Last time Steven Universe was on TV, we saw Steven astrally project himself in “Watermelon Island,” eliminate the Cluster threat with the power of love in "Gem Drill,” reach the heart of a tired cynic in “ Same Old World,” orchestrate the beginnings of a new friendship in "Barn Mates” and help defend the Earth against five tiny invaders in “Hit the Diamond.” Now we’ve got all of Steven Universe season 3 dropping every weeknight for the next few weeks.
The biggest Stevenbomb yet is a “Steven Floats”/“Drop Beat Dad” double header. “Drop Beat Dad” starts off with Sour Cream, who has recruited Steven as the world’s cutest little fingerless-glove-toting roadie. Sour Cream’s got a performance tonight, so Steven is helping him bring his gear to the location.
As they’re working, Yellowtail (Onion’s dad and Sour Cream’s step-dad) stops by. Yellowtail speaks in unintelligible ma-ma-mas, but Sour Cream appears to understand him perfectly: his step-dad is asking him to be home before 10 and criticizing his DJ career as not being viable. Annoyed, Sour Cream says Yellowtail doesn’t need to come to his concert at all.
Sour Cream pauses at Greg’s car shop to use the restroom, and Greg races out: “Don’t leave! Waxing is free!” That’s when a big tour bus pulls up, and it turns out to contain evil old Marty, who’s as white and wrinkled as crumpled cotton. Marty says the music biz has been great to him and is about to hand something to Greg when Sour Cream comes out.
Marty is Sour Cream’s biological father and has clearly been an absent dad. He and Sour Cream don’t appear to have much in common physically, but Sour Cream is still enchanted by his dad’s presence. Marty checks out Sour Cream’s gear and comes to a split-second decision: he wants to make up for lost time and decides to promote Sour Cream’s engagement tonight. He shares his laminated business card, which just about blows Sour Cream’s socks off. (I love the background music in this scene: it’s very alt-90s guitar twanging, like Nada Surf starting a set).
Marty’s not impressed by Sour Cream’s set-up (which involves a Game Boy - nice chiptunes, kid). He rearranges everything: according to him, Sour Cream needs better gear and a new location. Steven voices his concerns, having grown up on tales of Greg’s rotten old manager Marty, but Marty pulls them both in for a long rambling talk punctuated every few minutes by the words “Real Talk.”
Sour Cream is awed: “Yellowtail never Real Talks with me.” Marty brings Sour Cream out to the beach, sharing a giant glowing billboard that promotes the event and bringing a troupe of roadies to help set-up. He flings an “Official Roadie” lanyard at Steven, who effortlessly helps the roadies lift the giant boxes of gear. (“What does Greg feed that kid?” Marty wonders in brief, hilarious bafflement.) As Marty shares grandiose visions of the stage and speakers with Sour Cream, Yellowtail is visible in his boat out on the ocean, watching with binoculars.
Cut to the performance, which is almost ready to go. Steven excitedly does a mic check.. which consists of standing on the stage, staring blankly at the mic, and pronouncing it checked. Nice work, kiddo. Then Marty hits the stage as Sour Cream’s official “hype man.” Sour Cream stares in excitement, hanging on Marty’s every word -- up until Marty starts hyping the crowd up for Guacola, the world’s first guacamole soda. What?
It turns out Marty’s got a sponsorship deal with Guacola, which has the power of three whole avocados in each can and tastes like pure, raw, unadulterated buttcheeks according to the drama and near-death occuring in the audience as Beach City’s citizens sample the cans Marty throws out into the crowd. (Ronaldo moans, “It’s not even good on chips!” as he stuffs Guacola-loaded chips into his mouth.) The crowd is disgusted and Sour Cream’s performance is ruined.
Marty is completely unapologetic about what he’s done, saying he’s got a good deal going and Sour Cream is being selfish. A furious Yellowtail runs off to his boat, and Sour Cream yells at his dad: ma-ma-ma-mamamama! Marty is baffled, and Sour Cream turns pink as he realizes he’s yelled and his stepdad’s weird muffled language. He repeats what he’s saying, intelligebly this time: he’d thought this was about making up for lost time, but he sees it’s not about that at all. He kicks his dad out of his performance.
Before Marty leaves, he drops off an envelope with Greg, stating he’s under a legal obligation to deliver it. That’s when Yellowtail comes roaring back with a box full of Sour Cream’s old gear, encouraging him to get back up on stage and play something. Sour Cream’s attitude towards his stepdad transforms from hostility to gratitude: he accepts a hug and even gives one back, calling his stepdad “Yellow Dad.” With Steven’s help, Sour Cream sets up again and the new performance is a success.
That’s when Greg comments sagely that it’s not really about the money, and as long as Sour Cream is doing something that makes him happy, he’ll be fine. Then Greg opens the envelope Marty gave him and sees a check -- for ten million dollars. Steven gasps, “You’re rich!” Holy smokes. End of episode.
It’s been some time since we had a parent-and-child episode of Steven Universe. Previous ones involved Onion and his mother Vidalia, Connie and her overprotective mother, and Sadie and her mother. We’ve also had lots of time to see the strong bond between Greg and Steven. This time, we see that just being a bio-dad isn’t enough to make Marty a good person, let alone a good father. It’s Yellowtail who comes through for Sour Cream despite his concerns about his stepson’s choices, saving the day so Sour Cream can have the performance he’d wanted. Thanks for the check, Marty. Bye forever!
The "In Too Deep" Steven Universe special event kicked off with “Watermelon Island” and “Gem Drill” back to back and ended with “Hit the Diamond.” Cartoon Network has promised a "Summer of Steven" and are delivering the rest of season 3 in the biggest Stevenbomb yet: new episodes every single weeknight for over a month, July 18 through Aug. 12.
Make sure to check back with iDigitalTimes every weeknight after Steven Universe airs for recaps, analysis and news.
