Beta (Steven Universe Season 3 Episode 21) - 'Toon Reviews 23

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Beta

When focusing on big reveals, a cartoon can go either ways.  It can expand lore and bring new character paths, but also feel a little dull with not much happening.  This cartoon kind of goes both ways. 

Amethyst still obsessed with wanting to beat Jasper, so Steven decides to take her mind off things by having her visit Peridot and Lapis.  This is where the big reveals start.  When we last saw Peridot and Lapis together, the latter appeared to start warming up to the former.  However, it seemed like anyone’s guess how well they get along after all this time.  As it turns out, they’ve both warmed up to each other pretty well.  In addition, much of the cartoon’s first half is showing their days at the barn.  They mostly binge watch Camp Pining Hearts or make random objects into artwork, or meep morps.  These reveals are mostly fluff which, while fun, limit potential character development .  It doesn’t become a big issue until the next season though.

For now, Peridot and Lapis’ customs have some weight to them regarding their experience of Earth.  They explore what the planet has to offer, and do something unique with it, which is endearing.  It’s also appealing through the personalities of both characters working off each other.  Peridot is much more eager to explore Earth’s amenities while also being social and considerate of others’ feelings.  Lapis isn’t nearly as social or enthusiastic to explore the planet since most of her suffering occurred here.  Still, we see some progress is made to opening herself up, such as happily making music with Peridot to entertain the guests. 

Going back to Amethyst, she isn’t impressed like she usually would be with Jasper on her mind.  With these concerns, the tone of the reveals shifts dramatically.  Playing to their dynamic, Peridot steps in to help Amethyst while Lapis stays at the barn to not have anything bad happen to her.  Since Amethyst once did the same for her, it’s interesting that Peridot is now trying to make Amethyst feel better about herself.  She does so by taking her to where Jasper was made. 

Jasper’s Kindergarten, the Beta Kindergarten, is a lot different from Amethyst’s, the Prime Kindergarten.  Instead of black and moody, the Beta Kindergarten is brightly colored.  The holes the Gems came out of are the most significant difference.  The Prime’s holes are perfectly aligned and carved making for many strong Quartz soldiers, except Amethyst who stayed in her hole too long.  As for the Beta, all the holes are sloppy and rushed, and it’s impressive that Peridot can tell that all the Gems came out weird from the holes alone.  It’s a great display of her talents. 

They become especially apparent when they find Jasper’s hole.  Peridot investigates it hoping to find something wrong with it to cheer up Amethyst, but is begrudgingly honest when she finds nothing of the sort.  Jasper is objectively the most perfect Gem in the Beta Kindergarten, and Amethyst will always be weaker than her.  All these reveals do their part to make the concept of Kindergartens more interesting than ever and lead to interesting mysteries.  However, just having explanations costs the cartoon a great deal of excitement.  It’s only at the end when Amethyst finds Jasper holding corrupted Gems in cages, and decides to fight her anyway when something big looks to come from the reveals.  The ensuing action is saved for the next cartoon, so it at least leaves something exciting to look forward to. 

In the end, this cartoon makes the show’s world vaster, but isn’t one of the more noteworthy ones for mostly being built on exposition.

A-

The Ranking

1. Mr. Greg
2. Bismuth
3. Monster Reunion
4. Crack the Whip
5. Gem Hunt
6. Greg the Babysitter
7. Alone at Sea
8. Gem Drill
9. Super Watermelon Island
10. Too Short to Ride
11. Beach City Drift
12. Steven vs Amethyst
13. Barn Mates
14. Beta
15. Hit the Diamond
16. Same Old World
17. Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service
18. Steven Floats
19. Restaurant Wars
20. The New Lars
21. Drop Beat Dad

The next Steven Universe review brings an exciting boost in tone with Amethyst facing Jasper featuring a brand new fusion and a well-staged dark fate for Jasper.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Junk Junkies" and "Day of the Flecko" from Rocko's Modern Life.

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

'Toon Reviews 15: Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 21: Too Far

Too Far

Construction of the drill begins for real, but the trend of Peridot getting to know her current enemies and Earth continues.  

She still has entertaining observations to what the planet provides. They include using a simple tape recorder to record her logs and having weird names for certain body parts much to Amethyst’s amusement.  In addition, Peridot still holds onto certain Gem prejudices brought about by Homeworld which actually brings one of her most meaningful bonds of the series. 

While it’s wrong to be judgmental, there’s no harm in poking a little fun at the shortcomings of others behind their back. When Peridot goes to the Kindergarten to get a part of its injectors for the drill with Amethyst and Steven as assigned chaperones, she and Amethyst get closer over their comments on said shortcomings.  Every time Peridot mentions what she finds strange about certain Crystal Gems, Amethyst takes the comments as a joke which Peridot seems pleased about.  Peridot also points out that even though she’s small and reckless and follows the orders of everyone else, as a Quartz-type Gem, Amethyst outranks everyone on the team.  Amethyst finds this amusing at first, but then Peridot makes her feel uneasy. 

At the same time, the new information further develops Amethyst’s background.  We already know she was made on Earth in this very Kindergarten as opposed to Homeworld, but Peridot adds on how Amethyst ended up small when she’s not supposed to be, right down to happily pointing out the hole Amethyst came out of and how it’s different from all the others.  This is where poking fun at others causes problems, ending up going too far.  Peridot is saying hurtful things about Amethyst’s background, something Amethyst is already sensitive about, and seems pleased with herself for doing so, and Amethyst gets visibly hurt about not living up to the expected status, all because she emerged from her hole late.  Despite being hurtful, Peridot is still likable when it’s later shown that she was just trying to be funny and enjoyed Amethyst finding humor in what she said, and feels smaller when Amethyst ignores her calls for her.  In other words, Peridot really meant no harm to Amethyst, and this is further proven in an exciting scenee where she accidentally starts the drill and it runs loose, but she quickly gets Amethyst out of the way while Steven stops it. 

However, it’s the last moment of the cartoon where Peridot proves that she genuinely wants to better understand Earth.  Through nothing but the sound of her tape recording, the emotional effects of the message are greatly felt, showing that Periodt realizes she’s no better than what she’s found wrong with the planet, and that she now knows to be careful with the words she uses.  The whole message is capped off by Amethyst simply thanking Peridot ,and Peridot feeling bigger as a result, which is all we get, but all we really need to get invested in the heart of the moment, especially since Amethyst and Peridot keep up their bond in seasons to come. 

For adding to Peridot’s appeal and development, giving more information on one of the established protagonists, and offering a strong message to walk away with, this cartoon is one of this season’s most powerful. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Sworn to the Sword
2. Keystone Motel
3. When it Rains
4. Too Far
5. Friend Ship
6. Nightmare Hospital
7. Chille Tid
8. Cry for Help
9. Keeping it Together
10. Full Disclosure
11. Catch and Release
12. Back to the Barn
13. We Need to Talk
14. Reformed
15. Historical Friction
16. Joy Ride
17. Say Uncle
18. Onion Friend
19. Rising Tides, Crashing Skies
20. Sadie’s Song
21. Love Letters

The next Steven Universe review is a big one as we hear the thrilling story of Garnet's origins.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the next review for Rocko's Modern Life on "Keeping Up With the Bigheads" and "Skid Marks."

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.

'Toon Reviews 15: Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 19: When it Rains

When it Rains

Her previous appearance showed off her lack of understanding on Earth, mostly to humorous effect.  However, in this cartoon, this side of Peridot’s character is shown for more than just humor’s sake which makes her far more endearing. 

She continues to lock herself in Steven’s bathroom, refusing to talk about the Cluster as shown through humorous moments of her trying the patience of the Crystal Gems.  Since she's warmed up to Steven, she’s not only more open to talk to him, but it also brings her endearment.  There’s a storm outside and Peridot is frightened by the rain and thunder, particularly thinking that it’s the Cluster emerging.  Through all her fears, Steven reassures her that rain and storms are natural and nothing to be scared of.  It’s honestly interesting for a young kid like Steven acting as a teacher figure who knows what he’s talking about to a seemingly knowledgeable Gem who actually has a lot to learn.  It develops Steven and further shows the layers of Peridot. Peridot stepping out into the rain, realizing it’s harmless after all brings out great heart, and that it’s not as bad as she thinks.  It’s also silent, so you can better take in how big of a moment it is for her character. 

Regarding the Cluster, the simple gesture of Steven teaching her about rain gets Peridot to talk about the potentially destruction to Earth.  They go to the Kindergarten where all of Peridot’s logs on the Cluster are stored.  Its background is just like that of those strange Gem mutants we’ve already seen twice.  They were experiments done by Homeworld, whose leaders were plotting to make a geo-weapon to destroy Earth.  After countless forced artificial fusions of Gem shards, a singular gigantic artificial fusion with millions of shards was made and placed under the Earth’s crust to incubate.  Now, it’s close to emerging if the random smaller mutants emerging are any indication, and it will be so huge that it will destroy the planet when it does.  The forced fusions have already had a big scare factor, but now their threat is even bigger with an immeasurable one that can destroy the world, setting up something big to look forward to later. 

As for how the reveal is presented, it further works in the heart of Peridot’s character where little instances of her needing Steven’s help in accessing the logs foreshadow what happens.  Her lack of understanding of Earth is accounted for when she assumes that Steven will know how to stop the Cluster just because he taught her about rain, even though Steven actually does not have the answers to everything.  This is only further proven true when they’re attacked by more Gem mutants and Steven’s powers aren’t enough to stop them.  They’re stopped when the Crystal Gems show up just in time to truly finish them off.  All these instances together bring about one major change in Peridot when at the very end of the cartoon, she agrees to tell them all about the Cluster after her constant refusal to do so. 

This is only the beginning of her big change in attitude towards the group as a whole that will span through cartoons to come.  Even here, everything Peridot gets up to through learning about Earth and forming meaningful relationships amount to a great development and major boost in character appeal.  For that, this is another high-tier season highlight. 10/10

 

 

The Ranking

1. Sworn to the Sword
2. Keystone Motel
3. When it Rains
4. Friend Ship
5. Nightmare Hospital
6. Chille Tid
7. Cry for Help
8. Keeping it Together
9. Full Disclosure
10. Catch and Release
11. We Need to Talk
12. Reformed
13. Historical Friction
14. Joy Ride
15. Say Uncle
16. Onion Friend
17. Rising Tides, Crashing Skies
18. Sadie’s Song
19. Love Letters

The next Steven Universe review takes us back to the barn where as plans to stop the Cluster finally convince, we get more background on Pearl, a robot-building detour, and a chance for Peridot to bond with her.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is more excitement from Rocko's Modern Life with "Leap Frogs" and "Bedfellows."

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.

'Toon Reviews 15: Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 8: Keeping it Together

Keeping it Together

This cartoon shows how well this series specializes in playing with one’s emotions.  It pulls you in with something nice and wholesome and gradually leads to something heavier. 

Everything starts out simple with Steven and the Crystal Gems conversing while doing chores.  Even with the calm tone at the moment, thoughts are still on how necessary it is to find Peridot, with everyone assuming that her main goal is reactivate the Gem Kindergarten.  We even learn how its injectors work such as exactly how they plant Gems in the ground and how their growth depletes the Earth of its resources.  With all the talk about Peridot, the Crystal Gems track her down in the Kindergarten, and the tone intensifies from there. 

Even though this isn’t the first time we've seen the Kindergarten, it still has a moody, grey feel to what goes on, signaling something dark that could happen.  Steven happens upon Peridot by chance who appears calculating about “fusion experiments” giving the impression that she WAS trying to reactivate the Kindergarten and potentially hurt the Earth.  Following an energetic chase through the Kindergarten, the Crystal Gems split up after her with Steven going with Garnet to also see if they can figure out Peridot’s real intention since the injectors aren’t on.  Through it all, the nice familial bond between Steven and Garnet is very prominent with Steven, as any curious child would, asks Garnet question after question on what it’s like to be a fusion, and Garnet answers them as she advances with her investigation. 

Then, when they start investigating closely, there’s always a feeling that something ominous is watching them.  The strange occurrence makes itself known when disembodied hands appear and attack them, bringing the whole cartoon to its darkest point.  It’s especially dark with Garnet’s reaction.  The hands are actually forced fusions of the shards of shattered Crystal Gems .  Eventually, a big forced fusion composed of a large number of shards shows up to attack and fully unsettles Garnet, and its screams add to the horror and tension.  You may think it’s strange for Garnet to be unable to do anything because of this, but given that she’s a fusion of two Gems who love each other, this is an understandable and logical layer to prevent her from continuing to fight.  In fact, what she sees brings her to the brink of falling apart as if the scene wasn’t frightening enough already.  However, through a heartwarming turn of events, it’s Steven’s pleas for Garnet to keep going that allows her to prevent unfusing, and beat back the forced fusions. 

All ends well with everyone leaving safely despite still not knowing what Peridot is up to and that the shattered Crystal Gems had met such a horrible fate which even Garnet understandably still isn’t over.  It is nice though that talking with Steven helps ease the shock of the discovery, which even includes a nice allusion to keeping a pair of socks together regarding what it feels like for Garnet to be a fusion all the time.  So, despite the horrific things that came from Homeworld’s ideas of fusion, it’s great to know that we’re left to believe that Garnet will always remember what fusion really means. 

That there is a good embodiment of the power of this cartoon.  It gradually goes from light-hearted to disturbing, but inspires the audience to hold onto what’s good regardless, making this one of this show’s most influential works. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Sworn to the Sword
2. Keeping it Together
3. Full Disclosure
4. Reformed
5. Joy Ride
6. Say Uncle
7. Rising Tides, Crashing Skies
8. Love Letters

The next Steven Universe review will be on the second Greg and Rose Quartz flashback highlighting their attempt at fusion.

The next review for MC Toon Reviews will be on Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 8 featuring "Arnold's Room" and "Helga vs. Big Patty."


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.

'Toon Reviews 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 44

Marble Madness

We got our first glimpse of Peridot back in “Warp Tour,” yet we didn’t really get a sense of what she was up to.  All she did was investigate the Galaxy Warp, take out defective robonoids and then leave.  All we got was a mystery of not only why she was coming to Earth, but also what exactly was she like.  Now, we have this cartoon that attempts to answer some questions about Peridot.  Much of the first part of the cartoon follows a beat-for-beat routine.  Steven tries to understand a book series that Connie gets him into, but then one of Peridot’s robonoids shoots down to Earth, prompting him and the Crystal Gems to go to where it landed and destroy it.  The fact that these same instances happen a couple times in a row make the early part of the cartoon somewhat monotonous.  They’re mildly entertaining on their own, but the show has had more enticing moments than this.  However, there is one truly enticing part of the cartoon in the second half when Steven comes up with a smart idea of following one of the robonoids to where it wants to go and why they’re all being shot to Earth.  This plan brings the Crystal Gems to the Kindergarten from “On the Run,” where they come across Peridot who has accessed the Kindergarten via a screen.  As the Crystal Gems wonder what Peridot is trying to do, Steven decides to find out by going up to talk to her which is both smart, and boneheaded since no one knows what Peridot is like.  One thing about his first conversation with Peridot that’s worth pointing out is that him mentioning a list of humans to her goes on to play a role in one of the most recent cartoons.  The fact that this one little line from the conversation starts something huge much later on demonstrates the cleverness of the storytelling and gives this cartoon more value than it already has.  Anyway, when Peridot goes on to attack Steven with hand robonoids the screen provides, the Crystal Gems come to his aid, and reveal that they’re protecting the planet at all costs.  Through it all, we see more of what Peridot is actually like.  Although she’s meticulous and technical when it comes to going about her work, instead of serious and menacing, she’s quickly agitated by others interfering.  Even though you don’t want her to succeed and fear for the Crystal Gems when she leaves to report her finding, it’s still somewhat easy to feel for her as she complains about her destroyed robonoids among other things.  This trait of Peridot among others would become more prominent for the rest of the show.  As you can see, this big reveal on Peridot adds to the appeal of this cartoon which, while not being the most exciting story, does its job in preparing for what’s to come. 9/10

The Ranking

1. Ocean Gem
2. Lion 3: Straight to Video
3. Alone Together
4. Coach Steven
5. On the Run
6. Maximum Capacity
7. Mirror Gem
8. An Indirect Kiss
9. Space Race
10. So Many Birthdays
11. Steven the Sword Fighter
12. Lion 2: The Movie
13. Bubble Buddies
14. Monster Buddies
15. Laser Light Cannon
16. Winter Forecast
17. Giant Woman
18. Lars and the Cool Kids
19. The Test
20. Steven’s Lion
21. Horror Club
22. Watermelon Steven
23. Gem Glow
24. Steven and the Stevens
25. Marble Madness
26. Warp Tour
27. Island Adventure
28. Rose’s Room
29. Cheeseburger Backpack
30. Future Vision
31. Secret Team
32. House Guest
33. Serious Steven
34. Joking Victim
35. Beach Party
36. Cat Fingers
37. Tiger Millionaire
38. Together Breakfast
39. Fusion Cuisine
40. Frybo
41. Onion Trade
42. Arcade Mania
43. Garnet’s Universe
44. Keep Beach City Weird

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where this season and the whole show hits its emotional high point with "Rose's Scabbard."

If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.