Friday, June 7, 2019

Tiger Philanthropist (Steven Universe Season 4 Episode 18) - 'Toon Reviews 29

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Tiger Philanthropist


It’s hard to tell whether or not this cartoon is truly completely pointless.  It’s a majorly light-hearted story following up on a previous light-hearted story that is far below the ranks.  At the same time, there is some legit depth to one of the most endearing relationships. 
The story follows up on Amethyst’s secret wrestling career as the Purple Puma with Steven joining her as Tiger Millionaire.  With how much their bond has grown at this point, their compatibility stands out more than ever.  This is why it’s understandably shocking to Steven when after one match, Amethyst decides to quit wrestling altogether.  His response to this is to go around asking people how they feel about this without letting it be known that he’s Tiger Millionaire.  By people, I mean Steven only asks Lars about it, and the biggest thing he gets out of this is that Lars feels that even though Purple Puma quit, Tiger Millionaire didn’t really have to. 
Steven returns to the ring to fight on his own with an alteration to his fighting name, Tiger Philanthropist.  This means that while he’s fighting, he simply gives out free money to everyone in the audience for whatever reason.  One good thing about the wrestling scenes is that they show how more capable he is at fighting since first discovering wrestling in Season 1.  It’s a decent showing of Gem evolution for him. 
Then interest is lost again when Steven gets concerned that while he’s getting good acclaim for his solo act, Lars is uninterested.  This leads to even more subtle questions to him which get even more overbearing and make Steven look like a pest, so Lars gets frustrated.  With how much Steven asks him, you’d think Lars would come to the conclusion that he’s the Tiger.  Not only that, but Steven’s questions would be a lot more bearable if he didn’t just care about how Lars feels.  Why not get opinions from the other wrestling patrons? 
Then we get what’s easily the most interesting part of the cartoon.  While Steven starts questioning why he’s even wrestling again if he’s really only trying to please Lars, Amethyst discusses why she decided to quit wrestling.  She originally did because she felt bad about herself, but that’s changed a lot following recent events of the show.  That brings to mind a lot of turmoil Amethyst has dealt with internally with her upbringing harming Earth and on the outside from how many Homeworld Gems view her stature.  Going back to the earlier wrestling cartoon, there were even times when the Crystal Gems had a problem with who she was.  That’s some interesting context to make her pastime meaningful.  Now, she’s proven her worth a lot by helping to beat a dangerous Gem, and meeting other Amethysts who accept her.  For that, her present approach to her former favorite pastime is reflective of her state of mind.  If the focus was on more of this than Steven wanting to keep it going, I think the cartoon would have been more interesting.  The ending is nice where Amethyst understands Steven wanting them to hang out together by fighting with him one last time, while Steven understands why Amethyst wants to let it go.  They throw the next wrestling match just to go out, but do so as the good friends they are and don’t hold themselves back by what people like Lars say. 
There’s a fascinating character study on Amethyst’s part here, but focusing so much on Steven trying to keep a pointless activity going doesn’t give it enough time to shine.  This is why it’s one of the show’s weaker offerings, except maybe if you’re really into wrestling.
C

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.  Kindergarten Kid

15.  Future Boy Zoltron

16.  Tiger Philanthropist

17.  Rocknaldo

18.  Onion Gang
The next Steven Universe review shows a story where much of the cast is shockingly dumbed down when an easily impressed Ruby shows interest in living on Earth.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 4 finale, "A New Defender."
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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