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Steven
vs Amethyst
This cartoon shows what a huge defeat can do to
someone. Following the events of “Crack the Whip,” Amethyst no longer lets the fight moves she knows just come to
her. In fact, Jasper taking her down makes
Amethyst questions if she really is a good being herself. It’s a bold direction where instead of doing
her own thing, Amethyst reflects on her faults and tries to improve. Some might argue that she tries too
hard.
She decides to join Steven’s
battle training from Pearl and what happens plays to an interesting
concept. Amethyst’s self-doubt interferes with her performance. It’s as if thinking too much about fighting
well is preventing her from doing that.
As for Steven, since he currently isn’t hung up on anything, his fight
training is much more impressive. It’s a
visual indicator that he’s become much more capable now than he was in the early days of the
show. On a side note, these training
sessions have a layer of cuteness from Pearl’s motherly nature during the fight
exercises. She even includes points for
prizes, which Steven obviously has more of.
While Steven puts up a great performance, he still notices Amethyst
feeling disappointed in herself. He tries
to make her feel better by giving her a victory, even if it means taking a dive
in a video game. This instance brings
something good from Amethyst overthinking her capabilities. She sees that Steven let her win the game,
and opens up about how she now sees herself as the worst Crystal Gem. From there, tensions build between her and
Steven who lists all the cool things Amethyst can do that he can’t. However, Amethyst insists he’s better, though
there are some concerning implications that she used to think Steven really was
the worst.
The two tensely pointing out
how they’re worse than the other leads to an interesting way to settle the
matter. They have a battle to prove
which Gem is the worst. It’s not every
day there’s a battle where the winner is the loser to say the least. There’s a fair share of action in this fight
where Steven and Amethyst use all their powers to see which one fails to leave
a mark. It allows Amethyst to show her
strengths even if she takes no notice of them, and Steven to unlock new powers
throughout the chaos. In addition to
getting a stronger handle on his floating, his bubble grows spikes and he keeps
fighting even after Amethyst slams him into the ground from the sky. The battle is certainly fun and
unpredictable, but is hardly one of the best since apart from settling this
conflict, nothing of substance is to be gained from all this.
However, the end to it is appropriate when
Steven and Amethyst slip up on a punch attempt and realize how stupid they’ve
been to try to lose. It’s only when they
civilly talk about their anxieties when things get resolved and show them they have a lot in common. Amethyst lamenting how she may never beat
Gems like Jasper is a lot like how Steven feels he constantly needs to live up
to Rose Quartz. As they find the good to
come from all their efforts, the two nicely become closer than ever before. It’s especially pleasing given the events of a
following cartoon, but that’s for another post.
Most of this cartoon isn’t the show at its most interesting, but there’s
valuable development for how the titular characters come together through
similar anxieties.
A
The Ranking
- Mr. Greg
- Monster Reunion
- Crack the Whip
- Gem Hunt
- Greg the Babysitter
- Alone at Sea
- Gem Drill
- Super Watermelon Island
- Too Short to Ride
- Beach City Drift
- Steven vs Amethyst
- Barn Mates
- Hit the Diamond
- Same Old World
- Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service
- Steven Floats
- Restaurant Wars
- The New Lars
- Drop Beat Dad
The next Steven Universe review is on its first full half-hour episode that introduces one of the original Crystal Gems called Bismuth.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a review of a full half-hour Rocko's Modern Life cartoon, "Cruisin'".
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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