Letters to Lars

“	Since you're away from home, I thought I'd fill you in on what's been goin' on in Beach City!	”
—Steven to Lars

Letters to Lars
Season	5
Episode	16
Overall	144
Broadcast Information
Airdate	March 26, 2018 (CN App) April 30, 2018 (TV)
Production Code	1053-145
Viewers	0.399
Credits
Written and Storyboarded by	Lamar Abrams Colin Howard
Directed by	Hye Sung Park (animation) Liz Artinian (art) Kat Morris (supervising)
Episode Guide
Previous	"Pool Hopping"
Next	"Can't Go Back"

"Letters to Lars" is the 16^th episode of the fifth season of Steven Universe and the 144^th episode overall.

Official Synopsis

Steven writes about the latest news in Beach City.

Plot

While traveling through space with the Off Colors and finding the Flotanium deposits in one of the asteroids in Yellow Diamond's Asteroid Mines, Lars receives a letter from Steven and reads it. Steven explains that things have changed in Beach City while Lars has been away. Since Sadie has been on tour with Sadie Killer and the Suspects, the Big Donut has been closed indefinitely, with Steven informing Ronaldo that Lars is still lost in space, to his initial disbelief and ultimate jealousy. Former Mayor Dewey shows up and, after noticing that the Big Donut is still closed, remarks he has a lot in common with it.

Nanefua Pizza has replaced Bill Dewey as mayor of Beach City and has begun implementing thorough evacuation plans, in case the Homeworld Gems return. Steven, attending one of the meetings, offers to help ration food. At Garnet's suggestion, they note they should have all the local restaurants pitch in. Dewey, who is also at the meeting, points out that they need a plan to contact everyone about a potential emergency: Jenny offers to drive Nanefua around town with a loudspeaker, Kiki offers to go on foot to inform all the businesses, and Pearl offers to use her new cell phone to call everyone as soon as the Crystal Gems know of any impending dangers. Greg offers to buy and install a high-powered telescope at the lighthouse, so they can keep an eye on the skies for any impending dangers, a job for which Ronaldo immediately volunteers. Soon everyone has a role in the plans, save for former Mayor Dewey of course, who makes things awkward by making this fact known.

Sadie Killer and the Suspects are preparing for a big show in Beach City, which Steven hopes Lars will make it home in time to see. At a rehearsal, Sadie directs the band on what they will do at the performance... only to be interrupted by former Mayor Dewey in a bedsheet, hoping to play a ghost. His son quickly explains that they are not looking for that kind of scary. Sadie then realizes former Mayor Dewey cut holes in her bedsheets.

Jamie is continuing to establish a local theater scene, which includes performing one-man shows and teaching improv. He hosts a regular improv show on the beach starring "The Beach City Laugh Guards," made up of Mr. Smiley, Peridot, Barb, and Amethyst. However, the only attendees are Steven and Pearl, with Pearl only giving the improv suggestion "Steven" every time and Steven being unable to pick a single suggestion. Plus, the improv team runs into trouble with Amethyst shapeshifting into objects instead of miming them. To top it off, former Mayor Dewey shows up in the middle of a scene, prompting Jamie to end it.

Greg still has a lot of money after buying the telescope for the lighthouse so he is trying out rich people sports. He and Garnet try playing tennis on weekends, except the strength of Garnet's hits makes things very difficult for Greg, as well as her ability to shapeshift. Former Mayor Dewey tries to join but ends up getting hit in the face with one of the balls.

Beach City Underground Wrestling has continued (which Lars is excited to hear about): the Marmalade Boys fought in actual marmalade, and the crowd was eating it up (not literally because that would be gross), Concrete Heat and the Wolf of Wall Street faced off in a steel cage match, and the Good-Looking Guys finally lost the tag team title to Sea Wasp and Shark-O-Mania.

Peedee has started his own food truck, except he's not old enough to drive so it's just parked next to the family fry stand. He's specializing exclusively in tater tots, but Steven still orders the bits. Steven comments on the massive potato on the truck's roof, which Peedee explains is actually the truck's old Mayor Dewey head repainted: the new city board wanted to get rid of all the old Mayor Dewey stuff so they donated the Mayormobile to him, and everything has been going great for him since Nanefua took over. Steven notices former Mayor Dewey nearby, and he's heard the whole thing, which makes him even more depressed.

Steven catches up to former Mayor Dewey, who explains that he's mostly upset about all the changes that are happening in Beach City, and he misses the little things about being mayor: getting dressed for work and walking down the boardwalk seeing everyone's smiling faces. He comments that he looked forward to it every day like everyone looked forward to their morning donuts. This gives Steven the idea that former Mayor Dewey should take over the Big Donut - which he does happily, serving everyone their coffee and donuts and giving him a new sense of purpose. Though Dewey's usual pompousness shows in him renaming all of the donuts after himself. All except one kind of donut, a pink donut with pink sprinkles, which he lets Steven name "The Pink Lars" and delivers to Lars's parents.

Lars finishes the letter, only to notice Steven reading it aloud from inside his hair. He points out that it does not make much sense for Steven to write the letter if he was just gonna read it aloud, plus he does not know half the people Steven mentions, like Peridot. Steven simply replies that they'll have to meet once Lars reaches Earth. Lars smiles and thanks him for the letter.

Features

Characters

• Steven Universe
• Lars Barriga
• Padparadscha (non-speaking)
• Rutile Twins (non-speaking)
• Rhodonite (non-speaking)
• Bill Dewey (flashback)
• Ronaldo Fryman (flashback)
• Garnet (flashback)
• Pearl (flashback)
• Greg Universe (flashback)
• Nanefua Pizza (flashback)
• Jenny Pizza (flashback)
• Kiki Pizza (flashback)
• Sour Cream (flashback, non-speaking)
• Buck Dewey (flashback)
• Sadie Miller (flashback)
• Jamie (flashback)
• Barbara Miller (flashback)
• Harold Smiley (flashback, non-speaking)
• Peridot (flashback)
• Amethyst (flashback)
• Peedee Fryman (flashback)
• Onion (flashback)
• Dante and Martha Barriga (flashback, non-speaking)

Objects

• Mayor Dewey's Van (flashback)
• Sun Incinerator

Locations

• Beach City
  • Crystal Temple (flashback)
    • Beach House (flashback)
  • The Lighthouse (flashback)
  • It's a Wash (flashback)
  • Big Donut (flashback)
  • Fish Stew Pizza (flashback)
  • Miller Residence (flashback)
  • Beach Citywalk Fries (flashback)
  • Abandoned Warehouse (flashback)
  • Barriga Residence (flashback)
• Outer Space
  • Yellow Diamond's Asteroid Mines (debut)

Music

Instrumental Songs

• TBA

Trivia

• This is the lowest viewed episode of the series, with less than 400 thousand viewers.
• This is the final episode of the series to end with a star iris.
• The idea that Garnet and Greg play tennis together on weekends was first jokingly suggested by episode co-writer Lamar Abrams in a 2016 interview about the Season 3 premiere.

Cultural References

• "The Wolf of Wall Street" tag-team is a reference to the film of the same name.

Continuity

• Everybody has been preparing to protect themselves from Homeworld Gems since "I Am My Mom".
• The plan that Nanefua and the Crystal Gems made in this episode is the same one that is put into action when Blue and Yellow Diamond come to Earth in "Reunited".
• Mayor Dewey reopens the Big Donut, which had been closed since Sadie quit in "Sadie Killer", albeit being briefly being open with Garnet behind the counter in "Pool Hopping".

Errors

• When Greg says "maybe I'll pick out one of those high-powered telescopes for the lighthouse or something," his beard is miscolored.

Videos

Steven Universe Beach City's Letters to Lars Cartoon Network

Steven Universe Citizen Dewey's New Life at the Big Donut Cartoon Network

Transcript

View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

Click to view the gallery for Letters to Lars.