After a hiatus of 3 months, Steven Universe has started off 2016 strong with its first Stevenbomb, Steven’s Birthday Bomb. Monday’s Steven Universe episode “The Answer” provided the beautiful, revolutionary love story between Ruby and Sapphire. Tuesday’s episode “Steven’s Birthday,” taught us the secret behind Steven’s age. And Wednesday’s Steven Universe episode, “It Could’ve Been Great,” took us to the moon and back, with a spotlight on the gap between Peridot and the Crystal Gems. In Thursday’s episode, “Message Received,” Peridot makes quite a weighty decision.
Today’s episode, “Log Date 7 15 2,” is summarized thusly: “Steven sneaks a listen to a friend's audio diary.” Looks like #teamPeridot (and after yesterday’s episode, aren’t most people rooting for ourlittle green Dorito?) is going to have a lot to chew on.
The episode opens with Peridot in gibbering histrionics over what she’s done. Her split with Yellow Diamond couldn’t be any more permanent -- she literally called Yellow Diamond a clod to her face and hung up on her -- and she’s by turns giggling and groaning as she copes with her irrefutable new allegiance.
It’s Garnet who steps in to calm her even as Peridot flings her tape recorder away in despair. Steven winds up with the tape recorder (“Give it to Steven! Return madness to its source!” Peridot wails) and Garnet stoically carries her away, giving Steven the chance to sit and listen to her logs.
Peridot’s recordings are filled with the mix of manic liveliness and feline wariness we’ve come to expect from her. She wonders if all Earth creatures can fly, absorbs Steven’s gentle etiquette corrections, and pushes Greg off a roof to see what will happen.
Garnet catches a terrified Greg and scolds her soundly, then apologizes to Greg on Peridot’s behalf, explaining that Peridot is far from her home and has much to learn still. Peridot squawks that she does not, but notes in her log that a) humans can’t fly and b) Garnet is the worst.
In another log, Peridot describes being given a chore. “Cleaning duty -- like I’m a Pearl,” she chortles. She happens upon a chest full of clothes, sneaks out a pair of shorts with little alien heads on them, and puts them on in secret delight, even as she pretends to scoff at the idea of “appearance modifiers that aren’t melded to your body.” When Garnet finds her (and gives her a thumbs-up), Peridot freaks out and rips them off.
The next log marks Peridot’s thirtieth day with the Gems. Steven gifts Peridot with a pair of cans he’s dressed up as stilts with some painted-on flames, then explains that gifts are what you give to a friend to show that you care. While Peridot feigns disdain, she tromps around in them privately later that night, fantasizing about getting things off high shelves for Amethyst or boasting of her tallness to Pearl. (Relatable.)
Next, Peridot practices a chicken crossing the road joke -- but fails to grasp the humor, not knowing what a chicken is. Cut to Steven sharing some soap opera called “Camp Pining Hearts” with Peridot. But he knows not what he’s unleashed. When he checks back 78 hours later, Peridot is still watching the same episode. She foists her chart of the camp’s hierarchy on him, explaining eagerly that Percy and Pierre form the strongest battle formation. “It’s subtext, Steven,” she sneers.
In realtime, Steven rolls his eyes and skips past this part of the log while we see Peridot flailing, throwing around papers, and passionately arguing her point even as Steven passes out asleep on the couch and Garnet takes over listening duties. Shipping fandom, you are seen and noted with great amusement. (But you didn’t have to come for me like that, though!)
Peridot’s next log provides an update on the Drill. She comments that Pearl tries hard to be kind to her and Amethyst is entertaining, though Peridot remains leery of Garnet. Amethyst and Pearl briefly fuse into beautiful Opal (hi Opal!) so they can pick up and move the Drill with precision, shocking Peridot. She is finally spurred to march over to Garnet and demands that the perma-fusion justify her existence. Fusing for a functional purpose is one thing, but what is Garnet’s purpose?
Garnet doesn’t take this badly. In fact, she offers to fuse with Peridot so that Peridot can better understand Garnet’s experience. This shocks Peridot so badly she falls off her seat, but she’s not opposed to the idea.
Peridot tries to fuse with Garnet, but is too rattled to do it, which Garnet takes calmly. She tells Peridot she’s proud that Peridot made the effort to understand her, but Peridot is not fine with not understanding: “Why are you fused all the time?!” she shouts in helpless aggravation.
“I’m Percy and Pierre,” says Garnet, and Peridot’s eyes widen in sudden understanding. “Ohhhhhh ,” she breathes. In an adorable episode filled with great character moments, this is probably the most perfect of them all, because truly there’s no better explanation. Born shipper Peridot now understands.
The next log and last log features Garnet, who has a message for Steven: she knows Steven is listening, but he should return the recorder to Peridot. Steven happily hands it back. Faced with a thumbs up from both Garnet and Steven, Peridot colors slightly and offers a thumbs up back. End of episode, and end to our Stevenbomb.
This entire episode is devoted to showing how far Peridot has come and how hard she has struggled to understand the Crystal Gems, even while she remains wary of a planet, value system, and way of life so foreign from all she knows. My hopes for anyone else (Jasper) getting a redemption arc like this (Jasper) continue to diminish (Jasperrr), because getting Peridot to a place where she is not only thoroughly redeemed for her past actions but a fully sympathetic, relatable, understandable character has taken a lot of time.
Steven Universe only gets eleven minutes per episode; they must make hard choices with how they use their time. Remember, you only get so many time wasters like “Say Uncle” per show before viewers write the whole thing off. (A show needs antagonists anyway; they can’t all get redeemed, I tell myself as I stare morosely into the ocean.)
So consider how much time has been spent on Peridot from start to finish. We first really see her in “The Return” and “Jail Break,” then spend time chasing her down in “Friend Ship,” “Cry for Help,” and “Keeping It Together.” Time spent redeeming her? Not counting today's episode which is literally all about Peridot, “It Could’ve Been Great,” “Too Far,” “Back to the Barn,” “When It Rains,” and “Catch and Release” all feature significant amounts of Peridot deprogramming.
All of this is clearly to a purpose, but is the ultimate purpose a Peridot who is now truly and fully aligned with the Crystal Gems? While it may not be possible for Peridot to ever go back to Homeworld after refusing her mission and calling Yellow Diamond a clod to her face, that doesn't mean she won't ever face the temptation or desire to go back. Is Peridot’s redemption arc over, or has her deprogramming really just started?
And while we’re talking about our friends under the sea, what is going on with that Lapis Lazuli preview clip?
As soon as we find out when our freshest Steven Universe hiatus is over, we’ll share the news. In the meantime, HD quality episodes of Steven Universe are available for viewing on Cartoon Network ’s web site. To check out our past Steven Universe episode recaps, just click here . Don’t neglect to follow us on Twitter to keep posted on more Steven Universe coverage. See you next Stevenbomb!
