If you happen to be living in Canada, or you've watched the numerous leaks and spoilers all over the internet, then you probably have already known the very plot of Earthlings. If you do, you may skip the summary of this episode and just go to where I give my thoughts. Otherwise, read on.
Earthlings begins immediately where Beta left off. Amethyst attempts to land a sneak attack on Jasper while she gloats at the captured corrupted Gem for its imperfections compared to herself. Jasper, however, was aware of Amethysts presence. Sorry, Amethyst, but you are not Solid Snake.
After a long argument on the differences between Earth and Homeworld, Amethyst and Jasper begin Round Two. But it was totally clear that Jasper has the upper hand. An emotional moment for Steven and Amethyst allowed them to fuse into Smoky Quartz, and easily beats down Jasper, while freeing some of the corrupted Gems out to the wild.
Out of desperation, Jasper forces a fusion with a corrupted Gem, but it still was not enough to match Smoky and the two were separated shortly. Jasper's morale drops and is made worse as she herself is becoming corrupted. Steven tries to help, but Jasper refuses, accusing him (still believing he is Rose) of the current state of the Gems as being part of a grander scheme.
We then learn Jasper's grudge against Rose was due to whatever the latter did to Jasper's colony and Homeworld. But most of all, Rose was responsible for, although not blatantly saying it, but very likely suggesting it, killing Pink Diamond, who is Jasper and Rose's superior. Jasper becomes fully corrupted and is about to attack Steven and Amethyst, until she was poofed by Peridot. After Amethyst bubbles Jasper, the trio return to the barn, only to find the Rubies trapped in a water bubble by Lapis.
When I first see Smoky Quartz in Earthlings, the first thing that popped in my head was "What the hell is Shrek doing here?!". I mean, look at Smoky one way and she does look a bit like Shrek with a different color scheme! I just find the fusion a bit weird, but I particualrly do not hate it at all. Anyhow, We will be seeing more of Smoky in the upcoming episode "Know Your Fusion", which also brings back Sarnodyx.
I'm starting to understand Jasper's disdain for Fusions, and even to a point I would agree with her. We see Fusions turned out to be far more effective than non-Fusions, and Jasper, proud of being simply herself and being a perfect Quartz soldier, isn't happy of something that surpasses her, or her kind. Also, Fusions are becoming more common that it's virtually making single Gems irrelevant with their roles. Why bother for Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl to take on a enemy by themselves when, tactically speaking, they can just form Alexandrite and get the job done pretty quickly?
Try to imagine that Steven, which we can expect by the end of "Know Your Fusion", mastered how it works and he can virtually fuse with anybody to suit whatever he needs. Fight a monster? Fusion. Drill a hole in the ground? Fusion. Make a life-size version of the Crying Breakfast Friends? Fusion. Best way to get people to pay you on Patreon? Fusion. Start a live web-cam? Fusion. I wouldn't be surprised if Cartoon Network would launch an app that shows what Steven would look like if he's fused with X character.
Just to be clear, I do like the concept of Fusions, so long as the concept remains niche in the overall narrative of Steven Universe. There's a reason why everyone went ballistic in Stevonnie's first appearance because the idea of Fusions is relatively new at the time. But once Fusion becomes common and the show wants us to see more like, I don't know, Steven fusing with Mayor Dewey, for example, you'd get just a 'meh'. I personally hope it doesn't come to that, but the way the show is going, we can expect to see even more Fusions along the way, and it's likely won't be as exciting as before.
Coincidentally, Machinima is releasing a new Transformers series based on The Combiner Wars, which puts the concept of Combiners, where the Transformers combine into more gigantic robots, as the primary focus. Back in Generation 1, everyone was ecstatic with the very first Combiner, Devastator. Again, the concept is just brand new at the time. Now it's very much common place in the Transformers franchise.
Shifting gears now. Back at last year's Comic-Con, the staff featured an extended version of the opening theme to Steven Universe. And there's this scene where we see Rose having a menacing look in the background as Steven sings his motivation to protect Earth. Now I quoted back in a Steven Universe group, of which I'm no longer a part of, as saying "If you're gonna make a character one of the good guys, you do NOT make that character look like that unless a) the character is an anti-hero; b) the character IS a villain either by turning into one or has always been and is just playing hero; Or c) Rose WAS a villain but turned face later on."
I got a lot of flak for that, with that group saying no way Rose would be evil and it's probably just an artistic choice by Sugar. But look back at the episodes up to this point, and we see evidence that Rose does indeed have secrets to hide.
Let's put this out on the clear. When the Gem War happened, it is brutal and devastating, which is why Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Rose were the only ones left. War, is Hell. And when war breaks out, both sides tend to do unethical acts just to gain an upper hand. So even if Rose's cause is to ensure freedom for all Gems, she didn't push her agenda without staining her hands in the process. So I would believe that, in that war, Rose did kill Pink Diamond outright, which makes Jasper's grudge with Rose more personal.
Now what about Rose not agreeing with Bismuth's extremism of shattering Gems? My guess is that prior to Bismuth making the Pile Bunker, Rose was ok with putting down Gems, right until she killed Pink Diamond, and thus probably swore never to kill Gems again after that incident. This is likely why Rose opposed the Pile Bunker being used, fought with Bismuth, and bubbled her instead of shattering her Gem outright.
That just leaves the Shattered Gems. Jasper's accusations echoes what Garnet said about them in "Keeping it Together". We know that Homeworld collected the shattered Gems to make forced fusions, in part as punishment for joining the rebellion, and as part of Homeworld's army and forming the Cluster at the Earth's core as a doomsday device. Rose not only may have known about the Shattered Gems' forced fusions, but likely took part of it as well - either as way to save them or to compromise for the huge losses she had against Homeworld.
So Rose has done some terrible things, otherwise she wouldn't have kept secrets from the surviving Crystal Gems, or to Greg. I would say upon meeting Greg, Rose did undergo a major personality change. And likely why she allowed to give birth to Steven is 1) as sort of way to pay for her own wrongdoings and 2) hoping that Steven, being pure-hearted and innocent, won't have to follow the same murky path Rose did. I think Rose's goal for Steven is for his innocence to bridge ties to Homeworld and the Gem population, without resorting to the dark and twisted methods Rose and the Homeworld done to each other during the Gem War.
To put it more bluntly, Rose wants Steven to be a pacifist all the way and ending the conflict for good as a pacifist. Now I could talk about the pros and cons of being a pacifist in this enviroment, but I will leave it at that. Also in part because I assume you are well aware of the backlash regarding the Bismuth episode. If you haven't, you can find my entry on it on my blog, which you can click here.
So all in all, Earthlings was a very interesting episode. Can't say much of the action, but the revelations about Rose and Jasper does provide a lot of deep insight as to what really happened during the Gem War, and what is Steven's eventual resolve as learns more into the dark past of his mother. This story arc will continue with a much lighter tone, thanks to the Rubies. By the way, glad to see they're back.
No comments:
Post a Comment