Steven Universe

[Dr. Insomniac]

Those are assumptions with no founding. Bismuth saw her fellow Crystal Gems as kin, and only attacked Rose because she found this superior order to be asinine. One has to take into account that Bismuth was essentially a slave in her Homeworld life, and the things Rose taught her only served to amplify her emotions to such a tumultuous past. What exactly did Rose expect? And it's not like Bismuth would have run into the Homeworld army with just one Breaking Point, she would have certainly created more if Rose actually approved of her idea. But instead, her main source of weaponry is banished and as the current status of the Crystal Gems show, they suffered for it.

[Peanutbutter]

Those are assumptions with no founding. Bismuth saw her fellow Crystal Gems as kin, and only attacked Rose because she found this superior order to be asinine. One has to take into account that Bismuth was essentially a slave in her Homeworld life, and the things Rose taught her only served to amplify her emotions to such a tumultuous past. What exactly did Rose expect? And it's not like Bismuth would have run into the Homeworld army with just one Breaking Point, she would have certainly created more if Rose actually approved of her idea. But instead, her main source of weaponry is banished and as the current status of the Crystal Gems show, they suffered for it.

Everything about her outburst at Steven was very heavily implied to be the exact same thing that happened with Rose. Doesn't matter what your role is, if you're planning to commit genocide and attack the leader of your rebellion you're as dangerous as the enemy and you need to be put away. Steven only let her out by a freak accident. Bismuth could have made more weapons like Rose's sword which we saw is effective at cutting through any Gem's physical form, she didn't need to make things like the breaking point.

[Daikun]

...and today's episode marks the end of season 3.

Tomorrow and Friday, Summer of Steven concludes with the first two episodes of season 4. After that, premieres will return to a Thursday-only format.

[Peanutbutter]

...and today's episode marks the end of season 3.

Tomorrow and Friday, Summer of Steven concludes with the first two episodes of season 4. After that, premieres will return to a Thursday-only format.

Heard they'll be in the Fall, so it may not be a long hiatus this time. Glad they're giving us two bonus episodes, because I really want to see how they resolve things with Jasper and the Beta Kindergarten.

[Daikun]

...and today's episode marks the end of season 3.

Tomorrow and Friday, Summer of Steven concludes with the first two episodes of season 4. After that, premieres will return to a Thursday-only format.

Heard they'll be in the Fall, so it may not be a long hiatus this time.

No, I mean there's no hiatus. After this week is done, new episodes continue next Thursday.

[Nel_Annette]

Thank goodness. I'm ready for a regular schedule again.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Really liking that they've embraced long-form serialized storytelling more with this season. Season 2 started the trend, but outside of a couple stray episodes in the middle, every episode of season 3 pretty much lead right into the next one or continued the overarching story arc. They've opened up so much more room for them to tell and develop longer storylines while still keeping the episodes relatively self-contained and accessible in reruns, which I find to be a really admirable feat considering that the episodes are quarter-length and not half-hour. And as for the story itself, dang have they gone to some heavy places recently. Though now that Jasper and Yellow Diamond's Rubies have been dealt with, I wonder what the next threat Homeworld will throw at the Gems will be. Considering the revelations about Pink Diamond and Rose, I'm expecting some more potent antagonists and conflicts to pop up this season, both physical and internal.

[Peanutbutter]

Really liking that they've embraced long-form serialized storytelling more with this season. Season 2 started the trend, but outside of a couple stray episodes in the middle, every episode of season 3 pretty much lead right into the next one or continued the overarching story arc. They've opened up so much more room for them to tell and develop longer storylines while still keeping the episodes relatively self-contained and accessible in reruns, which I find to be a really admirable feat considering that the episodes are quarter-length and not half-hour. And as for the story itself, dang have they gone to some heavy places recently. Though now that Jasper and Yellow Diamond's Rubies have been dealt with, I wonder what the next threat Homeworld will throw at the Gems will be. Considering the revelations about Pink Diamond and Rose, I'm expecting some more potent antagonists and conflicts to pop up this season, both physical and internal.

I think they're building up to Yellow Diamond herself coming to Earth and starting an invasion. Likely she'll have some forces with her as I don't think she'll be hands on. And beyond that there's still Blue Diamond, with White Diamond whom has still not been mentioned.

[Peanutbutter]

Tonight was a very good episode. Steven's still feeling off about recent events that have happened, and the episode was partly animated by one of Kill La Kill's crew. Thought you guys might get a kick out of that.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Takafumi Hori's sequence was beautiful as was the song accompanying it. The episode itself was an excellent exploration of Steven's guilt over what happened with Jasper, Bismuth, and Eyeball and his disillusionment with Rose, as well as a good Steven/Connie relationship episode in general. Great stuff. Hopefully we'll be seeing more guest animators on the show in the near future.

[Daikun]

Gem Harvest is scheduled to air November 17.

[Peanutbutter]

Gem Harvest should be great. You just know something serious is going to go down. Glad they were allowed to do another 30 minute special episode again so soon!

[Daikun]

CN's entire week of episodes (scheduled to air January 30) are available now on their website. Just click the "Full Episodes" tab.

EDIT: They've taken them down except "Steven's Dream."

[Peanutbutter]

I'll give my full thoughts about each episode once they've aired legally. Without spoling anything, there are a lot of good surprises and some characters get some great development that you wouldn't expect.

[Peanutbutter]

Steven's Dream - You know this arc is going for a grander feel when we see both Connie and Uncle Andy right off the back. It was good to see Andy play a role, hope this means he'll give Steven and the Gems more support in future episodes when the need arises for them to venture out on Earth. Speaking of which, we got to enjoy Greg and Steven's journey to Korea! The gag in the animation room with Greg was a nice touch, but I enjoyed all the different outfits they tried on together more. Would be nice if they ever revisit Korea or Asia in general, as all the backgrounds were great. We finally see an actual appearance of Blue Diamond, whom funny enough feels like a female Mr. Frowney. Her voice was appropriately melancholy. Her Pearl's quiet but firm obedience was also nicely performed. I like the subtle charterization we see in this episode from Blue Diamond as her interactions with Greg reveal that she isn't as bloodthirsty for Earth's destruction as her counterpart Yellow Diamond. I was a bit surprised at her full facial reveal, as her previous depictions from before showed her with darker hair but we see that its actually white. My personal favorite scene was in the beginning when we finally see Steven's frustrations about the Gems' secrets come out to the forefront. All the little things we've seen bubbling up from his reactions to hearing about his mother's past and every time we saw him eavesdrop on his surrogate mom/aunts led up to this. I think it was a nice emotional payoff.


Adventures in Light Distortion - Steven is bound and determined to rescue his father with Garnet and the others ready in tow. Smart of the crew to have them use the Ruby Squad's ship. Good to see Peridot as always, but I wish Lapis could have had at least one line. Ah, well. Pearl's line to Amethyst after finding out about Blue Diamond's presence was gold. A lot great animation and facial expressions in this part of the arc. I chuckled a few times at the Crystal Gems having difficulties in keeping themselves together. Meanwhile, Steven himself was trying to keep himself together metaphorically when realizing the hazards of being to obsessed and eager without regard for himself or the Gems. Pretty interesting to find out about how the Gems' travel technology works as we now know they can cater them specifically to the different sizes and shapes of certain Gems. A nice gag episode, but while it was good seeing Steven correct his own behavior; I don't really think the trip to the Gem Zoo needed to be an entire episode on its own when a simple small gag or transition could have gotten them there just as well.