Star vs. the Forces of Evil
Harsher in Hindsight in this series.- All of the Running Gags that involve Star's fear of St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses. Initially, Star's fear was played for laughs, but in the episode where they visit, as Star puts it:
- "It's worse than my worst nightmare".
- After "Sleep Spells", Star's nervousness while talking to her parents earlier in the season and her extreme jealousy of Gustav's relationship with her adopted family seems less like normal teenager behavior and more like the product of a deep-seated neurosis caused by her overbearing mother. It gets even worse when season three reveals that Moon lost her mother when she was a teenager, and had to become a ruler at a young age. She imposes on Star because Moon didn't have Star's freedom or luxury to be reckless.
- In "Sleep Spells", cheerfully says she has mother issues and at one point painted a picture of her mother as monstrous and antagonistic snake. Then comes close to the end of the show, when Moon has done a Face–Heel Turn into become a Smug Snake Big Bad Wannabe who is responsible for the destruction of Mewni and when Star finds out, saying she has mother issues would be an understatement.
- The monsters responding to Star's hugs in "Fortune Cookies" becomes less of a one-time gag and more of an implied deprivation of affection with the revelation that monsters are the victims of a genocide, as "Mewnipendence Day" reveals, which wiped out the friendlier monsters, and that Ludo is the closest thing to a Parental Substitute due to taking them in and bullying them. It gets even more terrifying when Toffee exploits their need for affection and kindness to oust Ludo from his castle.
- Marco's Gibberish of Love around Jackie in Season 1, especially in "Interdimensional Field Trip", becomes unintentionally foreboding. He's scared of talking to her because he's afraid of saying the wrong thing. In Season 2, Tom reveals he put a curse on Marco that forces him to blurt out his insecurities every time Marco tries to ask Jackie out on a date.
- In the first half of Season 2, the Ship Tease between Star and Marco was played for laughs, complete with referencing the ship name in the third episode. Then in the Season 2 mid season finale, Star's unrequited crush on Marco comes to the surface, and she nearly ruins his date with Jackie and ironically she indirectly causes their First Kiss. Also, her obsession causes her to get distracted long enough for Ludo to grab her book of spells and Glossaryck... which is what makes Toffee's revival possible.
- This instance
of Shipping Goggles has Adam McArthur interpreting the ending of "The Banagic Incident" as Star not wanting to be Just Friends with Marco. The fact that a latter episode is named "Just Friends" would make this Hilarious in Hindsight if not for the fact that said episode ends with Star utterly heartbroken over the prospect of being Just Friends with Marco. - Ludo's Imagine Spot in "Match Maker" about getting a "big boy body" becomes very pitiable in hindsight when the season 2 finale reveals that he was the runt of his abusive family and was bullied by them because of his birth defects not allowing him to develop that "big boy body" he wanted so much.
- In "Game of Flags", when Star protests that her mother, Queen Moon, used to play Flags when she was Star's age, Moon solemnly replies "I did a lot of things you won't be doing." Fans interpreted this as Moon being a Former Teen Rebel, until in the season 3 premiere it's revealed Moon not only lost her mother and had to ascend the throne when she was Star's age, but made a deal with Queen Eclipsa in order to protect Mewni from Toffee's army of monsters, a deal that involved use of dangerous dark magic. She was far more mature than Star at that age, but in the most tragic way possible. It gets even sadder in the season 3 finale, when Star is forced to take on the role of Queen at a young age as well, when Queen Moon goes missing after she flees into the Realm of Magic.
- Star quips in "Interdimensional Field Trip" that, "I was born to lead. Literally." Season 3 shows her having a breakdown over learning that no, she was not born to lead because her ancestor was a peasant girl taken from her parents and placed on the throne.
- Miss Heinous forcibly uses the Solitary Conform-ment Chamber on herself, and looks happy once it takes away her cheek marks when reciting, "If your arms are on a table, you belong in a stable." Then she destroys St. Olga, her adoptive mother, in Season 3 upon learning that she's actually Princess Meteora, that St. Olga raised her to be an abusive clone headmistress, and she was robbed of her rightful claim to the Mewni throne.
- Rafael and Angie's Pollyanna attitude towards Star's antics in the first 2 seasons becomes this when they admit in Season 3 that they're resentful of Star for "stealing" Marco away. They were willing to handle their house being full of hair, destroyed, and haunted, but losing Marco and realizing they no longer knew him was their Rage Breaking Point. Even the nicest parents have limits where their children are involved.
- "Just Friends" ends with Star destroying a billboard with her green magic in the "Love Sentence" 's concert. It has become a bit jarring to watch after the Ariana Grande concert's terrorist attack on Manchester on May 22, 2017.
- Star in Season One assures Marco You Are Better Than You Think You Are when he develops inferiority over how she's a cool magic princess and he's just an ordinary teenager. Come Season Three, Marco gets no respect for his actual heroic deeds.
- Miss Heinous' Freak Out when her cheek-marks are revealed become this when we come to learn the full extent of how she became like that and why she would freak out when that happened.
- Rafael and Angie go Easily Forgiven toward Star for leaving them behind when they want to help her rescue Marco in "Storm the Castle," particularly because they were able to call her parents for help and Marco wasn't hurt due to Star's insensitivity. Rafael also revealed in "Hungry Larry" that he will go Let's Get Dangerous! if his family is threatened, and not to underestimate him. In Season Three, they finally admit they've hit their Rage Breaking Point and are resentful that Star "stole' Marco away, and they no longer even know him. What's more, they can't save him when his baby shower gift goes wrong.
- In Seasons 2 and 3, we learn that Ludo is a product of severe childhood abuse and bullying, who tragically became a bully himself out of a desperate need to seem tough. Knowing this adds a tinge of sadness to a lot of his scenes in Season 1, in which he originally came off as just goofy and annoying. Of particular note is the way that Ludo alienates his monster minions with his bullying, causing them to abandon him in favor of Toffee. In hindsight, they were the Family of Choice that Ludo had adopted to replace his abusive family, and in the end he drove them to kick him out of the castle, just like Ludo's parents had once driven him to kick them out.
- This is actually the final program to air on Disney Channel Asia before signing off at 1 am, October 1, 2021. The outro of this series didn't helped at all, comments of its Tempting Fate had flooded on Youtube videos of it.Star: I really think I can call this place... HOME!Disney Channel: Shut up (Shuts Down) that's what I thought- by Youtuber Mario SHI
