waiting for his calling, T.H. hypes up everyone to get their game face on and their knockouts heavy. But he himself waits for the day to be summoned and so he pumps up for that day. And when that day come...great googly moogly.
And so, another day, another fight, another win, another day to reminisce, sulk and await another day for another exhibition.
The titular character himself is really lovable. He's kind, humble, energetic and entertaining. At first, I was pretty bored with what was going on, that I didn't notice how entertaining he was. And when I put my focus on him, it was kinda worth it. His pep talks to everyone else are super sweet, his excitement and endurance to be a wand weapon is infectious, and his disappointment from feeling low can make one (ie: me) really sad. And when he finally gets called to help Star fight a random villain with a machine gun-based power, the wait and build-up (yes, there was some)--while feeling like a cop-out at first, turned to be worth it in the end. Sure, Starco (and us the viewers) are weary and questionable at first, but are stunned and impressed.
If not for TH Spider, the writing or the performance of his VA Steve Little, I would've been ready to dismiss it another filler episode like I almost did "Page Turner". But it turned out to be a bit more entertaining than I thought.
This was a fun episode. I should watch it again every Halloween (well, "Hungry Larry" ON the holiday, and "Spider..." the day either before or after).
Thanks, everyone, for coming out. Much appreciated.
Join me tomorrow for Episode #15...
"Raid the Cave / Trickstar".
Hope to see you then.
For now, I have been Andrew, saying
"Reach for the Star, and Kep Looking Up! ...at your [tablet] screen."
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