Sunday, December 2, 2018

Alone at Sea (Steven Universe Season 3 Episode 15) - 'Toon Reviews 23


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Alone at Sea
We continue to transition to a heavier tone this season, and this cartoon stands out even more for how it develops Lapis.  She’s still overcoming memories of spending thousands of years in a mirror and an entire season fused with Jasper.  That’s not even mentioning the bad things she did to others in response such as leaving the world without an ocean. For more recent events, she put the world at risk from Malachite by not saying where she was. 
Now having decided to live on Earth, Lapis is continuously getting to know the planet. This time, Steven and Greg help her do that as they take her out on a boat.  This doesn’t sound like a good idea given how one of Lapis’ traumatic experiences relates to water. In “Barn Mates,” she even dramatically said she’s taking a “break” from water.  That’s the point of the activity so to give Lapis the first good moment with water in a long time since abandoning it takes away from her identity.  Her agreement to give the boat a chance shows she has learned a lot since Malachite unfused, and she adjusts to it pretty well. 
The subsequent moments of Lapis enjoying time with Steven and Greg are charming, but they do go on a little too long and don’t have much weight to them.  Still, there are times where the time on the boat gets truly intriguing.  For one thing, Lapis’ bond with Greg is endearing as she tries to be polite around a human who isn’t Steven. Greg also keeps his cool under pressure, not just when interacting with the Gem who broke his leg, but also when things get lost or broken, including the dock and the boat itself.  Also, there are instances where Lapis is reminded of how much of a threat she’s been when responding to her traumatic experiences.  These include shouting to not be captain and backing down from using her water powers to catch fish.  These feelings bring on the climax set up by some beast throwing off the boat, stranding everyone in the ocean. 
While Steven informs Lapis of the bad news, she confides that despite all the fun she’s having, she can’t stop thinking about her fearsome water powers and being fused with Jasper.  In fact, being fused for so long brings the shocking reveal that Lapis misses Jasper and holding her down.  At that very moment, the climax’s intensity hits its niche as Jasper appears, revealing to be the beast attacking the boat and following Lapis.  Being fused with her for so long has messed with Jasper too.  She wants nothing more than to be Malachite again only focusing on the power that came with their creation and not its obvious physical and mental pain.  Even if Jasper has been seen as the big and threatening one of the two, it’s actually sad to see her lose her common sense as a result of all this.  Thankfully, since she now has nice things on Earth to be thankful for and protective of, Lapis is able to make the smart choice. She points out how unhealthy being Malachite is and pushes for her and Jasper to never be together again, even if she has to water punch Jasper far away.  Lapis still has a long way to go with getting over her past, but the final scene of appreciating the beauty of the ocean as she flies Steven and Greg home is a great step.  As for Jasper, she becomes a huge focal point for this season from here as we see more of how messed up she really is. 
At times the cartoon drags a bit, but what it leads up to is an amazing show of characterization standing as an ingenious metaphor for deep subject matter.
A

The Ranking
  1. Mr. Greg
  2. Monster Reunion
  3. Alone at Sea
  4. Gem Drill
  5. Super Watermelon Island
  6. Too Short to Ride
  7. Beach City Drift
  8. Barn Mates
  9. Hit the Diamond
  10. Same Old World
  11. Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service
  12. Steven Floats
  13. Restaurant Wars
  14. The New Lars
  15. Drop Beat Dad

The next Steven Universe review is on a Greg and Rose flashback that does a lot of things from explaining how Greg got his job at a carwash to showing that Rose was rather irresponsible with babies.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the start of a new review set on Season 2 of Rocko's Modern Life.
If you would like to check out other Steven Universe reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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