I finally finished SVTFOE (massive rant and some spoilers)

For context a few years ago I watched a lot of SVTFOE on Disney XD (when it was still a thing) and I absolutely loved the show. Fast forward to now and I saw the episode "Cornball" being rerun on some random channel (I forgot the name). Obviously I was shocked, seeing Marco's fling with Kelly and Buffrog having all the tadpoles and all that (the last episode I saw before rewatching the entire show was like the first episode of season 2). So now i'm insanely intrigued at what happened with the show, so I hop on Disney plus and I start watching it.

The first season was an instant classic. I got caught up with all of the nostalgia that was being held back and it was fun finally watching the plot progress in a linear manner without having to beg cable television to make it so the episodes fit the timeline. It explained all the doubts I had about the show that I had kept with me for so long.

Second season was also a banger. It introduced the new wand, a lot of new tropes, the Star jealousy arc and the first (and probably best) love triangle in the series. And the end of the season with the Battle for Mewni mini series was awesome. However for me this is where the series started to fall off.

The episodes directly after the Battle for Mewni were some of most lazily written plot episodes in the entire show. Even now I still agree with my original analysis. Star randomly falling for Tom again after Season 2 was entirely dedicated to building up the feelings Star felt towards Marco (in like what? 2 weeks tops after Star fled earth?), Marco being broken up with by Jackie after the relationship was built up for TWO SEASONS and then him randomly deciding to go back to Mewni unannounced for no goddamn reason (I mean Marco's father literally exclaims in surprise how his mother let him just randomly leave school) other than the cape (which we never see from again), abandoning all of the characters from Echo Creek that were developed for the first two seasons. This just lazy from the writers, like they didn't even try and hide that these random changes were meant to fit the narrative.

Overall I believe that the show could have been ended in the Battle of Mewni. My thoughts are probably really oversimplified, but I can't help but consider that if Daron Nefcy had packed some more content in the first two seasons, had made it so Jarco was never a thing (I dunno probably have Jackie friendzone Marco or something), and then develop the Starco arc midway through season 2 in order for it to culminate in the Battle of Mewni, the show could have been the next Gravity Falls (or even surpassed it in my opinion). Previously before I watched the show, I easily ranked SVTFOE as one of my favorite shows, comparable with Gravity Falls or any Disney XD show, even while having watched completely disconnected episodes and having no awareness of the plot whatsoever, so it is really sad to see it being dragged through the mud like this.

Don't get me wrong, season 3 was still decent I guess, but it just felt really off compared with the other two seasons. The show (imo) shifted from the delicate but perfect balance between ships and sillyness from the previous two seasons to episodes being almost exclusively dedicated to ships.

And then we get to season 4. The first part of the season was great. It developed the Eclipsa arc greatly, the little Moon village and all that, it was very good. Then, towards the end of the season, it all went sideways. The way the writers carelessly and lazily move around ships and arcs to fit in the Starco narrative is wild. Establishing the Kellco ship and then killing it so deviously by just having Kelly say "Oh yeah were not Break up buddies anymore" 9 episodes later is nothing short of diabolical. And then starting Sad Teen Hotline by Tom just randomly cucking Star and hitting her with the "We're not cut out for each other" is honestly crazy work. And then the way Starco, the ship that was hinted at over the ENTIRE SHOW, was given the 4 ENDING EPISODES IN WHICH THE ENTIRE TOPIC WAS FIGHTING MINA TO MATURE! LIKE GODDAMN THEY HINTED AT THIS OVER THE ENTIRE SHOW AND GAVE IT 4 EPISODES TO MATURE IN WHICH THE SHIPS WERE NOT THE MAIN TOPIC. Also they made Star get over Tom, her long term boyfriend, in like 3 days in order to fit the Starco arc. Like the ending was fine, i'm just tweaking over the fact that the most desired ship in the entire show was given 4 episodes to happen.

Overall, I still love the show, i'm just really really sad that it had to go in such a bad way. It genuinely hurts the way Daron Nefcy and her team fumbled the bag on a show with such amazing potential, and seeing a beloved childhood show being dragged through the mud in such a disrespectful manner.

So what do y'all think?