Star vs. the Forces of Evil Review: Scent of a Hoodie / Rest in Pudding

"No, this is me. Totes nor-mal."
Hey. It's been a minute.

I doubt any of y'all remember me, but a while back, I wrote up a little review of the entirety of Season 1 per that "Community Watching" event that happened a few months back. Everybody over at the subreddit liked it, so I thought, great! I'll just write one for Season 2 while I'm at it! That... didn't quite work out; turns out it's a bit hard to condense all of that into something that wasn't a complete eyesore to read.

But I'm back, and I'm trying it over again. But episodically. I don't know how long I'll actually be doing this - as of right now, I'm pretty much just cracking down on my weaknesses as a reviewer by exploring a show more driven by an ongoing narrative. (I usually stick to The Amazing World of Gumball, but I might as well expand a bit.)

First, though, a little disclaimer: on top of, y'know, being new to reviewing this type of show, I'm also very much known for being a bit meticulous when it comes to the show's mechanics. With that being said, I value the underlying notions of the show's plot and the ease with which the show conducts itself more than the plots, so don't come here expecting a synopsis so much as just... a mess of thoughts. What a selling point.

That was a long intro, let's just get to the episodes.

"Battle for Mewni" was a long ride, and with the show's triumphant return, in the form of "Scent of a Hoodie" and "Rest in Pudding," it expresses admirable restraint in letting us be reintroduced to where the show last left off. Here, Star vs. is trying to ease us back in with more simplicity while still having a point - "Scent of a Hoodie" is more implicit, while "Rest in Pudding" is very explicit. There's a nice balance in that regard, where we both get rewarded emotionally and narratively with the set.  The episodes aren't meaningless by any means - "Rest in Pudding" in particular is keen on pushing onwards on the story-telling front - but it returns to that more enjoyably gradual pace that allows us to settle in with more ease.

Core to both episodes, too, is this sense of moving on. A whole lot just happened, and in these two episodes, the show successfully acknowledges that without mercilessly shoving us back in. At least ignoring the ending to "Rest in Pudding" - which I'll get to - the episodes thrive on giving us a look at how Star's mind is being challenged, and how she's allowing herself to overcome it.

Personally, I think "Scent of a Hoodie" was the better of the two in achieving that goal because it had a stronger focus. I'm sure opinion is more mixed considering that it's a relatively carefree episode, but the simplicity plays into its purpose as a delicate character study. It's all about Star coping with her perceived loss of Marco, and her clinging to the unwashed hoodie is her subconsciously clinging to the past. In that sense, the jacket's washing is liberating. It's too soon to argue that Star's completely moved on - Star vs. sure loves to beat the crap out of Star and Marco's emotional tension - but it metaphorically and literally presents Star with a clean slate and the opportunity to reevaluate her possessiveness, and it's an important bridge for the show to cross so early on in the season. The jacket, and by extension, the episode, simply symbolizes that quiet progression in Star's psyche as she accepts that things are changing and that she's, to some capacity, able to go forward.

I think that's also where "Rest in Pudding" falls a bit flat. It sets itself up in a similar vein to "Hoodie," though swapping out Star's yearning for Marco with Glossaryck's discomforting omnipresence. That's all good and well, and the episode is impressive in the surreal extent that it toys with Star and creates as much tension as it does, but "Pudding" sets itself up as another opportunity for Star to let go of the burdens of the past - heck, "Balloo, balloo, ballee, ballee" pretty much exists to epitomize that - but it doesn't, instead physically bringing Glossaryck back.

In doing so, I can't help but feel like a lot of Star's progression throughout simply gets thrown under the bus. She doesn't take away anything, and she doesn't learn anything, it's just BOOM! Glossaryck. And that disrupts a lot of the momentum that the episode was gathering. It works as a nice twist, but at the same time, it backpeddles out of what made the episode as successful as it was by turning the presumed psychological (Star's vivid hallucinations, though their reality could be argued for) into the tangible (Glossaryck coming back to life). The ending just makes you wonder how much really happened, because instead of answering anything, it raises more questions. The show is wont to do that, of course, but instead of the plea for skepticism being enjoyably contemplative, it's a bit... peskier.

My complaints are painfully preferential - I can accept that - but "Pudding" just lacks the effectiveness in its button that the show is usually so adept at executing. Whereas the ending of "Hoodie" is more heartfelt for the sake of making a contained narrative, here, it's just a bit too detached.

In terms of the characters, I was a bit frustrated that nobody but Janna in "Pudding" played much of a role outside of Star in both episodes. Pony Head followed along but did very little, Jackie was relegated to a non-verbal cameo (though I do respect the show holding back and not getting too melodramatic with her reintroduction), and Marco served to set the plot to motion in the "Hoodie," though without much of a hand in the episode itself, while merely existing for a quick, nonchalant gag in "Pudding." At the very least, here's hoping the show will be able to balance out both character's uses a bit better in subsequent episodes, though their current separation throws that into question.

Ultimately, though, as far as the episodes go in doing Star proper service, they excel.

Notes and Quotes:
-Sir Labado added a delightful helping of much-needed comedy to "Scent of a Hoodie" with his joyously exhausting tedium. Too often does humor able to be mined from stretching out a situation go untapped, but here, with all of the separate cleaning departments and arbitrary questioning ("Chainmail or metal plate?" "Cotton. It's a hoodie." "Thread count?" "I don't know. I don't count.") - let alone that it's compounded by a 48 hour waiting time as the torturous cherry on top - the segment is the most hilarious moment out of today's batch.
-Between "MeticuLOUSly" and "Totes Nor-mull," "Scent of a Hoodie" was a good episode for silly pronunciations.
-Marco thinking that the hoodie smelled like Star, and Star thinking that the hoodie still smelled like Marco after the wash... that's some nicely innocuous foreshadowing ya got there, show.
-It's interesting how Lekmet's death is incredibly downplayed at the start of "Rest in Pudding," not that I'm complaining - it'll come around soon enough.
-Yes, I know those KimCartoon watermarks burn. No, I can't do much about that...

FINAL GRADES: A-/B. "Scent of a Hoodie" was a perfect episode to return to the show with in diving back into the core of the show - its characters - with a lovable sentimentality and enjoyable humor; "Rest in Pudding" never quite reached those levels of satisfaction, and its ending may have been a touch perfunctory, but as far as the show goes in gently bringing us back into the show's overarching narrative, it does a nice job nonetheless.

One final note: me and fellow Star vs. reviewer Glass are tight and by no means trying to rip off one another or steal each other's success - I probably have to make more of a case for myself regarding that, though - so treat us all the same and read his stuff! I'm sure it's more agreeable.

See you tomorrow, unless all of you scare me off, in which case... this was fun!