Recap / Star vs. the Forces of Evil S2 E39 "Just Friends"

Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

It was no secret
The way that we feel
A love that's so pure
A love that's so real

You showed me your world
And it felt like a sign
But you acted too slow
And you ran out of ti-i-ime

When Star invites Jackie to a Love Sentence concert with her and Marco, she tries to make sure Jackie doesn’t feel like a third wheel.

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Tropes:

• Alone Among the Couples: Star suddenly ends up in this situation when numerous couples in the audience start kissing during "Just Friends", including Marco and Jackie.
• Anti-Love Song: "Just Friends". "Too Little, Too Late" also makes a return.
• Blatant Lies: Star's response to why she moved to the front of the audience—to feel the band members' sweat spray on her face. Marco isn't convinced, but she talks him into spending time with Jackie instead of worrying about her.
• Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with Star and Marco singing "Just Friends" by Love Sentence.
• Butt-Monkey: Marco, as usual, during the first half of the episode. His T-shirt is several sizes too small, and while skateboarding to the concert, he trips over and injures a family of ducks.
• Comically Missing the Point: Star chooses to ride the skateboard Jackie made by summoning Cloudie and using the skateboard as a seat.
• Concert Episode: The episode is about the three making their way to see a concert for Marco and Star's favorite band, Love Sentence.
• Concert Kiss: A number of these are shown at the Love Sentence concert, including Jackie and Marco.
• Continuity Nod: When Star and Jackie take the ducks to the river bed, Star mentions the events of "Star vs. Echo Creek".
• Dark Reprise: Both the titular "Just Friends" and "Too Little, Too Late" when performed by Love Sentence themselves, given the more bittersweet events occurring while they're being played.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: If you look closely during the scene showing couples kissing, you'll see a few same-sex couples. ^explanation  Disney is or was a bit cautious about displaying gay relationships on their shows (even Gravity Falls, often joked to have broken the Disney censors for how much it was able to slip under the radar and which had a fairly obvious gay couple among the supporting cast, was never allowed to show an actual same-sex kiss) on account of some foreign markets having laws prohibiting the display of same-sex romance, so this seems to demonstrate their attitude is changing.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Star's jealousy over Marco and Jackie's relationship is growing, and at the end of the episode she destroys a billboard with her green magic.
• Innocently Insensitive: The only moment when Star briefly drops her Stepford Smiler act (and even then, Marco doesn't notice) is when he hugs her and calls her "the best friend a guy could have!"
• Irony: Star tries not to make Jackie feel like a third wheel, but Marco is the one who starts feeling left out, and at the concert Star feels like the odd one out when all the couples start kissing. Jackie is basically the only one who doesn't end up feeling like a third wheel at any point.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Deconstructed. Star is trying to invoke this by being a Shipper on Deck but leaves herself no outlet to deal with her own feelings and is just stuffing them down, which results in her actions under Wham Shot and Stepford Smiler below.
• Just Friends: Take a wild guess.
• Misaimed Fandom: In-universe; the song "Just Friends" is apparently very popular with couples even though it's about a romance that never gets off the ground and winds up remaining a friendship, though it could be interpreted as a cautionary tale.
• Noodle Incident: While Star's mention of having lived in the creek are a Continuity Nod to "Star vs. Echo Creek", Jackie's mention of having also lived in the creek at some point is never explained or elaborated on.
• Offhand Backhand: The final shot of the episode has Star use a green magic blast to blow up a billboard behind her without even bothering to look.
• Revealing Hug: Marco hugs Star when she tells him to be with Jackie, calling her his best friend, which keeps him from seeing how that upsets her.
• Running Gag: The vet's bill comes to $650.
• Stepford Smiler: Star during the closing moments of the episode, walks away from the concert with a big smile on her face… and then blows up a billboard without changing her expression in the slightest.
• Third Wheel: Played with. Star is worried about Jackie feeling like a third wheel since Marco and Star are close friends, so she invites Jackie to the Love Sentence concert with them. The girls hit it off so well while Marco repeatedly embarrasses himself, causing Marco to feel like the third wheel. Eventually Marco and Jackie kiss at the concert, and Star ends the episode as the third wheel herself when she realizes she's seemingly the only person in the entire arena who's not part of a couple.
• Wham Shot: A minor one, in the ending Star destroys a billboard with explosive green magic, without batting an eye. Star seems to be getting more destructive with containing her growing feelings of envy and jealousy. Leaving the question of whether this is a good or a bad thing that Star can now make evil magic do exactly what she wants it to.

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We spiraled high on a gust of love
And I knew right from the start
Nothing could tear us apart
Til the day you broke my heart