Political
Power
This cartoon mainly exists to build up tension to Peridot’s
incoming invasion of Earth, and while it’s good on its own, it’s pretty
disposable story-wise. The conflict of
the issue unfolds when one of the Crystal Gems’ attempts to prepare themselves
for Peridot’s arrival knocks out all the power in Beach City. This is a big deal for many residents because
no power means they can’t run their businesses.
Clearly it’s an instance where one group of characters’ actions are ones
the innocent have to suffer for, yet the Crystal Gems aren’t interested in
doing anything about the issue. At least Steven’s willing to
help . Anyway, the
man affected the most by the power outage is Mayor Dewey who knows how harshly
the citizens of Beach City will react to it when night falls. I will say he comes off as a legit
responsible mayor here caring for the citizens as opposed to his status being
treated like a joke in all his little appearances throughout the season which
is nice. Mayor Dewey’s big stunt here is
that he tells everyone that the power will be back on by the night, which he
has no proof of. He claims that all this
is because he wants to make the people of Beach City feel better about the
crisis and not panic, which is a major burden for the mayor. This is actually a believable scenario. Authoritative figures really don’t have the
power to fix all problems, so while it’s wrong to lie, making people not worry
is sometimes the only thing that can be done.
However, since Mayor Dewey’s lie was completely blatant, a riot is just
what happens when the sun goes down and the power’s still out. In the chaos, it’s Steven who gets the big
moment as he informs everyone that they’re all strong enough to face anything together
and even vouches for Mayor Dewey by explaining the reason for his lying, and
his words calm down the mob. It’s a
great moment of maturity for Steven that also relates to his talent of
encouraging others. This talent is also
put to good use when the cartoon ends with Steven encouraging the Crystal Gems
to talk to him about Peridot, something they’ve been avoiding the whole
time. When they admit that they’re
scared of the coming invasion’s uncertainty, Steven, just like with the mob,
tells them that they can pull through it by working together which ends up
turning the power back on. I buy this
instance from a symbolic point of view of showing that the Gems are feeling
better about the invasion, but logically, I have a hard time believing that
this turns the power back on. How does
simply talking about your problems and agreeing to work together fix the electrical equipment that was broken? On the whole, the cartoon is a well-told
story with good character development even if you can easily skip it and not
miss anything going into the big finish. 8/10
The Ranking
- Rose’s Scabbard
- Ocean Gem
- Lion 3: Straight to Video
- Alone Together
- Coach Steven
- On the Run
- Story for Steven
- Maximum Capacity
- Mirror Gem
- An Indirect Kiss
- Space Race
- So Many Birthdays
- Steven the Sword Fighter
- Lion 2: The Movie
- Bubble Buddies
- Monster Buddies
- Laser Light Cannon
- Winter Forecast
- Giant Woman
- Lars and the Cool Kids
- The Test
- The Message
- Steven’s Lion
- Horror Club
- Watermelon Steven
- Gem Glow
- Steven and the Stevens
- Marble Madness
- Warp Tour
- Open Book
- Island Adventure
- Rose’s Room
- Cheeseburger Backpack
- Future Vision
- Political Power
- Secret Team
- House Guest
- Serious Steven
- Joking Victim
- Beach Party
- Cat Fingers
- Tiger Millionaire
- Together Breakfast
- Fusion Cuisine
- Frybo
- Shirt Club
- Onion Trade
- Arcade Mania
- Garnet’s Universe
- Keep Beach City Weird
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the invasion finally occurs in "The Return."
If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.
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