Steven Universe: Cry for Help
July 13, 2015 5:07 PM - Season 2, Episode 14 - Subscribe

When a broadcast from Peridot interrupts an episode of Crying Breakfast Friends, Garnet and Pearl fuse to destroy the transmitter.
posted by Small Dollar (19 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
"Cry for Help" has three meanings! One for Crying Breakfast Friends, one for Peridot, and one for Pearl (starring in today's episode of Crying Spacerock Friends).
posted by glass origami robot at 5:39 PM on July 13, 2015


Also, interesting insider commentary in the last paragraph of the AV Club review.
posted by glass origami robot at 5:46 PM on July 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


I wonder if we'll even see Sardonyx again or if the "week of sardonyx" is wholly about the fallout from Pearl's mistake. Also interesting to see something these non-sexual Gems lust for: Power. Fusions make weak gems stronger indeed, and weak gems LIKE it.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:50 PM on July 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


Sorry, last thing that occurred to me: as someone who's done a bit of magic herself, I loved seeing a confident, funny trickster/magician character who was female. That's a combination of traits and professions that's usually reserved for men.
posted by glass origami robot at 6:10 PM on July 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm still suspicious of that cactus.

Amethyst: showing real growth in trying to incite sympathy for Pearl.

Pearl: Oh, Pearl honey. No.

Garnet: always the coolest, but also, sometimes has a limited toolbox when it comes to compassion. Especially if it's personal.

Steven: having to grow up way too fast because he's being raised by confused space rocks.
posted by emjaybee at 6:31 PM on July 13, 2015 [7 favorites]


Oh and, Sardonyx: Kinda underwhelming? Charming but not very substantial. I liked her hammer though.

It's funny how Garnet's maturity seems to vanish when she fuses. As Sugilite she regresses to violent glee. As Sardonyx she is showy and attention-seeking.

I tend to think "week of Sardonyx" has to be about the fallout from this episode, too, because it's hard to imagine that particular fusion being critical to the plot.

Which of course means that she is and that Rebecca Sugar has outwitted me again. Which I will enjoy.
posted by emjaybee at 6:36 PM on July 13, 2015


I saw some tumblr speculation that it might not just be power that gems want, but love. Perhaps when fusing with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl feel part of Ruby and Sapphire's loving relationship. Amethyst's song is about power but it also sounds like it's about support. And Pearl, well, she's got a whole mess of identity and self-esteem issues.

I really love how this show models what healthy relationships should be like.
posted by zix at 8:09 PM on July 13, 2015


This is a great first episode for a full week arc. I'm excited!
posted by ocherdraco at 9:41 PM on July 13, 2015


My suspicion is that this is the setup to an opportunity for Steven to display leadership exactly in his niche of feelings and communication, as opposed to previously when it's been a big struggle about him maybe not being strong or smart/knowledgeable enough but he overcomes it anyway.

Shmoopy thing, but I like that the picture of Connie Steven has by his bed is of her wearing glasses.

What is the Sugilite slo-mo silhouette moment a reference to? Because it feels really, really familiar.
posted by Mizu at 12:36 AM on July 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


I've also heard the theory that it's Garnet's love that the other gems find so overpowering when they fuse with her, since they both have serious issues in that department. And I share the suspicion that we're going to see a week of Steven the Leader healing his team. We've got four episodes left and I wonder if they aren't going to be

* Steven has a talk with Amethyst,
* Steven has a talk with Garnet,
* Steven has a talk with Pearl, and
* Steven gets them to have a talk with each other.
posted by traveler_ at 12:54 AM on July 14, 2015 [1 favorite]


With a stop-over at Onion's house in episode 3. (I think that's the Amethyst episode.)
posted by JHarris at 3:29 AM on July 14, 2015


It was super unsettling to watch Garnet pressure Amethyst into fusing. From what we've pieced together of Amethyst's backstory (she may have been created for weaponized fusion with other gems, and possibly wasn't ever intended to be a fully-realized independent gem), Garnet using her that way could be really traumatic.
posted by almostmanda at 10:14 AM on July 14, 2015


Wait, what? How do we know that? All we know is that she was made in the Kindergarten. We don't know why.
posted by ocherdraco at 11:11 AM on July 14, 2015


The last Stevenbomb had an episode ("Keeping it Together") at the Kindergarten with a bunch of gem piece experiments that had fused into each other into a weird mass of arms and legs. I assumed they were being developed for some sort of forced-fusion tech--perhaps I am wrong?
posted by almostmanda at 11:18 AM on July 14, 2015


I don't think it's at all clear whether that forced-fusion stuff had anything to do with Amethyst. Remember, it was brand new to all the Crystal Gems, and they already know a great deal about the Kindergarten. I think it's meant to be implied that the forced fusion stuff is new, and from Homeworld, and they've been cut off from there for so long, so they've never seen it before.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:34 PM on July 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


The show is making Pearl so pitiful and lonely... I think they might be setting her up for a romance of her own. Pearl and Lapis, maybe?
posted by painquale at 5:59 PM on July 15, 2015


Maybe Pearl and Amethyst. They fight a lot but they used to be closer. Lapis has a lot of issues with the Crystal Gems for containing her in that mirror, so that seems unlikely. (That may have been what the CGs originally did to contain captured gems, the first Classroom Gems short mentions it as an alternative to bubbling.)
posted by JHarris at 6:57 PM on July 15, 2015


I doubt that Amethyst and Pearl would stay fused. And I don't see Lapis as a perpetual enemy. Actually, I expect that new Crystal Gems will join the team eventually --- the outer senshi --- and that Steven's good nature will always be what brings them into the fold. He's already been working on Lapis; she's partway there. She's a good candidate for the first new Gem. And then they'd develop her relations with the other Crystal Gems. I think Pearl and Lapis would be a good match.

Anyway, if Opal became more of a mainstay they'd have to hire Aimee Mann on as a regular, and I'm not sure they could get her that often. Speaking of which: I'm almost positive that they must have approached Janelle Monae to voice Sardonyx. Sardonyx really feels like she's modeled on Janelle Monae to me (Tuxedo Mom), and most of the other fusions have big name singers voicing them.
posted by painquale at 7:47 PM on July 15, 2015 [3 favorites]


"You're so articulated!"

Best throwaway joke.
posted by duffell at 5:55 AM on August 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


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