'Toon Reviews 15: Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 25: Message Received

Message Received

At this point, Peridot’s loyalties are a complete mystery, and after the events of the last cartoon, others are questioning her trust.  She seems to have warmed up to the protagonists, but her mad admiration for the Diamonds is not a welcome sign. 

This ignites betrayal in Steven, who typically believes in the good in others, and he demands to know Peridot’s connection to the Diamonds.  She’s believes they’re perfect and  admits that most of her loyalties are for them.  Given the Diamonds’ attempts to destroy Earth, her statement’s truth begs many questions.  This and Steven’s feelings are first to put Peridot’s moral compass to the test when he takes what she brought back from the moon base, which is a communicator to contact the Diamonds. 

Like the last cartoon, Peridot’s actions and behavior can go either way.  When she’s distressed about being locked away after her and Steven seemingly becoming friends, she could be lying, but her emotions sound genuine.  However, she still makes herself look bad when she breaks free with the robot she built to snatch the communicator, making for a fast-paced scramble for the Crystal Gems to stop her from using it all built on the rage from what looks like her betrayal.  In fact, this moment alone shows that you do NOT want to betray Steven Universe’s trust.  Their attempts fail, but lead to a lot of world-building in the form of the first official look at the Diamonds not counting stylized flashbacks, specifically, Yellow Diamond.

 

From the view of the communicator and various shots of her base on Homeworld, we see that the Diamonds are gargantuan beings that tower over every Gem we’ve seen up to this point.  From Yellow Diamond’s first moments alone, we get the impression that the Diamonds are cold and calculating with certain operations, and use their own Pearls to deal with anyone wanting an audience. 

Now, Yellow Diamond herself is very menacing as she interrogates Peridot on details of her original assignment, the scene itself becoming very intense with eerie music and Yellow Diamond’s authority clashing with Peridot’s reasoning and feeble tone.  This is also where things start working in Peridot’s favor.  When questioned about what happened to her ship, she could easily say the Crystal Gems destroyed it, but doesn’t, proving that she does have loyalty for them after all.  As for the Cluster, Peridot further shows some devotion to Earth when she tells Yellow Diamond, one of its masterminds, that it should be terminated, and Earth can be of good use to her without wiping out the  organic life. 

Then, Yellow Diamond comes off as a heartless tyrant just wanting the planet destroyed, and the more Peridot objects, the more monstrous she becomes as she demands Peridot to leave the Cluster to grow and refuses to listen to “the puny thoughts of a Peridot.”  Future seasons do show deep reasons for Yellow Diamond being bent on destroying Earth showing she’s not totally heartless, but her consistent ambition is fitting for the impression the scene here is meant to paint for her. 

Finally, after being so put down, Peridot snaps, refuses to follow the order, vouches for protection of Earth’s life, and to top it all, calls Yellow Diamond a clod.  This tense conversation makes this cartoon amazing with a small Gem talking to a big threatening Diamond with an appropriate mood all throughout, ending with the little guy coming out on top while her development comes full circle, for her actions officially make Peridot a Crystal Gem.  With all her growing appeal lately, it’s fully welcoming for Peridot to now be one of the good guys. 

Best of all, it took scenes with perfectly reasonable doubt and an awesome confrontation to bring about this change in this memorable powerful work. 10/10

The Ranking

1. The Answer
2. Sworn to the Sword
3. Message Received
4. Keystone Motel
5. When it Rains
6. Too Far
7. Friend Ship
8. Nightmare Hospital
9. Chille Tid
10. Cry for Help
11. Keeping it Together
12. Full Disclosure
13. It Could’ve Been Great
14. Catch and Release
15. Back to the Barn
16. Steven’s Birthday
17. We Need to Talk
18. Reformed
19. Historical Friction
20. Joy Ride
21. Say Uncle
22. Onion Friend
23. Rising Tides, Crashing Skies
24. Sadie’s Song
25. Love Letters

For the last review for Steven Universe Season 2, we'll explore exactly how Peridot came to care for Earth's organic life among other things as told by her tape recordings.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews from Hey Arnold, it's "Helga's Show" and "The Flood."

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