'Toon Reviews 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 48

Story for Steven

Although the story of how Greg met Rose Quartz was briefly mentioned before, this cartoon provides that same story with more details to it making it capable of standing out as something great.  Since this meeting is such a big deal for the overall story, this cartoon’s existence is all the more welcome, as is the fact that it’s executed very well.  We’re already in for a great story as we open with Greg in his old one-man-band job playing the awesome rock ballad, “Comet,” with great music from instruments associated with the style, lyrics that uniquely explain Greg’s views on the job, and just an epic feel to it all throughout.  It’s this song that sets the entire story into motion as we see Rose Quartz, the only one who showed up at Greg’s performance, become slowly attached to Greg's talents and abilities.  This is not just a good place to start Greg and Rose’s growing relationship, but it also sells one of Rose’s prominent character traits, her fascination for what Earth has to offer which further shows why she would want to have the Crystal Gems protect it. Speaking of the Crystal Gems, the story also tells how Greg first met the Crystal Gems we know now, each with their own interpretation of him which shows off their alien nature where even though they protect humans, they don’t exactly understand their ways.  Amethyst was brave enough to get near him and even find out he was interested in Rose, Pearl treated him like a messy vermin to be careful around, and Garnet didn’t trust him so much that she was willing to throw him over a fence they had at the time.  It’s also worth noting that the story has a nice visual example of how they all valued Rose as a leader since all three Gems look younger around her as opposed to their authoritative appearances around Steven.  Anyway, even though their first interactions were brief, it’s easy to feel the chemistry between Greg and Rose through all that happens and to feel for Greg when we see how he was pushed by his old manager, Marty, to forget about Rose and only focus on his band career to make him money.  Through what the story provides, Marty easily proves to be one of the show’s worst characters blinding himself with greed and selfishness while treating people like objects, showing no care to what his partner really wants, and, unlike other bad characters, has no redeeming qualities at all.  It’s for these reasons that it’s great that Greg ultimately stood up to Marty and went back to the right place for him.  True this left him without a job for a while, but he does have the carwash job now, and we see how we got there in a later cartoon.  Plus, as bad as Marty was, the cartoon does point out that his harshness is what led to the formation of a charming couple and literally everything we’ve seen in the show, this season and beyond.  This cartoon is amazing for many reasons from the awesome song, how it has a bad character lead to so much good, and of course the insightful background for Greg and Rose, and ultimately the whole show. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Rose’s Scabbard
2. Ocean Gem
3. Lion 3: Straight to Video
4. Alone Together
5. Coach Steven
6. On the Run
7. Story for Steven
8. Maximum Capacity
9. Mirror Gem
10. An Indirect Kiss
11. Space Race
12. So Many Birthdays
13. Steven the Sword Fighter
14. Lion 2: The Movie
15. Bubble Buddies
16. Monster Buddies
17. Laser Light Cannon
18. Winter Forecast
19. Giant Woman
20. Lars and the Cool Kids
21. The Test
22. Steven’s Lion
23. Horror Club
24. Watermelon Steven
25. Gem Glow
26. Steven and the Stevens
27. Marble Madness
28. Warp Tour
29. Open Book
30. Island Adventure
31. Rose’s Room
32. Cheeseburger Backpack
33. Future Vision
34. Secret Team
35. House Guest
36. Serious Steven
37. Joking Victim
38. Beach Party
39. Cat Fingers
40. Tiger Millionaire
41. Together Breakfast
42. Fusion Cuisine
43. Frybo
44. Shirt Club
45. Onion Trade
46. Arcade Mania
47. Garnet’s Universe
48. Keep Beach City Weird

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where everyone starts discovering that Homeworld is coming through a wailing stone that contains "The Message."

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