Star and Marco go in search of Queen Moon.
Tropes:
- Big Eater: River. When he claims not to be hungry, Marco calls him "the hungriest guy I know".
- Call-Back: Star keeps the photo of herself and Marco at the beach (first seen in "Starcrushed") in her bag.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- After Eclipsa forbade imprisoning monsters, the Dungeon Warden started imprisoning mewmans in spite of not liking it and refuses to entertain the notion of not imprisoning anybody.Star: How about just not imprisoning anybody?
Warden: How about you let me keep doing my job, and I'll let you keep ruining everything for everybody? - When Erik takes off his Moon wig to show he's just an actor, River assumes Moon had a haircut.
- After Eclipsa forbade imprisoning monsters, the Dungeon Warden started imprisoning mewmans in spite of not liking it and refuses to entertain the notion of not imprisoning anybody.
- Continuity Nod:
- Slime Monster is among the monsters staying in Eclipsa's new castle.
- A quick mirror conversation between Star and Tom confirms that they're still seeing each other. (Tom then immediately calls Marco for reassurance after a distracted Star bruises his ego.)
- Cliffhanger: Star recognizes the crust design of a pie Marco bought as the same one Moon uses, giving her a new lead to her mother's whereabouts: Pie Island.
- Creepy Child: Meteora gives Marco a very unsettling glare, leading Marco to wonder if she has any memories of her former self.
- Crosscast Role: The Queen Moon they find in the "Butterfly Follies" play is revealed to be a man named Erik, dressed very convincingly as the former queen and perfectly replicating her voice.
- The Determinator: Star has been trying to find her mother for weeks, to the point where she's been checking the same locations over and over again.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- The only real change Eclipsa made since Star gave her back the throne was to forbid Mewmans from harming monsters. The Mewmans see this as reason enough to hate Star for "ruining" the kingdom, create an insulting play about her family and chase her with Torches and Pitchforks when they see her in public.
- An accidental example: Star turns Erik into a toad-like creature for blaming her for ruining the kingdom. She meant to turn him back not long after, but then he was suddenly taken away by a bird.
- Fallen Princess: Star, seemingly recognizing her recently-discovered illegitimacy, isn't acting queen or even a princess anymore. However, Star still has her magic (even without the wand) and Queen Eclipsa lets her and her father stay at the palace.
- Fartillery: Star's play counterpart shoots the Narwhal Blast by farting.
- Forced Transformation: Upset by Erik impersonating her mother and making a snide comment about ruining the kingdom, Star turns him into a frog-flying squirrel hybrid out of spite. She plans on turning him back, but he just glides away.
- Gold Digger: The titular play portrays River as one."River": Ho-ho-ho! Being king of Mewni is the easiest job I've ever married into!
- Happy Ending Override: The Mewmans, who have long hated monsters, are not happy that Star gave the throne back to Eclipsa, a notorious monster sympathizer. The Butterfly family servants, though sworn to serve the Queen, are uneasy over the situation, and hope that Star finds Moon soon (no doubt believing she will take back the throne). Even River, who still supports Star, is not fully comfortable with the new status quo, preferring to camp outside Eclipsa's castle rather than stay inside with the monster occupants, let alone without Moon.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: As a result of making Eclipsa the rightful queen of Mewni, Star is treated like a pariah through the episode, mostly by the Pie Folk. The Monsters, on the other hand, love her for it.
- Locked in the Dungeon: Star, Marco, and King River encounter a prisoner in one of the cells.
- Loyal to the Position: The royal Mewman staff struggle to adjust to Queen Eclipsa's rule, especially all the monsters using the castle as a halfway house, but seem to completely recognize her authority. At the very least, they're grateful as long as she gave them a place to stay.
- Made of Indestructium: The crystal Globgor is trapped in is practically indestructible, resisting all attempts by Eclipsa's monster subjects to free him.
- Magic A Is Magic A: Eclipsa explains that her magic works a certain way, and that it's completely impossible for someone not to be found by the All-Seeing Eye unless they've disappeared from existence... which Eclipsa sadly concludes might be the case.
- Moral Myopia: The Mewman whose tower Star and company invade for the third time calls out Star for giving Eclipsa the throne, as it prevents him from imprisoning monsters... yet he moved straight on to imprisoning Mewmans (and his Mewman captive actually agrees with him).
- Noodle Incident: The last time River attended a Pie Carnyvale, he lost a horse, a carriage, and his wedding ring trying to win a boom box in a game. Now he hates all Pie Folk.
- Oblivious to Their Own Description: When River sees an actor playing an exaggerated version of him, he asks "Who's this idiot?" before realizing it's meant to be him.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: The play has River describing his position in the royal family as the "easiest job" he married into. It's the only job he married into.
- Precision-Guided Boomerang: River throws his crown to blast a pie from Marco's hand, and it flies right back to him.
- Red Herring: Seeing a shirt from the Pie Festival advertising Moon's appearance, Star thinks she could be there. When they get to the festival, they see a play that seems to star Moon, but after taking her away, they find that it's actually an actor made up to look like Moon.
- The Reveal: The photo of Star and Marco at the beach is actually from the future, given to Star as a gift from Father Time.
- Rightful King Returns: Zig-zagged; Queen Eclipsa regains the throne taken from her on dubious charges three centuries ago. She declares monsters to have full protection under the law and founds a new village for them, which they obviously appreciate. But most of the Mewmans consider Eclipsa the The Wrongful Heir to the Throne, hate Star for giving it back to her, and yearn for Moon's rule.
- Rule of Three: Star breaks in the tower three times while looking for her mother.
- Running Gag:
- Marco once again ends up paying $650 for something. This time he ends up paying it twice (a total of $1300).
- When Star and Marco clarify to someone that they have not found Moon, they ask if they've checked the tower (which they have already checked three times and have considered checking it again).
- Seriously Scruffy: Bereft by the loss of Moon, King River has let himself go (at least more than usual). Marco repeatedly notes that he needs a bath. He even outright refuses to sleep on a bed if Moon's not around.
- Skewed Priorities: Marco has time to be genuinely upset when the play "Butterfly Follies" portrayed Pony Head as Star's "only friend".
- Stockholm Syndrome: It's not clear if the prisoner developed an affection for the warden, but they seem to get along well and use polite language to address one another, even when the prisoner is being tortured.
- Tempting Fate: When Marco berates Star for turning Erik into a toad-like creature, she says she'll turn him back. Before she has a chance to do so, he jumps on a bird and leaves.
- There Was a Door: When Star breaks into the tower for the third time, she's told that, instead of making a new hole, she could have used one of the holes from the other two times.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Well, while the prisoner isn't aroused by it, he doesn't seem to mind being tortured much.
- Torches and Pitchforks: When the crowd at the pie festival recognize Star, they chase after her with the usual torches and pitchforks.
- Torture Cellar: The beginning of the episode starts in a tower where prisoners are tortured.
- Torture Is Ineffective: When the Warden starts to tighten the prisoner's bindings, he asks him, politely, if they aren't too tight. The prisoner doesn't mind the warden to make them even tighter.
- Torture Technician: That is the warden's job, which he happily carries out, although he might prefer torturing monsters to mewmans.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Glossaryck hints that Star going to the Magic Dimension to defeat Toffee had dire consequences.
