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Season 5
Stuck
Together
For starters, the fifth season wastes no time following up on
where the fourth one left off. It also
turns out to be an emotional step up from the previous season premiere.
Considering that the show has brought genuine
emotion from just two characters trapped in one space before, it’s great to see
that it does it again here. We have
Steven who’s just made the major decision to let himself be taken by invading
Homeworld Gems to pay the price for his mother shattering one of the
Diamonds. Along the way, he’s stuck in
the dense fusion of Topaz soldiers while Aquamarine continues to delight as an
adorably savage authoritarian. There’s
also good use of a small detail from the Season 4 finale in which Lars was not
seen with everyone else when getting off the ship. This plot is built around him being left
behind and the only real company Steven has while stuck inside Topaz going to
Homeworld. Even if all they do is talk
about the situation, it says a lot about their relationship.
Steven and Lars are as much polar opposites
as you can get with Steven being optimistic and helpful while Lars is
predominantly jerky and keeps isolating himself from others. They start out on tense terms with Lars too
down on himself for getting trapped on the ship over his decisions while Steven
keeps thinking about how to set him free.
After all, the whole point of turning himself in was to save everyone
who was abducted, and he can’t be successful at that if Lars is still trapped. He tries to push Lars through a plan to get a
Gem Destabilizer to poof Topaz so they can get time to escape to Earth, but
Lars refuses to properly comply to make the plan work.
When Steven finally snaps at Lars for his
intentional incompetence, we get the true highlight of their time stuck
together. In regard to their situation,
and life in general, Lars confesses that he’s just a coward who can’t bring
himself to do anything big. The truth
is, he’s actually admirable of Steven being willing enough to do anything and
not be scared. There's a believable
response to the situation where Steven is actually deathly afraid of what he
did, and only did it to save everyone.
It’s this openness that gets Lars to be more optimistic about the
situation and start working to make a difference. This is especially meaningful with Lars’ true
development just around the corner.
For
now, his and Steven’s time together does get to Topaz. She shows emotion as well as a more feminine voice than her figure suggests over
Steven and Lars bonding even in the darkest of times.
She in turn opens up over her dread over the missions Homeworld sends
her on and how grateful she is to have both halves of her to support each
other. This is an interesting way of
showing that even if Gems serve Homeworld that doesn’t mean they’re fine with
what they’re doing. They have to do it with
their lives on the line.
Topaz does try
to help Steven and Lars, well actually Lars, get back to Earth and even
threatens to revolt against Aquamarine.
However, Aquamarine further shows the power she possesses by pointing
out that Topaz has no real plan afterwards and will most likely get separated
and shattered as a result. That’s enough
for Topaz to go back to how she was as we end the cartoon with Steven and Lars
about to endure the wrath of Homeworld with truly no going back this time.
As a part of a show driven by emotions and
endearing characters, it’s great to see both elements be central to a season
premiere. Ultimately, they make this
cartoon an impactful watch from conversations in a single setting.
A+
Season 4 Ranking
- I Am My Mom
- Storm in the Room
- Mindful Education
- That Will Be All
- Steven’s Dream
- Last One Out of Beach City
- Are You My Dad?
- The Zoo
- The Good Lars
- Gem Heist
- Gem Harvest
- Three Gems and a Baby
- Adventures in Light Distortion
- Buddy’s Book
- Know Your Fusion
- The New Crystal Gems
- Lion 4: Alternate Ending
- Doug Out
- Kindergarten Kid
- Room for Ruby
- Future Boy Zoltron
- Tiger Philanthropist
- Rocknaldo
- Onion Gang
Season 5 Ranking
- Stuck Together
The next Steven Universe review follows up on Steven and Lars' sudden separation when Steven is put on trial.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Jeers for Fear" and "Tea Tale Heart" from The Loud House.
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