Gem Hunt (Steven Universe Season 3 Episode 17) - 'Toon Reviews 23

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Gem Hunt

For this routine Gem mission, a few things make it stand out as a charming milestone.  For one thing, with the depths of corrupted Gems now known, Steven has a whole new understanding. Inside every mindless monster is a helpless Gem hurt by the Diamonds during the Gem War. 

It also brings to light a nice dynamic from those who join him.  The reason this mission is such a milestone is that it’s Connie’s first one.  Her involvement plays to her training with Pearl from last season, so it’s a benefit to see its results.  In fact, Pearl comes along partially to ensure that Connie has remembered what she’s learned.  There’s an interesting setting for the action too in the Great North, a vast snowy environment which is wholesome and nice change of pace from the show’s usual beach setting. 

The one thing that shines the most during the search for the corrupted Gems is Connie’s determination to be a valuable team player.  It’s huge because for the longest time, the Gems have been very hesitant to get humans involved with serious magic business which can get destructive to their well-being.  Now with Connie learning sword fighting, the Gems are slowly entrusting humans to help in missions, and Connie actually wanting to help fits this concept.  Her chance to prove herself comes when the two corrupted Gems split up with Pearl going after one while Steven and Connie go after the other. 

From there, the main focus is on Connie taking charge with everything she knows, all playing to her primary character traits of being knowledgeable and statistical.  It’s not just with sword-fighting, but also with basic wilderness survival featuring believable skills relevant to the mission.  She tracks footprints in the snow, finds shelter, and makes nourishment out of any good plants in the area when a blizzard comes. Connie's also really prepared by bringing the appropriate supplies and alternate energy sources should civilization collapse.  It’s nerdy stuff for sure, but when stating her knowledge, Connie approaches everything with a youthful tone and upbeat attitude, making for a nice character to follow.  In addition, her role is enhanced by her comrades. Steven follows her survival techniques in his own way while also applying what he now knows about corruption, and Pearl gives motherly guidance through a walkie-talkie. 

For all of Connie’s training and smart survival skills though, it leads to an unexpected conclusion. They find the corrupted Gem, but the situation is too intense for her to remember her training and take it out.  It’s only when Jasper suddenly appears and brutally rips out the gemstone of the corrupted Gem when the beast is defeated. All Connie can do is simply contact Pearl for help like she was instructed to do.  There’s genuine sympathy for Connie since she failed to play as big a role as she planned, but it’s very appropriate that Pearl praises her involvement anyway.  As for Jasper, her menacingly showing those gemstones to “Rose” (Steven) brings a great show of promise for what she has in store for cartoons to come.

Ultimately, this cartoon is one of the best put together works of the season. It succeeds with a wholesome snowy setting, great follow-ups to recent reveals, and character moments bringing charm and likability to a serious mission.

A+

The Ranking

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

The next Steven Universe review is on Amethyst offering an interesting lackadaisical training approach that works for Steven and Connie, but not herself.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Down the Hatch" and "Road Rash" 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 6: Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 6

Cat Fingers

This cartoon has much of the same unsettling and creepy vibes as the last one, but there’s a lot more heart to the story here, as well as development as a Gem for Steven.  Regarding the character, Amethyst, one of the Gem powers she loves to expose is shapeshifting allowing her to turn herself into absolutely anything.  She’s mostly seen doing it to mess around with others, but it’s still an interesting and fun aspect of being a Gem, perfect for the animation medium.  Since all Gems can do shapeshifting and Steven finds it cool, of course he wants to learn how to do it.  Even through starting small, Steven can’t get it as well as Amethyst.  He is, however, able to turn one of his fingers into a cat, and is perfectly content with only getting this far.  He’s so content with this that he goes on to have more of his fingers turn into cats and goes around impressing everyone with his new skill.  Basically, this setup with Steven’s new ability is nice and cute at first.  However, this feeling doesn’t last long when Steven realizes that he can’t turn his fingers back to normal.  In fact, his situation just gets even darker when the rest of his body starts growing cats, turning him into a meowing monstrosity.  I’m all for a natural tone shift from light-hearted and fun to dark and scary, but the shift to dark seems to be a little too much.  Steven covered in cat heads is just horrifying to look at, and when he looks in pain as the cats consume him, it feels just as painful to anyone watching.  You really have to wonder why Amethyst never considers teaching him how to turn himself back to normal.  However, the resolution to the issue does have a good amount of heart to it when Steven turns to his dad for help when things get bad.  As Steven laments about how monstrous he has become, Greg shows that he loves him for who he is as he sees him as his son and nothing else.  Still, he respects Steven’s wishes and uses the super wash setting of his carwash to get rid of all the cats which gets Steven back to normal.  That’s genuine fatherly love right there.  Basically, if you can take the major creepiness factor of Steven’s cat-tastrophe as well as Amethyst’s neglect when things get really bad, you’ll easily find that this cartoon really does have a good heart and sense of fun. 8/10

The Ranking

1. Laser Light Cannon
2. Gem Glow
3. Cheeseburger Backpack
4. Cat Fingers
5. Together Breakfast
6. Frybo

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where we meet Steven's best friend, Connie, in "Bubble Buddies."

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