First Impressions | Made of Honor (Steven Universe)

                Proposal's accepted, wedding planning has begun.  What could go wrong now?  Oh right, the guest list…

                “Made of Honor” is the penultimate episode of the latest Steven Bomb.  Taking place right after Ruby’s proposal, the Crystal Gems are filled with wedding bliss, preparing the temple  for the nuptials.  While everyone is excited, one small cloud hangs over Sapphire:  most of her old friends are unable to attend because they are Corrupted.  Steven takes it upon himself to free Bismuth from her bubble to invite the smith gem.  This leads to the two sharing a moment and reconciling.  The band is now back together.

                Given how Bismuth’s debut episode ended, her return was bound to happen.  The only questions were when and why.  When this bomb was announced I knew the when was approaching; the leaked footage with her in the background played a part, but the episode titles were another clue.  This one has a duel meaning.  The surface meaning is Steven wants Bismuth to be part of the wedding party, Garnet’s maid of honor.  The other involves Bismuth’s character development.  From the moment she reforms, Steven must fill the smith in on everything that’s occurred since they last met.  From corruption to Rose’s true nature, Bismuth is told everything.  Given the amount of knowledge Bismuth takes it well—what is lava to a Gem—but still has a chip on her shoulder.  If the Crystal Gems wanted her around, why didn’t one of them free her?  This viewpoint is logical given that Bismuth tried to shatter Steven last time.  If an old friend tried to kill a newer friend you’d be conflicted too.  This leads to a bonding moment between Bismuth and Steven where the pair make-up.  They had a tiff in the past, but have move past that.

                Bismuth raises an interesting point during their conversation:  why do the other gems stick around if everything was a lie?  While obviously the group care for one another, Bismuth raises another possibility:  they believe in Steven.  The gems view Steven as their best hope for the future, whatever it might entail.  While they rightfully question Rose when it involves the war, they trust the Diamond when it comes to her son.

                While it’s a small moment, a line Steven said early on made me smile.  He presents Ruby and Sapphire with a wedding planning book, one he claims to have assembled over his short life.  While on the surface played for laughs, there is depth too.  Steven has been thinking about marriage for years, even if only as a hobby.  This raises the question why?  Most likely we won’t get an answer, but it’s fun to theorize.  Hopefully Connie knows what she’s getting involved with.

                “Made of Honor” is another great episode.  Bismuth returns and gets some finality to her introduction arc, and the endgame is set.  Now, onward to wedding bells and war horns. 

First Impressions | Now We're Only Falling Apart (Steven Universe)

                “Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond!”  That revelation shattered everything SU fans thought they knew about the original leader of the Crystal Gems.  The fandom was split.  Some defended her while others lambasted her choices.  While I see the wisdom in both sides, I chose to wait for the Summer episodes before casting stones either way; information and proper context.  The latest Steven Bomb is upon us, and with the first episode SU fans have their answers, although I’m sure some corners of the fandom will still be annoyed.

                “Now We’re Only Falling Apart” picks up where the last episode left off, with the Crystal Gems digesting Pearl’s revelation.  Amethyst seemingly takes the revelation in stride—which is logical considering she was born after the war—but it literally destroys Garnet, undoing her fusion faster than Pearl’s previous lie.  This time it is Sapphire who is hurt, lambasting Pink for lying to them and cursing herself for not having seen this with her Future Vision.  She then storms off, with Steven and Pearl following to help calm the stormy gem down.  This calming involves another flashback, where more information is divulged about Pink Diamond’s past, including why she created Rose Quartz.

                Considering where the previous cliffhanger left this, character reactions and interactions were logical.  Amethyst has only known Pink as Rose and not having lived through the war she doesn’t have that painful baggage.  When combined with her laid-back demeanor, its logical she’d quickly forgive the lie.  Steven still seems to be digesting the information, which will most likely be his character arc through this Bomb.  Pearl is relieved, as a weight she’s been carrying for thousands of years is gone and she can finally speak freely, which she admits during the episode’s opening.  Garnet is the one I feel for.  Not only is her fusion undone, but everything she’s ever known since that day in Blue Diamond’s court is questionable.  Sapphire voices as much before she leaves, although she does take things too far.  Even if she’s upset, telling Ruby their relationship is based on a lie—among other things—is crossing the line.  Even when Ruby was mad before the Eternal Flame never spoke that harshly to her icy flame.  Given how much words can hurt it’s no wonder Ruby’s gone by the end.

                Pink Diamond’s backstory is the episode’s meat.  While the audience has heard stories about her before, the Rose revelation put everything into question, necessitating further exposition from Pearl.  We get that here.  While Pearl doesn’t reveal how Pink managed to get a colony—my guess is Yellow finally gave in—she goes into detail about how excited Pink was once her Quartz soldiers began to hatch.  This is where Rose was created.  Pink wanted to move among them, but couldn’t in her true form without hearing about it from her sisters.  One suggestion from Pearl and Rose is born.  As Pink explores her colony she slowly realizes how destructive Gem creation is to organic life.  As she puts it, “We’re not creating life from nothing.  We’re taking life and leaving nothing behind.”  She does attempt to undo the colony, but is overruled.  This is where her ultimate choice comes into play.  The Diamonds won’t listen to Pink, but they will pay attention to Rose Quartz. 

While some might still find this selfish—a viewpoint I respectfully disagree with—the Garnet situation makes it harder to throw that term.  While Pink originally was fighting to save organic life on Earth, Garnet’s creation added to her motivation.  She was not only fighting for Earth.  She was fighting for free Gems.  While the logic behind her ultimate decision can still be questioned—it is naïve on her part to assume Yellow and Blue wouldn’t do anything if their little sister was shattered—the why she made that choice is easy to see.  Pink did it for Earth and for Garnet.  Even if her specific actions were flawed, her heart was in the right place.

                In addition to Pink’s backstory, Pearl’s exposition also provides more information about her unrequited love.  While all Pearl’s adore their owners to a certain degree, as the story unfolds it becomes clear that Pearl was attracted to Pink’s boldness and dedication to her beliefs.  At first, this was awkward since it went against Pearl’s purpose, but over time this lessened; not everything is shown, but enough is divulged for the audience to fill in the blanks.  While brief, it was cute that Steven pointed out that Pearl’s feelings helped shaped Pink’s resolve, which garnered an appropriate subtle response from the gem

Some members of the fandom—hopefully a minority—are still calling Pink selfish when it comes to Pearl’s feelings.  While everything is entitled to his or her opinion, this is a view I’ll never understand.  One is not entitled to return another’s romantic feelings, even if they’ve been friends for millennia.  Feelings must develop naturally.  Despite their closeness—and the existence of Rainbow Quartz—Pink was under no obligation to love Pearl.  If she’s guilty of anything it’s being oblivious of the affections or ignoring and exploiting them.  It’s hard to say which one right now.

As a whole, “Now We’re Only Falling Apart” was a great episode.  It filled in backstory gaps, delivered moments of past and present character development and sets up the next several episodes nicely.  Boy, Sapphire’s going to need more than balloons and cake.