We’re back with another whole week of new episodes of Star Vs. The Forces of Evil, so join us for our review of season three, episode eleven of the Disney XD cartoon!
After the events of “Starfari,” Star is making efforts to bring forth an age of monster equality, starting with a petition from the heirs of Mewni’s kingdoms. At the beginning of “Death Peck,” Star has gotten the signatures of all but one prince, Richard Pigeon, heir to the Pigeon Kingdom. We last saw Rich in “Club Snubbed,” where he sported some fancy artificial legs (which come back later).
Star, Marco, and Ponyhead are having a bit of trouble getting the last signature however, since none of them can understand the pigeons and vice versa. Marco, eager to leave, proposes they just grab Richard’s claw and sign it for him, they’re just dumb pigeons after all. Star is wary of the idea, but Marco says he’ll be gentle but… he ends up accidentally breaking the pigeon’s leg.
The pigeon King and Queen are angered by by this, as are the rest of the pigeon citizens who attack Star, Marco and Ponyhead. The three run away as the pigeons tear up the castle chasing them in a massive horde. Star accidentally left her wand at home, so their only hope is to run and hide. They manage to find shelter in Prince Richard’s room, barricading the door. The room full of treasures, lavish paintings of the prince, and most importantly, his closet of legs.
Star, Marco, and Ponyhead steal the Prince’s biggest pair of robotic legs to protect themselves against the pigeon horde. After some mishaps with the controls, they make a break for the exit, but the pigeons block them! Star, still wanting to negotiate peace, doesn’t want to injure, and thus further anger, the pigeons. She stops the runaway legs and they are captured.
Imprisoned, the trio receives a rather unfair trial, since they still cannot understand anything the pigeons are saying. They are sentenced to execution… by pecking. Luckily, this process would take a long time, time that Prince Richard uses to come to the rescue of Star, Marco and Ponyhead. The Prince reveals he has learned the mewmans’ language, a betrayal in the eyes his people. But, he has done it to secure the future of the Pigeon Kingdom. The pigeon prince gives a rousing speech, praising Star’s efforts to make a change, and how he must lead also his kingdom into a new age.
The pigeon people cheer at the speech and let Star and her friends go. Prince Rich signs the petition for monster rights and Star apologizes for the mess they caused. They have a feast to celebrate the petition, a feast which is, unfortunately, all worms.
“Death Peck” was easily the funniest episode of the season thus far. We are still treated to one of the many over-arching stories of the season, the peace treaty is the base of the episode after all, but it’s just a fun time. The best way to describe it is “magical slapstick,” crazy hilarious, pain-inducing action with some ridiculous fantasy elements. It’s something that Star Vs. The Forces of Evil is very familiar with, showing mastery of it with “Death Peck.”
The best part about this season, as well as previous seasons, is that we never know what we’re gonna get. What seems like a story-heavy episode ends up being a hilarious adventure, and what might seems like a silly slapstick ends up being a devastatingly powerful drama. It’s part of what makes us eager for more.
As great as the previous episode was, “Ponymonium” falls a bit flat. Don’t get us wrong, it’s still just as hilarious, further making Wednesday’s premier a great focus on comedy and fun, the episode is just a bit jumbled.
We start with Star arriving at the Cloud Kingdom, she’s been invited to have dinner with Ponyhead and her family. However, Ponyhead doesn’t seem so excited for the dinner, saying her sisters are weird and crazy jealous of her claim to the throne. When she brings in Star, Ponyhead asserts her dominance and tells her sisters to act normal. But, Star loves being herself and always wants others to do the same, so she tells the other Ponyheads to be themselves.
They do just that, and Ponyhead hates it. Despite Ponyhead always being “true to herself,” a selfish, narcissistic party girl with no regard for others’ feelings, she does not appreciate this from her sisters. She stomps them down at every turn, making them feel ashamed for their personalities and interests. It gets to the point where even Star finds her best friend’s behavior to be too harsh and over the line, something she says out loud. Feeling betrayed, Ponyhead heads off to her room in a huff.
Star tries to talk to Ponyhead, confronting her about her attitude. Ponyhead continues to mope and kicks Star out, claiming she can’t depend on her best friend anymore. Star leaves, confiding in the sisters, who are sick of Ponyhead’s attitude. After bonding and braiding each other’s hair, the sisters bring Star in on their big plan to usurp Ponyhead’s claim to the throne. Star is frightened by this plan and tries to back out, the only thing saving her from the looming sisters is their own egos.
As the sisters fight over who will take over the throne after they push out Ponyhead, Ponyhead herself bursts in, catching them in their plot. Turns out, Ponyhead was suspicious the whole time and pretty much used Star to expose her sisters. Star leaves in a huff, but still manages to make up with Ponyhead before leaving.
And this is where the episode gets a little jumbled, the plot goes in a few different directions and the various messages get tangled. Ponyhead’s attitude was and is pretty bad, but her sister’s aren’t justified in her plans. But, if Ponyhead’s attitude wasn’t so bad to begin with, they wouldn’t plot against her to begin with, something they do at every meal apparently. Further, Star’s anger at being used is quelled rather easily. It seems like the episode lacked focus, the plots and messages not coming together as well as they could have.
That said, the episode had a lot of genuinely funny moments, it just felt like three different stories merged together. “Ponymonium” is still an excellent, hilarious episode and it hasn’t deterred us from loving the series and wanting more.
Stay tuned for our reviews of upcoming Star episodes!
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