Star must restore Echo Creek High’s spirit after destroying the statue of Otis the Possum.
Tropes:
- Blatant Lies: Prinicpal Skeeves claims "the winters are harsh around here", while Star glances at the palm trees outside.
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with Star and Janna picking up litter.
- The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Mr. Candle is unable to help anyone with their grief over Otis because he's just as upset about it as they are. Of course, he's not even from Earth and hasn't been around long enough to emotionally grasp the value of Otis, so he claims he has "contact grief" before storming off.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The story of Echo Creek's foundation is suspiciously similar to that of the story of Mewnipendence Day (Settlers/Mewmans drive out the possums/monsters and steal their land). Though they differ on the account that the possums were never depicted as evil and the war was just a land dispute, plus the settlers actually showed the possums a decent amount of respect after it was all over.
- Got Me Doing It: At the end of the episode, Star starts imitating Marco's "history documentary narrator" voice.
- Hope Spot: After putting Otis in the dumpster, Star points out that it's still intact, but before she can move it out, the statue starts falling apart.
- Info Dump: Marco provides some exposition on the founding of Echo Creek, and why Otis the Possum means so much to the school.
- The Ken Burns Effect: Spoofed with Marco's retelling of the story of Echo Creek. In particular, there's a shot of a letter from one of the settlers about how much he hates possums.
- Lampshade Hanging: Star points out that she hasn't talked to Alfonzo and Ferguson in a while and they've pretty much been demoted to background characters.
- Only Sane Man: Marco is the only one not reverent over Otis or heartbroken over his destruction. In fact, he's avoiding everyone else because of this behavior.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Janna is surprised to see Star volunteered to clean up the school, because she's still shook up about Glossaryck's abduction.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Star praises Starfan13 by calling her "the second-best me there is".
- Replacement Scrappy: In-Universe, Star magically creates a brand new Otis statue, but everyone hates it because it's not weathered, scratched up, and covered in gum. It also doesn't have a "kissing hole" at its backside.
- Rousing Speech: Star gives a particularly silly one about how everyone at Echo Creek Academy is "better than a possum".
- Serious Business: The school literally spirals into chaos and despair because of the destruction of Otis.
- Shout-Out: Marco's story about the founding of Echo Creek is a parody of the documentary style of Ken Burns.
- Spoof Aesop: Don't let your past be the only thing that defines you... because you're better than a possum.
- Stuffed into a Locker: Marco turns out to have stuffed himself into a locker to get away from everyone else freaking out about the destruction of Otis. He comes out to give Star an Info Dump on Otis's importance, and once she's gone he puts himself right back in it.
- Tempting Fate: The statue starts falling apart the second Star says that it's still in one piece.
