Week 4
(These reviews contain
spoilers!)
The final week of the Summer of Steven
is upon us! If you missed my review of Beta, I watched the Canadian airing last
Friday, so it’s in my Week 3 post.
Earthlings
Wow. That’s
all I have to say to describe this episode. Wow.
I’m going to
say this right here and right now, just so everyone can hear it: This was my
favourite episode of Steven Universe to date. Not necessarily the best (Jail
Break is still probably the best thing they’ve ever done), but as a personal
opinion, this is my new favourite.
Sometimes it
feels like the 11-minute time limit is surprisingly too much for the smaller
stories the crew has for us (Drop Beat Dad and The New Lars were good examples
of this), but more often than not I’m on my hands and knees wishing that these
episodes were longer, especially when the episode was packed with lore.
Considering this is a three-parter with Beta and tomorrow’s episode, I suppose
this could be referred to as a 45 minute special, but I digress.
Earthlings
threw everything it could at us, providing what I assume to be the end of the
current Amethyst arc (but who knows?), the end of Jasper’s little adventure, a
new fusion, some great humour courtesy of Peridot, and a LOT of lore.
We pick up
exactly where we left off last time, with Amethyst challenging Jasper to a
rematch. Once again, she’s barely able to land a scratch on the perfect Quartz
soldier, and gets wrecked. Steven, against Amethyst’s wishes, jumps into the
fight, and after he reinvigorates her by telling her that she’s great the way
she is, the two of them fuse into a brand new character: Smoky Quartz.
She’s my
favourite new fusion since Malachite, easily. Her design is great, her voice is
fantastic, her weapon is genius
(whoever decided to give her a yo-yo should get an award), and she’s all-around
a great new inclusion into the vast library of fusions we have.
After Jasper
gets destroyed by a fusion again (that’s 4 times now, right?), she attempts to
fight back by fusing with one of the corrupted gems, but this doesn’t go well
for obvious reasons. What happens after is what really matters. Jasper begins
to corrupt. Despite Steven and Peridot practically begging to allow them to
help her, Jasper refuses, and is corrupted and bubbled, but not before dropping
a significant lore bomb: Rose Quartz betrayed her diamond, Pink Diamond. The
fandom’s been buzzing about the identity of Pink Diamond ever since the diamond
sigil first appeared in the show, and this is really going to add fuel to the
fire now that it’s confirmed Pink Diamond isn’t Rose herself.
Even after all
this, the Gems returned to the Barn to find a surprise: the Ruby Squad is back!
I’m surprised they made it to Neptune and came back this quickly, but I guess
their space travel is pretty fast. In any case, I’m happy to see them again,
and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen tomorrow.
I loved every
second of Earthlings. I was laughing, gasping, and on the edge of my seat the
whole time. This was Steven Universe at its absolute best, and it was
absolutely waiting those extra two days for.
FINAL SCORE
10/10
Legendary
Back to the Moon
The arc that began with Gem Hunt is
showing no signs of slowing down, as we had yet another cliffhanger to deal with tonight!
The Ruby Squad was back in action after their short adventure
around the galaxy, demanding to know where Jasper really is. Without any other
options, Amethyst shapeshifted into Jasper to convince them, and the Rubies
demanded they return to the Moon Base to file a form so “Jasper” can keep her “prisoners”
on Earth instead of returning to Homeworld with them.
It was cool to see the Moon Base again, especially as we got
the long-awaited reveal of the Pink Diamond mural which was infamously ignored
back in It Could’ve Been Great. Unfortunately, we didn’t get an answer as to
what was in that room Garnet hurried Steven past last time we were here, but
there’s always tomorrow.
As for Pink Diamond, we learned what nearly everyone expected
given yesterday’s lore bomb: Rose Quartz shattered her during the Gem War.
Steven naturally is in disbelief over this, and then…just kind of gets over it.
Huh. I’m hoping that this subject comes up in more detail later on, because it
kind of came out of nowhere and then vanished.
The rest of the episode, aside from
the lore, wasn’t really anything super special unfortunately. We spend way too
much precious time outside of the barn trying to convince the Rubies that
Amethyst was Jasper. I did like that the Eyeball Ruby got some character
development in the reveal that she participated in the Gem War as a soldier,
and the group is always fun to spend time with. Pearl was especially funny in
this episode to, with her over-the-top reaction to being “captured”.
There’s not really much else to say
about this one, except about the ending. We know from episodes like Space Race and
Warp Tour that Steven can survive in space longer than a normal human can, but
even then his human side requires breathing before long. Considering tomorrow’s
episode is called “Bubbled”, I think I have a good idea of how he’s going to
save himself, but you never know.
So anyways, a good episode, just
without many good laughs and poor pacing. I liked that we got an answer to the
Pink Diamond question so fast, but Steven kind of forgot about it two minutes
later. Hopefully tomorrow will improve on it.
FINAL SCORE
7/10
Good
Bubbled
So I guess this is Steven Universe’s
take on the movie Gravity.
What a crazy episode this was. If you
told me 5 years ago that I’d be watching a cartoon where a boy was launched
into space, accepted his fate, and then curled up into fetal position after
fighting an alien to the death, I would’ve said you were crazy.
But, here we are. Picking up
immediately after yesterday, the Season 3 finale featured some of the best
background art I’ve ever seen in this show, and that’s saying something. All
the stars, planets, and galaxies in the background were so amazingly rendered,
it really felt like outer space.
It was really smart for the Crew to
bring back Eyeball Ruby for this episode, because as interesting as it would’ve
been to see Steven’s internal struggle about what his mother did to Pink
Diamond, it wouldn’t have made for great kid’s TV. Instead, this episode had a
lot of really good humour, like Steven imitating the famous portrait of Rose
Quartz, and his all too relatable grouchiness about changing phone plans.
Eyeball Ruby was really fun, and it was
amazing how threatening they made this little red gem. Her little knife looked
downright intimidating in the tight space, and although it was a kind of
obvious solution how to get rid of her, it didn’t make it any less tense. I
feel that now’s a good time to say goodbye to the Ruby Squad. In my opinion,
they served their purpose, and having them back again and again would get a
little repetitive.
But two things stood out to me above
all else. One is that the Gems are now in capacity of a ship with space travel,
so that opens up a literal universe of possibilities for new settings. The
other is that we finally got the full version of the credits song, Love Like
You. It’s a song we’ve been hearing since Episode 1, and it’s nice to finally
be able to listen to the proper version in full, although it really feels like
the end of an era. One can only hope we get a new song for the next season or
two.
Overall, Bubbled was a great way to
end Season 3, and the future looking towards Seasons 4 and 5 looks bright. Here’s
to more Steven Universe!
FINAL SCORE
8/10
Great
The Kindergarten Kid
And now for something entirely
different.
At first glance, the word Kindergarten
in Steven Universe context means a dark episode exploring the creation of gems
and usually focuses on Amethyst. I remember when the title for this episode was
announced nearly a year ago everyone assumed it would be a part of the now
finished Amethyst arc (which was predicted through the titles of other episodes).
Instead, we got a Road Runner vs. Coyote style episode starring Peridot as she
tries in vain to capture a corrupted gem.
Surprisingly, it turned out to be
really funny, even if it wasn’t one of Steven Universe’s better episodes.
Peridot is my favourite character, and we got a little more information about
her abilities here. She’s surprisingly resilient, managing to go through all
kinds of trauma without being poofed. We also learned she’s able to bubble
gems, although she mistakenly didn’t send the bubble to the heart of the
Temple.
The physical humour was really on
point with this one, with all the cartoon physics really feeling straight out
of a Looney Tunes cartoon. The animators used the desert backgrounds and the
hills of the Beta Kindergarten to their advantage to make a real playground for
Steven, Peridot and the corrupted gem to run around.
That’s really all there is to say
about this one. It was a simple, funny episode. A bit of a weird way to start
Season 4, since in the past we’ve had premieres like Full Disclosure and Super
Watermelon Island. I don’t know if I’ll ever watch The Kindergarten Kid again,
but I enjoyed it for what it was.
FINAL SCORE
6/10
Okay
Know your Fusion
Much like the fusion gems themselves,
this episode was…bizarre, to say the least.
I like it when the show decides to
nonchalantly include the fusions. They’re usually only saved for big, groundbreaking
events, but when one pops up when you’re not expecting it, it’s a bit of a
treat. Think back to when Pearl and Amethyst formed Opal back in Log Date. Although
it wasn’t a speaking part, it was nice of the crew to acknowledge they haven’t
forgotten about her.
This episode, surprisingly, gave Smoky
Quartz and Sardonyx starring roles, as Steven and Amethyst introduced their new
fusion to Garnet and Pearl. The two are understandably ecstatic, and form
Sardonyx so that the two can…go on a talk show.
Yeah, that’s not what I was hoping
for, but okay.
Honestly, it would’ve been really cool
to be out in the field with Smoky Quartz as Sardonyx tries to have her unlock
her full potential, but here it was just nothing being accomplished for 10
minutes straight. Sardonyx asks Smoky what her power is. Smoky doesn’t know.
Sardonyx asks again. Smoky doesn’t know. Rinse and repeat until credits.
The pacing in this episode is all off.
Remember, the primary rule of storytelling is show, don’t tell. How fun is it to
listen to two characters talking about what one of them can do? It’s not fun at
all. I wanted to see Smoky Quartz really trying to figure out who she is,
instead of watching her participate in stupid games that you know she’s going
to fail at.
This one episode’s saving grace is
that there’s some humour in it I really didn’t expect from Steven Universe.
Sardonyx breaks the fourth wall several times, acknowledging the fact she’s in
a cartoon, having the clips she used carried with the watermark “Provided by
Cartoon Network”, and even a quick jab at the fact that Sugilite is probably
never going to have a speaking role again. It was really unexpected and funny
because of that.
Immediately after watching Know your
Fusion, I thought to myself “If I were to show Steven Universe to someone new,
would I show them this one?” My answer would probably be no. Very little was
accomplished at all, aside from a 30 second reveal that Smoky Quartz can use
her yo-yo as a grappling hook, which you honestly could figure out just from watching
Earthlings. Aside from some of the good jokes, the always delightful fusions,
and the ending, this episode is one you can definitely skip in my opinion.
FINAL SCORE
4/10
Mediocre
Well, that’s a disappointing end to
Steven’s Summer Adventures. I’m glad that weekly episodes are coming back,
because that would be a bit of a lackluster way to go on a hiatus. See you next
Thursday for the next episode!
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