The Good Lars

“	These are your friends. They want you to come. That's why they invited you -- so they'll get to know you better. If they like you, they like you. If they don't, then it's their loss. Right?	”
—Steven

The Good Lars
Season	4
Episode	23
Overall	126
Broadcast Information
Airdate	May 5, 2017 (online) May 10, 2017 (TV)
Production Code	1040-128
Viewers	0.950
Credits
Written and Storyboarded by	Colin Howard Jeff Liu
Directed by	Ki-Yong Bae & Jin-Hee Park (animation) Elle Michalka (art) Joe Johnston (supervising)
Episode Guide
Previous	"Doug Out"
Next	"Are You My Dad?"

"The Good Lars" is the 23^rd episode of the fourth season of Steven Universe, the 126^th episode overall, and the third episode in the sixth StevenBomb.

Official Synopsis

Steven, Lars and Sadie get invited to a party with the Cool Kids.

Plot

The episode begins in the Big Donut, where Steven tries a pumpkin bread cake on the counter. He takes a bite and declares that he loves it, asking who made it. Sadie tells him Lars made it, as Lars blows Steven's compliments off since Steven "loves everything". Sadie reassures Steven that this was just Lars' way of saying "thank you".

Buck Dewey enters the shop (much to Lars' surprise) and invites Steven, Lars, and Sadie to join a potluck later tonight with him, Sour Cream, and Jenny. He asks them to bring food as well, and Lars awkwardly accepts the invitation. After Buck leaves, Lars groans at his behavior and changes his mind about going. Steven and Sadie try to convince him to go, as he could bake something to bring to the potluck. Eventually, he is convinced but declares the meal must be perfect.

At his house, Lars brainstorms ideas on what to bake, but he cannot decide on anything he thinks is good enough. Steven and Sadie suggest some baking ideas, but he rejects them. He reaches under his bed to reveal a special cookbook stuffed under, and he opens it. He flips through the pages until Steven points out a recipe for an Ube cake roll. After explaining to them what it was, they suggest for him to make the cake and he eventually agrees.

In the kitchen, Steven and Sadie help Lars prepare the recipe, and he finishes it by placing it into the oven. When they take it out, they help add the filling before he rolls the mixture and adds the topping. Lars hands the dish over for Steven and Sadie to taste it, and they declare it to be perfect. Unfortunately, they devour it all during the test, being unable to resist it. Lars says he will make another one, and Sadie leaves to make her meal for the potluck. Steven stays behind while Lars makes another Ube to bring to the potluck.

Steven expresses his excitement for the potluck, but Lars expresses that he is not very excited to hang out with The Cool Kids. He says he knows that his cake will rule, but the issue was not if he brought it. When Steven asks why he reveals to them he loves to bake but believes everyone would find it "lame". Steven tries to motivate Lars, saying he does not need to be worried at all and gives advice so wise it surprises Lars. He asks when Steven became so mature, and Steven estimates it was somewhere between learning how to summon his shield and finding out Rose was a war criminal. Lars changes his mind, now excited to go. Happy, Steven leaves to grab food for the party and tells Lars he will meet him there.

Later that night, Steven arrives at Sour Cream's house, bringing snack sushi. The Cool Kids welcome him in, and he places his tray of sushi at a table with everyone else's food. He expresses his excitement to see Lars, and Buck agrees. Buck has even adopted a catchphrase Lars said earlier, saying the young man was "full of surprises." The doorbell rings and Steven answers it but finds Sadie instead of Lars. He invites her in, asking where Lars is, but she says she does not know. He assumes Lars is still working on the cake and puts his worries away. As Sadie goes in, nervously, the Cool Kids greet her, and Steven introduces her to them. Buck asks what she brought, and she shows that she just brought paper plates. To her surprise, Sour Cream is happy with this because he will not have to do any dishes. She is relieved, but still worried about Lars, so Steven goes out to find him.

Steven walks around all of the places in Beach City he thinks Lars may be, but finds no sign of him. Finally, he uses his floating powers to jump in the air and shout out for Lars but gets no response. Steven tries to call Lars with his phone, but Lars does not pick up. He heads back to Sour Cream's house and finds the Ube cake in the garbage. Steven grows worried.

Steven goes inside and finds The Cool Kids and Sadie having a good time, especially Sadie. Steven reveals that Lars could not make it, and they just continue without him until the night is over. As Steven and Sadie leave, Sadie asks why Lars did not come, and he shows her the discarded cake. Steven believes that they should have done more to convince Lars to come, but Sadie just says she just did not understand him sometimes.

The two of them stop at a crossroad, where they both split up. They say goodnight to each other and leave in opposite directions. Sadie continues walking although unbeknownst to her, but known to us, two shadows appear in the streetlight: a large blocky shadow and a small floating figure with translucent wings.

Features

Characters

• Steven Universe
• Lars Barriga
• Sadie Miller
• Buck Dewey
• Sour Cream
• Jenny Pizza
• Rose Quartz (mentioned)
• Dante Barriga (non-speaking)
• Martha Barriga (non-speaking)
• Peedee Fryman (non-speaking)
• Harold Smiley (non-speaking)
• Yellowtail (pictured)
• Topaz (non-speaking, shadow)
• Aquamarine (non-speaking, shadow)

Objects

• Ube

Locations

• Beach City
  • Big Donut
  • Barriga Residence
  • Onion's House

Music

Songs

• Potluck

Instrumental Songs

• "Ube!"

Trivia

• Steven enjoys eating Lars' pumpkin bread cake, despite the fact that one of his friends is Pumpkin.
• When leaving Lars' house, Sadie shouts "It's happening! Lars and the Cool Kids", which could be a reference to the episode of the same name.
• This is the first episode to feature Snack Sushi, from "Cooking with Lion".

Cultural References

• Lars makes an ube cake roll, a common delicacy in the Philippines.
  • Ube is a term used in the Philippines to refer to a purple yam.
• On the walls of Lars' kitchen, there is a drawn picture of an AT-AT Walker from the Star Wars franchise (first introduced in the 1980 movie The Empire Strikes Back)

Continuity

• Lars' cooking skills were hinted at in "Island Adventure", where Sadie praises Lars' cooked fish.
• Steven mentions he got mature somewhere in between the events of "Ocean Gem" and "Back to the Moon".
• Steven makes his snack sushi for the party from "Cooking with Lion".
• The painting Vidalia was making of Yellowtail posing in a cloth from "Onion Gang" is shown to be completed and hung up in their living room.
• At the party, Buck Dewey wears a Guitar Dad shirt that was made in the episode "Shirt Club".
  • In addition, during the song "Potluck" Buck is shown to have continued his guitar lessons with Greg in "Shirt Club" as he is playing the guitar.
• Steven reminds Lars that he has been in his body before, referring to the events of "The New Lars".
• The two shadowy figures, later to be found as Aquamarine and Topaz, who appeared at the end of "Doug Out" reappear at the end of this episode.
• When Steven is talking to Mr. Smiley, it's possible to see Zoltron behind them.

Errors

• TBA

Transcript

View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

Click to view the gallery for The Good Lars.

Videos

Steven Universe Baking Tasty Purple Cake With Lars and Steven The Good Lars Cartoon Network

Steven Universe Steven Flies Over The City The Good Lars Cartoon Network