http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarVsTheForcesOfEvilS2E27BonBonTheBirthdayClown
Star has second thoughts about attending a dead clown’s séance when Jackie asks Marco to go to the school dance.
Tropes
- All Women Are Lustful: When Marco is getting ready to go out with Jackie, he spills cologne on his backside after tripping over Janna, who was raiding the bathroom with Star for supplies for the séance. Janna promptly slaps his butt and quips "Nothin' wrong with that!" She later tells Jackie to smell Marco's butt.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Marco had a dream in which he showed up to the dance alone and everyone laughed and threw tomatoes. Then his teeth fell out. Then his crush Jackie showed up and said he "looked pasty".
- The Bad Guy Wins: Ludo steals Glossaryck and the spellbook. The episode ends with Glossaryck greeting his new master.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Jackie remarks that she shouldn't have asked Marco to the dance... while Marco assumes the worst at first, it turns out she meant that she and Marco should ditch the dance and go have fun on their own.
- Bathos: While Bon Bon's lying in his body cast after the explosion, the cast covers and emphasizes his silly costume. When he finally passes, his head falls over and squeaks his horn.
- Bilingual Bonus: While Marco is getting ready for his date, he puts on a cologne called "Aroma del Hombre" (Spanish for "Scent of the Man").
- Black Comedy: Bon Bon's horribly abrupt fatality at the beginning of the episode. The drama of the actual death event is played fairly straight.
- Blatant Lies: Star telling Glossaryck that she won't use the spying spell to spy on others. Glossaryck doesn't seem fooled, but is too sleepy to really make any resistance beyond warning her that it's a bad idea.
- Break the Cutie: Poor Star is a mess at the end of the episode, having lost the magic manual and Glossaryck to the clutches of Ludo, and still overcome with heartbroken feelings of jealousy over Jackie going out with Marco.
- Chain of People: Marco takes Star's hand to stop her from falling into the portal. Then Jackie takes Marco's hand to reinforce him, with Janna holding her other hand.
- Chekhov's Gun: The trick candles. Star uses them to freak Ludo out before he can blast her into the black hole.
- Color-Coded Emotions: Star's magic turns green at the sight of Marco and Jackie together when she was using the all-seeing eye, and the magic caused them to crash while they were on Jackie's skateboard. When she was fighting Ludo, her spell becomes green and uncontrollable after seeing Jackie with Marco.
- Comedic Spanking: Janna spanks Marco's ass while he's wearing nothing but towels after he trips on her and spills cologne on his butt. Then she comments on how nice it smells.
- Continuity Cavalcade: This episode is loaded with references to previous episodes.
- Marco repeats the "You look amazing" line to Jackie that he said to Star in "Blood Moon Ball". Furthermore, Marco briefly sees the Blood Moon after his kiss with Jackie, which makes him realize Star is in trouble.
- Jackie's line "Don't you trust me?" just before she and Marco ride together in a similar context to when Marco asked Star the exact same question in "Star on Wheels".
- Similar to how Star was waiting for Oskar's call in "Cheer Up, Star", Star tried to call Marco 57 times before giving up.
- Jackie recounts a lot of Marco's embarrassing moments, like accidentally breaking her skateboard, "that weird box thing we got trapped in at Star's sleepover", "sending me anonymous messages with cats", and "the little neck guy that came out of your neck".
- Star uses a number of spells from previous episodes while fighting Ludo, such as the Rainbow Fist Punch from "By the Book", the Syrup Tsunami Shockwave from "Cheer Up, Star" and the Mystic Room Suck Transform from "Star Comes to Earth".
- When Star is flipping through the manual to find the spying spell, Glossaryck is napping on top of the page about what to do when time is frozen, from "Freeze Day". Said spying spell is one of the dark magic spells detailed in Queen Eclipsa's forbidden chapter, which was locked until "Page Turner".
- The way Ludo says, "Surprise!" when he springs his trap is reminiscent of how Toffee said the same thing in "Storm the Castle".
- While preparing for his date with Jackie, Marco wears the same towels he wore in "My New Wand!" He also listens to his Dia de los Muertos mix tape from "Blood Moon Ball".
- Ludo says "I'm not a milady" to Glossaryck in the final scene, just as Marco did when he first met Glossaryck in "Mewberty".
- Deceptively Silly Title: The episode is called "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown", but little do the fans know that this is a plot-heavy episode instead of a fun, light-hearted episode.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Jackie refers to the Naysaya as "the little neck guy that came out of [Marco's] neck."
- Dirty Coward: When Ludo is on the verge of pulling into Star's vortex, he starts begging for her to spare him, even saying he'd spare her. When Star is being pulled in, he wastes no time taunting her.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Becky slaps Zeke for putting on a slightly crooked corsage, calling him a disappointment.
- Distant Prologue: The episode opens in Echo Creek a hundred years prior to the events, which shows Bon Bon's death. Then the scene cuts a hundred years later to the present day.
- Downer Ending: The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Star distraught over losing Glossaryck and the spellbook to Ludo (and ashamed of the trouble her growing jealousy over Marco and Jackie caused), and Glossaryck meeting the new possessor of the book.
- Emotional Powers: The spells cast by Ludo and Star are powered by the current emotion of the caster. While Ludo was running on The Power of Hate, Star's magic was pink when she was fighting Ludo, suggesting that it was powered by her love of fighting, but the magic became green after she became envious when she saw Jackie with Marco.
- Empathic Weapon: As seen in "Wand to Wand" Star's wand seems heavily influenced by her emotions. Prominently displayed as the Black Hole spell she cast went awry after seeing Jackie and Marco together.
- Expressive Shirt: When Star cries her tear tracks cut right through her heart-shaped markings.
- Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: Jackie has not one but two helmets with her skateboard in the Hammerspace under her gown.
- First Kiss: Marco gets his first kiss with Jackie.
- Foreshadowing:
- Marco's remark about "rats in the vents", considering the sanitation requirements of most schools, should have tipped keen viewers off that trouble was afoot. Ludo's rat minions can also be seen a few times during the episode. Also, Glossaryck mentions a spell about a rat.
- "Spying leads to crying..."
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Several pages in Star's spellbook can been seen as she flips through.
"What to do: if you DELETE gravity. Do NOT attempt to just bring gravity back. 1) Freeze time. 2) Bring gravity back and turn back time. 3) Then unfreeze time."
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: A less selfish situation than usual. Marco tries to get Star's spellbook back from Ludo as he's escaping, but Ludo points out that Star is about to get sucked into a portal. He chooses to rescue Star.
- Funny Background Event: When Star and Janna arrive at the graveyard and talk about Marco, the headstones in the background say "RiR" and "PiP" instead of "RiP".
- Green-Eyed Monster: Star is envious of Marco and Jackie's date; while she is with Janna, all she can think about is Marco, calling him over 50 times in a row. She even uses her magic to spy on them, inadvertently causing them to crash on Jackie's skateboard when she gets jealous and subconsciously locks up one of the wheels.
- Hammerspace: Jackie just happens to keep her skateboard and two helmets under the skirt of her prom dress; lampshaded by Marco.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: Marco's look for the school dance. Both Star and Jackie are stunned.
- High-School Dance: The dance itself was terrible, so Jackie just decides to ask Marco out on a proper date.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- Ironic Episode Title: Very much so. A silly, cheerful-sounding title for a heavy, serious episode.
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: When Jackie rushes over to help Janna and they start fighting the rats together, Jackie still wearing her date dress.
- Monster Clown: Ludo surprises Star and Janna by disguising himself as Bon Bon the clown. Sure, it was just Ludo, but he was pretty scary. The real Bon Bon subverts this, remaining a Non-Ironic Clown even as a ghost.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Immediately after Star accidentally jams a wheel on Jackie's skateboard, causing Marco and Jackie to fall over, she dismisses the All-Seeing Eye and takes off running, ashamed that she did it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Star's jealousy causes her wand to malfunction at the worst possible time, forcing Marco to abandon his efforts to retrieve the magic manual from Ludo and go rescue Star.
- Related to this, the Blood Moon's appearance seemed to be warning Marco that Star is in trouble, but if it had never appeared, Marco would have never gone to the cemetery and Star would probably have defeated Ludo.
- On a more minor note, Star's jealousy at seeing Marco and Jackie riding a skateboard together is what causes them to crash... and that crash is what leads to their first kiss.
- Non-Ironic Clown: Bon Bon, the cheerful and friendly entertainer, and he remains so when he (briefly) returns as a ghost.
- Population: X, and Counting: During the flashback, the mayor forlornly adjusts Echo Creek's population sign from 15 to 14 after Bon Bon's death.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Marco figures out Star is in trouble because he has 57 missed calls from her. She actually called him before she was in trouble.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: After Star and Janna spend the entire story in the graveyard waiting for Bon Bon to return, Star accidentally sucks his ghost into a black hole while fighting Ludo.
- Ship Tease:
- The poster for the episode depicts Star sadly looking at a dancing Marco and Jackie.
- Jackie is the one who asked Marco to the dance with her, and the two not only have a great time, they even end up kissing. On the flip side, before Marco agreed to go to the dance with Jackie, he and Star were planning on going together, and Star seems to be growing more aware of her crush on Marco. And Marco's kiss with Jackie is interrupted after he sees the Blood Moon (which apparently was visible only to him) and realizes Star's in danger.
- Also, after Star has lost both her spellbook and Glossaryck to Ludo, she breaks down crying and Marco comforts her with a hug and promises that they'll get them back.
- Janna slapping Marco on the butt when he's in the bathroom wearing only towels, followed by her telling him that the cologne that fell on his butt smells good.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: A literal example when Bon Bon's ghost is sucked into a black hole while Star fights Ludo.
- Socially Awkward Hero: Marco is incredibly awkward on his date with Jackie, even writing a note on his hands with tips on how to talk to her. And is so intent on saying the right things that he skips right on to the next question instead of giving Jackie time to answer the previous one. Jackie catches on, and tries to get Marco to relax and lighten up.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- Janna and Jackie get involved in the fight and even helped save Star and Marco from being consumed by a black hole.
- Ludo of all people. Though he would have lost if Star hadn't lost control, his hate-fueled magic allowed him to hold his own against Star for the very first time.
- Unexpectedly Dark Episode: When you read the title "Bon-Bon The Birthday Clown", the places this episode actually goes to are probably not what you expect to see.
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: Up until this episode, Star had made it a project of hers to help Marco hook up with Jackie. But when she sees them together at last, she starts feeling jealous of Jackie.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Bon Bon's ghost shows up for a few seconds before getting sucked into the uncontrolled vortex Star opened.
- Wham Episode: Boy, howdy. Ludo now has the spell book and Glossaryck, Marco and Jackie go out and share a First Kiss, and Star's relationship with Marco and Jackie may be secretly tainted by her jealousy.
- Wham Line: The last few minutes of the episode.
Star: *cries* I've lost Glossaryck.
Marco: W-we'll.. We'll get him back, too. I promise. *Star continues to cry*
(Cut to Ludo's lair.)
Glossaryck: *somberly* ... At your service, m'lady.
Ludo: I'm not... *grins* a m'lady.
- Wham Shot: Bon Bon looms up from behind the tombstone... but it's actually Ludo, come for Star's spellbook!
- What the Hell, Hero?: Star asks Janna and Glossaryck about Marco's decision to go to the dance with Jackie instead of her, but Janna points out that it was Star's decision to not go to the dance because she wanted to see Bon Bon.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Implied; while kissing Jackie, Marco sees the Blood Moon for a brief moment and goes into shock. He goes to check his phone, and realizes Star's in danger.
