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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.
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