“I thought I wouldn’t get another chance to show those upper-crusts who’s boss. Let’s show them what happens when you mess with the Crystal Gems!” – Bismuth, declaring her intent to finish what was once started. I’m not gonna even pretend that this episode is going to end in a cheerful manner.
Airdate: August 4th, 2016
Written By: Katie Mitroff, Lamar Abrams, Colin Howard, and Jeff Liu
Plot: While trying to hide one of his favorite shirts in Lion’s mane to prevent him from destroying it, Steven accidentally un-bubbles a Gem. Said gem, Bismuth, turns out to be a lost member of the Crystal Gems. Trapped for thousands of years, she resolves to continue the fight that never seemed to end. At first glance, she appears to get on well with the quartet. But her intentions might be darker than Steven’s…
Review:
This is going to be quite the uplifting episode of Steven Universe to cover on Christmas, right? Well, might as well set the tone.
“My father used to say that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I laid the first stone right there – I’d committed myself. I’d pay any price, go to any lengths, because my cause was righteous. My… intentions were good. In the beginning, that seemed like enough.”
This quote is from Commander Benjamin Sisko, from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “In The Pale Moonlight”. In that episode, Sisko is reciting to a personal recording of his attempts to bring a key player into the Dominion War on the side of the Federation. Given said civilization turning a blind eye to Dominion misgivings due to a non-aggression pact, he has to try and convince their ambassador that the empire would not favor them should they win the war. The episode ends with Sisko advancing on his goal, but the path there has him shred his morality and idealism to shreds. To try and put it without spoiling (at the moment), he got the Federation a shot in the arm all while defying many of the values that Starfleet represents.
“In The Pale Moonlight” is a highly controversial outing in the Star Trek canon. For some fans, it’s a vicious rebuttal to Gene Roddenberry’s ideas of utopia and morality. Others, though, love it for this very reason, citing it as one of the finest deconstructions of Star Trek ever, as well as opening the door for more antiheroic and “grey” morality in serialized dramas over the next two decades, as well as providing a great morality and character piece.
Personally, I fall into the latter category – my respect for Roddenberry’s vision remains unbowed, but Deep Space Nine and, more specifically, this episode does a fine job of presenting a counterargument to this idea that our morality will always guide us to victory. The path to our utopia can be a murkier, somewhat more hypocritical quest than we are first led to believe. Combined with some fine acting and scripting, it is a contender for my all-time favorite TV episode, period.
The question, however, remains. What does this have to do with Steven Universe?
Well, “Bismuth” presents a somewhat similar moral conundrum – to what lengths should we go to achieve our hopes of utopia, of victory? It’s also one of the darker episodes of the entire series, as well. Accordingly, “Bismuth” is to Steven Universe what “In The Pale Moonlight” is to Star Trek – probably the most controversial outing of the franchise, to the point where this episode is occasionally called “The Discourse Episode”. While it presents something of a counterargument to the overall message in Deep Space Nine, it still lays bare the hypocrisies present in leadership and casts a major shadow over a character once lionized. By most standards, this is Steven Universe at its most morally complex.
Even further, as far as I can see, this is up there with “Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem” beforehand and “A Single Pale Rose” afterward in episodes that absolutely transform the path of Steven Universe forever. For it is this episode that delivers the sledgehammer to Steven’s innocence and sends the view he has of the past into a permanent spiral.
Want proof? Consider that the first few minutes of this episode strangely parallel Season 1A. For the uninitiated, Steven started out the series as a very innocent young boy, just starting to learn that he has superpowers. He spends the first few episodes mastering them, as well as getting his toes dipped in Gem lore. This includes him meeting Lion. However, most of the episodes were very light in tone, with only occasional notes of drama and trauma. At the end of Season 1A, Steven meets a Gem he was once unaware of who just happened to be trapped in a bizarre location (a mirror, Lion’s mane), and his interactions with said gem irrevocably dramatically alter his life.
In this case, Steven is playing video games. Not necessarily a youth-only sphere anymore – gaming is a multibillion-dollar industry that spans ages upon ages – but it’s certainly portrayed in this episode as a moment of great levity. Brightness before the deep, deep descent into tragedy. Remind you of a point in Steven Universe history? I know it does for me. Anyway, Steven is tasked with trying to save his shirt from Lion, and decides to stuff it in the one place he can’t get to it – his mane. (Possible disquiet on his end, or just a one-off pattern of misbehavior? You make the call.) In said mane, he pops a bubble containing a Gem, and while ducking in and out of the mane – partially in shock, partially to catch his breath – he encounters our friend for the day and pulls her straight out into the world.
Meet Bismuth. She’s voiced by Uzo Aduba (apparently most well known as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on the Netflix comedy-drama Orange Is the New Black), a damn fine choice in my eyes due to her ability to give the titular character a deep, booming, commanding voice, totally befitting of her personality, history, and how she fits in the Crystal Gem dynamic, both in the past and present.
Most obviously, she is effectively Amethyst’s predecessor – cemented when, after Bismuth is introduced to the trio, Garnet and Pearl are awestruck and emotional… all while Amethyst is fascinated by the introduction of “a total stranger!” Cementing this, Bismuth sort of works, surprisingly enough, as a foil to her. Both are shades of purple, somewhat “stout” in stature, considered the “brawn” of the trio, and possess what many would consider more stereotypically masculine attitudes.
Where they diverge, however, is their philosophical foundations, their approach to life in general. Amethyst is the ultimate hedonist, what happens when a character is raised on the limitless potential that the world has to offer and takes advantage of it to the nth degree.
Bismuth? She’s a commie.
Alright, that’s not exactly true – a very simplistic take on the character, at least. But Bismuth’s demeanor and rhetoric come off as highly militaristic, with phrases reminiscent of those found in socialist ideology. Just listen to many of her lines of dialog when interacting with the remains of the Crystal Gems (in no particular order).
“Homeworld treats us like dirt because we don’t shine like the elites. But the Crystal Gems are back, and we’ll give those Diamonds another taste of what’s coming!”
“[They know] how to hit us where it counts, but we can do everything they can do, and better.”
“We are powerful! We are important! We are the Crystal Gems!“
Just look at that rhetoric. Aduba really sells it, sells Bismuth as a very engaging and persuasive character who taps into frustrations with Homeworld society, disgust with the social stratification and militaristic attitudes, and the desire to turn the latter straight back on a corrupted and rotted-out society. She’s compelling, fascinating, and absolutely persuasive. And all while having the benefit of being a steelworker who turns around to make armor, upgraded weapons, and so much more for the Crystal Gems. Indeed, she does so for our transfixed protagonists – even the skeptical Amethyst is swayed when her whip is upgraded to a mace.
One could argue that she functions as the sword of the rebellion – brash, pointed, with a target and an endgame. But as the episode progresses, we find out that she serves more of a function of the rebellion’s unbridled id, the unstoppable soul. For she brought into the whole ethos of Rose’s rebellion:
“I came to Earth thinking this was just another colony. Build another arena for important fighters to fight in; build another spire for important thinkers to think in. And then, I met her. Just another Quartz soldier made right here in the dirt. But she was different, and she was different because she decided to be. And she asked me what I wanted to build, and I’d never heard that before. And Gems never hear they can be anything other than what they are. But Rose opened our eyes.”
What makes Bismuth unique in this matter is where she fits in the sphere of Rose’s rebels. The aristocratic Sapphire and the cannon fodder Ruby were effectively exiled from Homeworld for breaking a major societal taboo – they practically fell into the rebellion from opposite worlds, a strike against the culture. The former lawn decoration/slave/secretary-if-lucky Pearl, oh boy will Season 5 expose her entry into this affair or what, but just note the sentence “My Pearl” from “Rose’s Scabbard” for later. Let’s call it an utter caste rebellion for her, albeit deconstructed as she framed her fight as being for Rose. And Amethyst, well, she was born here. Just walked into the conflict, and boom, Crystal Gem.
Bismuth was a blue-collar Gem, the architect of all of the glorious artifacts that Homeworld used to postulate, to commemorate, to flex psychological muscle. She was a member of the women behind the women, the blue-collar workers that construct our nations. If so, she’s a surprisingly insightful take on the blue-collar class, so often written off as lunkheads or self-delusional. While not the curator of Homeworld’s infrastructure, she found the appeal of a more liberal lifestyle, to break free from the Homeworld culture and politics, to be so appealing… and she chose it. Possibly to make her own mark, not the mark of others. Yes, Steven Universe does a generally damn fine job at representing almost every demographic (race, class, sex, et cetera), so this might seem like small potatoes to praise, but this is some fantastic character symbolism, how the common man and woman can build societies, but can also be the key to their destruction (at least if we look at history romantically.)
Now, the question becomes… what caused her to get bubbled and thrown into a walking, eating, pink locker?
Because let’s face it. Lion was used by Rose Quartz (and, more recently, Steven Universe) as cheap storage. So many secrets, so much weaponry, memorabilia, stuff that wasn’t in the armory or the temple was thrown into this lion. In retrospect, this should have been a sign that something’s gone quite off with Bismuth and her relationship with the Crystal Gems. To this end, she’s been gone for so long that she’s only just made aware that many of her compatriates – almost all of them, in fact – are gone. The Crystal Gems, as a unit, are down to a few.
The question becomes… what caused the relationship to fray beyond all repair?
The buildup to that makes the fall even more of a gut punch, as Bismuth gets on very well with the core four. She’s even transfixed by Steven’s own training rituals. What training methods? Why, playing badminton, baking cookies, making pizza and burritos that Amethyst swallows wholesale, playing cards (whatever games, I think the censors were afraid of promoting actual poker or something), and hanging around television’s warm glowing warming glow while watching Lonely Blade. What a brilliant contrast – if Bismuth can make the Crystal Gems work physically to their fullest potential, Steven can aid them as a cohesive unit, build up team chemistry. Again, we’ve got the two sides of passion – devotion to the cause meets devotion to the unit. A fine dynamic, especially given that the back half of the episode focuses on the duo and the grand philosophical divide between them.
Let me put it this way. The back half of this episode is some of the most gutting Steven Universe ever released. I mean, yeah, that phrase has a lot of competition. But in this case, we not only get a rather haunting climax, but it winds up throwing a major specter over Seasons 4 and 5. Again, this episode is a major turning point in the series, and the fallout from this episode will build all the way to the epochal and venerated “A Single Pale Rose”.
And it all starts so peacefully – late in the night, Bismuth and Steven talk about their idol – one Rose Quartz. So often venerated, so beloved by those who followed her, and Bismuth’s quote above sets her vision of Rose, the source for a captivating ideology that allowed for the freedom of all Gems. The concept of free will, scorned by Homeworld, was thrown into focus, and Bismuth took to it like a duck to a pond. Steven, in stark contrast, has idolized Rose Quartz because, well, everybody else in his life appears to have idolized Rose. This is why “Bismuth” is not just a pause in the action – this whole plotline was in the last episode, and it is being weaved alongside Amethyst’s arc as Season 3 comes to a close.
Steven: Everybody always tells me how great Mom was. I just don’t feel like I can ever measure up to her.
[…]
Bismuth: You are different. That’s what’s so exciting. You don’t have to be like Rose Quartz. You can be someone even better.
Encouraging words, as always. It’s not a rather unique message – the whole idea of not having to measure up to one’s idols and societal icons and figures has been done many times before and since. (It seems more relevant in the age of social media, where we can be measured up to unrealistic standards, but still.) However, the more captivating aspect of that is Bismuth’s response. “You can be someone even better.” Better than the best, right?
Well… strap in. Because from this point forward, things are going to go straight down a rather morbid path.
Bismuth invites Steven back to her forge and is fascinated by his choice of weapon – the classic sword and shield. Consider that Steven is meant to be the “defense” of the Crystal Gems – the protector of the core trio. His sword has also generally served as a method of self-defense, or further, has constantly been loaned to Connie. Rarely has he ever had to downright use it in actual battle – and given his very pacifistic nature, he would be reluctant to do so. But it is a powerful weapon, capable of instantly defenestrating a physical form and forcing the Gem into either a lengthy stasis or a rather short and risky regeneration. It’s a brutal weapon, yet there are few fatalities. In a standard war, it would allow the maintenance of a modicum of dignity.
Bismuth, however, had another idea. A weapon that would have permanently ended hostilities with Homeworld, that would forever secure victory for the Crystal Gems. It’s a short weapon, but its size hides the power it could yield if effective. Other weapons used by the Crystal Gems, though capable of damage, are not necessarily meant to break the gemstone, not meant to shatter the life of others. Enter the Breaking Point, and Bismuth demonstrates it against some statues. If a Gem gets close enough, they only have to smash it against their enemies, straight against their gemstone.
I wish I could say that Bismuth made a weapon meant to kill. That may have been her intent. But just remember the utter horror of the fusion experiments from “Keeping It Together”. The agony of the Cluster in “Gem Drill”. The conscious lives forever in a state of unceasing pain, calling for some release, some mercy that they might never have.
But that only adds to the great philosophical issue this episode lays on the line. Bismuth felt the way to win the war was abject destruction of the enemy. There is no hope of redemption in her eyes; the Diamonds and their ideology are cancer that must be removed, whatever the cost. Steven is mortified – to his eyes, using this weapon would make the victory hollow, would be the height of hypocrisy. There’s a certain code of conduct that he would follow, and he is damned if this weapon is going to see the light of day in battle.
“…that’s exactly what she said. That’s exactly what you said. It is you, isn’t it, Rose?”
History repeats. Rose held very similar values – or at least claimed to – and was not going to let such a drastic step, or at least such a drastic mentality, override the Crystal Gems and color their victory. Hence the bubbling, hence the storage in Lion, hence the utter silence on Bismuth for thousands of years.
And the worst part of it all?
Bismuth’s mentality is, at least, understandable. I’m not necessarily saying I agree with her here, but it is worth noting where she’s coming from.
Let’s face it – even discounting their ideology, in the heat of war, the Diamond Authority was at least complicit in permitting, if not downright planning, some very disturbing actions. Their intent was to mine the planet straight through for resources, damn the local environment and the inhabitants, and who cares about the Gems there? The fusion experiments apparently meant as a warning for those who dared use the act of fusion contrary to Homeworld ideology, yeah, that wasn’t really pleasant. At the very least, it took shattered gems and kept them together in agony forever. The Cluster, turning said shattered gems into a weapon meant to wipe out Earth and everybody on it for utterly petty reasons. Oh, and might I remind you about the mass corruption? If not, Centi can fill you in on that. Threatening to shatter a Ruby for defying the aforementioned regulations on Fusion? Keeping an entire strand of Gems as lawn gnomes?
The Diamond Authority, for all of their complexities that will be unveiled over the next two seasons, are still responsible for quite a bit of madness and cruelty. Understandably, resentment would build up, and you shouldn’t be surprised that one of their adversaries would want to see them wiped out. And that’s with a certain ambiguity as to how much Bismuth knew about the Diamonds and the actions they performed. She’s been bubbled for thousands of years – the war is still going on in her mind.
Here’s where the controversy comes in. We the audience have been galvanized against the Diamond Authority over the past few seasons. In a way, their destruction could come off as utterly cathartic. For their injustices, they would be thrown to the dustbin of history as abject dictators, the worst of Gemkind, television baddies who got their just deserts. Yet, Steven Universe presents the argument that in combat, this sort of violence, this abject destruction, would be hypocritical and joyless at best. At worst, it could even backfire.
In short, the question becomes simple yet striking. “Do the ends justify the means?”
Let’s return to the episode I brought up at the beginning – “In the Pale Moonlight”. If you are in the middle of watching Deep Space Nine and don’t want spoilers, please hit Command+F (or Control+F for Windows Users) and type up the phrase “the First Duty is to the truth”.
“In the Pale Moonlight”, as mentioned above, has Sisko get his wish at the end. The Romulan Empire agrees to join the Dominion War on the side of the Federation. However, the path Sisko took to get there led him to violate many principles of Starfleet. To cut a long story short, he gets Cardassian spy Garak and a Klingon prisoner to help him fake evidence of a possible Dominion invasion of Romulus, as well as handling illicit organic material. When that seems to fail, Garak decides to use option B, the False Flag operation. Meaning, he blows up the shuttle in a way that preserves the evidence (and forgives any impurities as resulting from bomb damage), assassinates the Romulan ambassador, and also happens to eliminate said prisoner. His attempt at trickery has, at the very least, gone horribly wrong. Garak lays it down bare for an outraged Sisko close to the end:
“If your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant. And all it cost was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal… and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don’t know about you, but I’d call that a bargain.”
The episode appears to take the argument that sometimes, the ends justify the means, no matter how brutal or hypocritical. We might have to put aside moral codes on occasion to achieve a grand utopia. This sabotage almost certainly saves the Federation and the Alpha Quadrant from certain doom. However, there is a hint of subversion at the end, when Sisko is reflecting on the path he took. “Garak was right about one thing; a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it.” A pause. “…because I can live with it.” Pause again. “… I can live with it.” Another pause. “Computer? Erase that entire personal log.” Sometimes the ends may justify the means, and we might have to subvert our own morals to save a group, particularly in the face of hell. But the psychological cost of it will weigh on Sisko for the rest of his days.
The first duty is to the truth.
Steven Universe, in contrast, takes the opinion that the ends rarely, if ever, justify the means. The hypocrisy of betraying one’s core values to achieve a goal to satisfy said values would be too much of a stain on the cause, Steven argues. No matter the justification, they would be using tactics similar to that of the enemy, thus providing the risk of the slippery slope into tyranny. Yes, there is a certain gulf in the target audience (Steven Universe is marketed towards pre-teens, Deep Space Nine is meant for a young adult audience), but the point still stands.
Or does it? Because it can just as easily be argued that even this message is given some complexity in the last few minutes, minutes that not only make the episode stand out but secure the major sea change that Steven Universe will take for the rest of the original show’s run.
Because Bismuth is livid. Again, her anger can also be rooted in the apparent dissonance of “joining a group of freedom fighters yet was ordered by a higher-up to cease her plans”, but even that’s rebutted by the whole idea of Bismuth not having any limits to her anger and quest for revenge. Rose wanted to save Earth, Bismuth wanted blood. If this divide became public, there would be fighting within the fighting, and Homeworld would be able to come up the middle.
The split is stark and ultimately irreconcilable. So much so, in fact, that Bismuth is willing to murder Steven while suspecting that Steven is merely Rose in disguise. In fact, it’s all but certain she attempted the same thing way back when. That’s what drives Bismuth into antagonism – she was so consumed with revenge that she was willing to defy and possibly destroy her allies. Rationality was out the window.
What follows is one of the most gutwrenching fight scenes in the entire series. I mean, this might just pass “On The Run” for that particular title. There’s more weight to this scene in terms of artistic direction (something I felt wasn’t as prevalent in the “Crack The Whip” climax) and is purely dramatic (in contrast to the comedic fight in “Steven vs. Amethyst”), making this battle scene even more impactful. It’s just gripping, just haunting – a radical Gem suffering an emotional breakdown, trying to kill the child she thinks is the leader who fed her sweet little lies… and then covering up what happened so many years ago.
It ends with Steven getting a victory, but a haunting and arguably pyrrhic one. In self-defense, facing Bismuth about to drive a breaking point into him, he is forced to stab her with his sword. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s seen this, but it is the first time he’s done it himself to another Gem. Even worse, it’s a Crystal Gem, at that. And Steven is left to bubble her up, putting her back in a prison. At first glance, it appears that this is repeating history – imprisoning a Gem with little chance to explain herself. But the twist here adds the episode’s own rebuttal to its overall stance on the ends not necessarily justifying the means.
Rose kept the Crystal Gems in the dark, and it is understandable why. She needed a united front to keep the rebellion going effectively. In her eyes, the truth would be damaging. It’s a case of the leader hailed as the ultimate idealist playing realpolitik in dealing with her crew. Even so, this was an ethically questionable, slightly hypocritical move on her part. The paragon of all that was good did have a secretive side, we knew that, but now it has a more cynical aura. It’s a case where Rose argued that the means didn’t justify the ends with the Breaking Point, but to keep team unity, she figured that obscurity of the truth would do more for the Crystal Gems than anything else.
(And that’s not getting into her own biases, which will only become clearer after “A Single Pale Rose”. Let’s just say there was more of… a personal reason for her taking the path she made, and leave it at that.)
The past demonstrates that sometimes, there has to be some flexibility to how we look at issues and resolve them. But the broad message is the same. Having a code of personal ethics is key, and defying that to get an end goal – particularly if said defiance would hurt or kill others – will only lead to more distress than the utopia you desire.
Hence the parting lines between Steven and Bismuth, the latter suspecting that she’s all but doomed to perpetual imprisonment, the former traumatized and greatly disturbed that everything culminated in this. These are lines that effectively start the back third of Steven Universe.
Bismuth: (distraught) “You should’ve shattered me back then. At least if I were in pieces, I wouldn’t have to know how little I mattered to you. You didn’t even tell them! You bubbled me away and didn’t ever tell your friends. My friends.”
Steven: “I’m going to tell them. I’m gonna tell them everything.”
Bismuth: (Chuckles to herself) “Then you really are better than her.”
And with that, Bismuth poofs, leaving alone Steven, a character now staring down a complete restructure of his thoughts about his mother. If Rose can lie about that… what else did she obscure the truth about? Did the apparent purity of her intentions and policy obscure more cynical motives, more selfish actions? Was her legacy built on half-truths, or worse yet, a major lie?
Steven has been measured against the idea of his mother for so long. This episode has the idealistic side of Rose Quartz suffering the effects of a sledgehammer. It had been chipped away at before (“We Need to Talk” and “Rose’s Scabbard”), but this sends Rose’s reputation into a spiral from which it would take a miracle to recover. The first major mark has been uncovered. And it won’t be the last.
The question now becomes rather grand. What is Steven going to do? The answer is simple – break the chain, stop history from repeating itself. He recognizes that Bismuth needs to go away, at least for now. But he does two major, notable things – one that presents a similarity to his mother, one that makes it different.
First off, he punts the Breaking Point straight into the lava, destroying it. This confirms that he does take a similar path to Rose in terms of ideology, but tries to leave no question about the path that the Crystal Gems are to take, closing a major route of dissent that has already caused more trouble than it was worth. Where he differs? He follows through with his promise, telling the Crystal Gems what transpired in the forge, and having them all send Bismuth to the bubbling room together, all sullen, all stunned at what transpired. But here, there’s at least some closure for the Crystal Gems – they at least have an answer as to why one of their own was gone for so long, and they reflect on it on the deck, deep into the night sky.
For Steven, though? The questioning is now in full drive. This whole experience might have sent his already waning innocence into an irrevocable nosedive. “Mindful Education” will leave it in the dirt in many different pieces. Steven Universe is a coming-of-age story, and by the end of this episode, Steven has done an act of leadership within the Crystal Gem structure. And it was the most emotionally draining decision he had to make.
It’s one that he will have to learn to live with.
He can live with it.
Understandably, “Bismuth” has become the source of some debate over its themes, over the character choices, over damn near everything. It’s an episode that opens itself up to debate. It is pretty much the “In The Pale Moonlight” of Steven Universe – adding a substantial splash of grey to the protagonists and their allies. It’s dark, it’s haunting, the ending is utterly bittersweet and heartrending, and has lent itself to interpretation for days on end.
And much like “In The Pale Moonlight”, I love every frigging second of it.
“Bismuth” is simply astonishing. It’s well animated, brilliantly directed, superbly written, doesn’t hold the hand of the audience by any stretch of the imagination, chock full of character development, and is so deftly woven into the plot that I can only sit back astonished. It marks a major epoch in the Steven Universe canon, and what a way to mark that epoch in my eyes. This is the show running on every cylinder, and it’s hard for me to think of a single weak point. It’s an outstanding episode of Steven Universe, representing almost everything that I admire about Rebecca Sugar’s magnum opus.
What I’m trying to say is simple, and I’m not apologizing for what I’m about to type – this episode means bismuth.
Tidbits:
- This episode is notable for having a whopping four writers, listed above. This isn’t the first time this has happened – “Cat Fingers” had four writers (Kat Morris, Hilary Florido, Ian Jones-Quartey, and Rebecca Sugar), “Gem Harvest” will have four, same with “Reunited”, and “Change Your Mind” will have twelve credited. This is just notable for sheer length – four episodes for a 22-minute presentation. Averaged out, this goes to two writers for every 11 minutes. Eh, that’s fair.
- For reasons unknown, this episode has never been repeated in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Cartoon Network over there needs to cut loose – just look at the odd censorship that goes on in that country. Everything alright, UK?
- This also marks (as far as I can recall) the only episode to have an opening before the display of the title card. In fact, the episode actually flows into and out of the title card, rather striking.
Wrap-Up:
Favorite Scene: That fight in the foundry. The tension boils over, leading to one of the most captivating scenes in the entire series.
Best Character: Refer to the title, there’s your answer.
Memorable Quote: “You really are better than her.” – Bismuth. The moment when she truly recognizes Steven as his own creature, and the moment she sends off his childhood for good. Brilliant.
Verdict: Platinum! This is an absolutely astonishing effort on behalf of the Crewniverse, and this episode deserves the honor of being the first 22-minute episode of the series.
Now, to the power rankings. Of the 97 episodes on the table, “Bismuth” comes in at #2. Yes, this episode enters the list right behind “Rose’s Scabbard”, which is to my personal ranking what Juventus is to Serie A soccer.
More surprising is what episode it finishes above. I still maintain that “Sworn to the Sword” is a better encapsulation of what makes Steven Universe great. To that end, I consider these episodes in an effective tie for second place. “Bismuth” barely gets the edge here, and the tipping point is how this episode really got to dismantling the image of Rose Quartz that viewers had for almost three seasons for good.
Wow, what an episode to review. And what an episode to talk about on Christmas, of all days.
I think that might be it for reviews for the year. Odds are, the next review (likely that of “HOMR”) will be up in 2020. A new decade dawns, and with it, the possibility of a brave new world that we can all work towards. With that in mind, I just want to give my thanks. Thank you, Crewniverse, for putting out such an astonishing product in Steven Universe. Thanks to Matt Groening for creating The Simpsons, a brilliant piece of pop culture whose best moments still resonate to this day. Mr. McGoohan, I don’t know if there is an afterlife, but if there is, thank you for the brilliant insanity that was The Prisoner. Thanks to the animators and set producers and all of the staff behind the scenes giving it their all, thanks to the executives who had just enough faith to make these shows work and plant them into the pop culture stratosphere.
But most of all, I want to thank you, the readers of this silly little blog. There would likely be no Review Nebula blog without you, Quite a few of the comments posted here have been absolutely insightful, as well, presenting ideas and themes that I overlooked in my reviews. Absolutely astonishing, the lot of you. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
For now, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a fantastic holiday season, and a Happy New Year.
The Review Nebula 