'Toon Reviews 15: Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 15: Friend Ship

Friend Ship

After a couple of cartoons of each of them on their own, the Crystal Gems regroup to try and catch Peridot, and it all unfolds in a satisfying end to the Sardonyx conflict. 

There’s a great display of character all throughout with Steven looking on the bright side of what happens right down to socializing with the enemy, Amethyst wanting the team dynamic to go back to normal while doubting if it can, and Pearl bent on catching Peridot, even if she just gets in the way to Garnet’s annoyance.  Even Peridot herself has a lot of enjoyable moments.  It may seem hard to believe since she’s an antagonizing force from the planet the Crystal Gems are rebelling against, but Peridot is simply too hard not to like.  She never seems menacing, which is remarkable considering her first appearance, but more annoyed about her enemies constantly showing up to get in the way of her work and getting off Earth.  Even when she leads the Crystal Gems into a rundown Gem ship so she can trap them inside to kill them, she’s far more disgruntled and frustrated than heartless and evil, and it's funny watching her struggle with figuring out how the ship works.  This gives her a smidge of humility that makes her frustrations sympathetic even if you don’t want her to succeed in killing our heroes.  Given what’s eventually done with Peridot, I’d say it’s a good thing she’s not too villainous. 

As for those trying to catch her, every time they get close, Pearl barges in without second thought and walks everyone further into the trap, and from her tone of voice, you can tell how desperate she is to make herself trusted again. So, in addition to being somewhat humorous for her crazed ways of getting forgiveness especially since we don’t normally expect boneheaded moves like this from her, she’s highly sympathetic from the reasons behind her actions.  Her sympathy really grows when she and Garnet get trapped in an enclosed pit and have no choice but to talk things over about the conflict between them while the pit’s walls close in on them.  She confides that even though she tries hard to be strong, she’s too beat down about being a weak Gem, hence why she’s desperate to be with someone stronger like Garnet so she can feel the strength she can never get herself.  It’s both sad and insightful for Pearl to feel worthless as she is, something I think no one should ever feel, which ties into her past attachment to Rose. 

An admirable thing about this is that Garnet is considerate of these insecurities and makes Pearl feel better that even someone strong can have weaknesses, such as how the conflict made her unfuse.  She’s also reassuring of Pearl by reminding her that Pearl has strength she needs to realize so to follow her own power and not latch onto someone else.  This heartwarming instance of understanding leads to a definitive resolution to the fallout when Pearl and Garnet fuse to escape the danger, signifying that while it’s debatable if Pearl is completely forgiven, now that her insecurities are known, there is hope that she’ll overcome them.  Also, with things as resolved as they are, everyone is able to work as a team to track Peridot down and catch her, or at least her foot.  However, with it being removable, it’s a solid foreshadow to what we learn about her in her next appearance. 

For this cartoon though, it’s a grand collection of character moments with believable instances to flesh them out to resolve what’s between them that lead up to satisfying conclusions. 10/10

The Ranking

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

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where a frightening trip to the hospital leads Connie's mom to learn a plethora of truths about her daughter.


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'Toon Reviews 15: Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 11: Cry for Help

Cry for Help

With this show developing more of a plot, story arcs are now more apparent.  It’s a strong exercise of continuity and offers a believable direction in taking time to solve issues.  This cartoon begins one of the most significant story arcs in an dramatic and striking manner. 

The search for Peridot thickens when she uses the Gem communication hub, first seen in “Coach Steven,” to affect TV signals to get Homeworld to help her off Earth.  The Crystal Gems proceed to preempt her preemptions by tearing down the hub which they need a fusion to do.  The ideal choice would be Garnet and Amethyst as Sugilite, but since her previous appearance proved she's too unstable to restrain herself, it’s decided that Garnet should fuse with Pearl instead. 

This decision introduces us to one of the best fusions, Sardonyx.  Utilizing Garnet’s collected strength and Pearl’s elegance and flare for emotion, Sardonyx brings a specialized approach to everything she does.  She opens and closes the job as if she’s doing a lavish stage performance, and goes through the destruction with a positive showy attitude, clearly having a blast with this serious mission.  In all, Sardonyx absolutely shines as a fusion for her style, class, and all around entertainment that works towards the greater good. 

She’s so impressive that you can easily buy into her praise as well as Amethyst feeling inferior to her.  Speaking of Amethyst, even more sympathy is directed towards her when the hub is mysteriously activated again, and Sardonyx is quickly chosen for an encore performance.  The reason for the sympathy is because Amethyst is not saddened about the neglect because she’s jealous.  She thinks about her mistakes that seemingly caused it.  Given that she’s not very mature, you’d expect her to blame someone else for not the issue, but that’s not the case, and she starts to think that Garnet is better off fusing with Pearl. 

Steven, being so caring, helps Amethyst prove her worth with a stakeout at the hub to catch Peridot before she reactivates it.  That’s when a major twist comes in when they catch Pearl rebuilding the hub.  If that’s not enough, when the hub effects the TV signals again, Pearl is the quickest to claim this as Peridot's doing while Garnet is unable to sense finding her with her future vision.  The pieces soon fall together that Pearl was fixing the hub to have a reason to fuse for her own gain.  It’s certainly a major low for Pearl, but it does show how real and human these characters are.  No matter how moral we are, we can’t always avoid sin, and this moment expands on that idea with the truth let out that Pearl committed a major sin. 

The moment she’s pushed to confess to Garnet is a highly suspenseful climax.  Garnet unleashes her most fury to date at Pearl who tries to explain her actions, and since they did a lot of wrong, it’s a fitting outcome.  Amethyst even shows some compassion by pointing out a possible reason for what Pearl did which is commendable even if Garnet won’t have it.  That’s why when she finally does fuse with Garnet to destroy the hub for good, she’s appropriately too shocked to find this rewarding.  The cartoon ends with Garnet too mad at Pearl to even talk to her as a clever tie to one of Steven’s favorite programs, Crying Breakfast Friends, shows that conflicts like this one need time to fix themselves, unlike in most fiction works where they’re resolved in the end of one episode. 

This relatable and mature instance, among its other strengths, portray this as a great and moving start to a long conflict to shake up the dynamic of our main protagonists. 10/10

The Ranking

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

The next Steven Universe review covers the first look into how each of the Crystal Gems get through the aftermath of the Sardonyx Scandal, starting with Garnet who in the process gives a unique look at how different sides of ourselves are often at a conflict.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a look at Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 11 with "Phoebe Takes the Fall" and "The Pig War."

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.