Week 2
(These reviews contain
spoilers!)
Same as last week, keep an eye on this
space throughout the week as I update it on my thoughts for each episode! If
you missed last week’s reviews and are still interested, you can find them
here: http://hyenareviews.blogspot.ca/2016/07/steven-universe-summer-adventures-july.html
Restaurant Wars
Every once in a while, a show makes an
episode that’s so zany and ridiculous that I can’t help but love every minute
of it. This was one of those episodes.
The basic plot was that Mr. Fryman and
Kofi Pizza reignite an age old war of theirs, because of some confusion over
Steven buying mozzarella sticks. From there, things spiral completely out of
control, as the restaurants go completely at each other’s throats. To stop all
this craziness, Steven enlists the help of Peedee, Ronaldo, Jenny, Kiki, and
even the Gems to restore order to Beach City.
The results are, to put it simply,
hilarious. While some might call this episode a waste of time and completely ridiculous,
that’s exactly why I love it. It doesn’t take itself seriously at all, and just
exists for laughs, and that’s great. Even Ronaldo, a character I normally can’t
stand, is really funny in this episode.
The other great thing this episode
does is that it brings back a lot of Beach City characters that almost never
get the spotlight, like Peedee Fryman and Kofi Pizza. If memory serves me
right, Kofi’s only had one speaking role prior to this, so it’s great to see
him again.
The only problem with this episode is
that sometimes it can go a little too off
the deep end. How the story is resolved in the end is very convenient, and
doesn’t quite explain why the hatchet is buried once again.
Still, if Steven Universe has taught
me anything, it’s the journey, not the destination that matters, and I found Restaurant
Wars to be a lot of fun. If you like the Beach City episodes and don’t mind a
little bit of craziness, you’ll love this one.
FINAL SCORE
7/10
Good
Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service
It feels so weird having two episodes
focusing on the Pizza family in a row. We almost never see them, aside from
background appearances. I don’t think Kiki’s actually got any real character
development before now, actually.
Anyways, this is an episode where
Steven invades Kiki’s dreams and helps her fight off pizza related inner
demons. Honestly, this isn’t the craziest thing I’ve seen from this show,
considering it’s the same one that gave us Garnet’s Universe.
This was a really cute episode, and
one I don’t regret spending the time to watch, although I doubt I’ll ever want
to see it again. The design of the pizza nightmare and the creatures in it was
creative, and the overall message was another good one for kids. But the thing
is, this is one of those episodes that can be skipped and nothing would be lost
as a result. It’s just filler, and that’s a little frustrating.
As happy as I am that Kiki, a
character who I’d basically declared a background character and nothing more, is
getting her moment in the spotlight, I really wish we’d gotten something more
substantial. I guess they were trying to build her relationship with Jenny, but
we barely got any screen time of them together, if you don’t count Pizza-Jenny
in the dream. They supposedly had a conversation, but it was off-camera. I
would’ve really liked to see that, instead of seeing it play out with a figment
of Kiki’s imagination!
But I digress. The main thing Kiki’s
Pizza Delivery Service is going for here is a fun, filler episode a little like
yesterday’s, but not nearly as funny. Lots of groan worthy pizza puns, but even
they can’t keep it from being an overall cheesy episode.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
FINAL SCORE
5/10
Average
Monster Reunion
I’ve been waiting for the return of
Centipeedle since the last time they had her on the show. It’s kind of weird
that the corrupted gems have kinda been phased out by the show in favour of
Homeworld and the fusion mutants. When was the last time we saw a new one?
Anyways, Monster Reunion was, if
anything, fuel for even more fan theories about the Gem War and the resulting
fallout. I’ve got my own, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
Beneath the showrunners pulling back
the curtain a bit more on the lore, we had a really good episode to go
alongside. Steven’s healing powers are another thing that kind of fell by the
wayside recently, and it was great to have them come back. I’d assumed that he could
only heal organic materials (Greg’s broken foot, Connie’s eyes, Lapis’s gem),
but as we saw in this episode, he was able to fix a rip on MC Bear Bear using
his healing spit. This adds layers both to Steven’s powers, and also, perhaps,
to MC Bear Bear. Could this teddy bear be more than he seems!?
Eh, probably not.
This prompted the return of
Centipeedle, as Steven was able to restore her to a sort of half normal, half
corrupted form. Through her squawks and crayon drawings, we were able to learn
that she was some sort of Homeworld soldier that came to Earth for the Gem War,
but fell victim to the Diamonds.
And this is where my theory comes in.
Centipeedle described the Diamonds as using a giant flash of light, the same
one as seen in Lapis’s flashback in Same Old World. I believe that this is the
result of the corrupted gems. Any gem caught in the blast was corrupted. We
know from The Return that Rose, Garnet, Pearl, and potentially some other
Crystal Gems were protected under Rose’s shield, Amethyst was in the
Kindergarten, and Lapis was in the mirror, so that’s why they were exempted.
That would explain the large quantity of corrupted gems on the Earth, and why
Centipeedle feels so much contempt towards the Diamonds.
We also got a reveal as to where the
crashed gem ship from Friend Ship came from, and we had a nice little ending
with a reveal as to where the rest of Centipeedle’s crew is. I’m certain we
haven’t seen the last of her, and hopefully by the time we see her again Steven
will be able to purify her completely.
The animation in this episode was top
tier as usual too, between the expressions the animators conveyed through
Centipeedle’s beak and the crayon drawings the backstory was conveyed through.
Steven Universe never fails to amaze me in the different ways they can convey
story through animation.
Monster Reunion was everything I could’ve
hoped for, and really makes me miss the clever designs on the corrupted gems. I
sincerely hope we get the return of more sometime in the future.
FINAL SCORE
8/10
Great
Alone at Sea
Is it just me, or was it really
unusual to see Lapis interacting normally with Beach City and Greg and regular
stuff? I never had that feeling with Peridot, because there was at least some
disconnect between Homeworld Peridot and Beach City Peridot in the form of her
limb enhancers. Lapis, who’s normally a beacon of huge episodes and dire things
coming to attack our heroes, felt a little out of place here, and that’s a good
thing. She still hasn’t accepted her place right now, so it’s only natural that
we, the audience, haven’t accepted it either.
Aside from that, this was a very interesting
episode, to say the least. It definitely played in to a lot of the excellent
underlying themes brought by Malachite, and had an excellent lesson not only
for kids, but for anyone going through an abusive relationship. Although, in my
opinion, it might’ve been a bit too heavy handed with them. More on that in a
bit.
The plot of the episode is that Greg’s
rented a boat, and is taking Steven and Lapis on a ride.
Steven wants Lapis to have fun, but Lapis is having trouble overcoming her
memories of Jasper and being fused at the bottom of the ocean.
This all culminates with Lapis revealing
that she misses being fused, and Jasper showing up out of nowhere to admit she
has the same feelings. It plays out how you’d think, and there’s a happy ending
for everyone (except for Jasper and poor Greg. I think that rental’s going to
become a purchase, pal).
Now this was a good episode overall,
but I have two major problems with it. First is Jasper’s sudden reappearance.
Last we saw her, she’d fallen through a crack into the Earth, and now she’s
suddenly climbing onto the boat just a few miles away from Beach City? I know
that this is a cartoon for kids and I should just let it go, but it really
bothered me that we didn’t get an answer as to where she’s been. Maybe in the
future we will. What I did like was that, even in the little time she had, she’s
still a very intimidating force to be reckoned with. There’s really no one else
on the show right now willing to throw Steven around like that, and with the
Diamonds being sort of an end-game at the moment, she’s the closest thing to a
villain character we have.
Secondly, the symbolism of Malachite
being an abusive relationship couldn’t have been more obvious if it was written
in red marker on a giant tuna and they slapped me across the face with it.
Weird metaphors aside, I’m not saying that this is a thing that shouldn’t be in the show, far from it. I
love that we have subtle hidden
details and metaphors like that in the characters. It’s the fact that the episode
felt the need to spell it out for us that bothers me. From the first mention of
Lapis saying she missed Jasper, to Jasper coming back and begging Lapis to fuse
with her again, to the ultimate rejection, it all felt like “This is symbolic
of ending an unhealthy relationship! Make sure you notice that!” If the
struggle had been a bit more internal with Lapis, and maybe coming to a more
subtle conclusion instead of having Jasper storming in out of nowhere would’ve
worked better for me.
Something I
really liked about the way they did it, though, was that there was no real bad guy here. Both Lapis and Jasper admitted they were at fault, and
Jasper even attempted to sway Steven to her side. It’s really refreshing to see
this, on a kid’s show of all things, because the moral grey area is always
intriguing to explore. I really hope that they expand on Lapis and Jasper’s
relationship in the future, because while this wasn’t the best start for me,
there’s absolutely something brilliant in here waiting to come out.
My opinions aside, this was still a good
episode, and I felt that it has a really good lesson in there about abusive
relationships. If you’re unhappy, get out of there. You deserve better. Steven
Universe has really been on a roll with great messages lately, between this,
Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service, and even my much-disliked Beach City Drift. If
you’re a fan of the Homeworld Gems, I feel you’ll really like this one.
FINAL SCORE
7/10
Good
Greg the Babysitter
Before I start this review, I’d like
to talk about Greg Universe.
No matter what he does, he seems to
improve every single episode he’s in just by being there. He provided nearly
all the humour in yesterday’s Alone at Sea and last week’s Beach City Drift.
Aside from that, he’s often the focal point of one of many fantastic episodes,
including Mr. Greg, House Guest, and the previous two flashback episodes. What
I like most of all about Greg, however, is how he breaks expectations. When I
first saw him in Laser Light Cannon, my first thought was “Oh no, here comes
the Homer Simpson type character, the lazy, deadbeat father who comes off as a
jerk but is a nice guy deep down.” Imagine my surprise when I found a kind,
funny, and smart father figure, who perfectly complements Steven Universe’s
optimistic atmosphere. He’s my favourite non-gem character easily, and I’m glad
he’s finally getting some more appearances.
But anyways, onto this episode. Since
I’ve been going into every single episode of Steven’s Summer Adventures as
blind as possible, I had no idea what I was getting with this one. To my
absolute delight, it turned out to be a Greg and Rose Quartz flashback episode!
These have always been favourites of mine. The two of them have such chemistry
together, and I love the way they subtly teach each other the wisdom that being
a gem or a human brings.
This time, we learned how Greg came to
work at the car wash, and how it revolved around him spending a day at the
beach with Rose while babysitting a baby Sour Cream (which strangely had his
adult voice. That took some getting used to). This led to a madcap chase
through Funland, after Rose got a little confused with exactly how to handle a
newborn.
Rose Quartz is always a welcome
presence on the show for me, especially in flashbacks like this. I love the way
that this apparently legendary and celebrated leader of the Crystal Gems learns
from Greg the simpler things about human life, such as how to differentiate an
adult from a child. At the same time, Rose helped teach Greg how he needed to
decide to get a job after his music career wasn’t going anywhere at the moment.
Rose also detailed something we
learned in the Classroom Gems short about Kindergartens, about how gems emerge
from the ground fully formed and knowing their purpose. She gave such an
excellent short description of how it’s really a miracle that humans are
allowed to grow and change and be their own person. Every time Rose gets an
episode, she’s dropping little nuggets of wisdom like that, and this one might
be my favourite so far.
One has to wonder, however: is this
episode part of the reason why Rose decided to have Steven? She was so
fascinated by baby Sour Cream, and if I remember correctly, she had Steven
because she wanted to experience either childbirth or seeing the world through
a human’s eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if some elements of this episode make a
return appearance.
Also, that Lil’ Butler reference. I
swear, this show never leaves anything behind.
FINAL SCORE
9/10
Amazing
I must say, I was a lot more impressed
with this week of Summer of Steven than with last week! We got the return of
Centipeedle, Jasper, and Rose in 3 concurrent days, as well as two fun episodes
to start us off. With things apparently going off the rails starting Monday, I
can’t wait to see what’s up next!
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