'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 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 15

Cover Girls

 

 

 

Now here’s another cartoon that demonstrates how much the Loud siblings care for each other and are always willing to help.  You can see it right at the beginning which is an awesome action-packed sequence of the girls distracting Mom and Dad as Lincoln rushes to get home so no one realizes he missed his curfew.  Their care and love continues on well into the rest of the cartoon where Lincoln returns his sisters’ favor by covering for them on spring cleaning day while they go out to do other things.  You may think that the cartoon will feature Lincoln unfairly suffering by being the only one to keep up the charade while everyone else takes advantage of him, but the cartoon wisely goes in the direction that requires all the siblings to play their part.  Their grandpa, who they call Pop-Pop (just like what my family used to call our grandpa), calls them on video chat which prompts Lincoln to cover as his sisters as best he can so no one notices that they’re not home.  As more of the sisters come home, they start posing as other siblings too, and the cartoon results in one hilarious collection of different Loud siblings posing as other siblings.  There’s a lot of passion thrown into the acting that allows the characters to successfully emulate the different characters they’re imitating, but still remaining true to themselves.  Some of my favorite interpretations include Lana as Leni, Lynn as Lisa, and Lori as Lincoln.  Leni and Luan even put on a great homage to the Marx Brothers at one point.  Then, we get an ending where the kids get caught deceiving everyone by their parents who then proceed to punish them by having them go out and do what they wanted to do while dressed in their disguises, resulting in all of them getting into embarrassing situations.  This ending does have a bit of a downer tone that honestly unfairly sours things for the kids.  I mean, was their act of deception really THAT bad?  Honestly though, despite this being a bit of an issue with the cartoon, the ending is still tolerable since I’m still able to get a good laugh out of at least a few of the scenes of the kids being forced to do what they planned on doing in their disguises.  Also, it doesn’t change the fact that we still see the great factors of the bonds of the Loud siblings.  With that in place, I personally call this cartoon a good watch. 8/10

 Save the Date

The end of the cartoon, “Heavy Meddle,” suggested that the girl bullying Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, actually really likes Lincoln signaling the start of them potentially growing as friends.  This cartoon here shows that happening.  Although to get there, we start off with Lincoln being bullied by her again, this time with the kids at school teasing him about how this may mean she likes him.  Personally, I don't get why having a lover would be a reason for bullies to tease.  Finding love is seen as a great thing.  Why would bullies think otherwise?  Anyway, when Lincoln tensely rejects that, he accidentally hurts her feelings.  Following a hilarious over-the-top display of the trope of an average teenage girl reacting to a break-up from Lori whom Bobby broke up with on account that her brother, Lincoln, hurt his sister, Ronnie Anne, Lincoln finds himself roped into a double date with Lori, Bobby, and Ronnie Anne. This is part of an attempt for him to make things right with Ronnie Anne so Lori will get back with Bobby.  This is where we start to see some natural progression of Lincoln and Ronnie Anne warming up to each other.  At first, they’re not too pleased to see each other, but as Lori and Bobby start flirting with each other, clearly showing that they do not want to be broken up, the younger siblings find a common interest as they comment on the cheesy flirting.  The more they talk about this, the more Lincoln and Ronnie Anne start to like being together, ultimately going on to apologize for being such pains to each other.  This is a newly formed respect for each other that was a result of believable events, in this case, enjoying something similar, and is ultimately one worth getting behind especially since the other character pairing of Lori and Bobby, seems to be a very basic relationship established on flirting over each other, though its over-the-top tone and the clear care they have for each other make it enjoyable.  Because Lincoln and Ronnie Anne’s relationship is so appealing, it’s a bit frustrating when Lincoln goes on to hide that he’s starting to like her as the kids from school arrive at the very restaurant he’s at.  Is there seriously no reason why he can’t just tell Ronnie Anne that he doesn’t want them to tease him for liking her?  Anyway, this whole shtick ends up causing Lincoln to hurt Ronnie Anne again which seems like a sad end for what could’ve been a great relationship.  However, the cartoon remembers what greatness it set up by having Lincoln follow Lori’s earlier advice of how actions speak louder than words. Lincoln shows Ronnie Anne how he really feels about her by kissing her.  I can certainly see them as a couple, but the show is obviously pushing for Lori and Bobby to get together, so if Lori and Bobby do become a couple, wouldn’t it be awkward for Lori’s brother to end up with Bobby’s sister?  Well, I guess that’s a topic to be addressed in later seasons.  For this cartoon, we get a satisfying end that has Lincoln and Ronnie Anne remain friends and Lincoln avoid being teased for it, which is good because this cartoon really succeeded in building them up as a charming pair.  For that, I can proudly say that it left me wanting more. 9/10

The Ranking

1.      For Bros About to Rock

2.      Undie Pressure

3.      Project Loud House

4.      Space Invader

5.      Driving Miss Hazy

6.      Left in the Dark

7.      Toads and Tiaras

8.      Picture Perfect

9.      Save the Date

10.  Sleuth or Consequences

11.  Hand-Me-Downer

12.  No Guts No Glori

13.  Changing the Baby

14.  Along Came A Sister

15.  Sound of Silence

16.  Butterfly Effect

17.  A Tale of Two Tables

18.  Cover Girls

19.  It’s A Loud, Loud, Loud, Loud House

20.  Overnight Success

21.  In Tents Debate

22.  Linc or Swim

23.  The Sweet Spot

24.  Heavy Meddle

25.  Get the Message

26.  Ties that Bind

27.  Making the Case

28.  Chore and Peace

29.  Two Boys and a Baby

30.  The Green House

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where we really get to know Clyde's dads in "Attention Deficit" and witness one of Lincoln's worst displays of family love as he goes "Out on a Limo."