'Toon Reviews 15: Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 14: Historical Friction

Historical Friction

Jamie’s back in a cartoon that expands on his theatrical passions.  He’s done something with his talents by holding auditions for a play about the founding of Beach City.  Granted, Steven is the only one interested in trying out, but his ambitions are still perfectly clear and relatable to those who want to get into the arts. 

The play is written by Mayor Dewey with emphasis on the greatness of his distant relative, William Dewey.  It includes completely far-fetched events like William inexplicably becoming a giant who carries his ship to shore during a storm.  When you look back on Mayor Dewey’s previous roles of doing anything to keep his position of power, his play can basically be seen as a ploy to get Beach City to continuously vote for him.  Jamie grows to disdain the play with William being portrayed as great and nothing more.  I personally latch onto how Jamie feels.  Characters like that are not relatable or interesting enough to watch.  They need other sides, which can include flaws, to let the audience know that no one is infallible or all-powerful beings, otherwise the product won’t be worth anyone’s time…at least from my perspective. 

Now, at this point in the season, it becomes strange to focus on a play when we’re in the middle of the Crystal Gems shaken dynamic, and that we’re not dealing with anything of significant importance.  However, the aftermath ties into the story when Pearl gets involved.  She’s disappointed in her big mistake and that she isn’t like the play’s version of William Dewey who supposedly never made mistakes.  When Steven shares Jamie’s philosophy on how no one is without flaws, she gets some comfort that leads her to change the play by fixing William Dewey, and making it historically accurate.  Her being present at Beach City’s founding 200 years ago has something big to do with the changes. 

With the changes in place, we get an entertaining and interesting payoff on the night of the play.  It’s simply constructed with only Steven as William and Jamie as the remaining roles.  Instead of an ultimate good deity, Steven’s William is unsure of the journey and has a history of clumsiness making him a believable flawed character which makes the play interesting.  It’s also fun to see Jamie jump to different roles from William’s first mate to the various Crystal Gems who did most of the work in helping William found Beach City along with Mayor Dewey’s reactions to the unexpected changes as everyone else finds humor in what’s onstage.  This relatable setup is positively received as any work with flawed, multi-layered characters would usually be. 

Many characters involved get satisfying resolutions with Jamie moving forward with his acting passions through becoming community theater director, Mayor Dewey getting more support from the citizens, and Pearl feeling a little better about the mistake she made.  Her role may not have the strongest tie to the Sardonyx incident and can easily be viewed without even being aware of it, but knowing about it does make what she does here stand out more than it would otherwise.  Along with solid character moments and a great piece of advice for anyone wanting to make it in entertainment, this may not be the most important cartoon, but it’s got significant merit that makes it worth watching. 9/10

The Ranking

1. Sworn to the Sword
2. Keystone Motel
3. Chille Tid
4. Cry for Help
5. Keeping it Together
6. Full Disclosure
7. We Need to Talk
8. Reformed
9. Historical Friction
10. Joy Ride
11. Say Uncle
12. Onion Friend
13. Rising Tides, Crashing Skies
14. Love Letters

The next Steven Universe review covers the end of the Sardonyx arc when a desperate pursuit for Peridot gives Pearl the perfect opportunity to make amends with Garnet.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a Hey Arnold review on "Sid's Revenge" and "Roller Coaster."

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

If you would like to check out other Hey Arnold reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 15: Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 4: Love Letters

Love Letters

The Beach City residents have their appeal, but since most of them are not as interesting as the main protagonists and the Gems, cartoons where they’re the main focus aren’t the best.  That’s the case with this cartoon starring Jamie the mailman. 

In his earliest appearance, he was just a guy doing his job with a friendly attitude.  With that in mind, it’s worth giving credit that there’s some expansion to Jamie’s character. He’s very theatrical and wants to become an actor, hence why he’s been away where the big pictures are made all this time…apparently in Kansas.  Despite this new layer, the plot focuses more on the “love at first sight” concept when Jamie sees Garnet and falls madly in love with her.  While Garnet’s first interactions with him sell how seductive she is to Jamie, this being what gets him so attached to her feels petty and shallow, especially since it is possible to craft a more believable romance that isn’t appearance-based. 

With the fact that Garnet is a fusion only recently being revealed, when Steven and Connie show her a love letter from Jamie, much of Ruby and Sapphire’s love for each other is shown through Garnet’s firmness of not getting involved with this new crush, which is a good show of character to get from this scenario.  She’s devoted to the relationship of the Gems who form her and won’t let anyone stand in their way, coming off as admirable for her strong will.  It continues when writing a response to Jamie’s overly dramatic love letter to him.  It amounts to a very blunt no, further showing how strong the relationship she’s a part of, or is entirely, really is. 

However, this is where things start to go downhill.  After hearing about Jamie’s constant acting rejections, Steven and Connie get the idea to rework the love letter response so that he won’t get as disappointed.  Considerate as they may be, this is a pretty dumb move on their part.  Through trying to match the poetic tone of his letter and being vague about the reject, Jamie could easily get the wrong idea and try to follow up on the letter.  Sure enough that’s what happens when Jamie shows up thinking Garnet returned his love.  Not only that, but while Garnet continues to be firm with Ruby and Sapphire’s love, she’s also a bit too harsh saying that she’ll never be interested in him.  This statement along with finding out that Steven and Connie wrote the response puts Jamie in a funk that prevents him from even doing his job.  While he’s still sympathetic, his overbearing feelings are too much to completely feel for him at this point. 

Fortunately, Garnet takes the initiative to properly let Jamie down.  She gives him some honest life advice on how love at first sight really doesn’t exist, and that it mostly involves knowing the other person, and Jamie knows nothing about Garnet.  This isn’t just a random tidbit for Jamie at the moment, but it’s believable for real life too.  For all the times people in shows and movies fall in love because of appearances, it’s easy to forget that there’s more to love than that, so for this cartoon to bring that up is very commendable.  Garnet also prompts Jamie to move forward towards his acting passions, so with all this said, this cartoon is credible for one of the most mature instances of turning down love ever put to media. 

It’s still not the most interesting plot for this show nor does it have the best character moments, but some solid performances and the mature approach to romance make it good for what it is. 8/10

The Ranking

1. Full Disclosure
2. Joy Ride
3. Say Uncle
4. Love Letters

The next Steven Universe review will be on a further look at how Gems reform their bodies which gives insight into Amethyst's sense of self worth.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is another Hey Arnold review covering the fourth episode of Season 3.

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

If you would like to check out other Steven Universe reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.