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Ken, GC13, and Dakota convene to talk about We Need To Talk and talk about how cool What Can I Do For You was (well, GC13 and Dakota liked it, but Ken is doing the contrarian thing).
The design on Rainbow Quartz, the character of Rose Quartz, and Pearl’s actions are all discussed (with GC13, as always, taking Pearl’s side). Not that Pearl was anything worse than catty in this episode (and her actions did give us Rainbow Quartz, so that’s something to be thankful for).
Of course deeper questions also come up: if Steven fused with the Crystal Gems, how different would the fusions be than if his mother fused with them? Can he even fuse with them at all?
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I wonder how many times Ken re-watches each new episode, because he seems to have a lot of snap-judgment opinions and often misses the subtler but still noticeable details. Many times I’ll watch an episode and have an iffy reaction, but after re-watching and ruminating on things, my opinion will be much different and more often positive.
If there are scenes I like or are interesting then I re-watch them, that’s about it. You shouldn’t have to watch things multiple times for it to be good. This is entertainment, not a textbook. So while, sure, through heavily analysis and decomposition you can maybe compose a strong argument that would make a seemingly weak scene seem stronger, that wouldn’t change the fact that said scene would still likely fail to a first time watcher. And that is the most important thing, in my opinion, criteria #1. There’s also a pretty strong bias amongst fans to *want* to see things about the show in a positive light, which clearly seems to bias their re-evaluations (again, imo). I don’t really have such a desire most of the time, I’m happy to have several aspects of the show be bad. All of that, of course, presupposes that re-watching often would significantly change my opinion in a positive direction, which is rarely the case anyway.
But putting my defense aside, thanks for the feedback! I’ll take it into consideration.
I guess the thing that I frequently notice is that I have similar initial reactions as you, but after I re-watch an episode or read what others thought, I notice things that change my opinion or am able to make sense out of things that didn’t make sense. For example, when it first aired I didn’t like Lion 2 and didn’t re-watch it, but after going back to it it’s now one of my favorite episodes. I’m one of those people that frequently falls victim to expecting lore/drama bombs and not appreciating subtler or simpler character episodes. I like how wildly divergent all of your opinions are, and I do appreciate the differences between initial gut reactions and analytical dissections.
As for the Ending Theme, I think it makes most sense being sung from Crystal Gems about Steven. 1. The show is more about Steven and the Gems rather than Greg and Rose 2. The Gems trying to learn how to love and empathize the way Steven does is a constant underlying theme in the show 3. Steven looks up to the Gems a lot and in early episodes is constantly waiting for their return from missions 4. On a meta level, Rebecca Sugar singing the theme fits because the CGs are based on aspects of her and her relationship with her brother Steven. 5. Steven’s role, as spelled out by Garnet in The Return, as the Heart of the team who inspires them or “if I could begin to be half of what you think of me, I could do about anything…”.
Something big is going down today
I must’ve watched this episode like, seven times. Also, did you notice that the Crewniverse put Connie in almost the same outfit as before so that Stevonnie wouldn’t have a redesign?
Rainbow Quartz’s eyes made me think of this: https://41.media.tumblr.com/6df29e99ae291cd07f666db62e2d774c/tumblr_no36sav2iN1thczhlo1_500.png
The way I think that Human/Gem Fusion works is this:
When Steven fuses with Connie, some of his physical traits are added, like Stevonnie’s facial structure and skin tone.
But Stevonnie was undoubtably presented as a female, so maybe it works by having his Gem give Connie a “tune up” and just advance her own natural features while also adding a bit of Steven-ness.
Gem’s just add a modifier to Flesh.