Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Letters to Lars (Steven Universe Season 5 Episode 16) - 'Toon Reviews 29

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:
Letters to Lars


The lore side of the show and the slice of life side of the show really start feeling connected this season.  This is huge considering how clashing in tone they really are.  At the same time, it does something about how inconsequential a lot of Beach City cartoons end up being.  Rather than having them as their own stories, they’re put together in an anthology brought together with an interesting framing device. 
With one of Beach City’s residents, Lars, out in space, this alone is a great way to bring the tonal connections together.  While he and his crew are still looking for parts to fix their nova thrusters in an asteroid mine, a letter from Steven comes out of his hair describing what’s been going on back home.  Some events in the letter tie to Gem events the town gets hit with.  The Crystal Gems and a few human residents brainstorm on a plan to keep the citizens safe in future attacks.  There’s talk of shelters, food rations, and ways to get the warning across.  This not only shows how better off the town really is with Nanefua as mayor, but also features a few setups for big events to come.  The biggest ones include Pearl suddenly having a cell phone, and a telescope being purchased to look out for anything in space.  It should be noted that the latter event gives Ronaldo something useful to do for once especially following an uncalled for jealous outburst over Lars being in space instead of him. 
As for other events, they further show Gems and humans getting together in various activities.  We have a few human residents and Gems like Amethyst and Peridot joining them for improv hosted by Jamie the mailman, and Garnet and Greg playing tennis on weekends.  Things like these don’t mean much, but are telling of how open to interacting with Earth’s populace the Gems have become compared to the show’s early days.  The rest of what the letters tell like updates on wrestling and Peedee getting his own food truck aren’t big, but fit the theme of major changes in town well. 
Through these recounts, there’s one common thread which also displays a noteworthy strength to this season.  There have been times where some things brought up in one cartoon and never anywhere else.  If Sadie starting a band getting followed up on wasn’t telling enough, it’s further surprising that Dewey losing his position as mayor is expanded upon here.  In all parts of the letter, he’s showing up trying to fit into a new position and failing miserably.  For the most part, this is all funny in a sympathetic kind of way since he legitimately feels lost.  However, Dewey is at his most sympathetic when he says that one thing he loved about being mayor was seeing the people’s smiling faces every day.  He may have never been good at his job, but it's in this scene that fully confirm that he really cares for his people anyhow.  Fortunately for him, he gets a chance at making the town happy when he finds a good new career path by filling the void in the Big Donut.  He runs the place well and seems happy enough with where he is, finally showing him adjust to the major changes too. 
Going back to Lars, this whole recount ends with a funny moment of the narration from Steven turning out to be him speaking out loud the whole time.  There’s also an innocent explanation for why he wrote all this and a funny in-joke of how he’s never met half the people mentioned.  It does get kind of awkward when he specifically mentions Peridot, yet they never meet afterwards.  Maybe this will happen in future seasons. 
For now, as far as Beach City cartoons go, this is easily one of the best with establishing connections with major lore elements and relatable themes through a plethora of events.
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.      Jungle Moon

3.      Off Colors

4.      Stuck Together

5.      Pool Hopping

6.      Lars’ Head

7.      Letters to Lars

8.      Lars of the Stars

9.      Your Mother and Mine

10.  Raising the Barn

11.  Sadie Killer

12.  Back to the Kindergarten

13.  The Big Show

14.  Gemcation

15.  Kevin Party

16.  Dewey Wins

 
 
In the next Steven Universe review, the biggest reveal of all is set into place starting with Steven finding out what happened to Lapis ever since she left Earth.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Dawn of the Eds" and "Vert-Ed-Go" in Ed Edd n Eddy.
If you would like to check out other Steven Universe reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

No comments:

Post a Comment