In the twenty-third episode of the third season of Steven Universe, HELP ME, WHAT IS THIS SHOW. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Steven Universe.Â
GOOD LORD. OH MY GOD I FEEL LIKE A MILLION THINGS JUST HAPPENED AND MY HEART HURTS AND I WASN’T READY AND WHAT THE FUCK. Does this mean that there are permutations of fusions I haven’t even considered? Is there a reason I’ve only seen a couple of the diamonds??? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS REVENGE PLOT AGAINST ROSE QUARTZ. WHAT DID SHE DO. What did she do???
I should have known this was going to destroy me, and yet, here we are! If anything, I went into this figuring that Amethyst would find some catharsis. I didn’t expect Jasper to be defeated, but rather assumed that Amethyst would discover a reason to drop her obsession with defeating her. Otherwise? This would be a fight sequence and that’s it, and LOOK AT ME, TRYING TO ASSUME THIS SHOW ISN’T GOING TO RUIN ME.
I misjudged this episode, though, because it was designed to trick me. Since Steven Universe reveals new mythology in such a deliberate way, that means we often don’t have certain questions in our mind. (Well, I don’t, I should say. I imagine it’s different for those following this in real time; if you’re participating in analyzing these episodes, then you probably came up with a ton of things I never considered.) So, I hadn’t considered that Jasper had a motivation for her actions beyond stopping the Crystal Gems. In hindsight, I should have thought of that. Why attack them? Why collect an army of corrupted gems? Just to take out a few gems, all of whom haven’t been strong enough to take Jasper out themselves???
Instead, I spent this episode in shock at SMOKY QUARTZ. Seriously, do any of you blame me??? The reveal that Steven can fuse with other gems is MONUMENTAL, and now I want him to fuse with EVERYONE ELSE. Plus, the writers keep things consistent: Steven is only able to fuse after a deeply emotional moment with Amethyst. He expresses his love for her and their common experience of being utterly unlike the other gems, and IT’S SUCH A GREAT MEANS FOR INTRODUCING THIS FUSION.
Somehow, this is only one of about a thousand things that “Earthlings” reveal. After Smoky Quartz succeeds in freeing all the captured gems and defeats Jasper, we’re treated to an utterly disturbing conversation about purpose. About destiny. About what it means to help other people. It was unsurprising that Jasper saw Amethyst, Peridot, and Steven as flawed creatures; indeed, anyone that deviates from the Homeworld order is an unnatural to Jasper. So what does that mean now that Jasper has been corrupted? Is corruption a complete acceptance of being broken or being evil? It only happened after Jasper forced another corrupted gem to fuse with her; was that act so terrible that her soul/mind became corrupt? I ask that because… well, isn’t Jasper now an “unnatural” gem? If she’s ever unbubbled (and I highly doubt this is the last we’ve seen of her), she’ll be a walking contradiction, won’t she?
All that said… it’s not even the biggest question on my mind. Steven Universe has recently been chipping away at the “perfect” facade built up around Rose Quartz. She bubbled Bismuth. She hid things from the other Crystal Gems. And now, Jasper levels a massive accusation: Rose Quartz did something to her, to Pink Diamond, and to Jasper’s planet, something so terrible that Jasper came back to Earth SPECIFICALLY to destroy Rose Quartz.
And she found the Crystal Gems instead.
(Help me HELP ME)
The video for “Earthlings” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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