Steven Universe Reviews: Season 1 (Bubble Buddies/Serious Steven)

Clearly I’m doing a great job with getting these out more quickly.

This episode is our first introduction to Connie, this little cutie:

Seriously, she is so adorable. And Steven has a huge crush on her, which is also pretty adorable. After a bad attempt at trying to impress her, Steven runs into the house embarrassed. The Gems realize that Steven has a crush and Pearl and Amethyst are all for setting up a playdate (Pearl says they need to find out what Connie’s favorite tea is, bless Pearl) but Garnet says Steven should just talk to Connie. Steven takes a bracelet out of the fridge (we’ll find out why later) and then goes over to where Connie is. As he approaches her, the cliffs behind her start to crumble. He jumps to rescue her and his gem activates, creating a pink bubble shield around them. Unfortunately, Steven doesn’t know how to deactivate the bubble, nor does he want to ask the Gems for help, so he and Connie try to find another way of breaking it.

After hitting the bubble with a chair and shooting a harpoon at it doesn’t work, Steven comes up with a new idea. He takes Connie to the amusement park, thinking that something there can pop the bubble.

• Steven: Yeah! Tons of horrible accidents happen here everyday! There’s gotta be something to break this bubble. We just gotta find the right ride. Yeah, the kiddy coaster! Alright, we just roll down this ramp as the carts are coming at us, and the crash will break us free!
• Connie: What happens after the bubble pops?
• Steven: We’ll be free!

Steven, NO

Right, so the two of them end up being launched into the middle of the ocean. And while trying to roll themselves back to shore, they fall into a trench created by a sea monster. Connie finally snaps at Steven that he doesn’t know what he’s doing, and that she’s probably going to die without ever having made a single friend. Aw, Connie! As Connie cries Steven pulls out the glowing bracelet from before. He says that he saw her drop it at a parade one day and that he’d been waiting for an opportunity to return it to her. He even kept it in the fridge so it would last longer. This whole scene is really cute, if you can ignore the nonsensical transition of Connie crying about dying to saying “It’s okay, I’m having fun!” Just then the bubble pops and Steven and Connie immediately swim back to shore. They’re attacked once again by the sea monster, which is attracted to the bracelet, but they manage to defeat it. When the Gems show up, Connie tells them how incredible Steven was.

So, something I find notable about this show in general but haven’t had a chance to mention yet. The animation is pretty… muted? For the backgrounds and colors in particular. I mean, if you actually look at the way the backgrounds are drawn in this show, they tend to not be very detailed.

They almost look like they’re unfinished, and even the colors tend to be sort of faded and muted, at least compared to Adventure Time, where everything about the animation was vibrant and colorful and in-your-face. I’m not saying this is a bad thing for Steven Universe, though. Quite the opposite, I find the backgrounds quite pretty, and the fact that they’re more subtle pulls your focus to the characters, who are more vibrantly animated.

Anyway, on to Bubble Buddies. Which unfortunately has a name very similar to a SpongeBob episode and that may get confusing. Connie, as mentioned earlier, is adorable, and she seems like she’ll make a good friendly foil to Steven. She’s calmer and more logical than he is, and she’s already being set up as the voice of reason when she’s with him.

Connie is cute, Steven is cute, the bracelet scene is cute, the whole episode is cute.

Rating: 7.5/10

The episode begins with Steven in Funland, the amusement park. The teacups ride has apparently had an accident, with the teacups having flown out of position with riders still in them. The episode then moves forward to two weeks later. Odd. Steven is with the Gems on a mission, apparently a very serious one. They come to their destination, an upside down pyramid, and head inside. Steven finds a strange, smaller pyramid and touches it, causing it to flip over, and causing everyone inside to gravitate towards a hole in the ceiling. They fall into a room with many doors, and Pearl suggests they split up. Pearl wants to stay with Steven, but Garnet insists on taking him with her while Pearl and Amethyst go together.

Each of the rooms has a dangerous trap in them, and it quickly becomes apparent that Steven is in over his head. Garnet does most of the work while Steven is in constant need of saving. In one room, Steven has a flashback to his time at Funland, where Steven had gotten sick on the teacup ride and fallen out, breaking the lever of the ride and thus accidentally destroying it. In the present, the Gems find themselves in the same room they started in. Pearl says that she and Amethyst have tried multiple doors, but they all end up leading back here. At this point Steven, who is obviously terrified, has a breakdown and says “You were all right about me. I wanted to do this so bad, but now I feel like I’m gonna throw up. This is just like the teacups!” While the Gems reassure him that he’s doing fine, Steven realizes that this is like the teacups ride, with all of the rooms spinning around so they always end up in the same place. Garnet breaks through the floor and they all fall into a large mechanism that causes the temple’s rooms to rotate. Garnet throws Steven at the center and he removes the gem controlling it, which causes the temple to explode. Once freed, the Gems compliment Steven on his ingenuity.

So, Steven obviously isn’t as experienced or as skilled as Pearl, Garnet or Amethyst, hence why Pearl didn’t want to take him along at all and also why Garnet spent most of this episode making sure he didn’t die. It doesn’t help that Steven is still immature and a kid. I mean, Amethyst acts pretty childish, but at least she is an adult (technically? I’m assuming?) and she’s powerful and has control over her abilities. Steven doesn’t have any of that. What he does have is ingenuity. He mind works differently from the Gems, and that’s usually what ends up saving him in past episodes as well as this one. He just needs to learn to actually use his abilities.

This episode got me thinking about Steven’s relationship with each of the Gems. They all have very different approaches in how they deal with him. Pearl is constantly anxious and worried when it comes to Steven, always wanting to protect him from everything and not really trusting him. Amethyst likes playing and having fun with Steven, but doesn’t seem to take him very seriously and can be irresponsible where he’s involved. Garnet seems to be more supportive of Steven, but she also seems very detached from… well, everything. The three of them together kind of balance each other out, but being with only one of them for too long could end up being disastrous.

This is a really enjoyable episode. The temple is an interesting place, it’s pretty exciting, and we get to see Garnet being both a total bad ass and an absolutely adorable mom to Steven.

Rating: 8.5/10

Steven Universe Reviews: Season 1 (Frybo/Cat Fingers)

Sorry these have been coming out so slowly, everyone. You’d think being on vacation would mean I’d be writing these faster and more frequently, but all it’s done is make me lazier. I’ll have to rectify that.

The episode begins with Steven searching for his pants, when Pearl comes in. She’s looking for a Gem Shard that has gone missing. She tries to explain to Steven how dangerous it is, but Steven isn’t paying any attention. The Shard apparently has the power to control garments of clothing that it comes in contact with. Well. We all know where this is going. Pearl leaves to continue searching and she warns Steven to watch out for the Shard. Steven finds his pants, which have come alive due to the Shard in the pocket. He gets them on and removes the Shard, which makes his pants go back to normal. He realizes that the Shard is the thing Pearl was talking about and goes to find her. Too bad he missed the part where Pearl said the Shard was extremely dangerous.

On his way, he runs into his friend Peedee Fryman. Peedee is the son of someone who owns a fast-food shop, and Peedee is being forced to dress as a giant container of fries (they call it “Frybo”) to promote the restaurant. Peedee hates this job, it wasn’t exactly what he had in mind when he told his dad he wanted to be part of the family business. Steven comes up with the idea of putting the Shard in the costume so the he and Peedee can do whatever they want. They do so, give the now-alive Frybo the order to “go make people eat fries”, and then run off to the rides that Peedee was so fond of previously.

• (PeeDee and Steven ride on the Seahorse and Jellyfish rides respectively, to which PeeDee quickly becomes disappointed in)
• Peedee: This seahorse used to make me so happy. Now it’s just giving me whiplash. *ride stops* I feel like there’s just no point to it, you know what I mean?
• Steven: *shaking from ride* I just feel tingly!
• Peedee: *sighs* You’ll understand when you have a job.
• Steven: *ride ends* I do have a job, I protect humanity from magic and monsters and stuff!
• Peedee: I mean a real job, that you get paid for.
• Steven: I get paid in the smiles across the town’s faces!
• Peedee: I don’t see anyone smiling. You pick up a job to buy a house or raise kids or to…impress your Dad. You work away your life and what does it get you?
• Steven: Smiles in faces?
• Peedee: No, you get cash, cash that can’t buy back what the job takes, not if you rode every Seahorse in the world. *sighs*

Well. I mean. Peedee’s not wrong.

Suddenly they hear distant screams coming from the restaurant. They go check it out and, as suspected, Frybo is wreaking havoc. It took its order to make people eat fries too literally. It keeps forcing fries into people’s mouths. Peedee’s dad, Mr. Fryman, doesn’t realize that Peedee isn’t actually in the costume and thinks this is happening because he pushed Peedee too hard. He apologizes and says that Peedee is “a valued member Fryman Brothers Incorporate and all its affiliates!” Pearl suddenly appears and figures out that Steven must have put the Shard in the Frybo costume. She summons her spear and throws it into Frybo’s eye, which causes ketchup to splatter out of it and into her face, blinding her.

I know it’s only ketchup but holy shit.

Pearl drops the remaining Shards, and Steven takes a bunch of them to put in his clothes. He then commands his clothing to attack Frybo, eventually overwhelming it so Steven is able to rip the Shard out of it.

Right, so, Frybo is fucking terrifying.

I have to wonder if this episode was really made with kids in mind. I’m not just talking about Frybo, although that is definitely part of it, I’m talking about what Peedee said about his job. It’s kind of heavy, and I feel like it would go over most kids’ heads. I mean, it went over Steven’s head.

I think almost everyone, at some point in their lives, is going to have a job that they hate, and they’ll stay there for a while, maybe years, because they need the money and trying to look for another job would be a pain in the ass. There’s a certain point where “do it for the money” isn’t enough of a reason though. And that point can be different for different people. The problem is, even once you reach that point, quitting might not be as easy as it sounds, depending on your situation. It can be hard to tell when a job is really worth quitting and when you should suffer through it.

Peedee probably doesn’t have any problems with money. He’s like, what, ten? I’m just guessing here. (Speaking of which, has Steven’s age been brought up yet?) The issue is that he’s pressured by his family, particularly his dad. He’s miserable at his job, and even after leaving it he’s been so effected by it that he can’t enjoy anything he used to enjoy. That’s pretty messed up considering he’s a kid. At least it seems to have ended well for him. The resolution between him and his dad is sweet, if a little bit cheesy. But considering how dramatic the whole Frybo ordeal ended up being, it actually works.

Rating: 7/10

In this episode, Amethyst tries to teach Steven how to shape-shift. Apparently all Crystal Gems have this power. I thought this power was specific to Amethyst, since she’s the only one we’ve ever seen using it. Does that mean Pearl’s holograph power is universal among Gems too? Amethyst tells Steven her method of shape-shifting and he gives it a try. He attempts to transform into a cat, but all he manages to do it turn his finger into a small cat. The cat finger is sentient, which is really creepy ’cause like… how does that work? What is cat finger’s anatomy exactly? We see it eat in a later scene so does it have a stomach? Where does the food go?! I NEED TO STOP OVER-THINKING THIS

Steven shows his cat finger to his dad, who is freaked out by it but tries to be supportive for Steven. Later, Steven starts making more cat fingers until all of his fingers have been turned into tiny cats. That’s when he realizes that this isn’t actually so cool anymore, as cat fingers don’t work very well as actual fingers. The Crystal Gems eventually catch sight of Steven’s fingers and Pearl wants to help him right away, but the Gems have an important mission that can’t wait. Pearl tells Steven that they’ll help him as soon as they return. While the Gems are gone, Steven loses control over his cat fingers. Cats start sprouting all over his body and trying to take over it.

Not knowing what else to do, Steven goes to see Greg.

• Steven: Dad! *starts tearing up* Help! The cat fingers are taking over my body!
• Greg: Hold on, I’ll get you out of there! *a cat bites him and throws him to the side*
• Steven: No! Bad! Bad cat fingers!* he steps in a puddle and the cats makes him jump to the roof*
• Greg: Can’t you make them go away?
• Steven: I tried, but it made it worse! My life is over! I can’t go on magic adventures! I can’t even open the fridge! And I’ll never get to have another water fight with you dad! Because these things hate…water! They hate water! Dad, spray me again! *Greg sprays him and he jumps down. Then, the cats run towards Greg*
• Greg: Aaahahahaaahhh!
• Steven: It’s not enough water! *gasp* Turn on the super-wash!
• Greg: No, I won’t do it! It’s too dangerous!
• Steven: You’ve got to! I’m a monster! I’m an adorable cat monster! *Greg starts tearing up*
• Greg: No you’re not! You’re my son!

Sorry but that last line is adorable.

Greg turns on the super-wash and the cats eventually disappear, and everything goes back to normal.

Well. This is why I’m a dog person.

Both these episodes seem to be this weird mixture of horrifying and sweet, but you know what I like about this episode? I like the fact that we’re reminded that Greg’s kid is technically an alien, or at least part alien, and there are all kinds of things about Steven and his life that Greg can’t possibly understand and he’s obviously a little freaked out about all of it. And yet, Greg is still the most loving and supportive dad Steven could ask for.

Greg tries so hard. It’s obvious that he’s trying so hard. He wants to be there for Steven. He wants to be happy for Steven even when he’s freaked out. He’s not perfect, but he’s trying, and he’s doing pretty well so far all things considered. I mean he saw his son as a mutant cat monster and he barely hesitated to do what he could to help. Greg is honestly such a nice dad, and I feel like we don’t see dads like him enough in most shows? Especially when said dad doesn’t technically raise their kid?

Rating: 7/10

Steven Universe Reviews: Season 1 (Cheeseburger Backpack/Together Breakfast)

The episode begins with Steven receiving  package in the mail: a backpack shaped like a cheeseburger. He bought it because the Gems never let him come on world-saving missions with them because he can’t use his powers yet, but he think that if he can be useful by carrying supplies they might let him come along.

Steven arrives home to find the Gems about to leave again. Pearl explains to him that they need to put the Moon Goddess Statue at the top of the Lunar Sea Spire before midnight, when it will collapse. Steven wants to come along, but Pearl thinks it will be too dangerous for him. Amethyst points out that it could be educational for Steven though, so it’s agreed that Steven can come along and carry the Moon Goddess Statue in his backpack. Steven packs some other supplies and the group teleports to the Spire.

The Spire isn’t in great shape. It’s falling apart. Pearl says it wasn’t like that 100 years ago. So Crystal Gems are immortal right? At least in the sense that they don’t age or die naturally. Anyway, almost immediately upon arriving, Steven nearly gets himself killed. Pearl wants to take him back home right away, but then decides against it and instead warns Steven to take this trip more seriously. The Gems come to their first obstacle, which is that they can’t even get into the Spire to begin with. The Spire sits in a whirlpool, and Garnet explains that “The magic that sustains the whirlpool creates a vortex that will pull us below.” So they can’t cross it. Steven pulls some sweaters out of his backpack and ties them together as a rope. He then throws it toward the Spire so he can use it to make sure he doesn’t get pulled down. It works and the Gems follow suit using Amethyst’s whip.

The next obstacle is an infestation of Crystal Shrimp. Pearl starts coming up with an attack plan to get through them, but Steven instead pulls a bagel out of his backpack and distracts the shrimp with that. Oh, also, I guess Pearl is able to make holographic projections with her gem. Interesting. They come to a river, and the Gems immediately expect Steven to pull useful something out of his backpack. He pulls out a raft, but when he sets it on the river it immediately gets swept away by the current and goes over a waterfall. Garnet kicks over a column to use as a bridge instead, but she compliments Steven on the raft idea anyway.

Finally they get to the top of the Spire. Steven starts looking through his backpack for the Moon Goddess Statue… only to realize that he doesn’t have it. Oh my God, seriously?! That was like, the whole point of coming to the Spire and you forgot it. Actually, that probably would have happened to me. They try to put a stuffed animal of Steven’s in place of the Moon Goddes Statue in the hopes that it may work as a replacement. It doesn’t. Steven is upset that he screwed up so badly but the Gems reassure him that he did great, half of his ideas were successful. The Spire collapses and floods, and the raft that they had lost floats up to the surface, giving them a way home (albeit a long one).

So, the first two episodes seemed to mainly be for setting up characters and relationships. These two seem to be along the same lines, but with a little bit more world-building.

This episode shows us a little bit about where the Crystal Gems come from. As we find out from Pearl, the Lunar Sea Spire was an important place for the Gems, but it unfortunately was abandoned and started collapsing. It’s sort of sad to see the Spire this way, knowing what it meant to the Gems and seeing Pearl’s distressed reaction to the way it looks now. I don’t think the episode ever explains exactly why it was abandoned, unless I missed that part, but I’m guessing it has something to do with the Moon Goddess Statue disappearing, since returning it to the shrine was apparently supposed to fix things. Which raises some question about how the Moon Goddess Statue went missing to begin with and where the Gems found it.

I liked seeing how Steven was able to be useful even without powers, just with ingenuity. I mean, he did screw up big time in the end, but even then I like that while the Gems are definitely upset about what happened, they also take the time to tell Steven that his other ideas were good, and it’s okay that he screwed up a few things. Even if one of those things was really big. That kind of seems to be a theme with this show, making mistakes and not being perfect is okay.

Rating: 7.5/10

Steven has prepared breakfast for the Gems: a stack of waffles with syrup, whipped cream, popcorn, and a strawberry on top. So, the popcorn thing… do people actually do that? Does anyone put popcorn on their maple syrup and waffles? That sounds gross. I hope no one actually does that. Anyway, the Gems are all out and Steven really wants them all to eat breakfast together. Garnet arrives home first, but she says she has to go into the Temple to burn something. The Temple is where the Gems live and form their base, but Steven isn’t allowed inside it. Pearl and Amethyst arrive home next (and Amethyst can shapeshift?) and both disappear inside the Temple as well.

Steven manages to get inside, and the rest of the episode is basically Steven trying desperately to get all of the Gems together to eat breakfast while Pearl tries desperately to get him out of the Temple. And Amethyst tries to eat the breakfast without waiting for everyone else so Steven has to run from her. He ends up in the Crystal Heart chamber, which is exactly what it sounds like. It connects all of the rooms of the Temple together and is apparently dangerous because Pearl freaks out when she find him there. He ends up sliding down into another chamber, where we see Garnet burning the thing. Whatever it is. Pearl and Amethyst, who followed Steven down, try to tell Steven that they should leave. Instead, Steven calls out to Garnet, excited that they’re all finally in the same room. Garnet is distracted, which allows whatever thing she was trying to get rid of to escape. Steven’s breakfast ends up being possessed by whatever it was and becomes a gigantic breakfast monster. Okay then. The Gems and Steven defeat it, and Steven apologizes. The episode ends with the Gems remaking the breakfast, but then deciding that they have no appetite for it anymore. They order pizza instead.

So. This Temple. First of all, the design of it is really pretty and super cool-looking. Second of all, I noticed that the door to the Temple has five gems in it, each corresponding to one of the Crystal Gems, and they need to use their gem to get inside. The door has a ruby and a sapphire on it, and Garnet uses both of them to get inside it. So I guess this is our first hint that Garnet is a fusion. Third of all, the door opens a different way for each of the Gems. For Pearl it splits open neatly, for Amethyst it kind of… melts apart and looks sticky, for Garnet it splits open in three pieces. That’s kind of a cool detail.

Presumably there was a room for Rose in the temple, and her corresponding gem is still in the door. Steven has the same gem as his mother, so I guess when he learns to use his powers consistently he’ll be able to take her room. For now, however, he apparently isn’t allowed in the temple at all. I wonder why that is? What’s so dangerous about it?

Aside from giving us a neat look at the Temple, this episode is pretty cute. You have to feel a little bad for Steven, he just wants to have breakfast with his moms.

Rating: 7.5/10

Steven Universe Reviews: Season 1 (Gem Glow/Laser Light Cannon)

The first thing we see of our main character, Steven, is him crying over the fact that his favorite ice cream sandwiches are no longer being made. Incredible.

Anyway, Steven goes home to find Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst fighting off some “Centipeetles” that have invaded. Steven goes to the freezer and opens it to find boxes of Cookie Cats, the ice cream sandwiches he loved so much. Apparently the Gems knew Steven would be upset about them not being sold anymore, so they stole a bunch of them for him. Well, Amethyst stole them. Pearl went back and paid for them later. Steven is so happy that he makes up a rap about the Cookie Cats (no really, this kid is such a dork I already love him) and then takes a bite out of one. As he does, his gem (which is in his belly button) starts to glow.

So, the Gems all have actual gems somewhere on their body, and I guess this is the source of their power? Whatever their power is. Oh, and their weapons come directly out of their gems, but they need to learn how to retrieve their weapons first. Steven doesn’t know how to use his gem powers yet. When his gem glows Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet tell him to try getting his weapon out of it but Steven doesn’t know how. After a while his gem stops glowing and his chance is gone. So, the gems try to help him out for next time.

Okay so there’s so much I like about this part. I like Amethyst saying “Did Pearl tell you the petal thing?”, implying that Pearl tried giving the petal explanation to someone more than once. I like how when Amethyst breaks the dumpster with her whip, the store clerk says “Again?!”, implying that Amethyst has done this more than once. I like how all three of the gems give advice that’s actually not helpful at all, I mean could they try any harder to confuse Steven?

Steven decides instead to try reenacting what was going on the first time his gem glowed. It works, which leads him to believe that Cookie Cats are how he summons his weapon. Oh, and his weapon is a shield because apparently Steven is Captain America. Whoa, they even have similar first names. Steven and Steve. Coincidence? I think not.

Suddenly the ground starts rumbling, and the gems look outside to see a giant Centipeetle. Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet tell Steven to stay inside while they go out to fight, but Steven wants to help. He grabs the freezer full of Cookie Cats and and follow the Gems out. The Gems aren’t doing so well. They’re kind of getting their asses kicked. Steven gets the Centipeetle’s attention and eats another Cookie Cat to try and summon his weapon again, but it doesn’t seem to be working this time. He desperately eats the rest of the Cookie Cats but gets no results. He ends up throwing the freezer at the Centipeetle, which electrocutes it. The Gems are then able to defeat it easily. Steven is distraught over the loss of his Cookie Cats and over the fact that he still hasn’t figured out how to summon his weapon. The Gems reassure him that he’ll figure it out some day, and we end the episode with Steven puking from eating too much.

I can’t help comparing this to the first Adventure Time episode, where we were just thrown into this very strange world with no explanation of how any of it worked. Steven Universe does kind of throw us into the middle of things, but we do get more context and information than we did for Adventure Time. At least, we get a bit of info about how the Gems’ powers work, and we get some set up for what I’m guessing is going to be a big part of Steven’s role and development: learning to use his powers.

This episode also does a decent job of setting up the character’s personalities. We don’t get much on them, but we get that Steven is the innocent optimist, Pearl is smart and poised but seems a bit uptight, Amethyst is the fun-loving one who doesn’t seem to take most things seriously (I’m guessing she and Pearl are going to be argue a lot), and Garnet is… the laidback and cool but also weirdly intense one?

For a first episode, I think this one was pretty good. It’s enjoyable enough and it’s a decent set up for what’s to come. Plus, I already like all of the characters, so that’s nice.

Rating: 7.5/10

A giant glowing ball that the Gems refer to as a Red Eye is heading toward earth. Apparently the only way they can destroy it is with Rose Quartz’s laser light cannon. Unfortunately, no one know where it is. Plan B is to throw Amethyst at the Red Eye. She just bounces off it and falls, so they launch her again and again. Brilliant.

Meanwhile, Steven wants to find Rose’s cannon, so he goes to see his dad, thinking he might know where it is. His dad’s name is Greg Universe. Greg Universe. I did not know his last name was “Universe”. That is so cool. I mean in hindsight I guess I should have guessed since the show is called Steven Universe but I guess I just thought that was a title. Anyway, Steven tells Greg the situation and Greg says he might have the cannon somewhere in his storage unit. The episode is basically the two of them looking for the cannon while Greg talks to Steven about Rose. It’s actually really cute. Greg talks about Rose like she was the best thing to ever happen to him and he can’t believe how lucky he was to have met her and for her to like him. It’s pretty sweet, honestly. Greg also mentions that Rose gave up her physical form so she could give birth to Steven. So… I guess I’ll find out more about what that means?

When they find the cannon, they bring it back to the Gems, who are still trying to launch Amethyst at the Red Eye, which is getting dangerously close. They set up the cannon, but have no way of activating it. They try using Steven’s gem, which is the same as Rose’s, but even that didn’t work. Greg tries to reassure Steven that they’ll figure out something else, and Steven repeats what Greg had told him earlier in the episode: “If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs.” Somehow, this makes the cannon start working. They aim it at the Red Eye and blow it to bits, saving the town. Well, most of it. Some of it got crushed by bits of the Red Eye.

So I guess this episode’s purpose is mainly to set up Steven’s relationship with Greg and also give us a bit of background on Steven’s mom, Rose Quartz.

It’s a nice episode. Steven and Greg have a cute relationship. I like how even though Greg isn’t the one raising Steven, they’re still able to have a positive relationship and there doesn’t seem to be any hard feelings there. Greg is a great dad, it’s just that, for whatever reason, Steven stays with the Gems. It’s nice to see something like this in a show for kids.

So yeah, another enjoyable episode. I like Greg and I like his relationship with Steven, and I liked hearing a little about Rose.

Rating: 7.5/10