As we reach the middle of this season, we get a major piece of Gem lore that propels the entire show into a whole new direction beyond Steven’s light-hearted adventures with the occasional monster hunt. It starts out nice, simple, and fun when Steven is given a Gem-powered mirror that’s said to show him anything. The fun comes through all the moments Steven gets up to with the mirror as he travels about Beach City. There’s even some nice creativity when the mirror picks up sound bites from whoever Steven comes across and uses what it hears to form its sentences. Even with this amusing way of communication, the bond of Steven and the mirror is believable. They feel like actual friends having fun, and it doesn’t even matter that one of them is an inanimate object. However, since the mirror has the ability to communicate with Steven, once the Crystal Gems find out about this, things start getting more dramatic when they fear the worst and propose to bubble it away. This causes the mirror to cry out in agony as the Crystal Gems try to get Steven to hand it over which gets more intense as it repeats Steven crying “NO!” At the climax of this scene, Steven’s good will actually sides with the mirror as he goes on to run away with it, and after he smacks Garnet at that, even if that was an accident. This isn’t even the most impactful part. That comes in when Steven’s alone with the mirror and it tells him to remove the Gem embedded in the back. Once Steven does that, the highlight of the cartoon begins as we’re introduced to the first Gem outside of the major group of heroes, Lapis Lazuli. It’s impactful because after following the show up to this point, you’d think that the Crystal Gems are the only Gems out there, but Lapis’ introduction shows that this race of aliens is much more vast than first proposed, and that gets the audience anticipated to know what other Gems are out there. Regarding Lapis herself, she at first seems happy and friendly when she first comes across Steven, the living being who set her free from the mirror. Then, once the Crystal Gems show up, she lets all her pent up rage loose as she uses manipulates the ocean water to attack them as she vents about how they kept her trapped in that mirror for thousands of years and not caring about who she really was. Through it all, even though she’s a strange new Gem the main protagonists are wary of, Lapis’ rage is perfectly understandable. I mean, anyone would be furious to be trapped from life against their will, and her turmoil will become more understandable as the show goes on. For this cartoon now, it’s a strong one for how it seamlessly goes from fun to dramatic, the additions to the Gem lore, and a new Gem with so much to her paving the way for the next cartoon. 10/10
The Ranking
- Coach Steven
- Mirror Gem
- An Indirect Kiss
- So Many Birthdays
- Steven the Sword Fighter
- Lion 2: The Movie
- Bubble Buddies
- Monster Buddies
- Laser Light Cannon
- Giant Woman
- Lars and the Cool Kids
- Steven’s Lion
- Gem Glow
- Steven and the Stevens
- Rose’s Room
- Cheeseburger Backpack
- Serious Steven
- Joking Victim
- Beach Party
- Cat Fingers
- Tiger Millionaire
- Together Breakfast
- Frybo
- Onion Trade
- Arcade Mania
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of this episode's thrilling continuation, "Ocean Gem."
If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far. 
No comments:
Post a Comment