Week 4 of the biggest Stevenbomb ever continues with the first episode of season 4: “The Kindergarten Kid.” The “Summer of Steven” began July 18 and gave us six new episodes , while Week 2 of “Steven’s Summer Adventures” gave us some time with Beach City citizenry before Jasper’s malevolent return. Last week, Jasper got up to shenanigans in “Gem Hunt” and “Crack the Whip,” while Amethyst broke our hearts and Bismuth broke them harder. This week, “Beta,” “Earthling” , “Back to the Moon,” and “Bubbled” have given us a lot to think about. So what Steven Universe revelations does season 4 open with?
Season 4 premiere episode “The Kindergarten Kid” starts off with the Crystal Gems clearing out Jasper’s crew of corrupted and caged Gems. Garnet explains that bubbled Gems can’t hurt anyone and don’t suffer, which is why Rose wanted them to bubble the corrupted Gems in the first place.
Peridot laughs hard at the behavior of one of the corrupted Gems, which is fast, frisky, and has a giant slobbering tongue. According to Peridot, Gems like this don’t exist on Homeworld. After the corrupted Gem tweaks out all over Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, Peridot demands to know how they could be outsmarted by it. Peridot confidently asserts that she can do better and help them out by using her metal powers.
Steven wants to help the monster, so he goes with Peridot to hunt the creature down. Peridot announces that they will outsmart it rather than attempt to master it using brute force. Laughing maniacally over the brilliance of the idea, they are both run over by the creature as it zooms back towards the kindergarten.
They follow the creature to the Kindergarten, where it stands beneath an injector. Peridot tries to use her metal powers on the injector to cause it to fall on the creature, but even as the injector’s legs fall off, the body of the injector remains in place. The creature runs off and Peridot runs forward, kicking the sandstone wall and yelling “Fall already!” She’s buried under a load of rubble instead. The creature launches itself at Steven, just as Peridot moves forward - and the injector finally falls.
The second “Peri Plan” involves using the injector as a rudimentary cannon to take the creature out from a distance. But the cannon jams, then slams PEridot backwards, where more rubble falls on her. The creature attacks Steven again.
Both Peridot and Steven look worse for the wear - especially Peridot’s crumpled, scratched hair. This plan involves a boulder balanced on the edge of a rock overhang. Once the creature runs under the overhang, they’ll drop the boulder on top of it. When Steven questions the plan, Peridot throws her hands up: “I’m doing the best I can, Steven!” But the creature comes up behind them, startles them off the overhang, then kicks the boulder onto them. Peridot, flattened, rolls along with the boulder, Steven bubbles himself, and finally, Peridot is freed from the boulder - just in time for it to fall on top of her. (“You don’t poof easily, huh?”)
That evening, Steven cookes some marshmallows over a fire as Peridot watches her latest plan, an injector trap, fall apart. Frustrated, she sits next to Steven. She’s smarter than the average Peridot, so she doesn’t understand why she can’t outsmart some stupid corrupted Gem. But Steven corrects her: corrupted Gems are not stupid, but they just think differently. To illustrate his point, he starts flinging marshmallows at her: Earth animals chasing her free, a terrified human screaming, a Gem trying to poof her, and this is life now, endless suffering. Peridot screams, grabs the marshmallow bag and shakes it in her mouth.
Steven explains that just as Peridot was frustrated when she lost everything and was under attack, so is the corrupted Gem. He encourages her to think of things from her point of view. Peridot faces off against the monster… and starts hopping with it, throwing her own tongue up in the air with a hilarious “bleh.” Then Peridot runs up to it, kicks it, cackles… and starts getting her tiny green heinie kicked. Steven tries to intervene, but the creature kicks him off so he has to bubble himself. With Peridot clinging to its head and screaming, she tries to rip its Gem off on the rock overhang. They fall together and Peridot at last acquires its Gem.
Garnet emerges from where she, Amethyst and Pearl have been watching. With Future Vision, they knew what would happen. Peridot admits it was all more difficult than she expected, but she bubbles the Gem. She taps it on the top to send it off. The bubbles go “home,” so Peridot’s bubble just appears above Lapis’s head, where she barely glances at it before returning to her book.
After the barrage of revelations that season 3 ended on, season 4 has opened on a tone-setting note of empathy and understanding. Peridot’s natural instinct to dismiss almost anyone else as inferior is countered by Steven walking her through the feeling of being in someone else’s shoes. Peridot’s “Peri Plans” and her mounting frustration as they fail are genuinely funny, as is the creature itself with its predilection for throwing its tongue in the air and its lightning-fast reflexes. The humor in this episode felt straight out of a Warner Bros cartoon in the best possible way, like Roadrunner outsmarting Wile E. Coyote over and over again.
This tone of empathy and understanding, of accepting those who think differently for what they are and making the effort to bridge the gap instead of waiting for them to cross over, could be of use to at least one Gem currently bubbled in the Temple. But that’s none of my business though. (#FreeBismuth #ClemencyForJasper)
The "In Too Deep" Steven Universe special event for season 3 kicked off with “ Watermelon Island ” and “ Gem Drill ,” while season 3 closed with shocking revelations in “Beta,” “Earthlings” and “Bubbled.” The last episode of the Stevenbomb airs tomorrow, Aug. 12 so make sure to check back with iDigitalTimes for a final take on the biggest Stevenbomb ever (and shared mourning for the hiatus that’s soon to follow).
