Ingrid and I are watching the entire Steven Universe series for the third time, and since we’ve been spending so much talking about it the first two times, I thought I’d blog some of my observations about it. Please note: I’m not writing these Steven Universe posts as a series summary or recap. I’m just writing down some of my observations and reactions (not necessarily coherently), both to the show as a whole and to the individual episodes. These posts will probably make more sense to people who are already watching/ have already watched the show, but I hope they inspire the rest of you to check out the show, as it really is one of the richest and most emotionally intense things I’ve seen on TV. Note: This post may contain spoilers about Steven Universe: the show as a whole, and/or about Episode 2: Laser Light Cannon.
The BITS! The BITS! The BITS! The BITS!
I think it’s interesting that the Gems’ dubious, ambivalent, somewhat condescending attitudes about human beings shows up this early in the series. The central theme of the show (in my opinion) — namely, children learning that adults are flawed and limited — is already being explored in Episode 2, both with Greg and his scary hoarder storage locker, and with the Gems. In fact, imperfection, and the acceptance of imperfection, is the main theme of this show (“if every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs”). And another ongoing theme of the show is also explored here — the times when imperfection really can’t be accepted. (“I live in there!”)
I love the T-shirt cannon that fires T-shirts that read, “Buy T-shirt Cannons.”
Ingrid commentary: Ingrid, who has been reading more S.U. commentary than I have, says it’s been pointed out that the laser light cannons are very weirdly sexual, both phallic and vulval.
Ingrid asks: What the heck is the Red Eye thing, anyway? She points out that at this stage of the show, they’re not really explaining what the things are that they’re battling, or how they fit into the larger narrative. She also points out that, having watched the entire show already (twice!), it’s weird to be seeing these early episodes with so much exposition and explaining.
Sometimes a rose-quartz crystal alien laser light cannon is just a rose-quartz crystal alien laser light cannon.
I disagree that Greg is a hoarder. Yeah, he keeps a bunch of old stuff. But his worldly possessions consist of the contents of that 1-car-garage sized storage locker and his van. Why ascribe to him a mental illness we have such scant evidence of? So he keep stuff around from a more exciting time in his life – don’t most people keep mementos like that, and of course
Spoilers below:
I assumed the Red Eye was like any of the other things they fight – leftovers from when the Gems were using Earth, which are attracted to Beach City because of the presence of the Gems there. Earth was deeply damaged by the injection process and it seems a lot of the gem monsters are the result of that. They environmental harm manifested. The way they Gems respond to things that ACTUALLY come from off-planet is different than how they respond to even very scary monsters that are from Earth.
*spoilers*
I assumed the Red Eye is a probe of some sort, probably to check on the progress of the Cluster somehow. Of course, it looked like it was doing damage at the same time, so it might have been pretty indiscriminate in how it tries to “check”. I’m also guessing its destruction is what led Peridot to scout. So they might have inadvertently sparked the renewed interest in Earth.
The fact that this stuff homes in on Beach City is almost certainly because of the presence of the Temple, and the persistence of the Crystal Gems is still known. Though there are teleporters other places on Earth. Hmm.
*is still known by Homeworld Gems — as in, the fact that they’re alive is no big surprise. E.g. when Jasper is itching for a fight with Rose Quartz specifically.
Ah, no, apparently this was all revealed, no speculation necessary. Bah.
In Marble Madness Peridot reveals that the Red Eye was specifically looking for the presence of Gem life forms, and that it didn’t ever report back that there were, thus Peridot being surprised by everyone’s existence when they confronted her first. I don’t know why Jasper specifically wants to fight Rose though. Probably Peridot reported back to her that the Crystal Gems were still around.
Rose was the leader of the rebellion. They always get targeted. Plus they get as weird about the interspecies thing as they do about permafusion. They are all kinds of right wing.
Hmm, I guess I could see lasers as phallic, but how are they vulval? Mostly they look like little rods to me.