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 twelve of the Disney XD cartoon!
At long last, we return to dimension X-103, last seen in (arguably) one of the best episodes of the series, “Running With Scissors.” In the episode, Marco was stranded in this dimension, domain of the dimensional scissor forger, Heckapoo, and could only get back after earning new scissors. It took 16 years, and Marco fully aged into a muscled, dragon-motorcycle riding badass. However, as soon as he returned to Earth, where time ran at a normal rate, he turned back to his 16-year-old self.
At the beginning of “Night Life,” 30-year-old Marco has returned, riding his dragon-cycle with Heckapoo on the back. Together, they close rogue portal, one of many that’ve been opening up across all dimensions. Later, the two celebrate a good nights work at a tavern, one outside of Heckapoo’s dimension, since Marco is back to his normal age. Marco tells Heckapoo how he missed this life, adventuring around and seeing weird things.
Unfortunately, the celebration is cut short as Marco has to get home, but he promises to come back the next day. When portalling home, Marco is caught Star, who’s looking bruised and beaten. Turns out, she got injured trying to take Glossaryck for a walk. She is frustrated that her squire wasn’t there to help her when she needed him, and Marco claims he was out fishing.
Suspicious of this lie, Star asks Marco to watch Glossaryck the next day, as she has to clean the royal sewers with her dad. Marco makes the promise… but breaks it. The next day, he shows up late to help Heckapoo close another portal, disappointing her both with his tardiness and because he has to leave right away. Marco returns to Star’s room to find that the unattended Glossaryck has left Star’s room a mess, and Star isn’t happy.
Star figures out that Marco has been spending time with Heckapoo, and get even more frustrated, things are stressful and busy for her right now and she needs to know she can count on Marco. Marco apologizes and promises to stop hanging with Heckapoo, handing over his dimensional scissors to solidify that promise. But, the call of adventure is too strong for Marco, and he sneaks into Star’s bedroom at night, steals back his scissors, and meets up once again with Heckapoo.
Heckapoo has a big job for him this time around, she’s aiming to stop the source of these portals once and for all, hiring some extra muscle to help. Marco panics for some reason, especially when Heckapoo reveals the harpoon she plans on using. They await the arrival of the portals’ source, which turns out to be Star in her butterfly form, still “figuring out her powers” from “Sweet Dreams.”
Even worse, Marco knew this the whole time, which is why he panicked, but didn’t tell Heckapoo because he loved the adventuring so much. Heckapoo threatens to tell the magical high commission about Star’s out-of-control powers, but Marco convinces her not to at the price of their friend/partnership. Any future adventures together are cancelled, and after giving Marco a map of Star’s portals, Heckapoo leaves.
Marco returns home to Star, who is mad that Marco snuck out once again. But, Marco reveals what he was doing, closing up the portals she’s been making in her sleep. Marco also reveals the map Heckapoo gave him, showing Star that she’s been going to the same places every night. The map may be the key to what Star has been looking for this whole time.
There’s a lot to unpack with this episode. There’s the great lessons of disappointing your friends, and how trying to split your time between two things can only lead to disaster. But, there’s also lessons of selflessness in how Marco eventually learns that his need for adventure was hurting Star. Even more interesting the adventures he sought were perhaps the result of wanting to distance himself from Star after the events of “Lake Lava Beach.” “Night Life” also helps to further build and solidify the magnificent lore of Star, as does the next episode.
Things have changed in Mewni, they are still changing, perhaps for the better, though that’s up in the air. This seems to be the overarching theme of season three. Star has changed as a princess, Marco is now the “exchange student,” instead of fighting monsters, Star is fighting for their equality equality, and the very nature of magic in the world of Mewni is on the verge of something big.
“Deep Dive” explores this concept. It takes place not too long after the previous episode, Star has the map of her sleep portals and is determined to get to the bottom of her strange new powers. Whenever she sleeps, she hears a distant cry, calling her to something. Star enlists the help of Marco and Janna to figure out what the distance voice is. Janna hypnotizes Star to sleep and they monitor her wherabouts in the multiverse.
Star changes into her butterfly form and follows the voice across different dimensions, coming to a giant swirling portal not on Heckapoo’s map. Star enters the portal and Janna and Marco lose contact with her. Inside the strange dimensions Star comes across baby millhorses, the types of magical unicorns that power her wand. Turns out she’s in the realm of magic, where all magic stems from. The realm was reborn after Star fixed it in the climax of Battle for Mewni and the one who called her there was the baby millhorse she created in the same battle.
Back in Star’s room, Marco cannot contact Star, and without knowing where she is, he cannot retrieve her using his dimensional scissors. Desperate, Marco grab’s Star’s wand and spell book (the one she made herself). The wand transforms to fit Marco’s personality (and Janna draws a mole on it to further match him) and he uses Eclipsa’s all-seeing eye spell to find Star.
He finds Star in the realm of magic, basically tripping out on the magical energy; she cannot remember her name or Marco’s. When Marco tries to reach through the all-seeing eye spell, there is a backlash and he’s hurt. This snaps Star out of her bliss and she manages to transform into her butterfly form and open a portal home.
After the whole experience, Star now has the power to change into her butterfly form at will. Star was already the “rebel princess,” finding her own way of doing things, but this episode truly solidifies that Star is a one-of-a-kind princess. She can control and interact with magic in ways no one thought was possible. Things are really going to be different in Mewni, and Star is going to be at the front of that change. “Deep Dive,” was both an excellent episode and an awesome expansion of the show’s lore and themes.
The creative team clearly has something big planned for the next episode, a full 22-minutes. We hope all the pieces that have been laid out start come together, so stay tuned for our upcoming review of this week’s final Star Vs. The Forces of Evil episode!
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