Continuing the trend of “The Return”, this last cartoon explodes
with excitement all the way through, making this a truly epic finish. It all happens when Steven recovers from
Jasper’s blow to his head and easily gets out of his cell which apparently
wasn’t equipped to hold in humans as opposed to Gems. While searching for everyone else as the ship
holding them as prisoner heads for Homeworld, he comes across two completely
new Gems. One is the fiery and
temperamental Ruby and the other is the calm and collected Sapphire. They’re both likable and appealing characters
by themselves, but during the escape, they both appear desperate to find each
other. Once Ruby and Sapphire finally find
each other, we see the reason for their desperation.
They’re a romantic couple, and given that all the Gems we’ve
seen take on the form of females, this makes this reveal a solid form of LGBT
representation. What’s more, it’s proven
to be a big piece of representation for the group when we see that Ruby and
Sapphire fused together equals Garnet explaining her three eyes, two Gem powers
opposed to one, and her regularly balanced demeanor; she’s a fusion. This means that even though we’ve never seen
Ruby and Sapphire themselves before, them forming one of the main characters
means we’ve seen them be a couple since the beginning. This newly revealed information of Garnet and
the Gems who form her leads to a fight with Jasper. Like most fights, this one has a lot of
action with punches, fast movements, and even a few explosions, but it also
comes with an awesome song entitled, “Stronger Than You.” It has a catchy tune that matches the pace of
the fight and never feels out of place, and works as an anthem for Garnet’s
status as a fusion. As Jasper shows
disdain towards fusion, the song greatly illustrates her pride in who she is
and how she benefits as a Gem made of love.
It’s thanks to Garnet that the jailbreak is a success, but things remain
intense even when the cartoon’s nearly finished. For one thing, Peridot escapes in a pod as
the ship crashes down to Earth, leading to a major plot thread for the next
season, and Jasper survives the crash, as does Lapis. Jasper convinces Lapis to fuse with her to
finish off the Crystal Gems, and when Lapis accepts, it seems like a nasty
betrayal to everyone, especially Steven.
Then, at the last moment, it’s revealed that Lapis’ acceptance was a
ploy to trap her and Jasper, both of whom fused as the more powerful Malachite,
at the bottom the ocean which is both brave, and further painting Lapis as a
tragic character. She spent so long
trapped in a mirror, and now under her own power, she’s trapped again. She really can’t get a break. I think the final moment of Steven and the
Crystal Gems starring blankly at what happened with only the sound of Connie
calling Steven who had left her a message earlier is a perfect reaction. The whole cartoon closes the season with one
exciting moment after another that it’s hard to take it all in, with Garnet’s
reveal as a fusion, the awesome song set to a battle, and intense moments full
of things to expect in the future. It
really shows the evolution of the story and cements the series’ status as a
major experience. 10/10
The Ranking
- Rose’s Scabbard
- Jailbreak
- Ocean Gem
- The Return
- 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
Final Thoughts
People often say that life is like a box of chocolates which means that you never know what you’ll get. From this first season, this concept is easily true for Steven Universe, though in that case, I should be saying that life is like a bunch of gems. Every cartoon that makes up the season is not only different from each other, but they also manage to come off as good and appealing like a gem would. Even the weakest cartoons have something good to take from them which further demonstrates the show’s status as something special. We have simple slice-of-life cartoons that stand out with top-notch humor and character interactions, character-building cartoons that are big on heart and interesting information, and dark and serious cartoons that bring about major new directions for the main story to take. Even when the cartoons aren’t the best, they’re all enjoyable in their own way, and that’s a rare thing for any series. There’s always something good to take away.
One major thing to praise the show for is its creative premise in how much there is to the alien race of Gems. In just about any cartoon, including those that feature Steven doing a fun activity, we see some aspect of Gem lore that adds to their engagement. We see how they summon weapons, how they access rooms, their main goal on Earth, how they handle the monsters they fight, how they go through life and death, how they get their certain appearances, and many more. In addition to all the insightful and creative elements of Gems, we also get a lot of emotional points to them such as how badly their forms and minds are altered when their gemstones are broken or corrupted. Knowing that this is the reason why many Gems turned into monsters really adds a tragic tone to how they work. Also, considering that there was a war between Gems that resulted in many corruptions and casualties makes the lore all the more enticing, so it’s always great to learn more information about the war, and we’re still learning more about it right into its current season. True, the first half of the season doesn’t have many cartoons big on Gem information this deep and the big stuff doesn’t come through until the second half which makes this season less interesting than what’s to come, but even when it’s not dealing with heavy stuff, the Gem information we do get is still a true testament to this show’s vast creativity.
This great lore really works because of the characters we follow all throughout. Our three main Gems, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl each have their own personalities that make them distinctive from one another allowing them to work off each other very well. At first, they may seem like your average super hero group through always taking on anything harming Earth, but as we see more of the show, we see how their role is deeper than it seems. Aside from their past of breaking from their rulers and starting a war, their characters have heavy reasons behind them that explain their reason to fight. Amethyst’s creation being part of Homeworld’s destruction of Earth allows her to make herself be of good use to where she was made, Pearl’s past with Rose Quartz brings about something for her to get over as she fights for what Rose believed in, and Garnet being a fusion explains so much of what we see of her through the season namely her pride in being who she is in a world that accepts it. All these Gems are great characters to follow, and what we learn about them and their past is effectively shown through Steven himself. He’s literally present for everything in the cartoons allowing him to observe everything there is to know about Gems in his own childlike way. In the beginning though, he really can be somewhat of a nuisance by focusing more on frivolous matters, doing boneheaded things with dangerous artifacts, and getting in the way when others are doing something important. Thankfully, very early on, he actually starts learning from his escapades and matures little by little through starting to take things like Gems and their powers, living up to the things his late mother did, and his status as a member of the team, seriously, up to the point of dealing with Gem monsters without his guardians’ help. It’s also great to note that this development really sticks for the rest of the series. We also have interesting characters in the other Gems we meet this season like the tragically sympathetic Lapis Lazuli, the mysterious Peridot, and the ever-threatening and seemingly unstoppable Jasper, with each one we meet demonstrating the mystery and menace of Homeworld. As for everyone else, while we see a lot of great ones with interesting depths and strong relationships with Steven like his dad Greg and best friend Connie, everyone else isn’t nearly as interesting, making the cartoons focusing on them noticeably weaker than others. However, what makes them work regardless is Steven’s connections with them in which we see that even the least pleasing people have a lot of good in them so they’re all worth watching, even the likes of Lars or Ronaldo. Ultimately, no matter how strong they are, it’s possible to get something to like through this whole cast who add their own appeal to the creative lore and storytelling. Plus, through enhancing the enchanting environments of Beach City, the many Gem-specific locations on Earth, and even space, soothing synthesized jazz piano and guitar music that fit every scene, including the intense ones, and the occasional well-constructed song numbers, it makes for a truly unique feel you can’t get from any other show.
Although this is only the beginning of the greatness that comes with it, Steven Universe really proves to be one of a kind in its first season. I’m really glad that I decided to check it out since its story, characters, creativity, and atmosphere successfully all leave a strong impact that leads me to name it as one of the top-tier animated shows off all time. Check it out if you haven’t already via online streaming, digital download purchasing, and the occasional reruns. It’s truly a gem you won’t regret watching.
Highly Recommended
This concludes our look at Steven Universe Season 1. Next time, we'll be returning to reviewing Hey Arnold, this time focusing on episodes of the 2nd Season. Until then:
Stay Animated Folks!
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