Secret Team
It’s an established part of the Crystal Gems’ dynamic that Pearl, the elegant and tidy Gem, and Amethyst, the reckless and slobby Gem, are constantly at odds with each other as any two characters with very different world views would be. This cartoon makes an attempt to do something about their tensions. It happens when Steven and Amethyst dive through puddles in Amethyst’s room, they end up in Pearl’s room, and find that she’s taken a bubble full of Gem shards when she’s not supposed to. When the bubble pops, setting the shards loose, we see another addition of Gem lore of what happens when shards regenerate when released from their bubble. Because they aren’t the whole Gem, they come back as single body parts like arms, and with these shards out, there’s a lot of them to deal with. Anyway, Steven, Pearl, and Amethyst take immediate action to catch the shards and re-bubble them without Garnet finding out about what they did so not to get in trouble, and as they do that, they actually show some great teamwork, even Pearl and Amethyst. Steven, however, takes the team-up a little too seriously, insisting on it having a name, cards, and always staying a team never really realizing that their stunt was just to fix the Gem shard problem. As the cartoon goes on though, it becomes apparent that he doesn’t want the team to be a thing for the sake of it. It all relates to the animosity that Pearl and Amethyst give each other, and them being part of this team actually gives them a chance to get along. In a harsh turn of events however, Pearl and Amethyst declare that they don’t want to be on a team with each other ever again. This moment isn’t very pleasing or welcome especially since they are both already on the same team, the Crystal Gems. They may have their differences, but this is going too far. It is fortunate though that this point is made clear when Steven finally tells Garnet about why their team was formed, and it appears that one of the shards was forgotten and starts attacking. Pearl and Amethyst work together again, and then there’s a clever twist where Garnet staged the attack and tells them off for only getting along in dangerous situations and that they need to work together as the Crystal Gems they are and not as part of a secret team. Judging by how things go in the rest of the series, it appears this final message from Garnet is effective as even though they still get on each other’s nerves in some instances, Pearl and Amethyst do start getting along better. In the end though, despite some overly harsh moments and a the plot being less interesting that usual, there are enough benefits to some character relationships here to make this cartoon fine as it is. 8/10
The Ranking
- Ocean Gem
- Coach Steven
- Mirror Gem
- An Indirect Kiss
- Space Race
- So Many Birthdays
- Steven the Sword Fighter
- Lion 2: The Movie
- Bubble Buddies
- Monster Buddies
- Laser Light Cannon
- Giant Woman
- Lars and the Cool Kids
- Steven’s Lion
- Gem Glow
- Steven and the Stevens
- Rose’s Room
- Cheeseburger Backpack
- Secret Team
- House Guest
- Serious Steven
- Joking Victim
- Beach Party
- Cat Fingers
- Tiger Millionaire
- Together Breakfast
- Frybo
- Onion Trade
- Arcade Mania
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Lars and Sadie's relationship gets some more focus in "Island Adventure."
If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.
