We’ve got all of Steven Universe season 3 dropping every weeknight for the next few weeks, which started with the “Steven Floats”/“Drop Beat Dad" double header that eased us into Steven Universe season 3 without the high-stakes tension of Earth’s imminent destruction. Last night’s all-musical episode, “Mr. Greg,” tackled the painful relationship between Pearl and Greg, proving that plot shenanigans are not necessarily required for the emotional sucker punch Steven Universe is known for.
Tonight’s episode, “Too Short to Ride,” brings back Peridot and her now iconic “Wow, Thanks.” Steven presents Peridot with a tablet as a gift, and Peridot is delighted by the new piece of technology. Her only wish is that it attaches to her body as her limb enhancements did before, so she hijacks a wristband and some velcro to make it happen. (“I’ve harnessed the power of your interlocking magnet strips!” Peridot always comes through with great quotes.)
Then Amethyst trundles into the scene. Peridot eagerly shows off her tablet in classic “Amethyst is my favorite, please love me Amethyst” style, which doesn’t impress Amethyst much. But it doesn’t matter: Amethyst and Steven want to invite Peridot to go “hang out,” as friends do, a concept that causes Peridot equal parts confusion and pleasure.
Amethyst, Peridot and Steven all head out to Beach City Fun Land, where they discover that they are all too short to ride a roller coaster. (Cue Peridot screeching, “This height is indicative of my rarity and performance!”, which is absolutely a line I plan to borrow in the future.) Amethyst dubs them the “Shorty Squad” and they head out.
That’s when Steven and Amethyst get the idea to try shape-shifting. Amethyst shape-shifts into a taller form that easily strolls past the height requirement, and Steven just kinda doubles the lengths of his legs, but Peridot can’t seem to make the magic happen. Instead, she stands on the boardwalk watching Amethyst and Steven enjoy themselves and staring at her tablet.
Amethyst and Steven are giddy with excitement when they return, and the Shorty Squad heads to the House of Mirrors. The two shape-shifters continue to entertain themselves by changing in front of the mirror, but Peridot stares flatly at the image of her taller self. As they leave the House of Mirrors, she does a search on her tablet for “Am I having fun?” Relatable Peridot strikes again.
Then she stops short at a selection of classic alien dolls. Peridot’s affinity for the classic green, big-headed, black-eyed alien is well-documented, and she rhapsodizes: “Its large head, swollen with thoughts! Those compassionate eyes. It understands. I need it. Now!”
To win the alien doll, the Shorty Squad’s got to win a ring toss that’s blatantly rigged. Mr. Smiley mans this booth as well as half the other ones, because they’re “fun-derstaffed.” Steven chuckles gamely, to which Mr. Smiley replies with a fixed retail-worker’s grin, “I’m glad you’re seeing the humor in it Steven, ‘cause I haven’t seen a bed in six days!”
Amethyst, Peridot and Steven try hard to win the ring toss, to no avail. “I didn’t save Earth for this,” Peridot groans. But Amethyst is good and determined to win that toy and distracts Mr. Smiley by pointing out that Onion is setting the roller coaster on fire. Which he actually is. “Good old Onion,” Amethyst snorts. (I’m yelling. Why is this so funny?!)
With Mr. Smiley out of the way, Amethyst makes her arm super-long and drops a ring squarely atop one of the milk bottles. Peridot’s prize: a tiny alien thumb… thing. It turns out the big alien toy requires 10 rings. Whoops.
As they sit on the boardwalk, Peridot seems salty about shape-shifting, calling it an insult to “intended form.” This doesn’t fluster Amethyst, who appears used to Peridot’s ways enough to simply ask what’s wrong. Peridot admits that she can’t shape-shift at all, so Steven offers to help. Amethyst seconds the offer, then pulls Peridot in for a noogie -- “Shorty Squad style.”
No matter what they do, Peridot doesn’t seem to shift -- even then when they try to activate her shapeshifting manually by pulling on her arms and legs in different direction as Peridot mutters “Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow” with increasing severity. She finally tells them to give up, explaining that she’s an Era-2 Peridot, the product of a Homeworld hit with resource scarcity that can no longer make Gems the way they used to. That’s why Peridots have technological enhancements- because they lack powers.
Amethyst hears this and gets serious. “Per, I’mma be really real with you for a sec,” she begins, then launches into a magnificent speech about how Peridot is only focusing on what she can’t do or who she could be instead of the person she is, a person they all want to be friends with. But Peridot is just typing “CLODS CLODS CLODS” into her tablet as Amethyst speaks, so Amethyst rips the tablet away from her, saying she doesn’t need it. Peridot screams, “It’s all that I am!” as the tablet flies out over the ocean.
That’s when they realize that Peridot has control over metal: she has stopped the tablet in mid-air, and awkwardly reels it back in. Amethyst and Steven are delighted for her, but Peridot has only one thing on her mind. They return to Fun Land and Peridot uses her abilities to win the giant alien toy of her dreams.
“Give it up for Pea-Pod!” Amethyst hoots. But Peridot answers, “No, give it up for the Shorty Squad.” End of episode.
It’s great to see Peridot, one of the show’s delights ever since her redemption arc brought her into the Crystal Gems’ sphere of influence. Sometimes (not always), it feels like Steven Universe has two speeds: relaxed character-driven episode with humans, or plotty intense episode with Gems. This episode was multi-speed, a relaxed character-driven episode with Gems that let us see how Peridot is getting used to life on Earth and how the relationship between her and Amethyst is going. The tidbits about Homeworld being in an era of resource scarcity are interesting as well -- perhaps losing Earth is one of the big reasons behind that.
It’s also interesting to note that Steven got a new power in “Steven Floats” and now it’s Peridot’s turn to get one. While the pace of these episodes continues to be gentle and not focused on greater plot concerns, any time a character develops new powers should be taken seriously. The Steven Universe team has proven plenty capable of hiding an Easter egg in one episode only to hatch it forty episodes later. So why all these buffs on the home team?
With Jasper wedged in a crevice somewhere, who knows when we’ll even find out. But this episode provided plenty of humor -- Peridot and Amethyst are a reliable duo for funny quips -- along with its gentle pace and power revelation. After the intensity of last night’s “Mr. Greg,” it was a welcome bit of fun and character insight without much angst. And I love seeing the characters of Steven Universe validate one another, as Amethyst validates Peridot, and as Steven validated both Pearl and Greg in the last episode. That’s really where this show shines the brightest.
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, starting with “Steven Floats”/“Drop Beat Dad.” Steven Universe will be airing new episodes every single weeknight for over a month, July 18 through Aug. 12.
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