The November release of Star vs. the Forces of Evil continues! I should mention that I’ve decided to wait to write about the episodes until they have been officially released on Amazon Video (since that’s where I bought them). Read on for my analysis.



“Demoncism”

What an odd episode. There are a lot of amusing and engaging moments in it – but I have to admit, watching this episode put me in mind of just how lax censors have become for television shows meant for teenagers these days. When I was a kid, seeing all of this occult stuff was pretty rare: I think the only time I would have seen it is in a few episodes of The Real Ghostbusters (which I’ll write about someday – I swear!).

The entire scene of Seahorse having been turned into a bland corporate puppet is both terrifying and heartbreaking:

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the realm of the mind has been a running theme so far in this season:

Star imagines Marco’s scent: “The hoodie is, in fact, clean. What you are experiencing is the memory of a scent.”

Moon accuses Star of not really seeing Glossaryck: “You didn’t see Glossaryck, and you didn’t see his ghost.”



Pony Head tells Star about a psychological trick: “The more you ignore somebody, the more they fall deeply in love with you.”



Star accuses Eclipsa of mind manipulation: “They said you could be in my mind, and I wouldn’t even know.”

A demoncism seems to radically alter people’s personalities.

Jackie breaks up with Marco because she believes he’s forcing himself to stay in Echo Creek just to make her happy.



I don’t think that’s a coincidence, given that both Tom and Eclipsa have an aura of manipulation around them. For more on Tom, I would highly recommend @malthuswibble‘s theory on reddit regarding Tom’s intentions.



Perhaps it’s just me being cynical, but I agree with Malthus: Tom has a clear history of being abusive and manipulative and isn’t trustworthy in the slightest. In fact, it’s puzzling as to why Star gives him the benefit of the doubt at all. I can go even further than that, however: in my opinion, “Demoncism” is not in the slightest a transformative moment for Tom.



Compare “Demoncism” to an episode like “Ludo in the Wild.” In “Ludo in the Wild,” we see and experience and feel with Ludo at his lowest: the moment when he was so low-down, beaten, and just plain desperate than he was willing to anything just to survive. Completely stripped of ego. Now that’s transformative. Compare that to Tom’s smug smirking, the snide quips – doesn’t it all strike you as a bit insincere, shallow, and empty? Doesn’t this whole episode feel a little hollow?



If the writers expect me to buy that Tom has truly changed, then they failed – because I don’t. This show is smarter than that, though.

At least that’s my hope.



“Sophomore Slump”

I’m not really sure what to say about this episode besides, “Well, that escalated quickly.” I thought for sure that the writers would just drag out the problems with Marco and Jackie all season, but instead they cut right to the point and ended it quickly. It’s so surprising to me, in fact, that now I have no idea what to expect next week.

Both of these episodes have a quick escalation and shift in character direction happen, which I find unusual – and it almost takes me out of the fiction, I have to admit. Star is suddenly willing to forgive Tom simply because he’s a good dancer? Marco becomes a thoughtless, self-obsessed jerk to everyone? It does seem to me like everyone’s development as a character has taken a few steps back simply for the purpose of dramatic tension (i.e., they’re passing around the Idiot Ball). I believe this show is better than that, and I suspect there’s more going on than what appears on the surface. I’m sure there will be more twists in store soon.

