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 kicks off with “Steven Floats,” which starts with the Gems returning home after a mission. Steven peacefully greets his home, bed, TV, kitchen, food… the Temple, the beach, Beach City… the Big Donut… but it’s at the Big Donut that disaster hits: Steven’s favorite store is closed for the night.
Devastated, Steven begs Sadie for just one donut. Sadie explains that The Big Donut has begun baking its own donuts, so if Steven arrives when the shop opens, he can get the very first fresh donut of the day. (“Fresh...” The zoom in on Sadie’s lips as she glamorously breathes the word is a moment of special hilarity. If you’ve ever been there for the first batch of Krispy Kremes, you can sympathize with Steven’s excitement.)
Steven promises he’ll arrive at the Big Donut right when it opens and sets his alarm for 6:55 AM. (He only lives 5 minutes away from The Big Donut? Lucky!) Alarm set, Steven leaps into the air with excitement -- and stays floating there, hovering by the serene face of the figure carved into the Temple cliff face.
Finally he lands, excited to discover that he can jump really high and float down really slow. The whole episode will continue to explore variations on this theme as Steven floats through clouds, past airplanes, and very, very slowly back down through the atmosphere. But when Steven tries to dash off to Fun Land, he can’t. It turns out that he’s floating down at way too slow a pace, so he won’t land for a while yet.
Amethyst wanders onto the beach to search for Steven, so Steven frantically signals for her attention, but she doesn’t notice him at first. Another cute moment: Amethyst wonders if he can fly, assures herself that he can, goes back inside… then rushes back out, realizing she was thinking of Lapis, not Steven.
Amethyst can jump to Steven’s height, but she can’t float there, so Steven only has a few seconds at the height of her jump to spit out what he wants. “Dude, summarize!” she hisses after a few failed attempts. He asks her to get Garnet, and of course Pearl comes with. Pearl is in full frantic Bird Mom mode, careening around underneath Steven with her arms out, ready to catch him at any moment despite the feather-like slowness of his descent.
Garnet finds a cell phone (don’t ask whose it is, she says calmly -- it’s Kofi’s), and gives Steven a call. She explains to the other Gems that Rose could regulate how fast she fell, which Steven doesn’t know how to do. So he asks the other Gems just to keep him company. They stay up all night with him, throwing him snacks, playing checkers in the air and Pictionary in the sand.
When the sun rises and Amethyst comments on his alarm ringing, Steven freaks out. He can’t miss those donuts -- he’s got to get down right now. Pearl suggests weighing him down, so the Gems add a jacket, a bowling ball, an entire boat… Amethyst even transforms into her hulking wrestling form to try and help drag Steven down.
Then Steven realizes it’s half past seven and he’s already missed his treat. He continues to float very gently down as he imagines who is getting the first fresh donut of the day. The next sequence drags as he imagines the early morning denizens of Beach City gathering at the Big Donut. It’s cute, and a little funny, but it’s a real change of place from the tense Cluster episodes and exotic Homeworld drama we opened the season with.
As Steven sadly pictures his donut getting eaten, he starts falling far more rapidly. That’s when he has an epiphany: his floating ability is tied to his emotions, like all his powers. As he gets aggravated, he plummets faster. He tries to think of what makes him happy: donuts (he’s not getting any), the beach (where he will die), his mom (complicated)... finally he sees the Crystal Gems, “my guys.”
As he controls the final portion of his descent, Garnet calmly explains to the other Gems that by now, Steven has realized how his powers work and landed safely. He races over for a hug, but Garnet tells him to run to the Big Donut.
“I would have liked a hug,” says Pearl with a little frown in her voice. Hah!
Steven races towards the Big Donut and gives a great bounding leap of floating joy as he realizes that Sadie is just opening the store. It turns out the Big Donut opens at 7:30 AM on Sundays, and Steven is right on time. Steven floats joyfully - launching himself straight into the ceiling. Ouch.
This slow-paced, gentle episode about Steven discovering a new facet of his powers is a sleepy way to bring us back into Steven Universe, but not every episode can be about bringing down the Cluster. Steven Universe does rely on a connection to the people of Beach City to provide an emotional punch, and it’s been awhile since we spent some time with their faces. I wonder how critical Steven’s new floating power will come to be, since the crew decided to dedicate an entire episode to how it works. But this episode moves as slowly as Steven’s first descent. Next!
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 throughout season 3.
