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Now we’ve reached the point in Steven Universe where everything that’s currently happened, from the truth about Rose Quartz to old friends returning, officially starts a fresh new era. It’s marked by a half-hour special so big, it’s going to be analyzed differently than normal. True, there have been half-hour specials before, but none of them have ever had so much to take in as this one. Each act will be broken down into its own section so that their impact will get a proper analysis. With all this said, we shall now move on with this review of the big event that is:
Now we’ve reached the point in Steven Universe where everything that’s currently happened, from the truth about Rose Quartz to old friends returning, officially starts a fresh new era. It’s marked by a half-hour special so big, it’s going to be analyzed differently than normal. True, there have been half-hour specials before, but none of them have ever had so much to take in as this one. Each act will be broken down into its own section so that their impact will get a proper analysis. With all this said, we shall now move on with this review of the big event that is:
Reunited
We start off with a perfect way to showcase the big event
status of the special. Complete with an
opening spotlight and Steven slowly preparing for the day before stepping out
all dressed up and feeling jubilant, it’s quite theatrical.
It's all set to a song called “For Just One Day Let’s
Only Think About Love,” a moving piece that goes through the emotions like
the best works of this show tend to do.
It reflects on all the heavy things that have gone on in the series
recently and how upsetting they can be.
They include the truth about Pink Diamond, some of the reactions to it,
and even other concerns like if the Diamonds really will invade Earth and come
for the bubbled Cluster. However, it’s
also a reminder that even with the somber parts in life, there are plenty of
parts of it to love, such as the big event for this day, the wedding of Ruby
and Sapphire. It’s a strong universal
message helped by grand theatrical staging in great music, exceptional singing,
and pure wholesomeness.
At its end is
the wedding that’s been built up ever since Garnet fell apart and the end
result of both her components deciding to forge love on their own accord and no
one else. It’s also a grand way to
really bring the Gems and humans in the cast together. Practically every Beach City resident shows
up in the audience to join the main Crystal Gems for the occasion adding legitimacy
to the affair by attracting such a large community.
This is especially good for the
groundbreaking status of this particular scene as the first LGBT wedding in a
family show meant to be taken seriously.
There are no stereotypes here to throw off the atmosphere of Ruby and
Sapphire’s ceremony. They’re portrayed
as the well-developed characters they are, and their wedding vows feel natural
and true to what’s known about their characters. They even subvert the expected tropes with
the feminine Sapphire wearing the tux, and the masculine Ruby, who was a cowboy
two cartoons prior, wearing a dress.
It’s all interesting and heartwarming and a great way to lead into
Garnet forming again.
Then following
even more nice interactions between Gems and humans at the reception, is a
brilliant way to transition from a nice wedding to all-out action only this
show can bring. As Steven and Garnet
look over how nice it is for humans and Gems to come together for a nice moment
like this, Steven sheds tears over the moment.
The big thing is that the tears work for both subjects. Of course they can be a sign of happiness
over the wedding, but also a specific lore element. In other words, Steven shedding tears is a
sign that Blue Diamond is coming to Earth, thus setting up the special for a
long-awaited event as both she and Yellow finally invade the planet.
Act 2:
As an inevitable and long-awaited event for the series, the
battle between the Crystal Gems and the Diamonds has a lot going for it. It makes for many imaginative situations, one
exciting reveal after another keeping up with the exciting pace it goes for,
and above all is full of charm only this team dynamic can bring.
All the way, everyone has a major part to
play and offers a unique approach to the fight.
Steven, who’s aware of the truth of Pink Diamond, is willing to settle
the fiends by letting them know all about it, though he still has to fight because
Blue and Yellow won’t listen. Garnet,
after being formed again, gets an awesome moment of daring to face Blue
Diamond, the Gem matriarch who once intimidated her. It’s a great pride in her status Blue doesn’t
approve of and is fitting that it comes after a wedding celebrating it. The rest of the team is mostly along for the
fight to be true of their lovable selves.
Pearl and Amethyst’s moments don’t connect much to their personal arcs,
but it means a lot to see them brave enough to face a Diamond. Bismuth delights with her willingness to take
the Diamonds out while Peridot is more than willing to join the team effort despite being
small and not having much to offer.
Connie also proves to be a valuable asset as the only human willing to
help when the others are down, even if her efforts prove ineffective.
Aside from the characters, the fight also brings many past
plot threads full circle. The biggest
one involves what became of the Cluster which hasn’t really been in the focus since
early Season 3. Not being mentioned a
lot since then actually works to its advantage, and what it does once released makes
a lot of sense. It has a connection with
Steven who convinced it to bubble itself and have each Gem shard making it up
to get to know each other. When the
Diamonds come and pop its bubble causing it to form, we get the results of the
Cluster’s shards getting to know each other.
The shards together form one giant hand and let Steven know they’re on
his side, resulting in an awesomely amusing image of the hand arm wrestling Yellow Diamond’s ship.
The rest of
the payoffs during the fight relate specifically to this season. We have immediate action to keep the humans
safe with Nanefua wasting no time to tell them to head to shelters, cementing
her as a far more competent mayor than Dewey ever was. There’s expansion on Blue Diamond’s power to
force other Gems to cry her tears as first seen in “The Trial” where it really brings Blue's opponents down in the fight with her.
The most pleasing payoff has got to be Lapis suddenly coming back to
Earth, dropping the barn on Blue Diamond, and later officially declaring
herself a Crystal Gem. It is kind of
sudden that she decides to come back right on cue, but her last appearance did
show how much she’s grow to value the Crystal Gems' company. Plus, one point in the earlier song is enough
to prove that she her bond for them was still too strong to make her go too far
from Earth. It’s also bold that she
wants to be called a Crystal Gem after acting as her own Gem despite spending
time with the team for so long. As a
member, she proves to be quite a valuable asset with her traumatic past making
her immune to Blue’s powers and her water powers help all Crystal Gems fight as one functional unit.
By the end
of the second act, you can’t help but become impressed by how the team’s
combined efforts bring Blue to her knees.
However, like a fight in a video game, this is only the beginning as the
battle intensifies when Yellow shows up on the scene. Her presence makes the difficulty known as she
poofs Peridot as if she’s just one in a million as opposed to an exception who told her off. That’s actually nothing compared to curb stomping Steven, or Rose
in her way of thinking, leading to the third and last act.
Act 3:
To finish off this big event, we get an occurrence that’s
very creative to say the least. It’s
hard to really describe exactly what’s going on at first, but the more that
happens, the stronger the connection to something prior becomes. Like how he’s connected with the Cluster’s
mind when passing out or falling asleep, Steven experiences this occurrence
after getting knocked out by Yellow Diamond.
He winds up in a strange realm where his closest family and friends are
represented by statues of themselves with visions of what they’re doing in the
physical world atop their heads. Also,
while what they say in the physical world is kind of muffled and not at its
clearest, their thoughts are loud and clear.
Because of this, what Steven has ended up in can be considered another
part of the mindscape in both instances he’s talked with the Cluster. In fact, while he can’t make his presence
known to the team by speaking normally, him doing so by phasing through their
visions gives a clearer idea of how he communicates here. It also gives a clever visualization of how
valuable he’s become to the Crystal Gems.
By phasing through the visions of everyone, his inspiration proves to be
a commendable asset to them and their usual anxieties. He understands of Garnet struggling to stay
together, Amethyst fighting despite her size, Pearl not thinking enough of
herself, and Bismuth fearing losing her friends. As a result, he has great
maturity that allows him to know just what to say. Unfortunately, he’s unable to help Lapis who
gets poofed as well as Peridot, though she does go down with dignity through being willing
to fight the beings she’s feared for eons.
Now, considering that his words aren’t heard, but his presence is felt
with a touch here, Steven has an opportunity to nonviolently let Yellow and Blue Diamond
know the truth about Pink. There’s a
challenge to reach them with their visions represented by auras with very
powerful effects to represent their grief and turmoil over the supposed shattering. Steven eventually lays a hand
on their spirits, though it’s not enough to let them know everything.
Then to finish it all comes the unlocking of
a new power which at this point is an expected outcome with it being known that
Steven is the son of an all-powerful Diamond.
Reached with his desire to stop the fighting and protect everyone he
loves, Steven emits his own Diamond aura as he emphatically states that he,
Yellow, and Blue are family. This brings
an endearing end to the special as he finally ends up back in the physical
world around all his loved ones as the Diamonds finally get what he was trying
to tell him. Recognizing that Steven has
Pink Diamond’s gemstone, the fighting stops, and a new dynamic with the Diamonds
is put into motion. We don’t see any of
it here though as the special comes to an end at this moment, but then again,
cliffhanger endings are just a touch of the norm with this show.
The best way to describe this whole special is that it has
just about everything great you can ask for in an animated event. The opening song is well staged and
impactful, the wedding is groundbreaking and full of wholesome moments, and the
action is great with surprises abounding.
Bringing everything together are the endearing family values between
these protectors of Earth and how Steven strives to keep them together in the
face of danger. It’s an exquisite
animated work that offers so many grand-scale moments and greatly sets up
what’s to come. Never has this show been
this much of an experience.
A++
Fan Art:
 |
| The Wedding |
 |
| "We are the Crystal Gems!" |
 |
| "It's you! Pink!" |
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. Reunited
2. A Single
Pale Rose
3. The Trial
4. Jungle Moon
5. Off Colors
6. Stuck
Together
7. The
Question
8. Pool
Hopping
9. Can’t Go
Back
10. Now We’re
Only Falling Apart
11. Lars’ Head
12. Made of
Honor
13. What’s Your
Problem?
14. Letters to
Lars
15. Lars of the
Stars
16. Your Mother
and Mine
17. Raising the
Barn
18. Sadie
Killer
19. Back to the
Kindergarten
20. The Big
Show
21. Gemcation
22. Kevin Party
23. Dewey Wins
The next Steven Universe review covers Steven taking advantage of his new association with Blue and Yellow Diamond complete with a trip to Homeworld and the first mention and appearance of White Diamond.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is Episode 69 of Animaniacs featuring a short originally released to theaters, "I'm Mad."
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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