Steven Universe has officially come off of hiatus, and today’s episode, “Rising Tides, Crashing Skies,” is the second of a planned #StevenBomb with five new episodes in a row. Yesterday’s episode was the exceptional “Sworn to the Sword.” Today’s episode “Rising Tides, Crashing Skies” promises to give us some of conspiracy nut Ronaldo in action, investigating the mysteries of the Crystal Gems. As we’ve done before, please enjoy this Steven Universe episode recap/review.
To start off, I need to point out the new opening:
The new opening makes a few emphatic points about the next Steven Universe arc. Along with a rad oontz-oontz beat in the background and all Gems, including Amethyst, in their new clothes, the new opening emphasizes everyone’s involvement in the show. Connie went from a distant, wondering observer to a fierce girl with a huge sword who dashes off with a grin. Greg contributes with a mighty guitar twang. In the old opening, Steven always tumbled along, buffeted by the portal or whatever, but in the new one he’s active and ready. Message: everyone’s a part of this, humans and Gems and Lion too, linked together by their shared love for one another and Earth. I’m not crying, you’re crying.
“Rising Tides, Crashing Skies” starts out with a little opening credits reel for a “Keep Beach City Weird” production, a “docu-webu-mentary” done in the terrible style of local cable channels. Ronaldo babbles on about his insane blog as he rotates in a chair, cast in dramatic shadow. But hidden deep in his rambling is an unmistakable nugget of truth: the footage of Peridot’s hand ship and its slow descent towards Beach City.
So Ronaldo interviews the humans of Beach City, asking their witness report of events. After yesterday’s intense drama, based on Pearl’s enduring trauma and grief from the Gem war, it’s a reminder of the mundane side of Beach City and the many normal, quirky, lovable human residents of Steven’s community. The show is asking us to care just as much about all of these people, and the effect the Crystal Gems have on their lives, as we do about the great Gem dramas of invasion and war. I'm trying, but Ronaldo in full-fledged sneeple mode gives me migraine pain.
Then Ronaldo goes to Steven’s house and awkwardly asks him for an interview. (Steven’s excited response and offer of freshly-squeezed juice earns him the adorable interview subtitle of “Gracious Host.”) Steven explains to Ronaldo that the hand ship was not here to snatch up humans for experiments or anything like that; it was here solely for Steven and the Crystal Gems. Somehow, in the twisting crescendo of conspiracy theories that is Ronaldo’s mind, he is able to follow one thread of logic from point A to point B: if Steven and the Crystal Gems hadn’t been there, the hand ship and all its resultant chaos and destruction would not have been there either.
This sends Ronaldo on a frantic exposé. He films himself telling everyone around town that they’re under assault due only to the Crystal Gems. No one seems to care, as everything is fine at the moment, so Ronaldo decides he’s going to be the hero that Beach City didn’t ask for.
When Ronaldo goes to spy on the Gems at night, he spots them battling a giant crab monster. He confronts them about their presence and the danger they attract to Beach City. While Steven protests that the Crystal Gems are here to help, Pearl simply points out that the Gems have been here, in this place, since before Beach City existed. (Who knew! Thanks for the nugget, Pearl.) But Garnet capitulates at once with surprising swiftness. Since they’re not wanted, they’ll leave. Pearl and Amethyst follow doubtfully.
Afterwards, Ronaldo basks insufferably in his own smugness. But his little brother points out that without the Gems causing weird stuff, there would be no weird stuff in Beach City. This sends Ronaldo into a tailspin, as “Keep Beach City Weird” is the mantra that keeps him going. He floors it back to the Crystal Gems’ beachside home and collapses in front of their door, wailing, “Every messed up consequence of your presence gives me reason to wake up in the morning! Without you, my blog doesn’t have a chance! What have I done?! I’ve made… Beach City.. normal…!”
He dissolves crying until Garnet emerges, staring down at him. She simply says, “Okay.” In response, Ronaldo produces the most incredible prolonged honk I’ve ever heard, seriously, kudos to his voice actor. The honk was probably the funniest part of this episode.
After his little adventure, Ronaldo stands dramatically on a cliff side and concludes that the Gems save Beach City from not being weird, so it’s all worth it. Finally, we fade away from Ronaldo’s bumbling presentation and to Steven and the Gems, who were watching it on a video site.
“That was very poorly edited,” Garnet comments, speaking only the truth. She clarifies that she never intended to leave; she simply wanted the camera out of her face. Thank you for being you, Garnet. The video only has 1 view, but as the episode ends, Steven clicks the “Like” button… Steven, do you understand the consequences of social media, little buddy? Considering his demonstrably limited understanding of memes or things going viral, I’m not so sure.
This episode was emotionally and narratively needed for a few reasons. We needed to remember humanity -- not just Connie’s exceptionalism, but even the mundane, boring, and hopeless of humanity -- because they and the Crystal Gems are inextricably bound together now through Steven. Humans, too, even fundamentally lame ones like Ronaldo, are a part of Steven’s heritage and a part of Earth. Emotionally, this is a significant lull after the “welcome back from hiatus, here’s a punch of feels” intensity of “Sworn to the Sword.” I found it boring, but I understand. Now, lulls usually happen in anticipation of greater action to come, so what’s next?
The next episode features a dark secret discovered in the Kindergarten, and the #STEVENBOMB teaser pic marks it as Garnet-centric. The episode after that centers around Greg sharing his discovery of Gem fusion with Connie and Steven. Are the Crystal Gems going to discover a secret about Gem fusion unknown even to Garnet, a fusion? Or will a new application of fusion discovered in the dark nursery of the Kindergarten horrify them all?
To check out past recaps, just click here for all of our previous Steven Universe coverage. Find out more details about the episodes after hiatus here (they all air at 6 PM EST). See you tomorrow for more new Steven Universe!
