Thursday, 2 February 2017

Steven Universe Review: “That Will Be All”

The third craziest weekend
(This review contains spoilers!)

          So we’ve arrived at the end of the arc! With Steven having reunited with Greg, all that’s left to do is rejoin with the Crystal Gems and run home.

          Of course, things don’t go smoothly for our heroes. First of all, Steven and Greg have to escape the Amethyst guards. Thankfully, all the guards have become friends with Amethyst, even the deformed Skinny Jasper and overcooked Carnelian. I love how all the guards are different shapes and sizes, and it’s not just the same quartz model used over and over again with different gem placements.

          Anyways, Steven and Greg get separated from the Amethysts, leading them into a room filled with bubbled Rose Quartz gems. In there they find Blue Diamond…as well as Yellow Diamond. While they’re able to avoid being noticed, they do snoop in on the Diamonds conversation, leading us some insight as to what’s going on with them.

          While Blue is still grieving over the loss of Pink Diamond, Yellow feels that it’s time to get over the loss. And the best way to do that? Why, get rid of everything that Pink had anything to do with, of course! This explains why Yellow was so frantic to use the Cluster to destroy the Earth back in Message Received, as Earth was under Pink Diamond’s jurisdiction.

          This leads us to our latest song, “What’s The Use Of Feeling Blue”, as sung by Yellow Diamond. It’s a great villain song that gives insight to Yellow’s character, showing us that she’s still grieving over Pink despite her attempts to get over it through her genocide. The real interesting part of the song is the way the main chorus is phrased. It can be interpreted as both “What’s the use of feeling blue?”, as in feeling sad, or “What’s the use of feeling, Blue?” meaning Yellow doesn’t understand why Blue feels the need to continually grieve over Pink. Both are applicable to her character and the scene, and it’ll be really interesting to look into other people’s interpretations of the song. While it’s no “It’s Over, Isn’t It” or “Stronger Than You”, it’s still an excellent song that propels the Diamonds’ story forward in a great way.

          There is one thing about the Diamonds that confuses me, though: we know from the murals in the moon base and the diamond sigil that there are 4 in total: Yellow, Blue, Pink, and White Diamond. So where does White Diamond fit into all this? Considering she has never even been mentioned by anyone thus far, I imagine she’s the true final boss of the series, perhaps even the boss of the other diamonds (and if a certain theory is to be believed, Pearl’s original master). This isn’t a problem with the episode or anything, I’m just wondering as to when she’s going to be properly introduced.

          The episode ends with the Gems regrouping and escaping, unsurprisingly, and we get a great moment of Pearl taunting Holly Blue before they leave. I really wish we’d get to see the “terrifying renegade” side of Pearl more often, because this here might’ve just been her best moment on the show yet.

          That Will Be All is a great way to end off this story arc, giving us some answers to long-burning questions, but also posing more for later. The Diamonds are pretty obviously the main villains at this point, and their threat is looming over Earth more and more. I’m glad Season 4 is finally kicking into gear, because I don’t think I could handle more Future Boy Zoltrons or Onion Gangs. This episode was easily the best one Steven Universe has seen since the ending of Season 3, and with more episodes on the horizon, I look forward to seeing what’s in store for Steven and the Gems next.

FINAL SCORE
9/10

Amazing

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