{"id":6801,"date":"2018-04-04T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T15:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6801"},"modified":"2018-04-01T10:55:25","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T17:55:25","slug":"mark-watches-steven-universe-s05e14-the-big-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/04\/mark-watches-steven-universe-s05e14-the-big-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Steven Universe’: S05E14 – The Big Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of Steven Universe<\/i>, Sadie worries about the rise of her band. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Steven Universe<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I recently went on a big nostalgia\/reminiscing tour to try and remember all the bands I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been in during my life. In high school, I never got beyond the process of being in bands that mostly covered other bands\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 material as a form of practice. Like, I wrote a couple of bad punk songs, but nothing ever came out of it. In college, I was in a hardcore band, then a ska band (for like one month!!!), then joined up with a bunch of friends as the second guitarist for a band called Future Primitive. (So named after those old Bones Brigade videos.) This was the only fully-formed band that I was ever in, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m incredibly proud of the years I spent playing music with them. We practiced a lot, played a ton of shows, went on a couple tours, and got to open for some people I considered heroes. (Opening for BANE was probably one of the biggest accomplishments of my musical career.) We even recorded an EP with Vic DiCara, who had long been a huge hero of mine in hardcore. HE WAS IN SO MANY GREAT BANDS. Hell, just getting to be part of the process of recording\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe whole EP was recorded over a single weekend\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwas a dream come true.<\/p>\n

Truthfully, I miss it. I still play guitar and bass every day, and I would love to take formal lessons at some point to get better. But watching \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Big Show\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was a giant trip through the same sort of nostalgia that I went through a couple weeks ago. God, forming a band is so fun and scary, especially once you start putting that music out in the world. Like Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dad, my parents thought that my music was a silly hobby and nothing to take seriously. Though I do understand why<\/i> Sadie was so concerned about her mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interest in her band! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that for a lot of people, music is an escape. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a chance for people to explore themselves and some of the more difficult and complicated aspects of their life. WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY A SUMMARY OF SADIE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S EXPERIENCE WITH HER BAND. Like?!?!?! I cannot get over the lyrics to all her songs??? They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the most brilliant combination of spookiness and genuine emotional turmoil and IT IS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT MY MUSICAL AESTHETIC. (Seriously, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m listening to Ghost while writing this review.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, given what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen of Sadie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experience with her mother, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that Sadie worried that history would repeat itself, and Sadie wanted to protect this wonderful thing that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d found. Who can blame her for that? Music provided an outlet for Sadie that she desperately<\/i> needed after everything she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been through since\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly know how much time has passed here, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a rough time for Sadie between her self-esteem problems and her tumultuous relationship with Lars. Who is still missing, for the record!!! (I was surprised \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Big Show\u00e2\u20ac\u009d didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t immediately follow up the previous episode.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Art can be transformative, and it can be healing. It seems to be both<\/i> for Sadie Miller, and it took her the whole episode to realize that her mother wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t trying to take it from her. This is still hers, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a way that Sadie can keep her mom both separate from it without denying her the chance to see her. And I love that this message comes from Greg Universe, too, who has always fostered a love of music in his son without making Steven appreciate it in the exact same way as him. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the arrangement that Sadie and her mom have to come to as well, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping we one day get to see that.<\/p>\n

ALSO I JUST CANNOT GET OVER HOW GOOD SADIE KILLER AND THE SUSPECTS ARE. Everything about them! Lyrics, the music, the PERFORMANCE. I would have lost my shit<\/i> if I had seen something like that in real life. UGH, CAN I JOIN THAT BAND PLEASE.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Big Show\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"