Half-hour season finale
Tropes
- Adults Are Useless: Double-subverted. At first it seems that Mr. and Mrs. Diaz are going to be left behind to wait and worry, but they think to call Star's parents to call upon the Mewni army. Unfortunately, they arrive after Star's destroyed the wand and Ludo's castle.
- Always Save the Girl: When forced to choose between her Earth bestie's life and giving monsters the power to destroy the universe, Star chooses her bestie when she can't free him.
- Amoral Attorney: Marco assumes that Toffee is this, based on his manner of dress.
- An Arm and a Leg: Star's initial attack utterly destroys Toffee's left arm, but it grows back once the action dies down.
- Badass in Distress: Marco for this episode. And for once, he can't get out of the situation even with his karate and Guile Hero skills.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Toffee gets what he wants: the wand is destroyed, and only reformed thanks to a heroic unicorn. We don't even know if he's dead.
- Bag of Kidnapping: Subverted; we're led to believe Ludo has kidnapped Marco and was bringing him to Buff Frog. The bag instead contains dozens of tadpoles as a means to purchase Buff Frog's friendship.
- Bait the Dog: Ludo brought Buff Frog tadpoles in hopes of bargaining with him to win back his castle, and then taunts him about how he's ditching Buff Frog in favor of teaming up with Star.
- Big "WHAT?!": Star and Marco have this reaction in unison when Toffee reveals what he really wants.
- Book Ends: The season started with Star crashing into her parents' throne room on a wild unicorn and the royals concerned about Star handling her new responsibility. This episode ends with Mrs. Diaz crashing out of the throne room on a horse, and the royals consulting Glossaryck about the wand.
- Boring Insult: Marco calls Toffee "boring". A split-second shot shows the latter is actually affected by this.
- Call-Back: Quite a number (befitting the season finale).
- Marco declines sticking his arm in a strange hole, as he quickly flashbacks to when his arm was injured previously and was the Monster Arm.
- Both Buff Frog and Ludo being kicked out of the Castle.
- The Unicorn living in the Wand.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: The Mewni Royal Army arrives right after Star destroys the wand and a unicorn has sacrificed itself to repower it.
- Cerebus Call-Back: The tiny unicorn on a treadmill previously seen "Quest Buy" returns as a ghost, apparently killed by the whispering spell, that whispers something we don't get to hear to a tearful Star. It's replaced to restore the wand by a more serious looking, Italian-speaking unicorn who speaks of the act as a Heroic Sacrifice he's been raised to anticipate since a young age.
- Chainsaw Good: The chibi monsters go after Star with a chainsaw larger than they are. Buff Frog takes it from them.
- Character Development: Star realizes that Marco, despite being adventurous like her, is still a mortal human being with his own concerns, and thus she can't risk his life recklessly and insensitively on her various escapades. She also treats Buff Frog like an equal and warns him before the castle explodes.
- Charged Attack: After two failed attempts to breach the crystal prison, Star's cheek markings, eyes, and wand crystal grow, she gathers a massive amount of magic, and hits the prison with a blast powerful enough to completely shatter it. Unfortunately, it quickly regenerates before Star can get Marco out and according to Toffee is now twice as strong.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: Star's mirror. Marco's parents use it to call her parents to order in The Cavalry.
- Chekhov's Gun: The prison that can resist Star's magic saves Marco and Star from the detonation of the destroyed wand.
- Chew-Out Fake-Out: Star waits for her mother to yell at her for the whole mess in this episode, but her mother instead gives her a hug and says though she's mad all the time, she's also relieved Star is okay.
- Color Failure: The color drains out of the wand and the wings disintegrate as Star recites the whispering spell.
- Continuity Nod:
- In the beginning of the episode, Marco looks at his arm and sees brief glimpses of the monster arm, then immediately puts his arm down.
- Marco's ringtone "Space Unicorn" by Parry Gripp is heard again.
- Marco is once more forcibly strapped to a chair while imprisoned. This time he isn't subject to Cool and Unusual Punishment, however.
- Crystal Prison: Marco is kept in a transparent cube described as crystal that is Nigh-Invulnerable, regenerative and even capable of adapting to be stronger if it's shattered.
- Disappointed in You: Toffee says this to Marco when the latter fails to get past him in a bid to escape.
- Disney Death:
- Ludo gets eaten by a giant chicken. He gets better, but not better-tempered. He's banished at the last minute.
- The wand suffers one, due to Star destroying it. Downplayed in that the wand is actually destroyed, and the new one is incomplete.
- The Dog Bites Back: Ludo's Bad Boss tendencies come to bite him back again when his Pet the Dog moment to Buff Frog is ruined when he admits to only doing it to use it as a way to get Buff Frog's help. So, when Ludo tries to partner up with Buff Frog to double-cross Star to steal her wand, the latter understandably brushes him off.
- Don't Ask, Just Run: Star tells Buff Frog this right before the destroyed wand totals Ludo's castle.
- Double Entendre: Ludo bribes Buff-Frog with some tadpoles, leading the latter to say later on:Buff-Frog: Ludo give me babies.
Star: Okay, I'm done. - Double Meaning: Glossaryck discusses the meaning of cleave as either taking things apart or bringing them together.
- Enemy Mine: Ludo attempts this with Star, but it falls apart due to his impatience and backstabbing, because he's waiting to grab the wand first chance he gets. She plays this straighter with Buff Frog, who wants to go back to the castle and give his tadpoles a home.
- Epic Fail:
- How was Star able to get into Ludo's castle? Ludo left his keys in the door.
- When Toffee lets Marco free from his chair, Marco attempts to attack him... and punches Toffee's reflection. Which was reflected by a nigh-indestructible crystal wall. Ouch.
- Forced Transformation: As part of her assault, Star turns three monster minions into chibi versions of themselves.
- Foreshadowing: Buff Frog reveals to Star that Toffee isn't like Ludo, because he knows about Star and does not like her magic. As it turns out, Toffee's goal is different from Ludo's: he wants the wand destroyed.
- Given Name Reveal: The king's first name is revealed to be River.
- Gratuitous Italian: Spoken by the unicorn that recharges Star's wand.
- Healing Factor: Toffee displays one, regrowing an entire arm Star had blasted off. What this means for his apparently permanently severed finger is currently unknown.
- Hope Spot: In the climax, Star manages to blast one of Toffee's arms off, then suddenly goes One-Winged Angel and fires a tremendous blast that shatters Marco's prison. However, they wait too long to remove Marco and the prison rebuilds itself, now twice as impervious to attack. What's more, Toffee reveals he can just re-grow his limbs, putting everyone right back where they started.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Given the ransom message, Star assumes this is the case for her wand. It turns out that Toffee wants her to destroy it, which she has no choice but to do. In a rare occurrence, Toffee does nothing to spoil this.
- Ironic Echo: Just before they enter the castle, Buff Frog says that Toffee is not like Ludo, but Star ignores him. When she gives Toffee the wand, he asks if she thinks he's like Ludo.
- I Shall Taunt You: Marco refuses to be a cooperative captive, and attempts to goad Toffee into setting him free. Toffee refuses to rise to the bait.
- It Only Works Once: Toffee says this indirectly when Star prepares another Charged Attack at Marco's newly-regenerated crystal prison, stating it to be twice as strong now.
- It's All My Fault: While the Diazes don't blame Star for Marco's kidnapping, she disagrees, and she's going to try and bring Marco back.
- Just Eat Him: When the giant chicken catches Ludo in his beak after another attempt to take the wand, Toffee invokes this trope by telling him to swallow his still-struggling ex-boss.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When Marco's prison reforms and starts to shrink, Star surrenders the wand to Toffee.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Star's plan is to rush in to assault the court room to Buff Frog's chagrin.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: For kidnapping Marco, Star is much more aggressive and serious in her rescue of him. She quickly and efficiently takes out all the monsters in the room. When she can't break Marco's cage with normal strength spells she keeps the guards at bay with a force field to charge up probably the strongest blast she's ever made that makes her facial markings and eyes glow.
- Literal Metaphor: Ludo says he knows his castle like the back of his hand. That's because he has a giant mole there that really does resemble it.
- Little "No": Star simply says "no" to the aggressing monsters and stops them with a force field as she focuses a Charged Attack to break Marco's prison.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Star has no idea who Toffee is or why Ludo got ousted from his castle.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: Since as of this episode we have no clue just how far Toffee's plans go, the end result of his actions here. He gets Star to destroy her wand...and when the dust settles, another tiny unicorn re-powers it. On the other hand, the wand is no longer complete and Toffee is last seen grinning before his apparent demise, suggesting he is fine with how things ended up and was planning for this exact result.
- Mood Whiplash:
- After Marco somberly hugs Star to console her after the loss of her wand, a tiny Italian-speaking unicorn arrives on the scene, gives a dramatic monologue about sacrifice and destiny, and then re-powers the destroyed wand in the span of minutes.
- King and Queen Butterfly have a serious talk with Glossaryk about the state of Star's wand... while the latter is clad in only a towel, and briefly takes it off at one point (thankfully, the audience only sees him from the waist up).
- Never Found the Body: Any of the monsters. Most importantly, we only see Toffee's suit remaining.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If not for Star accidentally bumping into Marco after freeing him, the prison wouldn't have regenerated before he could get out.
- No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Toffee offers the imprisoned Marco a sandwich and tells him he should eat it. Marco refuses, given he and Star had a fight over sandwiches.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Toffee proves himself to be one in comparison to Ludo. His plan is simply kidnapping Star's best friend and threatening to kill him if she doesn't do what he wants.
- Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: Somehow the monsters got the jump on Marco, who has beaten them effortlessly before. We will never know how Toffee did it.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In one of the few moments we've seen her cry, Star sheds a few tears after the unicorn's ghost whispers in her ear.
- Parting-Words Regret: Star and Marco have an argument shortly before he gets kidnapped. In fact, when Star goes to apologize, she finds Marco missing.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: When Glossaryck discards his towel as a demonstration of the word "cleaved", River urges him to put it back on while Moon covers her eyes.
- Police Are Useless: First thing they do when they find out Marco is kidnapped is call in the police. The officer doesn't believe Star's explanation and presumes she's talking about stage magic, talking down to her like she's a child. The only help he really offers is bloodhounds past a certain point of time. Thankfully, they had another alternative, the Mewni Royal Guards.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: A unicorn in this case, though he gives himself willingly to recharge Star's wand.
- Psychotic Smirk: While revealing that he wants Star to destroy the wand, Toffee gives a nightmarish smirk. Worse, he instantly goes back to his bored monotone afterwards, showing that he's been holding back his sadism the entire time.
- Put on a Bus: This is the fate of both main villains, but the other monsters may not be so lucky.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Toffee gets his desire to destroy the wand fulfilled, but it self-destructs and takes him and his allies with it. Subverted, however, since his surprise at the wand starting to short-circuit quickly turns to glee, and we see him grinning evilly right before it explodes, implying that this was All According to Plan.
- Redemption Earns Life: Because Buff Frog helped Star rescue Marco, she warns him to run before the castle explodes. He gets out in time with his babies.
- Reforged Blade: Downplayed; the wand isn't broken for long, as a unicorn arrives shortly after to become the new power source. The wand is revived with a slightly more elegant appearance including gold highlights, but half the Star emblem missing.
- Rule of Three: Star's first two attacks fail to break Marco's prison. The third shatters it.
- Sadistic Choice: Star has to give up her wand to save Marco's life. Marco tries to encourage her not to do it, but she decides to when her Enemy Mine with Ludo fails.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: The Whispering spell is the first spell taught to all who receive the wand, to be used to destroy it. It creates a massive explosion that makes a crater of Ludo's castle, seemingly destroying all the monsters, Toffee included.
- Sequel Escalation: Implied by the Italian unicorn, who notes that by powering the wand, he would be fulfilling a responsibility "greater than this dimension".
- Sequel Hook: Star gains a new wand, but half the star is missing, the other half is still in the monster realm. Although Toffee appears to be gone, his last smile indicates he wanted this to happen. Considering that he could regrow limbs, there's a good chance he could pull himself back together to return.
- Shout-Out:
- Star reaching for the sandwich while tangled in vines is akin to Elsa reaching for the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
- It also resembles the "Arborean Test of Manhood" scene
from Flash Gordon. - While doing so she also says, "Haaaaaam!"
- It also resembles the "Arborean Test of Manhood" scene
- When Star calls Marco's cell phone and hears his ringtone, she remarks "The call is coming from inside the house!"
- Toffee using holograms to trick Marco is a direct lift from Loki's strategies.
- Star reaching for the sandwich while tangled in vines is akin to Elsa reaching for the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
- Skewed Priorities: Marco is furious that he and Star risked their lives to steal a sandwich from a monster.
- Slasher Smile: Toffee briefly flashes one after his Wham Line.Surprise~!
- Something We Forgot: Half of the Star from Star's wand is still among the rubble in the monster realm.
- Stealth Pun: The unicorn that speaks Italian is male. It's an Italian stallion.
- Storming the Castle: It's in the title. A bit unnecessary in this case, as Star was invited and the keys are in the door.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Both Star and Toffee want Marco to have a magical sandwich, at different points in the plot. Marco lampshades it angrily after tossing the second one away.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Marco feels empathy for a monster that nearly breaks his hand on Marco's prison, the way Marco did earlier.
- Talk to the Fist: Star doesn't even bother hearing Toffee out at first, immediately blowing his arm off and getting to work on freeing Marco. It's only after the prison regenerates from her strongest attack that she stops to listen.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Marco refuses to eat what Toffee offers him—a sandwich—because he just had a fight with Star about risking their lives for a sandwich. Probably a wise idea since it might have been drugged.
- Tranquil Fury: After two attacks fail to break Marco's prison, Star calmly freezes the monsters trying to attack her and hits it with a Charged Attack that even Toffee is surprised by.
- Trash the Set: Ludo's castle gets completely eradicated as a result from the impact of the wand.
- Unexpectedly Dark Episode: Cerebus Syndrome comes back and hits the show in full force, marking a major turning point for the characters and the story going forward.
- The Unreveal: The words to the Whispering Spell itself; when Star is reciting it, it just comes off as whispering unintelligible gibberish. It isn't until the Grand Finale where we will finally hear its words audibly.
- Villainous Valor: Toffee actually keeps his word after Star destroys the wand, opening the door to Marco's prison and not killing him. Star joins Marco in the prison and closes it again in order to be safe from the coming explosion, and Toffee seems to have counted on her doing this as well.
- Wham Episode: Star sacrifices her wand to save Marco's life, Ludo's castle is destroyed (and Toffee and his minions seemingly destroyed with it), Toffee has set a much larger plan in motion thanks to what happened here, Ludo himself is banished to another dimension, and Star's wand is reformed, but a piece is missing, and we're left waiting for the next season to see what happens to it.
- Wham Line:Toffee: I don't want your wand. Destroy it.
- Wham Shot: The second half of the wand's star lying on the ground somewhere, only now the shard has turned green.
- What the Hell, Hero?: At the beginning of the episode, Marco criticizes Star for recklessly risking their lives over a sandwich. Initially, Star brushes this off, but realizes she was wrong soon after.
- The Worf Barrage:
- Virtually nothing can damage Marco's crystal prison. Punches by Marco and a muscly monster only hurt their hands, and Star's magic blasts have no effect. She finally manages to penetrate it with an apparent Super Mode... but then it repairs itself to twice its prior strength.
- Toffee has his arm blasted off by a shot from Star's wand, but regenerates it in a few seconds.
- Wrecked Weapon: Downplayed; After its destruction and restoration the wand is missing half of its star emblem along with a redesign and it's described as being "cleaved".
