Friday, July 19, 2019

Lars of the Stars (Steven Universe Season 5 Episode 11) - 'Toon Reviews 29

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Lars of the Stars

With friendships mended and changes to Beach City’s status quo in place, it’s great to know that this cartoon finally looks back on some of this season’s biggest lingering subplots.  That said, a couple of things do feel kind of sudden.  Steven apparently has a care package for Lars made by his parents though we never see how he got it.  Also, he has Lion back now so he can easily get to Lars, but the Crystal Gems are just allowing him to go even after he gave himself up to Homeworld.  How are they suddenly ok with this?  These questions linger on, but they end up small and minor compared to the direction the cartoon takes. 
As Steven and Connie travel to Lars through Lion’s mane on their first space adventure ever, a big surprise on where Lars has ended up is in store for them.  When they reach Lars, instead of a dark cave on Homeworld, he and the Off Colors are manning a space ship called the Sun Incinerator.  It’s a solid continuation of the courage and bravery Lars showed when saving this group of misfit Gems from shattering, sacrificing his life in the process.  He’s far more confident than ever as he leads his crew on dangerous missions and stopping at nothing to get them to the safety of Earth.  The cartoon also has a lot of fun with how crazy of a setup this is.  Every character is introduced with a title card with their name, role, and description of their abilities and personalities.  Then there’s their nemesis who’s on their tail after they took her ship, Emerald.  She’s a Gem with a threatening design, yet she’s practically hilarious with her explosive tempers and protection over her precious ship.  It says a lot that rather than intimidated by her, Lars and the Off Colors are brave enough to just laugh at her threats and carry on.  It’s too bad that keeping to Steven’s perspective means how they got here is told through exposition, but it does fit the message the cartoon goes for. 
For all of Lars’ changes in character, there’s realistically still room for growth.  As he thinks of his life back home, he learns that Sadie has joined a band with the Cool Kids, a group he’s always dreamed of befriending, and is very happy because of this.  This is enough to get him to blow up over her being so happy without him and feels like she’s trying to get back at him for his bad treatment of her.  It takes a stern conversation from Steven and Connie to get him to move past this mindset.  Just as they were impressed with suddenly seeing how much he’s changed into a captain, it was just as unexpected for Lars to learn that Sadie’s in a band.  They weren’t under impressions that Lars was trying to hurt anyone, so neither should he.  Sealing the deal is a big source of proof to why Steven and Connie really do work better together in big missions.  To further show that Sadie would never intentionally hurt Lars, they showcase a reason for relating to genuine ‘friendship’ as they fuse into Stevonnie in front of Lars.  This even benefits Lars when Emerald returns, fires at the Sun Incinerator, he orders the shields to be lowered, but Emerald misses her ship on purpose.  He knew this would be the case because of how much she values her ship.  As for the space mission, Stevonnie brings it to an exciting end as they man Lars’ personal ship to take out Emerald at last.  However, the cartoon ending with them getting shot down and hurtling towards a distant planet sets up the tension for the next one. 
A few details may be left out, but this is still a strong return to lore with creative directions and impressive character growth.
A

Season 4 Ranking

1.      I Am My Mom

2.      Storm in the Room

3.      Mindful Education

4.      That Will Be All

5.      Steven’s Dream

6.      Last One Out of Beach City

7.      Are You My Dad?

8.      The Zoo

9.      The Good Lars

10.  Gem Heist

11.  Gem Harvest

12.  Three Gems and a Baby

13.  Adventures in Light Distortion

14.  Buddy’s Book

15.  Know Your Fusion

16.  The New Crystal Gems

17.  Lion 4: Alternate Ending

18.  Doug Out

19.  Kindergarten Kid

20.  Room for Ruby

21.  Future Boy Zoltron

22.  Tiger Philanthropist

23.  Rocknaldo

24.  Onion Gang

Season 5 Ranking

1.      The Trial

2.      Off Colors

3.      Stuck Together

4.      Lars’ Head

5.      Lars of the Stars

6.      Raising the Barn

7.      Sadie Killer

8.      Back to the Kindergarten

9.      Gemcation

10.  Kevin Party

11.  Dewey Wins

 
 
The next Steven Universe review is an atmospheric experience that's all about Stevonnie trying to survive on a wild jungle moon and also get dreams of the real Pink Diamond.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is Episode 61 of Animaniacs.
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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