#dialogue from the episode rose’s scabbard in steven universe

[shatouto]

anakin’s lightsaber

here’s an actor’s au to soothe the pain

#star wars #luke skywalker #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #dialogue from the episode rose’s scabbard in steven universe

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 80: Gem Drill

“I’m talking to the Cluster?”

So I finally figured out why I don’t like Gem Drill.

For a while I had it in my head that the issue was pacing. And it does remain true that the episode-to-episode pacing did it no favors, what with the arc it concludes being interrupted by the utterly unrelated Super Watermelon Island before jumping back in. But because Gem Drill’s third act drags on forever and somehow feels rushed at the same time, I just chalked it up to bad internal pacing and called it a day.

However, rewatching the series for Steven, Universally reminded me that there are several episodes that I’ve praised for incredible pacing which share a similar structure to this one: Mirror Gem, The Return, and Message Received stand out as stories that speed right through the first two acts for an extended third, and I love them all. And what’s more, I enjoyed the first two acts of Gem Drill way more than I remembered. Something was up with my pacing-as-problem theory.

So right after rewatching the episode for review, I rewatched it again. That’s right, I rerewatched it. And it struck me this second time through that the X factor is something I’ve taken so deeply for granted that I haven’t discussed it much, or even really thought about it, until now: Steven Universe has unspeakably terrific dialogue.

Individual lines may stick out more in my memory, and are definitely easier to write about in this format (for one thing, I can quote them), which might be why it hasn’t stuck out as much. It sounds so basic that I feel sorta dumb writing it, but this show is so good at developing characters and plot through conversation. It excels at banter and arguments and reassurances and just having people interact in a way that’s always compelling.

The reason I have to mention it now is that something this reliably solid is hard to notice until it’s gone. But sure enough, the conclusion to Gem Drill (and what’s worse, to the Cluster Arc as a whole) is nearly four minutes of Steven talking to an entity that can barely talk back, and it just does not work. He might be astonished that he’s talking to the Cluster, but this episode falters because he isn’t talking with the Cluster.

Compare this to Mirror Gem, The Return, and Message Received, where we use the extended third acts to have major conversations with Lapis, the Homeworld Gems, and Yellow Diamond. You can’t have that sort of satisfying ending when one of the characters isn’t even a character, but a jumble of nearly incomprehensible voices. And what sucks is that making the Cluster “talk” this way is a perfectly reasonable creative choice: it should sound like a jumble of nearly incomprehensible voices. 

But the show is usually way better at getting around limitations like this to create compelling television. I know this is a journey of the mind and that Steven is special, but we still could have included Peridot with a wave of the narrative wand to continue their low-key debate about necessary force and commit more to the theme through conversation, where the show shines. Barring that, we could’ve used music to add narrative oomph to a one-sided conversation, which would’ve been especially interesting with such a discordant legion of potential singers. Instead, we get a finale that’s just...

It’s just boring.

And it’s frustrating because I think it’s boring of me to just write “it’s boring,” but lord, this scene is so uninteresting to me that it’s hard to find the energy to write about it. Zach Callison is always great, and the animation is gorgeous, but takes sooooo lonnnnnnnng for the scene to convey something it could’ve done in half the time, and there’s nothing to distract us from how long it’s taking. There’s barely any tension despite this clearly being the intention, because there’s only one character in the scene that I care about and he’s obviously not going to die because the show’s named after him. I guess Peridot is in danger, but maybe we’d care about that if we could see her in danger instead of generic rumblings and loud noises.

If this criticism sounds similar to my spiel about caring about Malachite in Super Watermelon Island because she came out of nowhere, it’s because both episodes share a similar character problem. A show about empathy falls apart when the viewer is apathetic, and giving major plot importance to poorly handled characters is a go-to formula for viewer apathy. For a series that’s usually so awesome at both characters and dialogue, it’s shocking that we end the first arc where our heroes literally save the world with back-to-back episodes that are this weak. The buildup was awesome, and the rest of Season 3 is amazing, but this is a bizarre pair of misfires in the middle of a hot streak, and it couldn’t have come in a worse time in terms of the plot.

Please note that I’m not at all against a conclusion where Steven saves the world by talking it out. It’s the best message a show like this could tell, especially because the rest of the episode does an amazing job presenting Peridot’s brutal pragmatism as the alternative: while her blithe penchant for violence makes for a few great jokes, particularly when it comes to D-pads, the line of the episode is Shelby Rabara’s somber justification for attacking a mindless being: “It doesn’t matter if it knows what it’s doing, it’s still going to do it.” And while Super Watermelon Island bears a lot of blame for sucking all the momentum out of the Cluster Arc before Gem Drill valiantly tries to rev us back up, having Steven’s approach come right after a huge brawl does seal the deal. Steven should save the world with kindness. This would be a top-tier episode if the execution was as good as the moral.

With that said, the episode surrounding this disappointing conclusion is fantastic, even if said conclusion blocked it from my memory. We get off to a breakneck start that concisely confirms the stakes before we leap into the plot. It’s not only great at setting the tone, but it efficiently allows the episode time for the lengthened third act, regardless of how that act turns out.

This is a terrific Steven/Peridot episode, thanks to the same great dialogue I was just complaining about the conclusion lacking. They hit just the right balance of humor and heart, with Peridot finally allowing herself to be vulnerable and admit that she not only misses her home, but doesn’t actually hate the Crystal Gems. We’re already paying off “Wow, thanks!” for emotional value, but this touching scene is still played with laughs instead of pure sap; I love that Peridot feels the need to clarify how little she cares about humans that aren’t Steven in her last words. 

Still, I’d love to see an alternative universe where Super Watermelon Island and Gem Drill were made as a full-length episode a la Bismuth rather than a traditional two-parter. Perhaps a more direct juxtaposition of the action of Alexandrite fighting Malachite with Steven talking things out would’ve improved both scenes, and in any case, spending more time setting up before we reached both conclusions would have added more tension than the rush both episodes give us. This is clearly an A-plot and a B-plot that could happen more or less simultaneously; Steven could easily black out in the drill to let him possess a Watermelon Steven, and it would make the team’s split-up make a bit more sense. I dunno, it just seems like any sort of rework would be preferable to the finished products we got.

So yeah, sorry to be so down on these two. But I’m pretty excited to be getting back to episodes I like, and I can’t really think of what the next bad one on the horizon even is. Season 3 ahoy!

Future Vision!

I love love love the recurring plot point that Blue and Yellow Diamond don’t know that the Cluster was neutralized. Because for one, of course they wouldn’t, and for two, it’s the impetus for their appearance in Reunited. All the Cluster needs is a thumbs-up to add more character than Gem Drill did in an entire episode.

This is the exact halfway point of the original series, the 80th episode out of 160. While I’m not huge on Gem Drill, I at least appreciate that the moment that divides both halves of Steven Universe is its title character saving the world.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

Definitely a step up from Super Watermelon Island, and I like a good two-thirds of it, but I’m still not a fan of Gem Drill. The ending just isn’t captivating, which is pretty bare minimum for any form of entertainment, and it’s a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise outstanding arc. At least we still have Message Received for an emotional climax. 

Top Fifteen

Steven and the Stevens

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Winter Forecast

When It Rains

Catch and Release

Chille Tid

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

No Thanks!

     5. Horror Club      4. Fusion Cuisine      3. House Guest      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

(As with Super Watermelon Island, there’s no official promo art, so I’m using this nifty piece of fanart by Nina Rosa.)

#gem drill #steven universe #su #steven universally #review

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

Time to dive into this one, eh. This year’s SDCC poster now seems a pretty deliberate and blatant bit of foreshadowing and underlines this as a whole Thing we really should be paying attention to.

THAT ONE SCENE!!! Can I start you a gofundme account to destroy "WHO" did this to Pearl 

Anon, I’ll do it for free. (Though, okay, yeah, if it requires a functional FTL spaceship, and it probably does, I might need help with funding.)

Ok but I really need you to develop your theories and thoughts about THAT thing with pearl because I can't stop thinking about it and I'm very curious to read what you think. I read your tags but I need more. All of it. There wasn't enough Pearl on those episodes and yet that thing messed me up. 

You and me both.

See, I feel nostalgic now, like the ol’ days of SU theories, Ronaldoing hard, building entire alien worlds and systems and elaborate secret identity conspiracy theories on a few frames of background art with three triangles and four rhombuses. Love it. Or the incredible mileage we all got out of Jasper’s “some lost, defective pearl”, leading the way to the pretty wide agreement of there being multiples of a single Gem “type” way, way before the show actually confirmed it.

So, Homeworld... I always hoped you'd see it some day, but I thought I'd be there with you. Being taken there as a prisoner, I suppose it was something of a dramatic experience. It's just... Steven, I'm sure you have a lot of questions you'd like answers to, like about the Diamonds, for instance. There are things that are impossible for me to explain... But I want to! I-- Steven, I--

The way Pearl’s signature piano in the background music goes all wild and dissonant whenever her hand flies up is particularly effective.

So, what’s going on here? Is Pearl under some sort of geas? A gag order? From the elusive White Diamond (still without even a namedrop - maybe exactly because of... this), or some remnants of Pink Diamond’s influence? I’m fairly sure it’s another piece of the Pink Diamond Murder Mystery puzzle we’ve been promised, but how exactly it fits we can’t yet know for sure. There seem to be some very particular things Pearl physically cannot talk about as her own hand flies up to gag her, and she can’t wrestle it off to finish her sentence. She only manages to remove her hand once the topic of conversation has shifted away from whatever it was she was trying to say.

I’ve seen people compare this to Sophie being forbidden from talking about her curse in Howl’s Moving Castle, especially since:

If you ever find yourself wondering if Steven Universe just referenced anime, the answer is almost always 'Yes.'   -- Matt Burnett

There’s also the possibility of it being a conditioning, or “programming” thing. Perhaps one that applies to Diamonds’ pearls, or pearls in general, which certainly makes a dark sort of sense. After all, as we’ve seen, pearls are privy to pretty much everything on Homeworld, down to the top dog rulers’ most private moments. They present a huge risk and potential vulnerability - and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s noticed they’re the ideal spies and informants. I’ve also seen the suggestion that it’s some kind of trauma-related response (though the whole bit with literally wrestling with her own arm makes me a bit doubtful).

I’ve got a vaguely chronological overview of instances of Pearl doing the hand thing I’ve found and their context, in an attempt to see which might be relevant here and which are just Pearl being upset or shocked or similar. Obviously, YMMV, but this is my take. It’s also going to be pretty long since, well, she actually does it a lot.

Season 1, So Many Birthdays. Shock upon seeing Steven suddenly aged into an old man. Can’t think of how this would be related to anything.

Season 1, Mirror Gem. “It's talking to him? It shouldn't be able to do that. I-it should only be following orders...”

While the above line has always struck me as interesting and kinda twisted in retrospect coming from Pearl of all people, the gesture is nothing like the involuntary gag one we’ve now seen, and there isn’t much to suggest she was about to say anything revealing or important in a Diamond sense.

Season 1, Rose’s Scabbard. “Pearl, you have to tell me what's wrong.”

While tempting, I don’t think this one is it, either, especially because she does tell Steven what’s wrong right after and without any noticeable issues, and here she’s just curling into herself and crying, immensely upset. There’s also nothing to suggest anything “forbidden” at risk of being revealed here. (In general I think Season 1 might be a bit too early to start seeding this, but who knows, the Crewniverse have played the long, long, long game with us before.)

Season 2, It Could’ve Been Great. “Ta-da! A finished Earth colony. Wow, look at this! Eighty-nine kindergartens, sixty-seven spires, a Galaxy Warp in each facet, efficient use of all available materials. What were you thinking, shutting this operation down? It could've been great!”

I was pretty sure this one was going to be relevant, but then when checking it out I noticed the frames leading into it show Pearl slowly putting her hand up to cover her mouth in shock in a way that makes it look really different to the gag thing. And again, she doesn’t really try to say anything here, and a bit later joins the conversation without any apparent issue. So while I guess you could frame it as her wanting to say something about the Diamonds’ plans for Earth and being unable to, I’m not sure I would.

In season 3′s Monster Reunion, Pearl doesn’t cover her mouth, but does use a now interesting turn of phrase when discussing, as she calls it, “damage from the Diamonds”:

Remember, she's not cracked, she's corrupted, and that's something different, something nearly impossible to describe.

I guess there’s a world of difference between nearly impossible and outright impossible.

Season 3, Bismuth. These two instances I can’t see as being anything but emotion and shock, both at seeing an old, dearly missed and long-lost friend, and at seeing Steven hurt and said friend in a bubble. No dialogue involved (I mean, besides the BiiiIIIIIIiiismuUuUUUUUth, of course).

But then it really gets interesting.

“I was there. I saw it with my own eye. I watched the leader of the Crystal Gems, Rose Quartz, shatter Pink Diamond!”

“No. Rose Quartz would never do that! A-and, sure, she had to fight, but - but she would never shatter someone!”

Season 3, Back to the Moon.

This is of course the one instance everyone and their mother thought back to after Gemcation, and I think the clearest contender for another example of the gag order thing. Garnet’s concern and look shot towards her is also very noticeable. The only issue I could possibly see is that here she’s covering her mouth with her left hand, whereas in Gemcation it was the right, but that’s fairly minor and deals with the specifics of something we really don’t have any knowledge about. But I’d say it’s a pretty fair bet that whatever it is Pearl can’t say has to do with Pink Diamond being shattered (also, interestingly, I checked again while going through the episode transcripts, but Pearl never once says the words ‘Pink Diamond’ out loud, where for example she has no trouble talking about Blue or Diamonds in general in several instances). Whether it was somehow Pearl herself or White Diamond or one of the many, many, many other variants of the whodunnit I’ve seen is still impossible to tell (and I still really really want it to be Rose, but hey).

I’ve seen people suggest that Rose is the one behind the gag order, or that a promise to Rose is stopping Pearl from talking, but the extent to which that flies in the face of everything the Crystal Gems fought for and represent makes me go nope pretty damn hard. It’s enough that after 5000+ years of being away from Homeworld and a free Gem Pearl still has to deal with this clearly very unpleasant (the way her entire body seizes up in Gemcation is just... jeez) reminder and problem, but Rose knowingly exploiting it would just be straight up evil.

“I thought you were going to tell me everything from now on.” “Oh, Steven... We...”

“Does this have anything to do with Pink Diamond? I already know mom shattered her, so what is it about this that you can't tell me?” "Please, you're making Pearl very upset.”

“It's lucky something has some information that I don't have to get out of them!”

Season 4, Steven’s Dream.

I’ve included the whole progression here, from fidgety and increasingly uncomfortable and worried, looking to Garnet for help, to the hands firmly covering her mouth. I really really like this take on the scene by @mandareeboo and my read matches that one pretty well (and I’m generally in the camp that Garnet knows about... whatever this is, and Amethyst probably doesn’t).

The next episode, Adventures in Light Distortion, gave us this scene, which I feel is very relevant now. The long pause does look like Pearl might be trying to think of a way to go on without triggering the gag thing, so we get the very vague and general “... Homeworld”. Instead of, oh, don’t know... White Diamond, perhaps? (I don’t think it was Pink for a number of reasons, some of which I wrote down here, the timeline just doesn’t work out. Also if she’d been Pink Pearl, she would certainly have known the nefarious Zoo better than she does, and would have more than just “seen it [her]self” once or twice.)

Season 4, I Am My Mom. “I get it now. I'm the only one who can stop what she started. I can stop all of it! She wouldn't have wanted this. But I do.”

The final one I’ve found so far, and another one I won’t discuss too much since I think it’s an instance of Pearl being emotional and shocked, though I’ve seen the idea mentioned that she might have wanted to blurt something out to stop Steven from leaving, which, seeing as it’s clearly once again tied into Pink Diamond’s assassination, isn’t that much of a reach.

This might be reaching but what if,,,the white starburst design behind YD and BD in the SDCC poster is actually White, symbolizing her overarching influence? Like initially I found the 'floral design' a little weird in context of homeworld gems, but if WD's actually the case...         

Oh, the white starburst on top definitely stands for WD, and the pink flower looks like (though isn’t identical to, I made a quick comparison here) the ones that grow around the palanquin in Korea and decorate the Zoo - that one stands for PD, that’s pretty deliberate (in the previous SDCC poster, Jasper had that flower on her lapel). They’re posed to correspond with their spots in the Diamond Authority insignia. Whether or not White does have some big overarching influence (and with that... huge... torso ship thing on Homeworld?), or if it all just matches their gem placements and nothing else, or some combination of both... your guess is as good as mine. Yellow and Blue seemed to be pretty equal in what we’ve seen of them so far.

@ayal92 asked:

I don't know how to feel about the gagging scene. On one hand, I think it's exactly what it looks like. On the other hand, Pearls being programmed that way means that Homeworld acknowledge their potential to screw their owners over, which seems very out of character for them. I always thought gems were fine being indiscrete in front of Pearls because they regard them as talking purses...

That’s the thing, though, you don’t even have to think a pearl would run off and spill all your secrets, or even consider her capable of basic disobedience. All that needs to happen is for your would-be political rival or whoever is plotting against you to steal your pearl and make her talk to get the blackmail material or whatever. I think pearls potentially just got “fancy encrypted hard drive” added to their list of horribly objectifying uncomfortable comparisons. Sticking tape over your laptop’s webcam? That kind of thing. Now you can be extra indiscreet and safe in the knowledge of no repercussions ever, no matter where your pearl might be! Hooray! Ick.

I think, personally, I’m leaning towards it being a pearl thing. It just fits with the awful Homeworld attitude in a way that I think really works and makes twisted practical sense. It also kind of reinforces, for me, the fact of just how badly Pearl had everything stacked against her, and she still did all that she did. Man, I don’t know, I just love her to bits.

#pearl #steven universe #steven universe spoilers #endless words #oathkeeper replies to things #theory post #meta #pearls #homeworld is horrible #long post #really goddamn long post #pink diamond #white diamond #WHO HURT YOU PEARL #oh and #in this entire giant endless thing i have not made a single joke about pearl clamming up #praise me and my restraint #'also' my lizard brain insists immediately 'think of the hurt/comfort potential'

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 52*: Joy Ride

“Everyone needs a break once in a while!”

It’s easy to take for granted how crazy a character’s life can get in serialized television, and the toll that it might take on an actual person. This goes double for cartoon characters, whose medium gives them an extra layer of separation from reality than their live action counterparts. Full Disclosure, which was written to immediately precede Joy Ride, revolves around the aftermath of one crazy event. Now it’s time to see how the rest of Season 1B has affected Steven Q. Universe.

And who better to sit down and reflect with than the realist humans this side of Ocean Town? The Cool Kids make a triumphant return to bring a much-needed outside perspective and help their unlikely friend, just in time to remind me how much I’d love to see more of them. It might be unrealistic for three teens to go through such lengths to chill with a much younger kid, but their dialogue flows so naturally that it balances right out. This is extra impressive when you consider that Buck is portrayed by storyboarder and then-rookie voice actor Lamar Abrams and Sour Cream is just Brian Posehn using his regular grown man voice. These kids have no business lugging around this much verisimilitude, but I never get tired of watching them shoot the breeze. 

Joy Ride wisely keeps its focus on Jailbreak’s destruction at its onset, showing just how monumental the finale was (we already had an entire aftermath episode, now this!) and how much work it takes to get things back to normal. We’ve dealt with some of the emotional fallout, but now it’s time for the legwork; Steven even gets to show off his casual super-strength as he shovels a massive chunk of debris from the sand.

Despite my aforementioned hesitance to believe how much they want to hang out with a child, even a child as great as Steven, it does make sense for the Cool Kids to show up. The beach is the epicenter of a cosmic disaster, of course teenagers want to check this out. That they see how hard Steven is working and shift gears to help him out speaks to the kindness they exude in Lars and the Cool Kids, and that their idea of help involves throwing someone else’s pizza at his window and sneaking him out speaks to how wonderfully dumb teenagers can be.

Most of the episode from here is the four of them chatting, and there’s really nothing more we need when the writing’s this good. The venting sequence is a thing of beauty. Sour Cream feels that his passion is being stifled by a parent figure that doesn’t understand him. Mayor Dewey, who we know from Lars and the Cool Kids has been stingy with his daddy kisses (ugh, that phrase sounds so creepy when Lamar Abrams isn’t saying it), continues to be stern with Buck. And while we know from past and future episodes that Jenny gets along with Kiki, she also seeks an independent identity from her twin. These are all valid concerns!

In fact, Steven’s initial complaint is the one that seems pettiest: that he’s grounded from television. A huge deal for him, sure, but pretty tame compared to adolescent family tension. Yet the Cool Kids nod with sympathy and don’t try and belittle his situation.

The reason I love this writing is that I can easily imagine a situation where the teen’s problems are trivial, or they follow Steven’s complaint with another “oh please” or “you think that’s bad?”, and it would still be a decent scene! There’s nothing wrong with teenagers griping about nothing and trying to one-up each other, because teenagers do that all the time. But the crew puts in the work to give our Cool Kids real issues, and remembers that they brought Steven along to help him out, and they’re all the more lovable for it.

Then of course Steven gets to unload about the Gems, beginning with things we know and ending with the brilliant reveal that Steven is more aware than he’s been letting on. He knows that in some dark way, the Crystal Gems blame him for the loss of their leader and loved one. And that’s exactly why he’s never mentioned it before, because how do you even broach that subject? 

Again, the Cool Kids are nothing but helpful, not only sympathizing with him but praising his resilience. But because these are still realistic teens, they then get distracted by a weird glow in the fields and scramble to investigate. As in Lars and the Cool Kids, Steven is wary of humans messing with Gem stuff, and the teenagers still don’t care. Their escape pod antics escalate naturally, stopping at the all-important selfie stage before Steven is coaxed into getting inside (the use of Jenny’s photos to show the pod screen closing is a neat visual touch).

There’s peer pressure here, sure, but the Cool Kids are still trying to help. Steven entering the device doesn’t make him the butt of a joke, it makes him awesome, and like Jenny says, he really needs to have some fun like this after episode after Gem trauma, dreading a Homeworld attack, and the attack itself. Even if they discourage him from being responsible, they never resort to tropey negativity (calling him a buzzkill, etc.) while egging him on.

All this kindness is great, but conflict has to arrive sooner or later, and as amazing as it would be to see these four fighting Peridot, it’s the Crystal Gems who crash the party. We’ve only seen bits and pieces of their lives without Steven around (or rather without them knowing Steven is around) prior to the invasion, and for the bulk of the past ten episodes they’ve been working their way through intense fear. Here instead we have a glorious moment of Garnet in full badass mode, her righteous fury unrestrained by Steven’s tempering nature. Does it make sense that her future vision didn’t inform her that Steven is inside? Nope! But getting these new perspectives on established characters is worth a little suspension of disbelief.

I love that it’s Jenny who stands up to Garnet, for three reasons. First, she’s the only one of the Cool Kids who has actually met the Crystal Gems on the show before (give or take an infant Sour Cream), so it makes sense that she’s a little braver around them than her friends. Second, she’s the Cool Kids’ mirror of Amethyst (just as Buck resembles Garnet and Sour Cream resembles Pearl), so who better to argue the merits of fun? And third, she knows the value of taking a break far better than Buck and Sour Cream; she’s the only one of them with a job, and we usually see her when she’s on the clock. Her work ethic might not be terrific (see: shirking deliveries in Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service, that time she let her friends throw a customer’s pizza at a kid’s window like five minutes ago), but the pressure of helping a family business stay afloat is sure to make her relate the most to Steven’s situation. 

And really, how great is Jenny? She throws herself in front of a punch that could sink a friggin battleship and initiates a talking-down of all three Crystal Gems without a second thought. Buck and Sour Cream might get more laughs with their more extreme personalities, but between her boldness and her facilitating both of the episode’s titular joy rides by driving the car and prompting Steven to enter the pod, Jenny is the real hero here. Reagan Gomez-Preston, the only Cool Kid actor with experience portraying realistic teen characters prior to Steven Universe, more than earns the spotlight here.

Steven’s ungrounding is a long time coming, and I appreciate that its impact isn’t immediately felt; his ability to watch television again won’t be all that important until Cry for Help. It’s just one last moment of kindness in a surprisingly upbeat episode about teens working through their problems (and remember, at age thirteen Steven is technically a teen here!). After so many episodes about fighting, it’s just nice to relax a little.

Future Vision!

Jenny isn’t kidding about metal concerts, which become a weirdly important plot point in Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service.

You really wouldn’t think that the diamond-shaped impact crater of Peridot’s pod would matter too much outside of Homeworld symbolism, but you’d be wrong! How else could you used a crashed ship to play baseball?

I’ve never been to this…how do you say…school?

Another case where the High School AU gives us the main promo image, but Hilary Florido generously provided another image for the episode that now doubles as a wonderful tribute to the late Prince.

I guess you could read it that way…

Probably the biggest change in the order shift is moving Shirt Club behind Joy Ride; I definitely remember being confused about how cold Buck was to Steven so soon after being buddy buddy. Buuuut this behavior is essentially just as confusing before Joy Ride, considering how nice Buck has been regardless, and it’s nice to see more of him and his dad individually before bringing them together for Shirt Club.

(Still, I can imagine a lot of folks don’t like the shift for this reason.)

Sour Cream’s reveal that Yellowtail is his stepfather backs up the hint from Story for Steven that Marty and Vidalia are his parents. This isn’t affected too much when Joy Ride is watched first, but it’s worth noting.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

An episode with Cool Kids and no Lars? Sign me up! As a breather episode it’s not quite as memorable as its bombastic brethren, but it’s important to appreciate the value of hanging out.

Top Fifteen

Steven and the Stevens

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

The Return

Jailbreak

Rose’s Scabbard

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Winter Forecast

On the Run

Warp Tour

Maximum Capacity

The Test

Ocean Gem

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Future Vision

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

No Thanks!

     4. Horror Club      3. Fusion Cuisine      2. House Guest      1. Island Adventure

#joy ride #steven universe #su #steven universally #review