Janna and Star are going through Marco's wallet when they find a nearly-expired magic gift card for Quest Buy. Star drags Marco out to go on a quick shopping trip to use the card, though they find out that 1.) Marco has to truly want whatever he's buying with the card (because magic) and 2.) if the card expires without being used it will kill them. The race is on to find something for Marco before the card expires at midnight.
Meanwhile, Miss Heinous hires a hitman named Rasticore to go after Star and Marco.
Tropes:
- Aesop Amnesia: Played with at first it appears that Star once again takes Marco's wishes and life for granted, which she forgot from "Storm the Castle" (where Marco nearly died due to her recklessness) though this time its more due to negligence on reading fine print on the contract. Given that Star gave the card to Marco 6 months ago, it's even possible that the card was gifted before she learned her lesson.
- Anticlimax: Rasticore finally tracks down Star and Marco... and is promptly disintegrated by the killer gift card.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Rasticore's Dimensional Chainsaw looks cool but is rather difficult to start and the dimensional tears it creates aren't always properly made wide enough for him to pass through. Compared to the more mundane looking Dimensional Scissors everybody else regularly uses which can cleanly open up tears with complete ease, the chainsaw is rather impractical.
- Call-Back:
- Miss Heinous wants revenge on Marco and Star for throwing her school into rebellion, and sends an assassin after them.
- Marco mentions that he doesn't have good memories of Quest Buy because they nearly died there. In this episode, he nearly dies again at the store.
- Casting Gag: The gift card is voiced by Susan Bennett, the voice of popular iOS app Siri.
- Chainsaw Good: Rasticore apparently travels through dimensions with a chainsaw that doubles as his weapon.
- Comedic Sociopathy:
- The Quest Buy employees remain indifferent to Marco needing to buy an object before his life expires along with the card.
- Star and Janna have fun raiding Marco's wallet and invading his privacy. Also, Janna apparently has access to all of Marco's sensitive information, including his Social Security number and thumbprint.
- The Comically Serious: Rasticore, an intimidating lizard-man mercenary… who constantly struggles with his Dimensional Chainsaw, has an awkward conversation with Janna at one point, and is anticlimactically killed before he can even fight Star and Marco.
- Continuity Nod: Miss Heinous and Rasticore refer to Marco as "Princess Marco".
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- Miss Heinous and her crony are hiding out in "Better Than Nothing Apartments".
- Janna's list of Marco's sensitive information appears in a brief shot, and the first half of one of his passwords is apparently a Visual Pun on the second half.
- The shelf of spare products that Marco's purchased wallet comes from is labeled "Defects". No wonder Janna had no problem opening it.
- Gone Horribly Right: Star got the gift card because she genuinely wanted Marco to have the perfect gift and didn't know that it would kill the recipient and purchaser if not used before it expires.
- Inventional Wisdom: A gift card that vaporizes you if you don't use it before it expires and it won't let you use it unless you try to use it on something you absolutely want is the kind of thing you would give to your worst enemy as a trap. But no, Star gave it Marco as a token of her friendship, which was its intended purpose.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: "Princesses, my name is Rasticore Chaosus Disastervayne. Miss Heinous sent me. Prepare to d—" [gets vaporized by gift card]
- Knight of Cerebus: Rasticore and the gift card make quite a pair. Downplayed in that most of Rasticore's scenes use him as The Comically Serious guy to bounce jokes off of, while the premise of the gift card's character is inherently ridiculous and a set up for the Quest Buy staff's Comedic Sociopathy, even if the gift card itself is pretty terrifying.
- Loophole Abuse: Defied. Since Marco needs to get something he truly desires, he tells the sloths that Star's friendship is that thing. They explain he actually has to buy something from the store.
- Motive Decay: Now that she no longer has a school to run, Miss Heinous wants to kill Marco and Star for revenge on what they did to St. Olga's.
- Never Say "Die": Zig-Zagged throughout the episode.
- Marco and Star will "expire" when the gift card does, but Marco's reaction to the fine print of the contract makes it clear in no uncertain terms what that means.Marco: Wha-ha-ha-hat? Like, we die!?
Quest Buy Sloth: Geesh, everyone's gotta die sometime. This just guarantees that you'll die sooner. It's all here in the contract your friend signed. - When instructing Rasticore to kill Star and capture Marco, her specific phrasing includes, “destroy the blonde one,” rather than kill the blonde one.
- Marco explicitly mentions that almost getting killed the first time they went to Quest Buy is the reason he doesn't want to shop there again.
- Rasticore is just about to finish saying, “Prepare to Die!” before he gets Killed Mid-Sentence by the gift card.
- Marco and Star will "expire" when the gift card does, but Marco's reaction to the fine print of the contract makes it clear in no uncertain terms what that means.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Zig-Zagged. Star nearly gets Marco killed because she gave him a gift card that would literally redeem what he wants. On the other hand, the gift card saves from from Miss Heinous's assassin that would have killed her and Marco.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The rebellion that "Princess Marco" started has ousted Miss Heinous and her butler from St. Olga's Reform School.
- Overly Long Gag: The first time Rasticore is seen trying to start up his chainsaw.
- Prepare to Die: What Rasticore is about to say before the gift card annihilates him.
- Read the Fine Print: Star did not do this before signing her name to the deadly gift card she gave Marco.
- Riches to Rags: After being run out of her own school, Miss Heinous is stuck living with her butler in a crumbling apartment complex.
- Running Gag:
- Star giving Marco Puppy-Dog Eyes.
- Rasticore having trouble starting up his chainsaw.
- Shout-Out: One of the things Star tries to convince Marco to buy is a sweatshirt with what appears to be a three-eyed version of Grumpy Cat.
- Skewed Priorities: Miss Heinous gives her butler the last of their money to get hair dye rather than food.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Played with but ultimately defied. Marco tries to buy a random item to exchange later, but the gift card forbids him. He has to purchase an item that he badly wants.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Janna is unfazed when Rasticore — a lizard man with a chainsaw — comes through a portal into the Diaz household and mentions that he's hunting down her friends.
- Visual Pun: If you look closely at Janna's list of Marco's sensitive information, one of his passwords for something is apparently "o={==>swørd", with the symbols at the start resembling a sword.
- We All Die Someday:Quest Buy Sloth: Geesh, everyone's gotta die sometime. This just guarantees that you'll die sooner.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Marco's reaction to learning that Janna can still break into his new wallet is an exasperated "Get out of town!!!" He repeats it even louder and breaks falsetto when she reveals that she keeps a list of all of his sensitive information, including his thumbprint.
