Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4224349-20141106231317/@comment-28584561-20141108062522

Sam.manista wrote: I really don't want to say this, because I belive Steven Universe is one of the best animated shows to debut this year, if not of all time. So it's with a heavy heart that I say...I hated this episode.

The plot of the episode was cliche and boring. The gems fuse together and act awkwardly at dinner, hahahaha? I would have prefered it if Steven came up with the plan that they'd just say his mom was sick, and that each of the gems took turns being his "Mom". It would have been more interesting, and less of a waste of Alexandrite. Also, at the end where Connie's parents connect with the gems after they punish Steven rubbed me the wrong way. I know it was supposed to show that the gems really do know how to watch out for Steven and that they have his best interests at heart (if they even have those), but the way Connie's mom complimented their use of scolding made it sound like she says that stuff to keep an emotional leash on her daughter. That's...that's not cool, in any way shape or form. Sorry, but bad parenting is a pet peeve of mine.

Now that's not to say it didn't have redeeming qualities. I loved Garnet as "Ma Universe" and Steven's misunderstanding "Nuclear Family". And Alexandrites design is on par with the others, very super sentai.

So yeah, this episode wasn't for me. If you liked it, great! More power to you, but I didn't. I found the plot quite cliche in a fun way. The whole mommy-switcheroo trope ain't bad either, but I'm glad they used this one as it shows Steven's naivete on how a perfect family would look. In his head the perfect family is composed of a mom, a dad and their children. Seeing as he no longer has a mom (and the way she brought Steven into this world wasn't normal either), he was afraid that Connie's parents might think of him less and prevent him from seeing Connie. Steven had three guardians Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, each having good qualities as well as bad. So Steven wanted them to fuse because he thought that bringing all their good qualities together might cancel out the bad ones, this also solved his problem of bringing only one mom. I also see were you're getting at when you got "rubbed the wrong way" (huehuehuehue) from seeing Connie's mother praise The Gems when they were scolding Steven, it makes it look like they are keeping their daughter in an emotional leash, and probably they do. Children will be children, no matter how much a parent protects their child there are always outside forces that can potentially influence them into doing something stupid or bad. Keeping an emotional leash on a child isn't necessarily bad, as long as it's not tight. A parent's job to teach their child on what they should learn isn't always happy. When Connie's mom (they should really give her a name) complimented Steven's parent (only Greg, BTW) and guardians about their scolding techniques, I saw it as good. It wasn't bad parenting, she complimented on how The Gems (and Greg :D) handled Steven's scolding, on how they weren't gracious on giving the punishment. It would have been bad parenting if The Gems let Steven off the hook because they only "meant well" on their actions and Connie's parents parents agreeing with them. The sentences "This is for your own good!" and "It's becasue we love you" are common tools used by strict parents keeping their child on a tight leash but it is also used in conveying their actual intentions and truth. A lot of parents are really strict with their children most turn up ok and more than ok while others go down the wrong path, but what parenting method doesn't have these types of endings because there is no perfect parenting method.

TL;DR:

The shows plot was cliche  in a fun way, LOVED it. I liked Connie's parents (kinda reminds me of mine). Kinda irked by Alexandrite (mostly structure-wise) but still loved her.

And to those who didn't like the episode or felt like it was meh, there are still 20 epsiodes of Season 1 left and another 52 more of Season 2, to redeem itself to you.