It's finally Beach Day!? Meteora and Mariposa get lost in the Neverzone! | Wraith's Journal #58 part 2 [S4E16 - Beach Day & Gone Baby Gone]
Continuing where we left off in part 1...
~
Marco and Star are lazing on the couch eating pancakes while watching a teenage sitcom: Y-O-U-T-H-S. Angie finds Star's swim suit in the freezer (why... and how long was it in there?). Star notices Rafael photographing Mariposa with an instant camera, and a beach ball gathering cobwebs in the corner. Star excitedly tells Marco:
Star: I know what we're gonna do today!
Marco: Are we.. not watching a marathon?
Star: Look, all the signs are here! My bathing suit, the instant camera, and the final pièce de résistance!
Star puts the Beach Day Photo in front of him
Marco: Uh.. the photo from the future that Father Time gave you?
Star notes the zit on Marco's nose is the same as the one in the photo
Star: Ever since Father Time gave me this future photo, I've been dreaming of the day it would happen. And that day is a-today!
Marco: All right, sure. Maybe it is Beach Day.
Star: Oh, you bet your booty it's Beach Day! As soon as my swimsuit is done defrosting, we are going to the beach, and we're gonna have the best day of our lives!
~Star has been waiting for Beach Day for more than a year. She 'knew' she'd be happy with Marco despite all the hard times she's going through. She had to know it'd be relatively close in the future (when she received it) because she and Marco look about the same as they did.
~Toffee's return, all the hardships fixing the kingdom, the Meteora crisis, managing Eclipsa... All this so Star could have a fun day at the beach. It means a lot to her. Could today actually be the day?!
On cue, the universe is "conspiring against" Star and Marco: The taxi gets stuck in traffic, Cloudy can't fly in Echo Creek's pollution, they get lost trying to walk...
Star eventually follows a 'sign' - a seagull that stole their sandwich - and they arrive at the beach! Star is overjoyed that everything is "perfect".. except she left the camera in the taxi so they can't take the photo. Worse, she lost the Beach Day Photo itself.
Marco steps in and offers Star a fun day anyway, which she takes him up on: They knock the beach ball around and play in the water - it's still a beach day!
~I really appreciate Marco here. Star was falling apart but he kept her grounded and made sure she had fun no matter what. Who can pass up a fun day with your best friend?
An older woman comes up to them thinking they're a couple and shows them a photo she took of them... Star takes it... It's the Beach Day Photo! Both Star and Marco are shocked:
Star: It's all part of the paradox! We lost the camera and the photo earlier today because I was supposed to. Because this creepy lady was meant to take our Beach Day photo!
Marco: So that means...
Both: Today is Beach Day!
They both dance happily for a while.
Star: (still dancing) It is Beach Day! It is Beach Day! I lived the happiest day of my life!
Marco: Woo-hoo! [laughs] Yeah! Wow! Wow! This is bananas! The paradox came true! It was real! Everything happened for a reason!
Star looks at the photo again gets sad. She takes Marco's scissors, opens a portal to the Plains of Time and goes through it.
Marco: Star?
Star finds Father Time sitting in a pool while keeping the Wheel of Progress spinning
Star: Hey, Father Time? [shows Father Time the photo] Why am I not happy?
FT: Oh, hey. It's that beach photo. You look pretty happy to me.
Star: No, I was happy. But that was like, five minutes ago, and it's already starting to wear off. I thought Beach Day was supposed to be the best day of my life, and everything would be figured out, and then I could just live happily ever after or whatever. But that didn't happen. So why'd you even give this to me?
FT: I didn't give that to you.
Star: Uh, yes you did.
FT: No, no, no. You did.
Star: ..What?
FT: Yeah, you gave me the photo to give to Past Star, because you knew she was about to go through a lot of difficult, messy life stuff. You know, what with her mom going missing and her identity as a princess kind of thrown out the window. You wanted to give her something to look forward to.
Star: ...I gave this to me? But that can't... T-that means this whole time.. Beach Day was a lie? A lie I told myself?!
FT: I can just destroy it for you, seeing as it's giving you so much grief.
Star: You know what? Yeah, sure. Beach Day, no Beach Day — what's the difference? So what if I don't see it up on the fridge every day.. or keep it in my little purse always.. or.. stuff it under my pillow every night?
FT: Yeah, who needs it? No photo, no Beach Day, no confusing time paradox. You wouldn't even be here right now asking about it! Who knows where you'd be?
Star: That's a.. that's a good question. Some days, knowing I'd be this happy was the only thing that kept me going.
FT: So you want me to destroy it?
Star: No. No! No, no, no! You can't! I needed this! You gotta give it to Past Star! Wait, no! I don't want to give it away. But if I keep it, I'll never have given it to myself, so I'll never have had it, and then it'll never have existed at all. [gasps] Whoa! Okay, okay, you know what?
Star snaps a picture of the Beach Day Photo
Star: There. Now, she can have it.
Star levitates the photo to Father Time. She opens a portal and starts to leave.
Star: Bye, Father Time. Thank you so much. [starts to step through the portal]
FT: Sure thing! Too bad the hardest times are still ahead.
Star: What was that?
FT: Nothing!
Father Time marks up the photo like it was.. is.. will be...
~Beach Day was Star's perfect day.. except it wasn't. Does it matter that she was 'lying' to herself to keep going all this time? If it helped for the last year or so, is that not what matters? What was the point of Beach Day anyway? It was still a fun day, at least for a while.
~Sometimes you gotta take things for what they are and not what you want them to be. Star was looking forward to this 'happy, fun day' but got this. Like Marco said, it could still be a fun day no matter what. We're missing something here...
~And what's that about 'hardest times still ahead'? What does that mean?
It's sunset at the beach. Marco is making a Ludo sand sculpture.
Star: So basically, Beach Day was never real. I was chasing some perfect idea that didn't even exist. Don't get me wrong, it got me through a lot. But.. now, how am I supposed to know if everything will end up okay?
Marco: Well, I guess, we just don't.
Star: Huh?
Marco: Yeah, I mean.. you don't know what'll happen in the future, but, who does? It wasn't the Beach Day itself that made you happy, right? It.. it was.. it was you!
Star: Huh!
Marco: You didn't wait for someone to tell you everything would be okay. You created your own happiness through self-determination! Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool.
Star: Yeah. Maybe you're right.
Marco: Well, I'm kinda Beach Day'd out. What do you say we head home?
Star: I say let's do it!
\"You created your own happiness through self-determination!\"
~Marco's speech is one of the more important ones in the show. 'You' are in control of your destiny - your own happiness, your own future. Star made sure she'd be happy, and it turns out, she is, she can be. The future's always going to be murky, but we can take steps now to make it more certain.
~We keep getting this conflict between choice and destiny, free will vs. a predetermined path: Star not 'getting a choice' to go to Earth; the Blood Moon; the Queens' tapestries. This is the big takeaway: make your destiny one of your own choosing.
Marco realizes they have no way to get home, so Star enchants a shopping cart to fly. Marco doesn't like flying, but they're both excited that their Beach Day finally happened.
~Solid episode. Honestly kind of underrated. This whole arc of the Beach Day Photo.. Star was chasing a "perfect" day that didn't exist. Except, it kind of did. It wasn't perfect because Star had the best day with Marco and lived 'happily ever after'. It was perfect because she learned that she can make her future what she wants it to be. It's very 'Star' in that regard - she's going to do things her own way.
~
Marco tells Mariposa and Meteora a bedtime story and they fall asleep. Marco leaves his sister with a penguin finger puppet.
Hekapoo randomly portals into the babies' room to talk to Marco:
Marco: (whispering) Hekapoo? What the heck are you doing here?
Marco leads her into the hallway so as not to wake the babies.
Hekapoo: I shouldn't even be telling you this, but I have a feeling some bad stuff is about to go down on Mewni.
Marco: Well that sounds ominous.
Hekapoo: Okay I know you like to [makes finger quotes] "get involved" because you "care", but trust me... [pokes Marco hard on his chest] Stay. On. Earth!
Hekapoo opens another portal to leave.
Hekapoo: Stay on Earth!
~What does she know? Why tell Marco? Weird. Also Marco would totally tell Star and they would totally "get involved". Hekapoo knows this.
Marco goes to warn Star, who thinks they should talk to Eclipsa, but Star remembers she was going to send a picture of the babies. They go to the babies' room to find.. a still-open Hekapoo portal.. and no babies. Gone, Baby Gone. Star and Marco fear how long it's been, since 8 minutes in Hekapoo's dimension == 16 years everywhere else, so they rush through the portal.
~How did the babies even go through the portal? They were in cribs.
Marco is in his adult form so he summons Brunzetta to ask for directions. She gives them, but Marco cites this being a "family affair". Marco awkwardly leaves on Cloudy with Star.
Marco regrets being "irresponsible" and a "terrible brother". They land on a plateau with an 'old crone'. Marco tells that they're looking for 2 girls.
The 'old crone' blasts Star with something. She flies into the air revealing that she has 6 arms and.. butterfly wings? Another girl with brown hair and a mole on her cheek is riding on the butterfly girl's back. Star and Marco recognize them as a "Butterfly" and Mariposa.
The girl with wings tries to blast them again, but Star deflects it with her own spell. Mari calls for a stop since Star is also a 'magic user'. They land, the winged girl transforms back into her normal form, and removes her helmet, revealing her signature clover cheek emblems - it's Meteora!
Mari is intrigued since she and Marco have the same mole, but Meteora is skeptical. Mari convinces Meteora to all go back to their cave together. Meteora stops Marco, noting that 'something about him makes her angry', which Marco nervously laughs off.
Meteora explains:
The old women of the mountain found us as babies and taught me all of their spells. Now that they've all died, it's my job to protect us, since "Bork" cannot do magic.
~Hmm? Alright, Meteora has already mastered a butterfly form and is proficient with spells, but how? Is it possible those 'old women' had the same magic as the Butterfly family? Remember, only the Butterfly family have cheek emblems - the mark of the Realm of Magic - even though we do see other kinds of 'magic' in the show. How does magic work in this show again? Are there different kinds, or is it all the same?
Meteora and Mari briefly share stories surviving - some good, some bad. Mari wonders why Star and Marco abandoned them here:
Marco: We didn't abandon you! We came soon as we could, but time works differently here.
Star: We're here now though! You can finally come home!
Mari: Oh, yeah. [chuckles] I can't wait to see what Earth is like.
~I feel for Marco. He genuinely only took his eyes off them for a couple minutes. Hekapoo barges in with a very ominous warning and Marco and Star did go looking for the babies immediately. I'm still confused how they actually got through the portal...
Meteora offers Star and Marco all they had to eat, which is garlic spider soup. Star and Marco eat it, but it was apparently spiked with some sort of sleeping drought. They carry Marco and Star up the mountain to a giant gateway where they summon Wyscan the Granter, and offer to exchange "a magical creature" (Star) for Mariposa receiving magic of her own.
Marco wakes up, and appeals to Mari's morality. Mari relents, and switches to defending Star from Wyscan. Meteora tries to blast Wyscan, but his stomach-mouth absorbs it. Star tries too, to no effect. The Diaz siblings realize they have to fight him "the old fashioned way".
Marco and Mariposa team up to fight Wyscan. Wyscan is no slouch and stuns them, but Marco realizes he still has some garlic spiders. He whispers a plan to his sister. Mari distracts Wyscan long enough for Marco to shove the spiders in Wyscan's stomach-mouth, which gives him indigestion. Wyscan flees through his gateway, which disappears along with him.
~Wyscan is silly. Could he actually grant magic to Mari? Is there something to this dimension that we don't know? Also is this a dimensional portal, like Hekapoo's, or something else?
Mariposa and Marco celebrate their victory. Marco tries to hug her, but Mari puts up the 'sword hand dance' and doubts that Marco is actually her brother. Marco notices her necklace, a very tattered penguin finger puppet. He tells the same bedtime story he told her 10 minutes ago as a baby:
Mari: [gasps] You are my brother!
Marco: Come home, Mariposa. We can be a family again.
Mari: A family?
Meteora: Wait, wait, wait! Does this mean we'll turn back into babies?
Marco: Well... yeah, but.. you'll have loving parents, a safe home to grow up in.
Star: And [Meteora], you get to live in a castle! With servants, and a weird knight who does all your laundry!
Meteora: But.. we don't need a castle.
Mari: And I already have a home. [Meteora] and I have built a life together, and I don't want to lose that.
Meteora: [puts a hand on Mari's shoulder] Yeah. Thanks for coming here and all, but I think we're gonna pass.
The girls start to walk away, but Marco offers them food.
Mari: You got, like, different flavors of spiders?
Star: You don't have to eat spiders where we're going! You can eat waffles, nachoes, sushi...
Marco: If you wanted to, you could eat breakfast burritos all day!
Mari: Wait a minute. Breakfast burritos are food?
Star: If you come home with us, you'll have all the food you could ever dream of!
Mari and Meteora drool at the idea and look at each other.
Mari: Will we get to grow up together again?
Star: We'll make sure of it!
Meteora and Mari hold hands.
Mari: ...Let's go home.
Back at the Diaz house, Marco and Star bid Meteora and Mariposa good night. Marco leaves the tattered penguin finger puppet with his sister.
~The girls just wanted to be together. They grew up together and, despite their differences, became best friends. They survived together. That bond transcends time and space.
~They will grow up together. It's a second chance.. well, third for Meteora...
~I love a good wholesome moment. Meteora, for the first time, has a friend for life. Marco showed how much he loves his sister. It shows what an impression he had on her even though Mari didn't know him for very long. They're basically identical, apart from age. Family will always stay together.
~
Even though these aren't 'major' episodes, they're still a pretty big deal. Star is moving on with her life post-princess and she's back on Earth where she can be a normal teen. Marco reconnected with folks from Echo Creek, and reaffirmed friendships even though he's been gone for the past year. Star finally got her Beach Day, and even though it wasn't as she expected, it still turned out to be an important milestone for her all the same. And Marco strengthened the bond with his sister, showing his commitment to his family.
Good times. I've wanted to revisit Beach Day for a while. It's an important episode, for both Star and the series as a whole. Being in control of your future, your destiny, your life is important. I'm glad she and Marco learned that lesson and had a fun day together.
Just good wholesome moments all around.. except for Tom and Star having a moment that was long overdue. It's all good...
Except that warning from Hekapoo. How bad can it be? I guess we'll find out soon!
Posted Nov 22, 2025, 12:50 AM UTC