Steven Universe: Catch and Release
September 24, 2015 2:58 PM - Season 2, Episode 21 - Subscribe

The Crystal Gems deal with a problem in Steven's bathroom.
posted by Small Dollar (21 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
THIS WAS SO GOOD.

Tiny angry pie!
"Is that a weapon?"

But seriously, what the hell is the cluster, and how is it going to "hatch" and oh god that doesn't sound good.
posted by emjaybee at 5:08 PM on September 24, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm assuming the Cluster is a giant Gem mutant, so that's going to be fun!
posted by Small Dollar at 5:25 PM on September 24, 2015


A lot happened in this episode!

- Peridot can't make her own flask robonoids. She did summon a robonoids-like escape pod from the handship so it seems like standard Gem technology.
- Peridot is not a fighter. Now that her tricks are exhausted the Crystal Gems make short work of her.
- Garnet literally crushed Peridot to death. Yowsa.
- The next major arc is taking shape. Yellow Diamond is ignoring Peridot, so the next big challenge to overcome is "the cluster" which I'm guessing is some kind of forced fusion on a massive world-shattering scale.
- The gems are surprised by Peridot's limbs, so it seems one example of how Gem technology has progressed. There are examples of tools used by the crystal gems, like the duplicator wand, the fire salt, or lapis's mirror, but it seems likely all these are powered by an actual gem. New gem tech is independent of gem power, which seems like an improvement! Maybe the homeworld gems think poorly of the crystal gems because they never renounced gem slavery?
-- More evidence of what Rose's room is/is not capable of. Steven doesn't know what Peridot was saying so the room doesn't either.
- Confirmation of the theory Peridot has cute stubby limbs under her "limb enhancers".
- This is the first time we've ever seen Steven's bathroom. This is actually the first time we've had positive confirmation that Steven has a bathroom.
- Peridot could have flushed her gem down into the toilet, assuming gems can even willingly retreat inside of their gemstone. This would be a risky maneuver, of course, but it'd probably work. All drains lead to the ocean/sewage treatment plant.
- So I guess Peridot living with Steven and co is the new status quo? All the Peridot lovers must be shitting themselves with joy.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:00 PM on September 24, 2015 [2 favorites]


When Peridot's limbs turned out not to be part of her body, I assumed they were prosthetics -- I'm a little bummed that they aren't, because it would've been interesting to have a complicated disabled character on SU (well, Peridot's about as straightforward a villain as the series has, but she's already getting more depth now that we're seeing her close up). But whatevs.

Really enjoyed Shelby Rabara's voice performance, which encompassed the sort of robotic Peridot voice we've heard before as well as a bunch of other cadences. SU always has such great casting and directing (it even makes me like a couple of voice actors I've never liked in anything else).
posted by thesmallmachine at 6:48 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


Steven has the cutest photo of Connie on his nightstand. That made me happy.
posted by ob1quixote at 7:27 PM on September 24, 2015 [3 favorites]


Mr.Encyclopedia: “All drains lead to the ocean/sewage treatment plant.”
Having worked in the finance department of a water authority, located just downwind of the world's largest advanced waste-water treatment facility, I can tell you that there is such a thing as a "solids" department. The general manager told me they get to keep whatever they find.
posted by ob1quixote at 7:34 PM on September 24, 2015


maybe the limb enhancers do rely on Gem shards and Peridot was really attached to them because they used to be a friend
posted by Small Dollar at 11:06 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


I wonder what kind of weapon or item Peridot can pull from her gem? She didn't think to use it, so it's probably not helpful in combat.
posted by painquale at 11:30 PM on September 24, 2015


Where is the perfectly looping gif of Peridot rotating in the toilet? Where is it!!!????
posted by Mizu at 3:45 AM on September 25, 2015 [4 favorites]


My question, painquale, is if she even knows how. I think she might never have learned, because of all the armor, etc.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:07 AM on September 25, 2015


Mizu, how about this gif.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:10 AM on September 25, 2015 [5 favorites]


When Peridot looked up at all the bubbled gems she said "You're going to harvest me?" That kind of made me wonder if homeworld "harvests" and bubbles gems for some nefarious reason. Maybe to later be embedded in some tool like Lapis inside the mirror or even just as "battery" power?
posted by delicious-luncheon at 7:46 AM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


Amethyst: "Just go in the ocean! Like a FY-ISH!" Oh that was hilarious, that had to have been Lauren Zuke.
posted by JHarris at 12:04 PM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm really excited for the inevitable Pearl/Peridot nerd showdown!
posted by glass origami robot at 4:13 PM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]


Amethyst: "Just go in the ocean! Like a FY-ISH!"

Amethyst remains my favorite gem.

On a more serious note: while I'm glad to see Peridot work with the Crystal Gems on a number of levels, I am hoping they don't give her a pass for those horrifying Gem fusion mutants.
posted by mordax at 6:02 PM on September 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm not at all sure that Peridot is responsible for the mutants. It seemed like a reasonable assumption when they first showed up, because they only showed up when Peridot did. But in Jailbreak, she said she her whole mission was to "check on the Cluster". From what she says in Catch and Release, it sounds like "the Cluster" sounds more like a potential disaster that she's monitoring than something deliberately created.
posted by baf at 8:43 AM on September 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


Mizu, how about this gif.

Yessss thank you! For some reason all I could find were gifs that were all horribly jaggy or, the worst of all, jogged just as she would have perfectly completed the rotation.

Anyhoo. I too don't think Peridot is responsible for this "cluster" thing and I suspect that she's going to start adjusting her own conception of morality as the Crystal Gems' horror and her horror with it all align. But I hope she doesn't become 100% good or a real part of the team, because as much as I'm super down with a "Hi, Zuko here" style about-face, I don't think the structure of this show would believably support that, and it's cliche at this point without a huge amount of character development (time I would rather they spend on Connie, tbh.)

It was a neat fan idea that Peridot was using her "limb enhancers" because she didn't *have* limbs, but I never thought that would be the case in the actual show and was quietly pleased to be correct. Like, Gem bodies are mental projections, and to a certain extent their size is reflective of the strength of their minds/souls/confidence/whatever. But that just means that the weaker Gems' limbs would be stubbier or smaller or whatever, not that they're absent entirely. I would love to see a Gem's reaction to an amputee - "why can't you just grow another one?" - it would be very alien, and I'd trust the writing team not to get all Very Special Episode on us.
posted by Mizu at 5:00 PM on September 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


Peridot's limb enhancers are interesting because gem society is pretty clearly a hierarchy based on power, so Peridot is a gem artificially raised above her normal station. It seems like she barely understood what her limb enhancers were even capable of, so it'd be interesting to get some backstory on her and her relationship with yellow diamond.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:18 PM on September 26, 2015


Anyhoo. I too don't think Peridot is responsible for this "cluster" thing and I suspect that she's going to start adjusting her own conception of morality as the Crystal Gems' horror and her horror with it all align.

If it turns out that she's not the one responsible for that, that's totally fine. I just want this to be at least as hard on everyone as the thing with Sardonyx, mostly - hard questions should be asked, and it should take some time for anyone but Steven to accept her. (Steven just dropping stuff is part of his charm, so no argument with that.)

But I hope she doesn't become 100% good or a real part of the team, because as much as I'm super down with a "Hi, Zuko here" style about-face, I don't think the structure of this show would believably support that, and it's cliche at this point without a huge amount of character development (time I would rather they spend on Connie, tbh.)

Yeah, you expressed the point of my vague unease a lot more eloquently. This shouldn't be fast or easy. Given the writing chops the creators have demonstrated so far, I trust them to handle this. It was just the first thing on my mind, watching both the episode and everybody's enthusiastic reaction to Peridot joining the Gems.
posted by mordax at 6:38 PM on September 26, 2015


She's so obviously young and/or ignorant, and shows signs of having been beaten/abused in the past; I don't have any problem with her having a redemption arc. She would still be insufferable (Pearl is still insufferable!) but could also prove to be useful.

Over on Reddit, there was a rather nice theory that Lapis, Peridot, and maybe even Jasper (this one is harder for me to go for) would all eventually become Steven's allies, because the original Gems were his mother's allies, but part of his maturity he would be finding his own team as well as his original Mom Squad.

Mostly I just want Centipeetle to be healed, though; I love Peridot but Centipeetle is the gem I really want to see saved.
posted by emjaybee at 7:07 PM on September 26, 2015 [7 favorites]


I get the feeling that Peridot is just going to reach a detente with the Crystal Gems. She'll cooperate enough to try to stop the cluster or whatever plan works well enough to get her out of harms way, but I think if an opportunity presents itself for her to leave or rejoin the homeworld team, I don't think she'll hesitate to take it. She might grow to like or respect Steven, but I don't think she'd ever do anything like Lapis did.

But who knows! This show is full of surprises!
posted by delicious-luncheon at 11:16 AM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


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