Alone at Sea is another anticipated episode from the Summer of Steven event, as it is not only another Lapis-centric episode, but will also feature the return of Jasper. This is also an episode of which Rebecca Sugar herself is among the storyboarders.
The episode starts with Steven inviting Lapis back to travel to the sea, riding a yacht rented out by Greg using his leftover millions. Much of the episode covers Steven trying to cheer Lapis up, but she still suffers from PTSD, in a sense, because of her prolonged fusion with Jasper as Malachite. At one point, she actually misses being Malachite to Steven's surprise.
In the last few moments of the episode, as Greg tries to repair the yacht from the Engine Room, Jasper appears and literally begs for Lapis to fuse with her again, seeing the true power Lapis has inside her during their time as a fusion. When Steven tries to intervene, Jasper attacks, but is easily knocked airborne by an enraged Lapis. Unfortunately, it caused a huge hole in the yacht, causing to sink, and costing poor Greg some money. However, Lapis is happy as she flies Steven and Greg back home.
Much of the key points of it is in the last 3 minutes, while the rest is primary focused on the Universes cheering Lapis up. Nevertheless, the scenes with Lapis does reflect on how people deal with PTSD. While I personally never had such an experience, the same somewhat applies when having other emotional or psychological issues like depression or dealing with verbal abuse and others. The episode does have a few light momens, with the yacht named the 'S.S. Misery' and Greg and Steven simply covered it and renamed it 'Lil Lappy'.
What does strike me is the fact that Jasper acknowledges Lapis to be even more powerful than she appears, describing her as a monster in terms of strength. It does explain how Malachite, a fusion of two gems, easily overpowers Alexandrite - as Lapis has a very a hidden power in her that possibly makes her the strongest of the gems we know so far. Expect Lapis to give her maximum in a future episode, but it remains to be seen whether she does it while she's on the side of Steven, or turn heel.
As for Jasper, I was expecting a start of her getting redemption and eventually joining Steven, as it was rumored since last year's Comic-Con. However, not only was this episode has Jasper only around for a brief period, but also gets the receiving end of Lapis's rage. Also, because I'm so used to Kimberly Brooks voicing as Allura in Voltron: Legendary Defender, I had a bit of trouble with her as Jasper, even though Jasper came first.
Shortly after this episode aired on Cartoon Network, Tumblr user 'sedorna' posted the following you see here. The short version is that Steven's view of the world is very much black and white, or very simplied, without a shade of grey in between. Personally, I don't have a problem with this. Most kids Steven's age or younger do have a black and white view of things and unless they are in the same scenario as Shinji Ikari from Evangelion, their view of the world is just as much black & white as Steven is.
Through my research online and based on my own personal experience, I learned that young minds really aren't prepared to process the complexities of the world around them. And even as we grow older, there are certain things we simply cannot understand. So to make things easier, our brains, and ourselves, just simplify things, even if it may not be accurately correct, at least until we learn and understand these complexities.
So high points for this episode - Lapis possibly being a Super Gem of sorts, but the rest is mainly a slice-of-life episode. I'm not a fan of that genre, but overall, not a bad episode and I enjoy it.
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