Keeping it Together
This cartoon shows how well this series specializes in playing with one’s emotions. It pulls you in with something nice and wholesome and gradually leads to something heavier.
Everything starts out simple
with Steven and the Crystal Gems conversing while doing chores. Even with the calm tone at the moment,
thoughts are still on how necessary it is to find Peridot, with everyone
assuming that her main goal is reactivate the Gem Kindergarten. We even learn how its injectors work such as
exactly how they plant Gems in the ground and how their growth depletes the
Earth of its resources. With all the
talk about Peridot, the Crystal Gems track her down in the
Kindergarten, and the tone intensifies from there.
Even though this isn’t the first time we've seen the Kindergarten, it still has a moody, grey feel to what goes on,
signaling something dark that could happen.
Steven happens upon Peridot by chance who appears calculating about
“fusion experiments” giving the impression that she WAS trying to reactivate
the Kindergarten and potentially hurt the Earth. Following an energetic chase
through the Kindergarten, the Crystal Gems split up after her with Steven going
with Garnet to also see if they can figure out Peridot’s real intention since
the injectors aren’t on. Through it all,
the nice familial bond between Steven and Garnet is very prominent with Steven,
as any curious child would, asks Garnet question after question on what it’s
like to be a fusion, and Garnet answers them as she advances with her
investigation.
Then, when they start
investigating closely, there’s always a feeling that something ominous is
watching them. The strange occurrence
makes itself known when disembodied hands appear and attack them, bringing the
whole cartoon to its darkest point. It’s
especially dark with Garnet’s reaction.
The hands are actually forced fusions of the shards of shattered Crystal Gems
. Eventually, a big
forced fusion composed of a large number of shards shows up to attack and fully
unsettles Garnet, and its screams add to the horror and tension. You may think it’s strange for
Garnet to be unable to do anything because of this, but given that she’s a
fusion of two Gems who love each other, this is an understandable and logical
layer to prevent her from continuing to fight.
In fact, what she sees brings her to the brink of falling apart as if
the scene wasn’t frightening enough already.
However, through a heartwarming turn of events, it’s Steven’s pleas for
Garnet to keep going that allows her to prevent unfusing, and beat back the
forced fusions.
All ends well with
everyone leaving safely despite still not knowing what Peridot is up to and that the
shattered Crystal Gems had met such a horrible fate which even Garnet
understandably still isn’t over. It is
nice though that talking with Steven helps ease the shock of the discovery,
which even includes a nice allusion to keeping a pair of socks together regarding
what it feels like for Garnet to be a fusion all the time. So, despite the horrific things that came
from Homeworld’s ideas of fusion, it’s great to know that we’re left to believe
that Garnet will always remember what fusion really means.
That there is a good embodiment of the power
of this cartoon. It gradually goes from
light-hearted to disturbing, but inspires the audience to hold onto what’s good
regardless, making this one of this show’s most influential works. 10/10
The Ranking
- Sworn to the Sword
- Keeping it Together
- Full Disclosure
- Reformed
- Joy Ride
- Say Uncle
- Rising Tides, Crashing Skies
- Love Letters
The next Steven Universe review will be on the second Greg and Rose Quartz flashback highlighting their attempt at fusion.
The next review for MC Toon Reviews will be on Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 8 featuring "Arnold's Room" and "Helga vs. Big Patty."
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