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Steven Universe Season 2 Review

The second season of Steven Universe is such a big improvement upon the previous season as the tone is changed and the characterization gets better and better.

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“It seems the Earth ones are constantly filling

the voids of their life with meaningless distractions“

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Let’s talk first about it in general and later on I will highlight some of my favorite episodes. I found this season great for the most part as it focused less on some annoying supporting players and more on the core cast with Steven himself becoming more serious and thankfully less goofy. His big heart is evident in every episode and thus he’s difficult not to love.

Pearl continues to be the most frustrated of the Gem trio as she has so many of her issues to sort through, but that made her more relatable and intriguing. Amethyst is the fun part of the trio as she continues to be very funny and simply a lot of fun. As for Garnet, I found her absolutely terrific in the season that finally gave us a backstory and answers about her, plus more lines of dialogue which was very much needed.

Greg got some fine episodes here and I particularly liked We Need to Talk as that episode confirmed to us that Rose wasn’t the perfect woman that we thought of before. She actually was rather condescending towards humans and that made her a more interesting character in an instant. I loved the relationship between the two, and the exploration of Gem-human dynamic in this entire season.

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But Peridot is by far the heart and soul of this entire season of television, and I really hope that she gets to have more time to shine in later seasons as well. This was not enough how amazing she is. She’s first the villain to beat, but later on she turns to the good side with the Gems and Steven where he is the big reason for this turn.

And that transition was mostly very well handled and believable. Her alien nature is perfectly explored through his fascinations and mysteries with all things Earth. She is thus a very funny character whose reactions to everyone and everything consistently make this season very amusing and hugely entertaining.

But the last two episodes perfectly explore her character and whether or not she is good or worth changing. The fact that this show deals with morality in such a complex manner goes to show how smart it actually is, surprisingly so of course.

Yes, Log Date 7 15 2 is absolutely amazing and of course Message Received is phenomenal as this is where Peridot turned on her leader in that hilarious, but important encounter. Cry for Help is also one of the best episodes as it deals with Pearl’s clinginess toward Garnet in a great manner. When It Rains is the sweetest, most human episode where Peridot first experiences rain as a very Earth-like occurrence.

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But some of the episodes aren’t the greatest such as Love Letters which was entirely unnecessary in the bigger scope of things as well as Onion Friend which deals with this very annoying, pointless creation. There are some episodes here that are like that, but thankfully they are in the minority, though they make the season uneven, especially the first half of it.

Steven Universe continues to be absolutely spectacular when it comes to its music which is so ambient and cool along with its very catchy opening number. The animation is simplistic, but still very evocative and atmospheric of its otherworldly setting and characters. I personally would like for more clear SF details and better explained storylines, but its heart is always in the right place while the characterization is so amazing that it leads to this season being honestly rather great.

Worst Episodes: Onion Friend, Love Letters and Historical Friction.

Best Episodes: Log Date 7 15 2, Message Received, Cry for Help and We Need to Talk.

My Rating – 4.2