Unresolved Plot Threads (Steven Universe Roundtable #8) – Overly Animated Podcast #158
By: Dylan Hysen
On this week’s roundtable we discuss unresolved plot threads and speculate where they might be going heading into next week’s new episodes. Including: the cluster, Malachite, yellow diamond, and others. This podcast is spoiler-free!
Appearing this week: Dylan Hysen, Delaney Stovall, Sam Quattro, Justin Cummings, and Michelle Anderer.
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Dylan Hysen
Dylan is a software developer from the DC area who hosts the Overly Animated podcast discussing everything animation.
11 Comments
I feel like with how Steven Universe is going, that the fusion experiments will eventually be revealed to have some level of self-awareness. The show loves tackling difficult subjects, so it just feels like something they’d do.
As for what the cluster will look like: I’m expecting something like the Ashtanga from Gurren Lagann: http://gurrenlagann.wikia.com/wiki/Ashtanga
Haven’t finished the podcast yet, just wanted to get that down before I forgot.
Ok, I finished the podcast by now, but I don’t think I really have anything to add except that there was an episode name that had “Homeworld” in its title, so I think there might be a Homeworld episode this season.
Thx for the comments! I’d be sooo surprised with a Homeworld epi so soon.. I just feel like what could you do that would top that in terms of like excitement? I feel like going to homeworld is the ultimate climax of this show’s mythology, but maybe I’m wrong and there’d be even more after.
Yeah I agree Lapis has more ties to our gems with her Steven connection, Jasper more likely to just leave.
And yeah I do agree that the gem shards having some awareness feels like something the show would do. Probably plays into the fusion stuff they were going for earlier in the season too. They haven’t been relevant in a while though so interested to see how they play into the cluster stuff and everything else.
While Homeworld would make for a good climactic event, with Cartoon Network’s practices, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Crewniverse wants to make sure the fans actually see it just in case the series gets cancelled. Besides, Transformers Prime used Unicron (Transformer equivalent to Satan) as its season 1 finale, and it still worked out well enough.
I feel like Jasper might be a rogue for a while. But I wouldn’t be surprised by her eventually joining the heroes. I think Lapis will probably join the heroes really quickly, if for no reason other than because she’s friends with Steven.
Thank you for mentioning my comment form last week in this week’s episode.
I think if Jasper joins the good guys, that will have to wait, if Lapis joins, I think those two will need some space.
The question I have are they holding off on a new opening until Lapis and Jasper join. Where are Lapis, Jasper, and Peridot going to live. They are not going to live in that barn? Maybe Greg barn can turn that barn into something more livable, in the extended opening it was revealed he build the house that Steven and the Gems currently live in.
What I want to see beginning of season, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are for some reason separated from Steven. All that is left is Steven, Peridot, Lapis, and Jasper, and Steven leads them for the time being while looking for the others, maybe for first 4 or 5 episodes. What do you think?
Oh, the opening changing is interesting. The natural time to change it would be on Thursday, but yeah if Lapis and maybe Japser join then maybe they’ll wait.
A potential separation is really interesting. Not sure why the 3 CGs specifically would be separated but yeah if they were that could solve some of the integration problems with Jasper and Lapis. I could see Jasper actually sticking around with the group if it’s just Steven and Peridot.
Corrupted Gems as a concept and in that vein: centipeedle. The show talks about Rose trying her best to figure out a way to heal the corrupted gems that are bubbled in season 1. We leave off with Steven saying that he’ll figure out a way to fix centipeedle eventually. I feel like this was an early season 1 thing that the show shelved when the looming threat of homeworld emerged and the BROKEN gem shards and their fusion emerged. But it’s a different beast than the broken gem shards and the show presents them differently I think. I think the main difference is, like Dylan said, the gem shard fusions are much more presented as zombies made from dead gems(the broken shards). I personally don’t think the clusters are sapient. And with centipeedle it seemed to be approaching sapience the longer it interacted with Steven, a lot more than the gem shards at this point. At the very least they’re feeling creatures. Steven was starting to seemingly rehabilitate it before it freaked out at the CG. Or become pet like at the very very least. So the rehabilitation talk about the cluster, to me, applies more to the corrupted gems. In terms of it being actually successful that is and having preexisting stuff in canon leading to it.
Now if the cluster in In Too Deep is presented as both thinking and feeling that might actually tie together in with the corrupted gems and bring the things together. How Steven handles the cluster would feed directly into the corrupted gems potentially. Maybe he fails with the cluster and the schism you all talked about with the CG happens when Steven becomes dead set on figuring out a way to help the gems that he can save. And making the Earth more safe and everything in a different way than just locking them up forever. It would also have the upside of being a potential help for when homeworld invades again. In a Final Battle or a Semi-Final Battle it would be akin to amassing an army.
Also potential ties to Lapis and Jasper but that all depends on their mental/gem state. If, like you guys said, they’re both a bit messed up from being fused together and not just Jasper, but Lapis, becomes dangerous then Steven would have more incentive to start looking back into gem corruption. I would hope nothing like that happens to Lapis, but I’m just throwing it out there.
Loved your podcast! And I forgot about Liontbh. What do you think the chances are that some huge information about Lion’s Rose connection might be a big reveal for the end of the season? If it’s not another Gem reveal or another larger Homeworld invasion I mean. On that note: that gem that’s bubbled in it’s mane. Do you think that’s going to come back at any point soon?
Thanks for the comments! Great stuff. I forgot about some of the earlier in the show stuff with steven and corrupted gems, definitely seems like that will be relevant soon. I doubt we’ll get a big lion reveal soon, seems like there’s other more relevant things that need addressing sooner, but maybe? Barely remember the mane bubbled gem.. again seems like something not soon, but who knows.
I’m rewatching the show now to prepare for it coming back this Thursday. I don’t think I would’ve remembered the early season 1 stuff otherwise. I started watching the show around the time the Sugilite episode came out and I don’t really rewatch episodes in general. So it’d been nearly 2 years since I’d seen a lot of this stuff.
It’s all up in the air, yeah. We’ll see with the upcoming episodes where it’s leading. With Lion making that moon portal, I just wondered if the gems will start questioning Lion more than they were before. But you’re right, there’s other more imminent stuff so that might be shelved until season 3.
While I don’t think Peridot would be a main factor of Jasper changing sides, I think Peridot could be a key if they go that route, she would be the only gem that truly understands how Jasper feels being until recent a loyal Homeworld / Yellow Diamond gem herself.
If it comes down to selling Jasper on being an individual and having freedom vs what Homeworld raised you to think is right, Peridot has been on both sides so she knows what each side has to offer. Steven or any of the other characters can’t really say that. Yeah I know Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire, they have been part of Homeworld, but that was such a long time ago, it is not the same as with Peridot, just saying.