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Lion 4:
Alternate Ending
This cartoon serves as a continuation not just to the heartwarming videotape message Rose Quartz left for Steven before having him,
but also Steven’s conflicting feelings about her. So many moments have broken Rose down from
perfect and angelic to completely morally grey with the biggest flaw being
keeping important truths from everyone.
It’s appropriately now more than ever that Steven would want to find out
more about the Gem he could never truly meet.
Much of the start of the cartoon is a believable interpretation of
making theories based on subtle hidden secrets in messages, particularly that
tape’s message. However, an even bigger
sign towards his mom’s potentially big plan is a key that Lion coughs up. Steven's attempts are subtle nods to the many fan
theories of certain mystery objects holding big pieces towards the show’s
underlying story. They include opening
the chest in Lion’s mane which the key doesn’t open and to this day still
hasn’t been opened. There are also brief
callbacks to places like the Gem armory and Rose’s healing spring, which the key also doesn't fit into. That said, it feels like the
crew knows that fans would be making theories about these places and use the
concept to the show’s advantage which is pretty impressive.
Out of options, Steven asks Lion to take him
to where he found the key. This brings
on a dramatic montage of Steven wondering what his mom’s plan for him is. The desert setting and sweeping music score
really bring out the weight of what he’s trying to accomplish, especially with
Steven so parched from the heat. The end
of the trek leads Steven to one particular discovery about his mother marked by
a huge door leading to piles of junk from Earth she compiled. The key easily fits into the door, but the
site seems disappointing at first. He
does, however, find a tape meant for someone called Nora, begging some
possibilities that there could be some other being related to Rose he doesn’t
know about.
Lion instead takes him to
Greg to play that tape, and as they do, Steven notices something peculiar about
it. It’s almost the exact same thing as
the tape he got, only with a few lines changed a bit. At this point, Steven expresses frustration
that’s all too understandable. With so
much time built up to a darker past about Rose and his emotional reaction to
it, you’d think that Rose really would want Steven to live up to something
big. Instead, Nora just turns out to be
the name he would have gotten if he was a girl, and the rest of the tape has an
alternate message from Rose. She just
expresses love over the fact that her child is going to be a human living life among other
humans. In other words, Steven’s just
meant to be Rose’s child without any big magical destiny. It’s pretty endearing on its own, but it
still puts that drama to waste. In fact,
this ending goes to waste since Steven goes on to do big Gem stuff anyway for
the rest of this season and the next. I
will say that with future reveals, the tape message does show how clueless to
the world around her Rose truly was and gives a good build-up to one particular
monumental moment.
Those will come in
time though, but for now, this cartoon may not be as big as it could have been,
but I can’t deny it has good heart and engaging staging.
B+
Season 4 Ranking
1. Storm in the Room
2. Mindful Education
3. That Will Be All
4. Steven’s Dream
5. Last One Out of Beach City
6. The Zoo
7. Gem Heist
8. Gem Harvest
9. Three Gems and a Baby
10. Adventures in Light Distortion
11. Buddy’s Book
12. Know Your Fusion
13. The New Crystal Gems
14. Lion 4: Alternate Ending
15. Kindergarten Kid
16. Room for Ruby
17. Future Boy Zoltron
18. Tiger Philanthropist
19. Rocknaldo
20. Onion Gang
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