My day-by-day analysis of season three continues with a post on “Club Snubbed” and “Stranger Danger.” Read on to see the analysis.

“Club Snubbed”

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this episode in terms of analysis that hasn’t already been mentioned by others. It’s a fairly straightforward episode, I think.

The one thing that seems notable to me is the desperate undercurrent underlying the Silver Bell Ball: River and Dave sweating, and Moon seeming embarrassed and later actually frightened, for instance.



What’s going on there? It could simply be the show’s way of revealing to us the brittle alliances between the kingdoms – and we do certainly see those political tensions rise to the foreground, given everyone blames Mewni for Toffee, and considering that Dave and River get into an actual brawl – but I can’t help but wonder if there’s more to this occasion than meets the eye. Why are these political ties so dependent on what appears to be a frivolous social engagement? Perhaps this incident foreshadows an even larger schism.



“Stranger Danger”

There’s a lot going on in this episode, but I’m just going to stick to a few things that I’d like to highlight.

Star: We express ourselves with our words, not with our pudding.

There’s a lot of great irony in this line – for a number of reasons:

Ludo once tried to express himself using pudding as ink:

Pudding (as I will write about in an upcoming post) has an incredibly long presence in the series as an extended metaphor (or conceit) for “heart” or “emotions” or “feelings.”



Glossaryck actually seems incapable of expressing himself in words (itself an irony considering his connection to reading and writing as the physical manifestation of the Book of Spells – a further topic for another day).



And then there are the roses.

The symbolic importance of roses – which play a big role in this episode – can’t possibly be overstated. Roses are symbolic of the Holy Grail (as they do also resemble a cup), and are also traditional symbols of femininity, romance, and beauty. They also represent hidden danger (the thorns, of course) and possible illness (e.g., ”The Sick Rose” by William Blake). I also suspect there is a tiny bit of Revolutionary Girl Utena’s influence in their presence – roses have an enormous role in that series:

I would expect roses to play a role throughout this season, especially when we see Eclipsa.



Also, Eclipsa is most definitely evil. How do I know?

She’s a litterer.



Also – I actually had to pause the episode at this line – “Never mind. He says they’re just regular fleas.” – because I was laughing so hard that I wasn’t able to pay attention:

Good work, guys.



Lastly, “Club Snubbed” and “Stranger Danger” seem connected in that they both involve second chances: that is, Star wants a second chance for both Tom and Eclipsa – though both of them have, in the past, in their own ways, proven to be dangerous and untrustworthy.

I think, of all episodes, “Trickstar” and what it says about second chances may be appropriate to keep in mind as we continue.

