Monster Reunion (Steven Universe Season 3 Episode 14) - 'Toon Reviews 23

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Monster Reunion

At first, it may seem jarring that we go from light-hearted fun cartoons to cartoons all about Gem lore filled with promise for things to come.  However, the way the tone shifts is ingenious and the lore that follows is great expansion on everything we know. 

We start with Steven doing playing with his favorite bear toy, MC Bear-Bear.  Then, his simple gesture of noticing the bear has a tear and kissing it while promising to fix it, magically heals the tear. A big moment of lore that shapes events to come for the season has come from a simple moment fitting for the current stretch of light-hearted cartoons.   In other words, Steven has regained his special healing spit lost way back under the influence of his dad’s lie.  Some could say that this happening now is convenient, but Steven’s powers have always worked when he showed genuine love for people and things in life. Him caring for his toy bringing this power continues the trend. 

Because of the return of his healing powers, Steven convinces the Crystal Gems to have him try to heal the Gems turned into monsters during the Gem War.  The chosen monster is the first one ever seen in the series and the only one so far Steven has some sort of connection with, Centipeetle.  While Steven’s healing spit does help Centipeetle regain her arms and legs, it doesn’t completely work as she still has a monster-like face and can’t talk.  This leads to huge insights on what’s up with the monsters.  It was mentioned before that the monsters used to be humanoid Gems who became “corrupted and broken.”  At the time, it felt like they meant the same thing even though they were different words.  However, the meaning of the description turned out to be purposefully vague so Steven could get a clearer meaning based on his attempt.  Broken Gems are those with a crack on their gemstones such as those he’s previously healed.  Corrupted Gems are much different.  Their minds became damaged by the Diamonds during the Gem War. 

The reveal of the fascinating information continues when Steven decides to take Centipeetle in since his healing worked part of the way.  She doesn’t seem to remember him, but charming interactions get her to realize her bond from Steven humming the jingle of her favorite chips to communicating with crayon drawings. 

Actually, the use of crayons turns out to be a great and unique way to explain heavy Gem history.  Simple stick figures reveal Centipeetle’s background such as how she was a commander with her own army. She also makes for an effective use out of her simple drawings which depict the Gem War.  Crew members getting crossed out represent those killed in battle.  Ripping a drawing of her and her crew represents how she got separated.  Finally, a big white scribble represents the flashing light that corrupted her and many other Gems who were left behind.  The light was seen in full form in an earlier cartoon, but while these are mere crayon drawings, it’s put into context better here.  It’s a move so primitive revealing huge information, yet it still brings an emotional response. 

While you’re taking in the details of the Gem War’s effects, emotions still ride high as the memory causes Centipeetle to turn back into a monster as she tries to find her old crew.  The reverting goes so fast that it’s a mad dash to get to her old ship.  They eventually make it just as Centipeetle completely reverts, so she ultimately remains a monster and forgets her identity. It’s at least heartwarming that she’s reunited with her crew who are also monsters. 

Through a simple moment of leisure, Gem lore is greatly welcomed back to the forefront in this cartoon. Here though, it stands out for the interesting expansions on what’s known, creative ways of showing it, and especially stronger endearment for the monster characters.

A+

The Ranking

1. Mr. Greg
2. Monster Reunion
3. Gem Drill
4. Super Watermelon Island
5. Too Short to Ride
6. Beach City Drift
7. Barn Mates
8. Hit the Diamond
9. Same Old World
10. Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service
11. Steven Floats
12. Restaurant Wars
13. The New Lars
14. Drop Beat Dad

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where another big Gem lore element is set up for expansion in the rest of the season as Steven and Greg take Lapis for a boat ride.

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 27

House Guest

Newcomers to this show might be led to wonder why Greg doesn’t live with Steven even though he loves his son so much.  The answer for that mostly relates to how the Crystal Gems don’t want mere humans like him to get involved in potentially dangerous magic business.  This cartoon even shows that Greg wants to be with his son more than anything and, in a great bit of continuity from the last few cartoons, gets a chance to move in with Steven due to a broken leg from the stolen ocean incident.  Steven does attempt to heal Greg’s leg with his healing spit, but it apparently doesn’t work and that completely opens up the possibility for Greg to move in.  For a moment, we get a big display of family love that shows the great strength of Steven and Greg’s father-son relationship with many moments of them having fun together all set against a nice, upbeat song called “Dear Old Dad” which also works in this show’s talent for music.  It’s all you need to get a good understanding of Greg’s actions for the rest of the cartoon.  That said, it can still get overbearing with how Greg pines for his son’s attention.  He constantly calls him from important Gem-related missions for the most frivolous of things which prevents Steven from doing anything productive.  It’s an even bigger deal that Steven getting the idea that his healing spit didn’t work to heal his dad’s leg is preventing him from using it to mend a crack in a huge structure called a geode.  Then comes the big reveal that Greg was faking his injury the whole time, and hiding the fact that Steven’s healing spit did cure it.  It’s certainly concerning that someone like Greg would go too far with the wrong thing like this.  Surely he should’ve known that hiding important information like this would cause a lot of problems.  I will give him credit though that it was all for the sake of spending time with his son who he rarely gets to see.  Plus, Greg goes on to redeem himself by the end of the cartoon.  The geode gets way out of control, and even though he knows that his healing spit worked all along, Steven still doesn’t believe in them enough to patch it up, so they don’t work, and it’s a repercussion that doesn’t get resolved until much later in the series making for a believable angle in the situation by not resolving everything right away.  As for Greg, he ultimately saves the day by patching the geode with duct tape of all things, and later on, while he and his son part ways again, it’s still nice that things are all good between them.  While his actions of hiding the truth from his own son and messing up his powers bring the appeal down and the story is less entertaining than much of what we’ve gotten, the amount of family love here is enough to make it a good watch. 8/10

The Ranking

1. Ocean Gem
2. Coach Steven
3. Mirror Gem
4. An Indirect Kiss
5. So Many Birthdays
6. Steven the Sword Fighter
7. Lion 2: The Movie
8. Bubble Buddies
9. Monster Buddies
10. Laser Light Cannon
11. Giant Woman
12. Lars and the Cool Kids
13. Steven’s Lion
14. Gem Glow
15. Steven and the Stevens
16. Rose’s Room
17. Cheeseburger Backpack
18. House Guest
19. Serious Steven
20. Joking Victim
21. Beach Party
22. Cat Fingers
23. Tiger Millionaire
24. Together Breakfast
25. Frybo
26. Onion Trade
27. Arcade Mania
    

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode filled with a lot of development for Pearl in "Space Race."

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

'Toon Reviews 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 24

An Indirect Kiss

To me, the best stories are those that can make you feel a wide range of emotions.  In other words, they’re the ones that don’t focus on one emotion like funny, sad, or scary.  They have a strong balance of many emotions which keeps things interesting by giving different experiences instead of just one.  This show has a lot of stories like this, and this cartoon is one of them.  It has Amethyst mess around and ultimately crack her gem. It’s a big deal because, in another interesting bit of Gem lore, when cracks happen, a Gem’s physical form is severely altered which could kill them.  It’s also established that Rose Quartz could heal cracked gems with her special healing tears. Steven is prompted to try and use them to save Amethyst since he inherited Rose’s gem and powers, but he finds it hard to cry, so the team goes to a special spring with a fountain of Rose’s healing tears now reduced to an overgrown mess of vines.  This simple story has a wide range of emotions aiding in its appeal.  We have laughs coming from the many ways Amethyst’s form becomes distorted due to her crack as well as Pearl expressing crazy concern over the condition of Rose’s healing spring which becomes meaningful as we later learn more about her attachment to Rose.  There’s also a dark and threatening tone to the story. As fun as it is to see Amethyst get all weird with a big googly eye, stretched limbs, and jumbled speech, she’s still in danger of death.  The emotional weight of the story though comes from Steven and his major conflict of being unable to cry healing tears.  He’s really thinking seriously about his status as a Crystal Gem and feels if he can’t show off his mom’s powers, he’d be no use to the team.  It’s really hard for him because his inability to cry is that he never knew Rose.  Even when the fountain starts work as he starts crying, it’s revealed that it happened because Garnet and Pearl unclogged a drain, so they saved Amethyst, which makes Steven really feel useless.  This leads me to discuss the unique way the story’s set up which adds in a layer of sweetness.  The whole story is a flashback Steven shares with Connie, and as it’s told, the charming elements of their friendship are woven in without feeling out of place.  They get up to fun kid-like mannerisms such as trading each other’s stuff like Connie’s glasses and Steven’s juice, but also show real emotional support. This includes Connie assuring Steven that it won’t be so bad if he doesn’t grow to fully understand his powers when his story’s over.  This is especially powerful because it leads to the reveal of a power Steven never could have expected.  Because the juice he gave Connie mostly consisted of backwash and Connie can see without her glasses when she finishes it, Steven discovers that he does have healing powers in his spit.  Not only does this change the status quo somewhat, but it’s a satisfying conclusion for Steven’s turmoil and a step in the right direction for his character.  This story has a nice unique setup, strong character moments, and of course, plays with the audience’s emotions splendidly. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Coach Steven
2. An Indirect Kiss
3. So Many Birthdays
4. Steven the Sword Fighter
5. Lion 2: The Movie
6. Bubble Buddies
7. Monster Buddies
8. Laser Light Cannon
9. Giant Woman
10. Lars and the Cool Kids
11. Steven’s Lion
12. Gem Glow
13. Steven and the Stevens
14. Rose’s Room
15. Cheeseburger Backpack
16. Serious Steven
17. Joking Victim
18. Beach Party
19. Cat Fingers
20. Tiger Millionaire
21. Together Breakfast
22. Frybo
23. Onion Trade
24. Arcade Mania

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode, serving as the first part of a major game-changer for the tone of the series, "Mirror Gem."

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