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Steven Universe Recap: “Three Gems and a Baby”

Okay, but mostly the title is making me sad about Leonard Nimoy again.

3-gems

The Recap: Holed up during a major blizzard, Greg tells a story about the last time he weathered such a storm with the Gems, when Steven was only a few months old. When Steven’s Gem glowed for the first time, Greg and the panicked Gems realized they’d need to work together to give Steven–neither fully human nor Gem–the upbringing he needed.

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Well, this was exactly what I needed, I don’t know about you. Crewniverse accounts referred to this as the winter/holiday episode, so I wager this might be our last one for the year. And it’s a good one, ending the year by giving all five major players at least one really solid beat: Tom Scharpling has a simple but sincere lullaby to open things up (once again cheerfully acknowledged in-universe); DeeDee Magno Hall puts careful restraint on grieving Pearl, allowing reluctant fondness and manic determination play as equally devastating breaks in the façade; Estelle gets to show rare, almost terrified uncertainty when it turns out that being the most prepared Gem still isn’t prepared enough; and Michaela Dietz’s open joy at discovering new experiences and trying out new concepts makes a solid through line to anchor the more openly turbulent emotions.

And, of course, there’s that baby Steven design. It manages to evoke the necessary cuteness while also having the slightest uncanniness (something about the eyes, I think–they’re adorable on his little face, but they’re also too small to be very expressive–a far cry from big Disney eyes) to get across how these grown adults could all be so confused and vaguely freaked out at not knowing what this inscrutable thing wants or why it reacts the way it does.

The image of a communal family here is likewise heartwarming, and Steven’s status as an ambassador between worlds is once again helpful in illustrating how things come together. Greg is getting by as a single parent, doing his very best, and a big part of what makes him such a good dad is his willingness to acknowledge when his son needs things he can’t provide. Steven doesn’t need a replacement mom or a nuclear family model, but people who can help him grow and develop–who Greg can trust with his son’s safety. It’s given basically no emphasis in the plot since this is an established fact of Steven’s upbringing, but it’s still nice to see everyone come to the conclusion together.

Oh and by the way, I see what you did there, Abrams and Mitroff, wrapping Greg up in blue with his infant savior son and the Three Wise Gems around him. That’s a well-played shot right there.

Things also got a touch dark, I believe you may have noticed–with Pearl weighing the potential risk/reward of killing Steven (because I’m pretty sure that’s what removing his gem would do) in hopes of getting Rose back. This is something we’ve known to be in line with her character arc for quite a while, and the most interesting facet here (Editor’s note: heh heh. Facet.) turns out to be that Pearl relents not upon recognizing Steven’s right to live as a new individual, but because Steven’s existence was Rose’s dying wish. Even Garnet and Amethyst are really only beginning to grasp that Steven is his own person by the end of this. But then, that’s as good a place to start as any. And the frame narrative is used particularly well for justification, getting a lot of quiet mileage out of Greg and Pearl’s new friendship in particular.

The casual, definitive labeling of Steven as a fusion is also one of SU’s not-quite-bombshells; while Garnet’s viewpoint may have evolved over time, it’s significant that we as viewers are just hearing this now, with so much recent buildup about Rose’s looming legacy and Steven’s struggles to differentiate himself from her. It’s only a minor factor in the plot of this episode in isolation, but its potential implications in the future are extremely alarming. Rebecca Sugar’s comment in one of her earliest AMAs along the lines of “IS [Rose] dead?” could have significantly more meanings in light of that fact.

If this is indeed the last episode of 2016, it feels like an appropriate one. Huddling together with loved ones against the storm outside, sure of little else besides the fact that you’ve come a little farther than who you were before and that you want to keep protecting the people you care about. It’s not a bad baseline for continuing to get up in the morning, anyway.

As for what’s next, I have no idea. News has been surprisingly mum, so much so that there were a few flash scare pieces wondering if the show had been cancelled. To my knowledge it’s been renewed through a fifth season, so I’d say at worst we just have a mini-hiatus on our hands. We can get through that. And I’ll see you on the other side. Take care out there.

ETA: Yes, y’all are right about the fusion thing. Naturally each of the three gems wants to see something in Steven that resonates with their experience (Pearl sees Rose, Amethyst a shapeshifter, Garnet a fusion), and they are all to some degree right while missing the whole–hence the importance of coming together with Greg as a unit to raise Steven, not to keep looking for Rose and the past she symbolizes.

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Vrai is a queer author and pop culture blogger; they’re very worried about basically everybody. You can read more essays and find out about their fiction at Fashionable Tinfoil Accessories, listen to them podcasting on Soundcloud, support their work via Patreon or PayPal, or remind them of the existence of Tweets.

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