Steven Universe: Love Letters
April 24, 2015 9:44 AM - Season 2, Episode 7 - Subscribe
Jamie the mail carrier gets a crush on Garnet.
I am all for skewerings of romcom plots, and I do love Garnet so. I appreciate that Steven's desire to "let him down easy" is presented as both an understandable impulse but also a counterproductive one (rather than a shortcut around Garnet's clearly-expressed wishes, as often happens in romcoms.)
posted by restless_nomad at 5:09 PM on April 24, 2015
posted by restless_nomad at 5:09 PM on April 24, 2015
Nice takedown of "But I ~LOVE~ you!"
posted by wintersweet at 5:26 PM on April 24, 2015
posted by wintersweet at 5:26 PM on April 24, 2015
Mr.Encyclopedia: “Also, apparently Kansas is this world's hollywood? Amusing.”I took that to mean that Jamie was so clueless or starry-eyed that he heard about some movie being made in Kansas and went there to try and catch his big break rather than a more obvious choice.
posted by ob1quixote at 5:28 PM on April 24, 2015
Thing is the kids saw Kansas as code for showbiz. Connie: "So you want to be a thespian?"
I loved seeing Jamie again -- and Sadie's Mom, who seems to be the "Barb" Jamie referred to back in Cheeseburger Backpack! -- and also giving him a personality. The stuff about Jamie and Barb should be carefully interrogated for clues -- Barb knows about Greg (she thought of Steven as "Greg's boy"), she didn't know where Steven lived and was surprised he was out there, Jamie was the only mailperson to know where Steven was, in his absence a whole bag of mail had piled up for Steven, which evidently didn't contain bills (or else Steven's power would have been cut off). And Steven got a ton of Sea Monkeys.
I leave you with... legwarmers.
(I've got like a TON of these Tumblr links at this point, but am conflicted how to build a FPP out of them. Most of them aren't comprehensible without understanding the show I think. Finding a good introduction to SU on the web somewhere might be a good starting point.)
posted by JHarris at 10:08 PM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
I loved seeing Jamie again -- and Sadie's Mom, who seems to be the "Barb" Jamie referred to back in Cheeseburger Backpack! -- and also giving him a personality. The stuff about Jamie and Barb should be carefully interrogated for clues -- Barb knows about Greg (she thought of Steven as "Greg's boy"), she didn't know where Steven lived and was surprised he was out there, Jamie was the only mailperson to know where Steven was, in his absence a whole bag of mail had piled up for Steven, which evidently didn't contain bills (or else Steven's power would have been cut off). And Steven got a ton of Sea Monkeys.
I leave you with... legwarmers.
(I've got like a TON of these Tumblr links at this point, but am conflicted how to build a FPP out of them. Most of them aren't comprehensible without understanding the show I think. Finding a good introduction to SU on the web somewhere might be a good starting point.)
posted by JHarris at 10:08 PM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
JHarris:
The Mary Sue had a pretty good introduction post:
http://www.themarysue.com/steven-universe-101
(With the exception that the author seems to be under the impression the two halves of season 1 were seasons 1 and 2 instead)
Also, I thought it was hilarious how even Steven knew Jamie didn't have a chance, because Garnet probably isn't interested in romantic relationships with:
A. Humans
B. Men
C. From the perspective of Ruby and Sapphire, anyone other than each other
That's three strikes!
posted by Wandering Idiot at 8:40 AM on April 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
The Mary Sue had a pretty good introduction post:
http://www.themarysue.com/steven-universe-101
(With the exception that the author seems to be under the impression the two halves of season 1 were seasons 1 and 2 instead)
Also, I thought it was hilarious how even Steven knew Jamie didn't have a chance, because Garnet probably isn't interested in romantic relationships with:
A. Humans
B. Men
C. From the perspective of Ruby and Sapphire, anyone other than each other
That's three strikes!
posted by Wandering Idiot at 8:40 AM on April 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Honest question, if Garnett = Ruby + Sapphire in a romantic relationship, is Sugilite a threesome, and Alexandrite a foursome?
posted by signal at 1:34 PM on April 25, 2015
posted by signal at 1:34 PM on April 25, 2015
The way I've always viewed it, the fusions are metaphors for various types of relationships, not just romantic. Alexandrite being unstable, for instance, represents the Crystal Gems as a group being somewhat dysfunctional with Rose gone. Opal represents Pearl and Amethyst having some goal in mind that's important enough to both of them to get their minds somewhat in sync, as opposed to their usual bickering (and it's implied they used to get along better and had an easier time forming Opal in the past, presumably back when Rose was alive). Amusingly, Sugilite probably implies Garnet and Amethyst shouldn't hang out too much, because Amethyst is a bad influence on her (and indeed, they did seem to be getting into stupid hijinks when Pearl wasn't around in "Steven the Sword Fighter"). I figured Stevonnie makes a good fusion/relationship because Steven and Connie kind of cover each other's flaws- Connie makes him less hyper, and Steven gets her over her social anxiety issues. Which is good, because those two will probably get married someday ("Maheshwaran" translating to something like "Lord of the Universe" and all)
Garnet is implied to be something of a special case- she's two Gems in love, hence being able to maintain a permanent fusion, but I don't think that's at all the standard mindset for the practice- it's usually more of a temporary tactical move. Jasper and Lapis were able to fuse just because it seemed like they both had their minds on revenge, even if it was towards different targets. Although given Pearl's apparent feelings for Rose, there might have been some romantic element involved in their fusing also (which I could see getting complicated, as the feelings seem to have been mostly one-sided).
posted by Wandering Idiot at 2:44 PM on April 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Garnet is implied to be something of a special case- she's two Gems in love, hence being able to maintain a permanent fusion, but I don't think that's at all the standard mindset for the practice- it's usually more of a temporary tactical move. Jasper and Lapis were able to fuse just because it seemed like they both had their minds on revenge, even if it was towards different targets. Although given Pearl's apparent feelings for Rose, there might have been some romantic element involved in their fusing also (which I could see getting complicated, as the feelings seem to have been mostly one-sided).
posted by Wandering Idiot at 2:44 PM on April 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I loved all the weird faces and warps Jamie had in this episode. It was also neat seeing probably-Sadie's-mom. And it was cute as heck to watch Connie and Steven together; the way they were treating the situation kind of like it was a tv show they'd watch about regular humans, but the people involved are actually so much weirder and more complex than that, it was such a cool way to tell the story.
My favorite joke so far about the letter.
posted by Mizu at 5:07 PM on April 25, 2015
My favorite joke so far about the letter.
posted by Mizu at 5:07 PM on April 25, 2015
As an aside I saw a Rose Quartz cosplayer at C2E2 today, which made me happy since I didn't see any SU cosplay at Emerald City Comicon earlier this year. Steven Universe's inclusiveness is great for cosplayers and I fully approve. With the right skullet wig I'd make a pretty good Greg...
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:49 PM on April 25, 2015
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:49 PM on April 25, 2015
I saw a bunch of SU cosplayers at Anime Boston a couple weeks ago. Garnet, Ruby, Sapphire, Pearl, Amethyst, Opal and Steven; I think Rose was the only one I didn't see.
The fusions definitely require the two participants (fusees?) to be in sync. In The Return Opal split apart when Steven returned to the fight and Amethyst and Pearl had opposite reactions. Alexandrite split when Pearl couldn't deal with human food. It makes sense that a really compatible romantic relationship would be able to hold it together permanently.
posted by Peccable at 12:55 PM on April 26, 2015
The fusions definitely require the two participants (fusees?) to be in sync. In The Return Opal split apart when Steven returned to the fight and Amethyst and Pearl had opposite reactions. Alexandrite split when Pearl couldn't deal with human food. It makes sense that a really compatible romantic relationship would be able to hold it together permanently.
posted by Peccable at 12:55 PM on April 26, 2015
A tumblr thing I had to share:
that’s why the people of this world believe inposted by ocherdraco at 5:03 PM on May 24, 2015 [13 favorites]
【_|▼⊝▼|__】
ᕕ༼(ʘʚ༽ヾ ༽ᕗ
and
\￣L ͡° ͜^ ͡°)
AND
٩꒰ ( ✪͈̀ ᗜ ✪͈́) ꒱۶
Oh god, the entire thing with Jamie composing the letter and handing it to Steven is how I feel whenever I message a crush -_____-
posted by Quilford at 2:16 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Quilford at 2:16 AM on July 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Kansas joke was a pun, yes? Cannes... as.
posted by comealongpole at 1:09 PM on August 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by comealongpole at 1:09 PM on August 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
A little Jamie goes quite a long way for me (though I do find him enjoyable in small doses!)... thankfully the show's been pretty good about meting him out bit by bit.
posted by duffell at 7:39 PM on September 6, 2017
posted by duffell at 7:39 PM on September 6, 2017
I definitely understood that in this alternate version of our world, where Ocean City Maryland = Beach City Delmarva, Charm City= Baltimore and Empire City = NYC, that the epicenter of film production is in Kansas.
posted by Navelgazer at 5:58 PM on July 11, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Navelgazer at 5:58 PM on July 11, 2019 [1 favorite]
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In any case this was a cute episode, which further established the nature of Ruby and Sapphire's relationship, sank a lot of annoying Garnet shippers, and had a good message about what it means to love someone. I'm glad in the aftermath of Jailbreak they can still have these lighter episodes. Also, apparently Kansas is this world's hollywood? Amusing.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 10:00 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]