I’ve heard of Diamond’s setting one in motion, but this is
the first time I’ve seen Diamond’s end a wedding.
“Reunited”
is the concluding episode of the latest Steven Bomb. Picking up where “Made of honor “left off,
the wedding day has arrived. Everything
is set and the guests are gathered.
While a cloud hangs over, Steven does his best to push it away through
song. The wedding goes off without a
hitch, but things turn dark during the reception as Yellow and Blue have
finally come for the cluster. Now it’s a
battle for survival; Crystal Gems vs Diamond authority, No Holds Barred. Curse you leaks for spoiling the ending.
Having
Steven begin the episode with a song felt right. Zach’s vocal delivery was spot-on, carrying
the right balance of emotion, tone and diction.
With everything that’s come to light this season, a cloud hangs over the
Crystal Gems, as each deal with her own issues (Pearl with her secret, Peridot
with Lapis, etc.). As planner and
friend, Steven focuses their attention back on the wedding. While the issues are pressing, they will
still be there after the wedding; why let them drag down the day? As the title
states, today lets only think about love.
Ruby
and Sapphire’s wedding was executed beautifully. Peridot was an excellent flower girl, tossing
them as only she can; I’m surprised there wasn’t a gag related her dress, but
given how long she’s been with the Crystal Gems now it might have been viewed
as redundant. I applaud Rebecca Sugar
and her team for switching things up and putting Ruby in the wedding gown. Given how certain parts of the world censor
aspects of the show for being too “gay,” this will make said censorship harder
to execute. While that was nice, what
made this episode groundbreaking was the kiss.
While the couple have been affectionate before, this is the first
full-on kiss depicted between the two; what better moment to show. All the Gem’s human friends were in attendance,
including Uncle Andy. Episode pacing
might be the answer, but I’m surprised he didn’t receive a single line.
The
episode turns serious once the Diamonds appear, having come for the
Cluster. While the gemstrocity hasn’t
been a threat since Steven helped bubble them, the Homeworld Matriarchs destabilize
this harmony. Thankfully the Cluster
retains enough sentience to know friend from foe. While the Cluster Battles Yellow, the Crystal
Gems fight Blue. Even Lapis returns to
help. While she had feared the Diamond’s
before, her reasoning is sensible: if
she’s going to be punished for being a Crystal Gem, she might as well stand
with her friends. Steven attempts to
talk the situation out, but the grief-stricken diamond refuses to listen. The fight is well choreographed and animated,
feeling like a video-game boss battle at times.
Blue tanks everything, including Lapis dropping the barn on her. The Diamonds had been talked up prior to this
episode, but now we finally see the extent of their powers and durability. On the Gem side, Steven shows how strong his
shield has become, although he still has room for improvement. Blue even shatters Rose’s sword. While a simple action, given the episode’s
ending it can be interpreted as the ending of one stage of Steven’s journey and
the beginning of another.
The
climax reveals Steven’s mind-touch power has one further step. After Yellow knocks him out, Steven enters a
strange, ethereal dimension. He can
interact with Connie and the Gems, but only when engaging in physical
contact. He uses this dimension to boost
his allies’ moral and attempt to reason with Blue and Yellow. This reasoning leads to the Diamond’s
attacking Steven together, and Steven finally revealing his latent Diamond abilities. These abilities get through to the matriarchs,
which leads to one of my favorite moments of both the Bomb and the series: Blue and Yellow showing concern for
Steven. It’s a tossup between which
Diamond has the cuter reaction.
Like
all good things, the Bomb’s ending means another brief hiatus is upon Steven
Universe fans. While past hiatuses have
been during questionable points in the season—especially if only one episode contained
vital story information— “Reunited” ends in a manner befitting a
cliffhanger. This episode could have
been a season finale if Rebecca had wanted.
Like past hiatuses, there is a teaser.
While the previously leaked clip is not included, it shows Blue and
Yellow are curious about how Pink survived.
While unsaid, they will probably inquire as to why Pink is in her
current form. Yellow’s reaction to her
sister loving organic life—including having a child with one—should be
interesting. Like many of you, I also
wonder how the pair will react to corrupted gems. Will they be shocked at the results of their
previous attack, or that corrupted gems can survive that long?
It goes
without saying that “Reunited” is one of my favorite episodes of Season 5. While I haven’t gone back and watched every
episode of the series yet—seeing early clips out of sequence will do that to
you—I am confident in proclaiming this one of my top five favorites of the
series.
No comments:
Post a Comment