Skip to main content

Steven Universe Recap: “Love Letters”

quill (1)
The Summary: Steven’s mailman Jamie returns from pursuing his acting dreams in Kansas, only to declare love at first sight for Garnet (who’s way too busy searching for Malachite at the bottom of the ocean, not to mention way too taken already, to deal with this). Connie and Steven try to let Jamie down easy via return letter, but only wind up making things worse.

I am in love with this level on a crafting level (I feel I can say that resolutely, despite our short time together). While it seems fairly inevitable that SU would do an episode About Rejection, the more obvious choices up to now would’ve been Mayor Dewey and Pearl or Sadie and Lars – each choice with a comparative amount of pitfalls. I’ve not entirely put my finger on what makes Dewey’s crush a bit creepy on my radar, but I think I’ve narrowed it down to his status as an adult combined with the phrase “the hot one” – making him stick out as a sexual character when pretty much everyone else in the cast has communicated romantic feelings on a romantic/emotional level; meanwhile, Lars and Sadie do already know each other, making it a bad fit for this episode’s chosen theme – not to mention the fact that at this point the complex layers of insecurity on both sides at this point was never going to lend itself to a comic episode.

Recommended Videos

Jamie is in the perfect position of having been introduced into the show’s universe quite early on (in “Cheeseburger Backpack”) and not utilized since. Bringing him back gives the writers yet another chance to make this world feel lived in and avoids the often wrong-footing start of introducing a character just to be the hopeless suitor and then never speaking of them again (which feels cheap and makes the emotions at stake more or less impossible to take seriously, because the character involved is a cipher).

Meanwhile, Jaime gets to walk his overly pushy role without feeling irritating and provide some absolutely sterling physical gags. The actor jokes in this episode are spot on, over the top while also feeling rooted in the show’s trademark sincerity (I can promise you the writers on this episode have spent a good chunk of time around college actors) – the fact that what feels like it should be a cutaway/fantasy gag seems as though it could pretty plausibly just be happening is a stroke of genius.

Speaking of actors, having Jamie return from Kansas rather than LA is one of those little technically-unimportant details that nonetheless feels like a breath of fresh air. I’d even go so far as to put it under the show’s mentality umbrella of “wouldn’t it be ideal if the world were like x.” Wouldn’t it be nice if the entertainment industry, in an era of increased digital communication and meritocratized media, wasn’t disproportionately centered in one city, particularly one that more or less demands having in-city contacts before even moving there? Or rather, since there are more opportunities for an actor to make a steady living across the country (if less glamourized ones), isn’t it nice to see that highlighted? And doubly nice that this isn’t the sort of show that would play Jamie’s rejection from a “lesser” arena as a sign that he’s pathetic. Everyone starts somewhere, after all, and those starts are all equally valid (yes, including community theatre).

But I digress. The structure! As I said, having a new-but-not character gives the script a leg up in terms of emotional credibility (Jamie feels like a person who exists in the world and has an inner life and junk) but it also makes for a great thematic parallel. We know about as much about Jamie as he does about Garnet, but as it starts this episode would seem to push us to side with him (because he is a character seeking love, and “deserves” it as a reward for making the effort). That’s how this type of story tends to be set up, after all. The suitor is rebuffed, and for their persistence they’re rewarded with what they wanted (because the other person’s disinterest is nothing more than a call for further persistence. Like a pothole).

“Love Letters” takes joy in swerving left from that setup pretty quickly – we already know Garnet’s taken, after all (and as of this episode and Connie’s adorable blushing fusion comment, I would like to put another point in my “it would feel really, really weird if Steven were to fuse with any of the main Gems” jar). But what’s sort of beautiful is that Garnet feels no need (nor should she have to, really) to tell Jamie that she’s not interested because she’s the constant embodiment of a very happy romantic relationship. It’s enough that she says no. That is the cue to back off, no matter one’s gender (but especially problematic with straight men, I think I can safely put forth).

And that could have been it. Jamie could’ve been a comedic villain a la Gideon in “Hand That Rocks the Mabel” (another pretty great exploration of the “nice guys don’t automatically deserve romantic acquiescence”). But because SU is SU, what we get instead is a young man who just needs to be told, on no uncertain terms, that no means seriously not ever – and look at that, he gets over it! What a concept! In the context the episode sets up, it makes an additional fair point too: someone without much experience in romance might blow past a subtler let down, but it might be less feeling like they’re entitled than because they’re just kinda awkward. Maybe they’ve never been in love and want to match the intensity of feeling they’ve seen play out in media (all the better to pick an actor for this role), or they’re scared that this is their one and only chance to feel this overwhelming feeling. There are a multitude of possibilities here, which usually get nudged aside in the face of having to dismantle that stupid nice guy/friend zone trope.

And given that the flip side of this issue tends to teach young girls to use what they think is the “nice” answer (and what the other party will generally refer to as confusing), it’s nice to have Garnet play both the straightforward shut-down as well as her usual empathetic mentor role. The “love at first sight doesn’t exist” is a beautiful statement on its own (and I’m sure we’ll all be seeing GIF sets of it for a long time to come), but the added gravitas we have post-“Jailbreak” makes it a megaton punch of an emotional moment. Love, in all the forms this show has explored, has meaning because the people involved are willing to fight for it; and that saves the show from meaningless platitudes every time.

Of course, all of this is more or less a footnote to the fact that Garnet was searching the bottom of the ocean for Malachite (and came up with a monster the second time). And the fact that the next episode is “Reformed.” My bet is on that one involving Steven’s monster buddy, but I’d equally place bets on it as foreshadowing (whether Peridot’s time on earth has made her a monster or if we’ll be taking it on a metaphorical level). And, of course, there’s the fact that we (tentatively) get another two-parter pretty soon after that. Prepare yourselves for another crippling tidal wave of emotions, is what I’m saying.

Hope to see you there!

Want to share this on Tumblr? There’s a post for that!

Vrai is a queer author and pop culture blogger; they’ve already started saving up to buy a Rod Serling narrated episode of…frankly whatever show will go for the idea. Most of the money is in cloning expenses. You can read more essays and find out about their fiction at Fashionable Tinfoil Accessories, or remind them of the existence of Tweets.

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

Author
Teresa Jusino
Teresa Jusino (she/her) is a native New Yorker and a proud Puerto Rican, Jewish, bisexual woman with ADHD. She's been writing professionally since 2010 and was a former TMS assistant editor from 2015-18. Now, she's back as a contributing writer. When not writing about pop culture, she's writing screenplays and is the creator of your future favorite genre show. Teresa lives in L.A. with her brilliant wife. Her other great loves include: Star Trek, The Last of Us, anything by Brian K. Vaughan, and her Level 5 android Paladin named Lal.

Filed Under:

Follow The Mary Sue: