When Tom blames Marco and Star's lingering feeling for each other on Blood Moon Ball linking their souls together, they set out to break the curse.
Tropes:
- Allegorical Character: The blood moon itself appears to be a representative of the shipping fandom in the show. Both Star and Marco are individual characters with their own thoughts and feelings but an external force makes them feel something for each other and it's something they aren't comfortable with or happy to have. They want to be in control of their lives but a third party is forcing them to present themselves as something they don't identify with. Star and Marco try to meet halfway by saying that their relationship can develop naturally and on its own when it's not forced by an external narrative.
- Ambiguous Situation: Despite Tom's assumptions, there's no way of knowing how much of Star and Marco's attraction to each other was caused by the Blood Moon's power and how much could have been the natural result, especially if the former indirectly influenced the latter. Since Marco and Star have their memory of the moment they gained feelings for each other erased, they won't know either.
- Blessed with Suck: Marco and Star were under a curse that made them develop feelings for each other, which seems like a good thing on the surface, but they immediately realize they don't have a choice in whom they feel attracted to, and it's only made their lives more miserable than better.
- Call-Back: Janna's hypnotism skills return after "Deep Dive". Once again, she triggers Marco to fall asleep when she says "Chicken butt"; this time, he sees it coming, but too late.
- Curse: Tom admits the Blood Moon is actually a curse that links two people's souls together, making them irresistible to each other.
- Curse Escape Clause: Lunar curses can be broken by just doing them again in the same formation. Unfortunately, the Blood Moon won't come again for another 665 years, so they look for another option.
- Cutting Off the Branches: A non-videogame example. When Star and Marco dance together in the memory, Tom doesn't interrupt it. Leading to some questions about breaking the curse and how involved the moon was in Star and Marco's relationship.
- Date Rape: Tom's use of the Blood Moon Curse is treated as a date rape drug since he wanted to use the curse to bind his and Star's souls together so he'd be irresistible to her.
- Extra-Long Episode: Half-hour long, twice the length of a usual episode.
- Finish Dialogue in Unison: Star and Marco do this when describing how the cereal pieces are lonely without company. It starts to freak Marco out.
- Foreshadowing: If you pay close attention when the scene cut to Relicor's study room, you can quickly see a painting of him with a woman (presumably his wife) with clawmarks making her face impossible to identify. This is a hint to the later reveal that Relicor used the Severing Stone to sever his relationship with his wife.
- Genre Savvy: Marco intuits that the guy in the tower that materialized in front of the bridge to the Severing Stone is a bridge troll who is going to make them do a challenge so they can cross, making a long-winded speech about the exact way the situation is going to occur and suggesting they just skip to the end by having him and Star do the task. Subverted when the troll's supervisor comes and reveals that the intended trial was meant to be a battle to the death, which the group ends up not having to undergo either thanks to the supervisor being too annoyed at his employee to care anymore.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: A side-effect of the Severing Stone is that it irrevocably destroys the associated memory of whatever it is severing. This being the dance at the Blood Moon Ball in the case of Star and Marco.
- Midnight Snack: The episode begins with Star and Marco eating Captain Blanche's Sugar Seeds at the stroke of midnight. This is so the midnight chime covers the sound of them actually making the bowls, since they don't want to wake up Meteora. Said midnight snack is what starts the plot.
- Noodle Incident: Janna apparently hypnotized Marco into hating nachos. Whether this is related to the "chicken butt" Trigger Phrase is unknown.
- Oh, Crap!: After observing Star and Marco's behaviors with them speaking in unison and Marco's saying he likes every single thing about Star in the most anguishing way possible, Tom is very alarmed, knowing that Marco's feelings are definitely not voluntary because it's a result of the Blood Moon Curse.
- Our Souls Are Different: Janna uses the Severing Stone to cut her soul in half. Despite Janna thinking this makes her some kind of demon, it doesn't seem to make any difference (since both halves of her souls are still in the same body).
- Pass the Popcorn: Janna takes a seat with a bucket of popcorn as Marco is about to tell Star about his feelings for her, in front of Tom.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": When Janna tells Marco she can hypnotize him into not having feelings for Star, he realizes that she's about to say "chicken butt" to make him fall asleep again. He utters one of these, but it's too late.
- Rope Bridge: The gang has to cross one to get to the Severing Stone. Janna pretends to almost fall off for laughs.
- Screw Destiny: Star and Marco make it clear that whoever they love and want to be with, it will be on their own terms.
- Semantic Superpower: The Severing Stone can "sever" anything, including objects, emotional ties, and magical enchantments.
- Sequel Episode: Tom finally admits the events of "Blood Moon Ball" were a plot to link his soul to Star's, which instead bound together Marco and hers. Star and Marco obviously don't like the idea that their relationship is being affected by magic, and try to break it.
- Strangled by the Red String: In-Universe. Star and Marco are horrified when Tom reveals the true nature of the Blood Moon. Both of them agree to go the severing stone in order to undo the curse.
- There Are No Coincidences: With regards to Marco's feelings and his belief that they are out of place, Tom attributes this to the Blood Moon Curse.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Relicor's elevator ride to the deepest part of the Underworld is rather lengthy and awkward.Star & Marco: TOM!
Tom: What did I do?
Marco: You're an elevator whistler! - Understatement: Whatever Tom wanted to do to Star during the Blood Moon Ball, he tells her he was an idiot back then. "Idiot" doesn't exactly cover it.
- You Didn't Ask: When Star questions why Tom never bothered to tell anyone about the nature of the Blood Moon, he awkwardly replies that he assumed everyone knew already, since it was explained, in detail, just moments before Star and Marco danced. Star admits to being distracted at the time.
