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"The Hard Way" is the thirty-fifth episode of the second season of Star vs. the Forces of Evil.[1]

It premiered on February 16, 2017.[2]

Synopsis[]

Ludo forces Glossaryck to teach him about the Book of Spells.[2]

Plot[]

The episode opens on a mountain temple, where the Mewni bar rats in Ludo's employ erect a castle for him and serve as his transport. Upon arriving at the temple, Ludo goes down to the lowest level, where his bald eagle and giant spider minions stand watch outside a dungeon. After briefly speaking in private with his wand, Ludo goes inside the dungeon, expecting to find Glossaryck sleep-and food-deprived, but instead, he is acting as his usual, impish self. Ludo brings in the Magic Instruction Book and commands Glossaryck to teach him the spells in it. Much to Ludo's surprise, Glossaryck is very cooperative with his demands, and Ludo looks forward to hard and exhausting training.

Ludo's training starts by carrying the large book around, and he admits to Glossaryck that, after a life spent acquiring and learning everything on his own, he wants some patient parental-like guidance for once. The first spell Glossaryck teaches Ludo is "Levitato", a basic levitation spell. Through Glossaryck's guidance, Ludo learns to levitate an apple, and he begins to view Glossaryck as a father figure. Over the course of the day, Ludo becomes very proficient at casting Levitato and gets considerably attached to Glossaryck.

That night, Ludo has Glossaryck tuck him into bed as a parent would, much to Glossaryck's discomfort, and he says goodnight to Ludo for the day. A few hours later, after Ludo's monsters have gone to sleep, Ludo – too excited to fall asleep – talks to his wand again. He learns from the wand that Glossaryck is keeping secrets from him; there is a chapter in the book of the spells that Glossaryck has shown Star Butterfly but not him. However, after becoming so attached to Glossaryck, Ludo refuses to believe he would intentionally deceive him.

To settle this matter, Ludo wakes Glossaryck up and asks him about the book of spells' secret chapter. He demands to be shown this chapter, but just as Glossaryck warned Star in "Page Turner", he warns Ludo that reading the chapter could "taint" him. Disregarding the warning, Ludo tells him to unlock it. Glossaryck complies and unlocks Eclipsa's chapter in the book. As soon as Ludo reads the chapter, he is consumed by dark magic, and green energy swirls in his eyes. Ludo smiles and says hello to Glossaryck, but it is no longer Ludo speaking–his body has been possessed by Toffee.

Toffee tells Glossaryck that he'll never get Ludo on his side, but Glossaryck says he doesn't have a side. In response to this, Toffee laughs and says, "Excellent."

Characters[]

Major characters[]

Minor characters[]

Production notes[]

Songs[]

Title in other languages[]

Language Title Translation
Dutch Op de moeilijke manier The Hard Way
French L'Apprenti Magicien The Magician's Apprentice
German Auf die Harte Tour! The Hard Way!
Hebrew הדרך הקשה The Hard Way
Hungarian A Nehezebb Út The Hard Way
Italian Ludo Apprendista Ludo the Apprentice
Japanese 最高の一日 The Best Day Ever
Korean 루도의 마법훈련 Ludo's Magic Training
Polish Trudna Droga Hard Way
Portuguese (Brazil) O Caminho Difícil The Hard Way
Portuguese (Portugal) Da Maneira Mais Difícil The Harder Way
Russian Трудный путь The Hard Way
Spanish (Latin America) El Modo Difícil The Hard Way
Spanish (Spain) La Opción Difícil The Hard Way

Transcript

View the episode transcript here.

Gallery

Click here to view the image gallery for The Hard Way.
Click here to view the gallery.

Trivia[]

  • This is the second episode in the series after "Is Mystery" in which neither Star nor Marco make a physical appearance, though Star is mentioned by Glossaryck and Ludo.

Revelations and continuity[]

  • Glossaryck teaches Ludo the Levitato spell similarly to how Baby evaluates Star's spellcasting in "Baby": with an apple.
  • Using the dark magic in Queen Eclipsa's chapter in the Magic Instruction Book, Toffee possesses Ludo's body.
    • Toffee is revealed to have been the telepathic voice within Ludo's wand.

References[]

  1. Bryan (2017-01-09). “Star vs. The Forces of Evil” Gets Weekday Premieres in February. Nick and More. Retrieved on 2017 March 5.
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Hard Way. Disney XD Press. Retrieved on 2017 March 5.
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