In the ninth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe<\/i>, I ADORE THIS EPISODE. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Honestly? This is one of the best episodes I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever seen that deals with professional wrestling. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a joy for that form of entertainment all throughout \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tiger Millionaire.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Even more important, though, is the fact that this episode is about celebrating being weird and finding a place to belong.<\/p>\n
LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S CHAT.<\/p>\n
Differences<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no secret that Amethyst is utterly unlike the other Crystal Gems. We only need to look to her sarcastically-recited list of her flaws to see how she differentiates from her peers. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often pure chaos, and she certainly does exactly what she wants to do. In a lot of ways, I see her as being closest to Steven in terms of temperament and style, though Steven is a lot more vocal about his anxieties. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re both\u00c2\u00a0very\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>impulsive, and it clashes with the fighting styles of Garnet and Pearl.<\/p>\n
So it makes a whole lot of sense that Amethyst thrives in the controlled chaos of professional wrestling. There, people can be weird, strange, ridiculous, over-the-top, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re\u00c2\u00a0cheered\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>for being different. It makes even more sense that Steven would see this and want to participate! There, mistakes are part of the entertainment, not something to be criticized.<\/p>\n
Wrestling<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tiger Millionaire\u00e2\u20ac\u009d comes off as a giant love letter to wrestling. Watching Steven come up with his own persona is hilarious because HE TOOK IT SO SERIOUSLY. He had a backstory and everything! (THE COCONUT MINES, OH MY GOD.) And then, in true professional wrestling fashion, Steven entertains. He understands that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s necessarily about the violence at all, which Pearl doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get until the end of the episode. As Amethyst\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sidekick, he finds clever and cunning ways to defeat opponents, all of them within his characterization as Tiger Millionaire.<\/p>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get over how brilliant the montage sequence is. The bribe with the suitcase. The newspaper. DUMPING ALL THE SODA IN THE ARENA ON THE GROUND AND STOMPING IN IT. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so goddamn hilarious and\u00c2\u00a0exactly the sort of thing that professional wrestlers do<\/i>. Villains are there for a reason, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re important for the narrative built in wrestling!<\/p>\n
Over the Top<\/b><\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Steven is here to have fun, and when he takes his character too far, he ends up hurting Lars\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s feelings. Now, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing Steven wants to do less than hurting someone. That little guy is CONSUMED with goodness, so his crisis here is directly related to that. Amethyst insists that Steven shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care how others feel about him, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really great advice in every situation, is it? Because in this case, Steven caused Lars to feel unwanted and unappreciated! He\u00c2\u00a0should<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0care what Lars thinks if his behavior causes someone else harm.<\/p>\n
And when it comes down to it, even Amethyst has to admit that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gone too far. Both she and Steven slip deep into these personas, but is it worth the cost if it ruins wrestling for other people? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tiger Millionaire\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shows us how this underground community has brought together tons of people in Beach City, many who probably don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like they belong anywhere else. Therefore, if someone is doing something that pushes people away, is that fair?<\/p>\n
No. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what\u00c2\u00a0made<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0underground wrestling special in Beach City, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Steven fixes by diffusing the awkward confrontation between Garnet and Amethyst. He gets them to realize that they shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have escalated things so far, and he also reminds everyone of how acceptance of differences is\u00c2\u00a0why<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that community has thrived for so long.<\/p>\n
This episode is so pure and good and it made me feel incredible. I love it when a show sets the bar high very early in its run. I HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO GO AND\u00c2\u00a0STEVEN UNIVERSE<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0IS ALREADY GREAT.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tiger Millionaire\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b> In the ninth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe, I ADORE THIS EPISODE. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[665],"tags":[666],"class_list":["post-5922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-steven-universe","tag-mark-watches-steven-universe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"