Steven Universe: Stevenbomb 7 Review

On the whole, I really like Steven Universe. It’s a show with some really intelligent episodes with commentary on topics like consent, trust and emotional abuse, and has likeable characters and a charm which carries it far more than you might expect. Obviously, it’s not for everyone; the fandom has a terrible reputation for a reason, after all, and many people in it spend half their time explaining why they think the show they purport to love sucks; but I’ve enjoyed most of it, even if my opinions on it are a little controversial (season 1 is half filler and is overrated by the fanbase, and seasons 3 and 4 have a lot more interesting episodes than people give them credit for. Fight me.).

Unlike a lot of people, I wasn’t excited by the trailers making season 5 look extremely dark and full of conflict, because I liked the show being one of the few pieces of media that wasn’t resorting to Grimdark storytelling, and was able to let the complex and sometimes negative emotions of the characters speak for themselves and produce episodes that had something more productive to say than ‘things are really messed up, keep watching to see if they get better!’

Fortunately, the six episodes of the new Stevenbomb tie together nicely, all have some fairly intelligent things to say of their own accord, and most importantly, mostly avoid having sad moments for the sake of having sad moments. I was legitimately worried we’d see the show jump the shark at some point in these episodes, but thankfully, it’s managed to avoid doing so.

So anyway, let’s move on to the episode-by-episode reviews.

Dewey Wins

The part of this episode seen in the previews, in which Steven alienates Connie by failing to understand her feelings about him being captured and sent to Homeworld, is something I still have mixed feelings on. On the one hand, it’s totally understandable that Connie would be so angry; the show has put a lot of focus on the two of them cooperating in the past, and Steven cast that aside and put his own life at risk. However, she’s the only character to react so aggressively towards Steven, which seems out of place given how easily Greg and the gems forgive and forget it. I suppose you could write it off as Connie caring about Steven in terms of friendship rather than family, but it’s still an odd tonal shift compared to the (very funny) closing scene of the last episode of the previous bomb, Lars’s Head.

The episode’s central plot, however, is about Mayor Dewey taking the fallout for the disappearances in Beach City from the end of the last season and facing a serious challenge for re-election. This came with some nice little political humor (although fairly tame and nonpartisan stuff), a bunch of jokes about Dewey’s incompetence, and a rather interesting possibility about what will happen to Dewey from here on out and how well the new mayor will work.

The more overwhelming theme of this episode, though, is Steven failing to see things from everyone else’s perspective. It ties the story of the episode in nicely with the beginning of the overarching narrative of the bomb.

While it’s a very bittersweet episode, it’s fairly well executed, and after seeing Steven’s heroism in full swing in the last two bombs, it’s important to re-establish he’s not always right. After all, writing a protagonist whose perspective was always right no matter how unreasonable their behavior got would be a terrible idea. (Wouldn’t it, Stephen Moffat?)

Raising The Barn

I’ll be honest, Lapis relapsing and breaking ties with Peridot is and was a plot arc I’m fundamentally not fond of. The central reason I grew to like Lapis’s character a lot over seasons 3 and 4 was because her arc was one of someone who went from being embroiled in an abusive relationship to finding the courage to escape it and find a healthy niche for herself in the world, and I wasn’t keen on that being dramatically changed.

Fortunately, Raising The Barn doesn’t see Lapis regressing to the violent and emotionally unstable character we saw in the first two and a half seasons of the show. The conflict between her and Peridot is paralleled with Steven and Connie’s falling out: they’re driven apart by miscommunication and a failure to understand each other over a very sensitive topic.

Better still, their perspectives are coherently sold to the audience without the writers making you sympathize with one side or another; Lapis wants to leave Earth and take Peridot with her to keep her safe, whatever compromises it takes, and Peridot wants to stay on Earth and reassure Lapis that things are going to be OK. Since they want fundamentally different things, they have to spend some time apart to come to see each other’s point of view, and realize their relationship can and should involve more communication.

In addition, it had some rather fun moments (Peridot explaining how she comforted Lapis when Steven was on Homeworld, and the part with the onion stand), and was nothing if not memorable. While I’m still not keen on its central concept, I have to admit they did a very good job of a plotline I really didn’t want to happen.

Gemcation

It feels like a really long time since we’ve gotten to see the Gems and Greg show off their parenting skills, and it’s nice to see them again in this episode. Seeing that Steven is depressed, they book a break in a cottage to try and encourage him to let his mind go.

Gemcation marks a nice change of pace after two very depressing episodes, with some quite funny dialogue from Greg and the Gems, as well as the show poking fun at its flashbacks and abstract storytelling a little, as well as incorporating a familiar feeling (for me, at least) about holidays: being surrounded by people who want you to have a good time with them, when you’re more concerned about your home life.

The focus on Steven’s constant need to check his phone is also a neat little subversion of the kind of storytelling you get in a lot of shows. We’re not encouraged to see it as a ‘kids today, always on their mobile phones!’ sort of thing- we’re supposed to sympathize with Steven, who’s realized he’s wronged people and is stressed about it.

In turn, the ending plays off this by emphasizing that you shouldn’t get too stressed about things that will happen at their own pace. You don’t have to start fighting your battles the moment you’ve learned your lesson, and sometimes you just need to let the people who are there for you comfort you if you’re not with who you want to be.

Unlike the preceding two episodes, Gemcation was fairly light-hearted with a more positive message and outcome. It’s not amazing, but it has all the hallmarks of what makes me like this show: charm, wit, nice character moments and a moral that’s nicely handled.

Back To The Kindergarten

 Shifting the focus back to Peridot, Back To The Kindergarten deals with her depression over losing Lapis, and features Steven and Amethyst trying to comfort her and help her see that things can get better.

…at least, that’s how it’s built up to be. In reality, Back To The Kindergarten is a bit more cynical than that, but it’s a clever and honest kind of cynicism. It starts out looking like a straightforward ‘just change and move on and your problems will go away’ sort of story, before slamming on the brakes and admitting that life isn’t that simple, and that sometimes it takes a lot of time and effort.

Better still, the miserly persona of Peridot in this episode gives the episode a certain bitter flare to its comedy. She goes from moping to being cynical and berating, with a sort of condescension that’s fun to watch for how utterly exaggerated it is. It’s sort of like a return to Peridot from late season 2, when she first had to work with the Gems, except turned up to 11.

The ending fight sequence- the only one in the new arc at all, actually- is also pretty nice, and the incorporation of Smokey Quartz for the first time in a whole season is welcome.

Sadie Killer

Of the six episodes, Sadie Killer is perhaps the most tangentially linked to the bomb’s overarching plot. Thematically, though, it links really well. Just as we see Steven’s misery at alienating Connie, and Peridot’s depression over losing Lapis, this episode focuses on Sadie, and the problems she faces effectively being worked to breaking point at the Big Donut.

The link in this episode to the real world is probably the closest any of the new episodes have, partly because it’s a horror-themed episode released only a week after Halloween, but mostly for showing the kind of toll being overworked and underappreciated comes with.

 It’s an episode which clearly aims to connect with the older audience of the show, and for the most part, I would say it works. In addition, it’s nice to see Sadie and the Cool Kids getting some more screentime, and the ‘The Working Dead’ song was honestly pretty great, even if it’s not really like the kind of songs SU traditionally does. 

The sort of unpleasantness of Sadie’s line of work and Steven’s good natured-ignorance is fairly funny and nicely written. If I were to make one gripe, though, it would be that the ending is a little rushed and doesn’t really allow it to sink in how badly Sadie was being treated at work to Steven and the Cool Kids.

Kevin Party

The final episode of the bomb, while not resolving everything about the arc, does manage to tie back into its introduction by having Steven confront Connie and acknowledge what he did was reckless and uncaring, even if he didn’t see it as such at the time.

It’s fairly ironic, yet fitting, that it takes a shared distrust and hatred of Kevin to get Steven and Connie back together. Better still, it once again shows up Kevin for the superficial asshole he is, by demonstrating that he only cares about Stevonnie benefitting him and his reductive view of relationships.

Speaking of that aspect, that was my favourite part of the episode, and one of my favourite things from the arc: Kevin Party is fundamentally focused on showing that there’s no place for superficiality in relationships. Steven trying to act cool, as Kevin told him to, almost drives Connie away from him again, and it’s through being honest about how he regrets his actions and cares for her that he convinces her he’s changed.

It’s a moral that works because it translates so well from the show’s storyline to reality, and it’s one of the nicer, subtler morals the show has done in a while. It manages to show that just because love can be blind doesn’t mean it should be stupid.

Conclusion

The overarching theme of the new Stevenbomb is fitting, given how long the show has been on hiatus: it’s centrally about learning to stop and think about what you want, and communicating with the people you care about effectively. It manages to provide room for future stories around that theme (predominantly around Peridot and, when the show next brings her back, Lapis) and provide in its six episodes a loosely-connected demonstration of what happens when this does and doesn’t happen.

So, I guess see you in another eighteen months or so when we get some more Steven Universe episodes!

Review By Tim Barham

the image above has been sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Universe and does not blong to me or the blog