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I just can’t stay away from this Gem of an animated series
for long, so today we’re starting a coverage of one of its biggest seasons yet:
Steven Universe (Season 3)
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| Artwork by yours truly |
Basic Premise
The time: summer of 2016.
This was an era of much rejoicing if you happened to be a fan of the
amazing Cartoon Network series Steven
Universe. Practically every night of that summer featured a new cartoon to
look forward to, much of Season 3 and some of Season 4 to be exact. This would
bring a full experience of what the series had to offer. Speaking from personal recounts, I had been a
Steven Universe fan for about a year
at that point and was blown away from nearly everything I saw of it. To live through a period where there would be
an event covering a whole season for the entire summer sounded so surreal. Yet such a thing great for anyone into
the show came to fruition. This event would especially stick out because
the following years would put the series through one long hiatus after another for a
variety of reasons. For now though,
we’ll be exploring just how big the event was with an analysis of all the
cartoons making up the more prominently featured season, the third season.
This
particular season had a lot going for it, especially with the previous one
being so big with Gem lore and history.
What went on was so big, other seasons had to be relied on to resolve some
of its major plot points. They include
stopping a Homeworld geo-weapon called the Cluster and finding out what became
of the fusion Malachite. The major
characters had a lot of great moments to live up to as well. It wasn’t just Steven and the main Crystal
Gems, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, but also the enemy-turned loyal comrade
Peridot. With this change in dynamic
along with continuations of almost literal Earth-shattering plot points,
there’s already a lot of greatness to look forward to in Season 3. This season also has potential to impress
with its own surprises from interesting character development to even more big
reveals about Gem history. Basically,
Season 3 has a lot to look forward to and I’m excited to
discuss how well its cartoons turn out.
Let’s now journey back in time to what was known as the Summer of Steven,
starting where we left off with the Cluster arc:
Now on with the reviews:
Super
Watermelon Island
One big thing this cartoon has going for it is that it follows
up on various plot points one of which going way back to Season 1. It involves what happened to the Watermelon Stevens, sentient watermelons shaped like him.
They’ve created their own community on Mask Island with homes, families,
and even agriculture. This is very interesting coming from little watermelons who
can’t speak and don’t have powers.
Speaking of not being able to speak, there are shots of the Watermelon
Stevens living their lives with no dialog but their soothing theme tune playing
all throughout. It brings out the purity
of these creatures’ lives.
It’s during
this opening where one Watermelon Steven appears surprised to wake up as one
and to find a community of other Watermelon Stevens.
He’s chosen for what appears to be as sacrifice to a sea creature when
he’s led to stand on a cliff, and that creature is Malachite, rising out of the
sea ready for a fight. The shock is
followed by a reaction of Steven at the barn as he wakes up, revealing the
opening as an expansion of his dream powers. Apparently, this means when he dreams, he
can take the form of other beings such as that one Watermelon Steven. With what
he saw revealed to the rest of the team just as the Cluster seems close to
emerging via a series of earthquakes, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl leave to face Malachite.
Being empathetic and much
quicker to get his powers than before, Steven dreams to possess a Watermelon
Steven again while staying put at the barn like he was told.
From there, the cartoon becomes an all-out battle against Malachite and
the main Crystal Gems fused as Alexandrite.
This show has always had action, but most battles have been subdued with
only a few quick monster battles and truly big fights being rare. This fight being a rare occurrences makes
what unfolds stand out more. When
Alexandrite is formed and the Jasper part of Malachite breaks from the water
chains formed by the Lapis part of the fusion, the fight slowly turns into one of the show's biggest.
Alexandrite really puts up a good fight since unlike her first appearance, there’s a much bigger display of her powers. Said powers bring all three
of the Crystal Gems’ weapons together with the added benefit of fire
breath. However, Lapis and Jasper’s
powers are clearly superior, so they keep winning, and their hold on Alexandrite
gets brutal. In the process, we see how
the Jasper part of Malachite has broadened her view on fusion as she sees all its
benefits.
As for Steven, as a Watermelon
Steven, he gets the community to do what they can to contribute to the
battle. They’re just little hits
Malachite brushes off, but they’re all Alexandrite needs to and break Malachite
back into Lapis and Jasper with one last epic blow. It makes the whole battle kind of sad that if
the Watermelon Stevens didn’t intervene, the Crystal Gems would have been
destroyed on the spot. Nevertheless,
such an awesome battle gets a fitting heartwarming moment just as the Crystal
Gems save Lapis but lose Jasper to another earthquake. It’s of the final moment of the Crystal Gems
motherly telling Steven that they trust him enough to drill down to stop the
Cluster with Peridot since they can’t warp back.
Admittedly as great as the battle is, it
probably would’ve been better if it happened long before or even immediately after stopping the
Cluster. There is a legit reason from an earlier cartoon why it
couldn’t happen sooner with it being impossible to find Malachite and Lapis
stubbornly refusing to say the location to Steven. Still, having it happen when the Cluster's a huge priority disturbs the flow
of events. It would have been better if Malachite was brought up a few times in the second half of Season 2 with something like Steven frequently checking on Lapis in his dreams. This way it would be fine that Malachite emerged at this point in the show.
Even with that, this
cartoon is great for its atmosphere and action capped off with genuine heart.
It's a grand way to solve the Malachite issue and make the Watermelon Stevens
relevant. For that, I say it starts
Season 3 off greatly.
A
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