A Very Special Episode
It’s no secret that fusions are one of the standout creative points of Steven Universe. Whenever a new being is formed from a group of Gems or a human and a Gem coming together, they astound through designs, powers, and even personalities. In addition, when a new fusion is revealed, future works tend to further explore them to get to know them better. Two fusions in particular were first introduced in the end of the original series, “Change Your Mind,” but they didn’t have time to leave a huge impact as they could have. There’s Steven’s fusion with Pearl, Rainbow Quartz 2.0, and his fusion with Garnet, Sunstone. Each fusion showed off very memorable quirks before for sure, but it’s still nice to get a cartoon that shows more of them. However, the cartoon itself proves a little too quirky for its own good.
It’s a story about Steven going from fusion to fusion to try and do two things at once. As Rainbow Quartz 2.0, he’s spending time with Beach City’s resident enigma, Onion. All throughout, Rainbow is an absolute delight with charm, class, and turning household tasks into fun games, not unlike Mary Poppins. As for Sunstone, Steven’s task is to help Garnet with a beneficial lesson for the uncorrupted Gems by teaching them about potential accidents they can have. Apparently Garnet herself can’t do it without freaking the Gems out. Sunstone comes in to turn the scene into a flashy and kind of hokey safety PSA you’d see after school. You may feel the lessons are too on-the-nose, but with the focus on Steven teaching these things to unfamiliar Gems, it all works well.
While each fusion brings the bulk of the entertainment for this cartoon, the overall setup does tend to go through the motions of trying too much at once. You expect things to go wrong from Steven going from place to place, and that’s what happens. That said, the things that go wrong are still impactful in a comedic sense. Steven not being with Garnet leads to more paranoia among Gems when it comes to potential dangers as well as getting distracted by little things. However, Steven not being with Pearl brings even more interesting events. Onion turns out to be a handful, acting like he has the right to cause trouble with Rainbow not around, but more enjoyment comes from Pearl’s over-the-top fear over his behavior.
It’s fun stuff, but even as Steven tries to combine his tasks by bringing Onion to Garnet’s seminar, nothing is accomplished. Onion somehow convinces the other Gems to follow him by blowing on a grass blade, and makes them all fall off a cliff. I knew he was messed up, but that’s just sinister. Steven can’t decide who to fuse with to save them and soon passes out from exhaustion, and you can’t help but think those Gems should have hit the ground by now.
Then the scene stops and
the cartoon ends with Sunstone giving a lesson about not overbooking in hokey
PSA style. It’s enjoyable if you see it
as a faux PSA, but it’s still dumbfounding to think this cartoon never really
happened and doesn’t seem to matter.
Then again, the idea of Steven trying too things at once does connect to
him still trying to be helpful and losing his touch at it. If you look at it that way, as well as
developing fusions, the cartoon does have benefit. Otherwise, it’s more of just a fun time with
characters than anything else.
B
The Ranking
1. Volleyball
2. Little Homeschool
3. Bluebird
4. Rose Buds
5. Guidance
6. A Very Special Episode
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