Steven Universe Review (Season 4 Ep. 6, 7, 8, 9)

Steven Universe Spoilers

It's been a while since I've done one of these, and I've been in a bit of a creative slump lately. So I'm hoping that by writing something here something will trigger in my head and get me back up to speed. And if not, well, here's the review anyway. I'll be covering everything that's aired since Future Boy Zoltron, since it's been a while since then and who knows when the next episode is coming around. Let's see how much you guys disagree with me this time. I'm predicting it will be a lot.

ON WITH THE REVIEW:

Last One Out of Beach City

I liked this one quite a bit. I don't think I found it particularly funny or captivating, but it was a very good character episode. It was very interesting to me to see Pearl trying to get out of her comfort zone and actively move on with her life--something we haven't really seen her do before, as all she tended to do before was cling to and preserve the past in any way she could. Here, we see her struggle to take steps forward, be her own gem, and, of course, stumble quite a bit in the process (I mean, you don't have a story to tell, otherwise).

For the longest time Pearl has been built up to be something of a tragic character you're meant to sympathize with and connect to (which of course can be said of multiple characters in the show) and it really pays off here. You find her awkward stumbling amusing, but you're also sort of rooting for her to "get the girl". A concern that I had as of perhaps a few months ago was that the Crystal Gems (namely Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl) were not going to be explored much further or have many more interesting or meaningful character arcs as the show shifted more to focus on characters like Peridot, Lapis, and Steven. But along with Amethyst's struggle with her own self-image in season 3, this episode really helped to abate those fears.

I also really like the idea of introducing a human romantic interest (or, even if it turns out not to be romantic, a human relationship) for Pearl. I think it's a really refreshing twist and a clever inversion of Pearl's previous situation wherein she was the hanger-on while Rose's attention was taken up by Greg. And also that it's not so much the human pining for the gem in this situation, but the reverse. Conceptually, I think it's a great idea for setting up future stories, and I hope it pays off. Also, the 80's/90's comedy movie ending with "Amethyst as the ultimate wing man" and "Steven as the voice of reason" really cracked me up. It was also great seeing that role reversal where Pearl is going off the rails and Steven is trying to keep things together.

So, yeah, above all, it was a great episode for Pearl. We learn a little more about her and get to see her dealing with conflicts and situations we've never seen her deal with before. I hope they do more stories like this, not just with her and the other gems as well. It would be very welcome to me.

Onion Gang

Okay, so, I don't know if I've made this clear before, but I am not a fan of Onion or Onion-centric episodes. While I think he can be amusing and good for a visual joke here and there (sometimes really good visual jokes), I tend not to be pleased when he has a significant role in any given story. But, here we are with Onion Gang. Is this the episode that changed my opinion and made me more welcome to stories that focus on Onion? Kind of, but not really.

I liked the idea of Onion having a group of silent, idiosyncratic friends he hangs out with in the woods. Watching them play around and do weird shit together reminded me a little of old movies and comics about little boys getting into misadventures, like Calvin and Hobbes or Sandlot or something. And I liked the setting of an autumnal, wooded area, as it added a lot of color and atmosphere, which are two things this show consistently nails. And the friends themselves were sort of amusing to meet, each with their own quirks and personalities that are clearly conveyed despite the lack of dialogue.

My main issue with this episode is that I just simply did not find it that entertaining. This episode is very joke-heavy, and maybe a couple got me to chuckle, but beyond that, a lot of the humor in this episode just felt awkward to me. Like I wasn't sure if I was even supposed to be laughing. The scene that epitomizes this, for me, is when they're riding around in the wagon and Garbanzo pretends to be injured and dying. He clearly spurts ketchup onto himself and it's very clearly all an act. And it's indicated Steven sees this, as he notices the ketchup, so it feels like you're supposed to assume he's playing along when he acts all concerned, because his dialogue also feels melodramatic and insincere. But then they reveal "Haha, we were just joshing you" and Steven is suddenly awkwardly in disbelief that it was all an act. So the joke is that Steven actually did think it was really happening and is actually so naive that he believed Garbanzo was really dying?

I didn't buy into it, and the whole thing just felt very awkwardly framed and scripted. If that was the joke, I think it could've used both a stronger setup and punchline, like maybe Steven is really clearly losing his shit and taking it very seriously, and then when they reveal it was all an act, he goes really quiet and nervous. Or something. I mean I'm armchair writing here, but that whole scene just felt like it was scripted really weirdly. The other jokes in the episode were sort of similar, like it was just Steven making assumptions about what the gang is doing and then being caught off guard when, surprise, they're actually doing something weird and expectedly unexpected.

What I will commend this episode on, though, is the fact that it actually managed to get me to feel a tinge of sympathy for Onion, which really no episode of SU had managed to do for me before. I'm of course referring to the ending scene where Onion is all sad and alone with his friends leaving for the fall, and Steven has to console him. Even when we see Onion perform random acts of kindness and get a little glimpse into his relationship with his dad, it was very difficult for me to humanize Onion in my mind, especially when you juxtapose all that stuff with him doing things such as robbing a video arcade, setting fire to a theme park, or threatening to bludgeon someone with a bat. But this episode really brought down the walls and showed us a vulnerable side of Onion we really hadn't seen before, and I can appreciate that to some degree.

At the end of the day, though, not super into this episode. The comedy was just too predictable at some points and too weird at others. I could see people arguing that the point of it was to be weird, but, I don't know, to me that's like saying that a poop sandwich shouldn't be criticized for tasting like poop because it's a poop sandwich. It's like, yeah, but it still tastes like poop. I mean, I'm not saying this episode is poop, but the same principle applies. The episode was awkward and strange and that's how it left me feeling. But I will say that it's probably the best episode for Onion's character that they've made so far, so, kudos to that.

Gem Harvest

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this episode. On the one hand, I did find it to be interesting. It was neat being introduced to Steven's human family for the first time (outside of Greg of course) and all the baggage that comes with, but I also felt like the episode suffered from a couple pacing issues, which I think was made all the more apparent by the fact that this episode was a double feature. So let's get into that.

It definitely caught my attention when some human dude shows up at the barn and it's like "oh my god, I wonder if he's related to Steven". And, lo and behold, he totally is. Now, he's not Greg's dad or his brother or anything, but still, family is family. It was great seeing Greg sort of awkwardly explain the whole "situation" to someone who very quickly goes from being a total outsider to an insider. The scene was very appropriately tense and discomforting, and I was definitely very intrigued to see how it would play out. Plus, we never really had a lot of pre-Rose info on Greg's background, and this was a nice view into what sort of relationships he had prior to the beginning of the show outside of the gems. Not to mention finding out that his last name is actually "DeMayo" (Mrs. Maheswaran's comment that "Universe" can't really be his last name suddenly becomes foreshadowing).

While that was all interesting, I did feel like the episode dragged on a bit. First off, I know everyone loves Peridot and Lapis, and while I do like them very much, I am definitely not in the party of "I could literally watch Peridot do anything in character and think it's the most amazing thing ever for all eternity". And that entire initial segment with Peridot and Lapis very much felt like filler. I get that it sets up the themes of family and loneliness, and the whole farm plot point, but it didn't really connect to the rest of the episode that strongly for me. Which I wouldn't have minded if I found it more amusing, but I didn't really. I've stated before that SU hasn't been doing it for me as much lately in the comedy department, and that whole initial sequence was definitely an example of that. Now, if you found it entertaining and hilarious, don't let what I say here stop you from feeling like your emotional reaction to it was valid. But it definitely didn't really tickle my funny bone.

The other thing is that, while I admit that Andy grows on you over time, I didn't find him to be terribly likable as a character. He sort of just comes across as your typical ultra-conservative, old-fashioned, cranky stubborn old man relative. Which, of course, do exist and I actually wouldn't be surprised at all if he turned out to be based on a real relative of one of the show's writers or something. And while it helps create drama for the episode, I didn't find all his antics and temper-tantrums all that entertaining, which caused some of the scenes to drag on for me a little.

However, as I said, he did sort of grow on me. When you start to see him succumb to the gems' good will and you get a closer look at his mental state and emotional baggage, you can start to warm up to him a bit. It was also nice seeing him express concern for Steven's safety during the whole chase sequence. Although the conclusion did feel a little too on the nose for me (they basically stop just short of flat-out stating the message of the episode), it did help wrap things up nicely and give us a bit of welcomed bonding between Steven and his newfound uncle (which personally I would've liked to maybe have seen more of throughout the episode).

And some of the humor did work for me. I definitely thought it was funny when the gems come back from shopping and they're like "hey, we're gonna combine all these human celebrations" and Pearl's like "let's all marry each other!" "And let's throw in a little dying, too!" "We're very sorry for your marriage". It was also a good point to have Andy finally start to turn around with his attitude toward the gems. So I enjoyed that little scene. Also the closing gag where the episode is starting to end and Andy is just like "Yeah that's uh...that's gross". Just the timing on that joke and the deadpan reading of the line really got me. And while I complain about them, a couple of Andy's reactions were sort of funny, particularly when he refers to Rose as an "illegal alien" and is like "YOU COULDN'T EVEN MARRY AN AMERICAN!?"

So I would say that this episode kind of falls in the middle for me. There was stuff I didn't really care for but there were also parts I definitely enjoyed. It was a bit uneven all around, but in the end I'm glad I saw it and it's probably one that I'll be watching again in the future.

Three Gems and a Baby

I also have mixed feelings about this episode. Again, some stuff in it that I found interesting, but also sort of thought it was bogged down by a couple of issues.

For a while now I've been wanting an episode that flashes back to not long after Steven is born, and everything is sort of awkward and tense. And, yeah, this episode was definitely that, and I think that tension was really just the highlight of this episode. Greg and the gems just not knowing what Steven is or how to deal with him, and then of course trying to figure out how to cope with that, was very intriguing to me. It's especially poignant how Amethyst, the "kid" of the bunch, doesn't seem like she's quite able to wrap her head around the fact that Steven =/= Rose, almost like a little kid trying to understand mortality or...something else depressing that has to do with growing up. And Garnet is trying to keep order, but she clearly doesn't understand much of anything either. And Pearl is just totally shut down, and it's pretty...I don't want to say satisfying but maybe more like it fulfills expectations? We've explored her relationship with Rose so much and finally seeing her at this point in her life, trying to deal with the fact that Rose is gone and Steven is here, is very emotionally effective.

My issue with this episode is that, in spite of all this weight to it, it feels like it's not very grounded. We spend the episode sort of just jumping from person to person (Greg, then Amethyst, then Garnet, then Pearl) and seeing their individual emotional and mental responses to the situation, and while it follows something of a narrative pattern, it didn't quite feel very neatly tied together for me, like I needed a stronger focal point that carried through the episode. To give an example, in the episode "Keystone Motel", we sort of jump around a lot in terms of getting emotional reactions from different characters. It starts with Pearl trying to apologize to Garnet and that being all awkward, then it goes to Garnet having this inner turmoil, then it goes to her splitting up and Ruby and Sapphire getting into a fight and having to patch things up. It's sort of all over the place. But the thing that binds it together, or one of the things at least, is the fact that it's all seen from Steven's point of view. We experience those events through Steven and his reactions to them, and then the episode concludes with the focus of the conflict coming back to him, bringing everything together.

In this episode, Steven is a baby. He can't really articulate any thoughts and it's sort of difficult to connect to or identify with him in any significant way, at least not enough to make him a viable pov character for the story. Or, maybe I'm wrong. It might've actually been interesting if the whole episode had been told from the perspective of baby Steven. But, even so, that doesn't seem like that's what the episode was going for, so it left me feeling like the story was missing a bit of an emotional anchor. Which, honestly, I feel like Pearl could have easily served. It would've been interesting if the gems had to babysit Steven and Pearl took charge of the situation, and over the course of the episode she develops a connection to baby Steven and comes upon the cusp of accepting what happened. Or we could've even seen Greg coming to terms with his loved one disappearing and turning into his son, especially since it's not something we've really gotten into before (I mean I know Pearl loved Rose, but Greg was actually in a relationship with her, and his personal loss isn't something the show hasn't really touched on).

So, the episode is filled with interesting and even some emotionally intense scenes, but it just felt a little less like a concrete narrative and more like things happening in a sequence peppered with some sentimentality. The way the episode just wraps up with "Well, hey, nobody knows what they're doing, so it's fine, we can all be lost together and laugh it off!" felt a little forced, like, okay, this is where the episode needs to end, throw on that ending aesop--as opposed to a climax and resolution the episode really built up to. I would've probably preferred something a little more ambiguous/bittersweet or at least a narrative that was focused on one or two specific characters rather than basically the whole cast.

It's a bit of a conflicting episode for me. On the one hand, I really like the premise and the ideas behind this episode. I think they're all really solid and interesting and it was very intriguing to watch things play out. At the same time, it just felt a little like it was missing a solid emotional foundation to carry through all those ideas and individual scenes. And that left me feeling like the episode was a little weirdly paced and dissatisfying. I'm sure people will have different views on this, but that's just my emotional response after having seen it. I may watch it again and come to understand it differently, but that's how I feel about it at the moment. Take that for what it's worth.

Closing Thoughts

I had a lot of mixed feelings with this batch of episodes. Probably the only one I just straight up liked was "Last One Out of Beach City". The rest I had some compliments to give and some issues to articulate, like there were a lot of ideas I really liked that I thought were really solid and interesting, but they weren't all executed in a way that I felt was best.

I think, for me personally, it feels a bit like the show might've peaked in the second season, which is not to say that I don't think any good or even great episodes have come out since then, but I think it hasn't been enthralling me quite as consistently as it has before. I'm sure people will disagree with me on that, and feel free to, but that's just my opinion on it right now. I still enjoy the show and look forward to every new episode, and I do still think it has a very intriguing story and very likable characters, as well as great music, colors, and animation. In terms of animated programs that I've seen in my lifetime, it's definitely still way up there. I just hope I never get to the point where I just flat out start disliking it or get bored of it (like season 6 of Adventure Time, though it's made a bit of a comeback for me with season 7). And I don't expect to, because even when I don't manage to be completely captivated by the series, it still proves to be able to produce some very interesting and entertaining stories, and I don't really expect that to change anytime soon.

So, that's it. I know I haven't been posting any comics lately, but that's really just because inspiration hasn't been striking me at all. But I'm going to really try and, with any luck, I'll have something new out for Christmas. We'll just have to wait and see what it is.

Until then, thanks for staying with me.