'Toon Reviews 15: Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 22: The Answer

The Answer

In “Jailbreak,” it was briefly mentioned that the Crystal Gems were waiting for Steven’s birthday to introduce him to Ruby and Sapphire.  While he met them before then, Garnet still has something interesting to share at the stroke of midnight on Steven’s birthday.  It’s all about how Ruby and Sapphire first met, and it’s an incredible story. 

For one thing, it’s very welcome to see how Ruby and Sapphire grew to love each other after seeing them fused as Garnet since the beginning.  In the process, we further see the past of the Gems regarding the rebellion for Earth.  The first part is uniquely shown visually with near-white backgrounds and most characters seen in silhouette form except for those Steven knows.  Even the voice work has creativity with all the characters Steven knows having their own voice while everyone else is voiced by the narrator, Garnet.  This composition gives what we see a nice childlike perspective which gives the story a style all its own, and it’s very engaging. 

The story is on how Sapphire, part of a breed of highly revered Gems, was called to use her future vision to predict the outcome of the Crystal Gems interfering with Earth’s colonization. Enter one of the leaders of Homeworld, Blue Diamond.  She gives a strong first impression of the highest authorities, serious, calculating, and menacing, representing the scale of what the Crystal Gems were up against during the war, and it gets bigger later on.  Sapphire predicted that the rebellion would end after the Crystal Gems took out two of three Rubies guarding her, as well as herself.  However, one Ruby accidentally bumped into Sapphire, ultimately befriending her not fully understanding why they wouldn’t be able to see more of Earth. 

When the Crystal Gems arrived though, everything was understood.  Even if Sapphire would just reform later, Ruby couldn’t bear to let her be taken out, so she rushed to protect Sapphire from the major blow, and the bodies of both Gems fused into Garnet. 

An interesting thing to this occurrence is Garnet’s design.  It’s a mess of reds and blues all over and a hodgepodge of elements of Ruby and Sapphire’s clothing.  It represents this moment as the first Gem fusion with a lot needing to be worked out. 

Speaking of the first fusion, it becomes appropriate that this story is after two cartoons centering on the prejudiced views of Homeworld.  When the Homeworld Gems first saw Ruby and Sapphire fused, they didn’t look on it kindly, which is relatable to how prejudice works in real life towards anything against the social norm such as same sex couples which Ruby and Sapphire basically are now.  Blue Diamond was especially angry that Sapphire’s prediction was false and wanted to shatter Ruby for interfering. 

After Ruby and Sapphire escaped destruction from Blue Diamond’s court, the remainder, whose art style is more in line with the show’s norm, shows their time alone on Earth, learning about the planet and each other, while growing closer.  It may seem like they unnaturally fall in love in such a short time, but given the staging of the accompanying montage, you don’t really know how long this took.  It could’ve been weeks, months, and maybe even years which gives enough reason to believe their love formed naturally.  There’s even a nice song of Ruby and Sapphire’s feelings on their fusion and their relationship, set up like a normal conversation set to song, and it sells the power of what forms between them, ending with them forming Garnet for good. 

The story ends with Garnet found by Rose, who ensures them that in spite of endless questions on why she turned out this way, what matters is that she can choose her own path and is the answer to her own questions, and considering the most recently aired cartoon at the time I'm posting this review, the path she chooses is more impactful than it already is.  This moment brings the whole story together as something special with a message that not only made Garnet a Crystal Gem, but also gives something positive for prejudice victims in real life.  It makes what we see a visually-interesting, character and history-building, and all-around powerful work of animation. 10/10

The Ranking

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

The next Steven Universe review covers the actual event of Steven's birthday while also giving interesting insight to his aging process.

Tomorrow for the Fourth of July, we're finally continuing with Hey Arnold Season 3 reviews with a look at a special about Thanksgiving in which it's mistaken for the Fourth of July.

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