Amethyst: “I’m crashing!”
Steven: “But how does that make you feel?”
– I swear, this show’s critics had a field day with those two sentences.
Airdate: July 3rd, 2018
Written By: Katie Mitroff and Paul Villeco
Plot: Ruby has bolted from the Temple, leaving Sapphire distressed. With her and Pearl in emotional turmoil, it’s up to Steven and Amethyst to try and track Ruby down. However, Steven’s emotional investment in the hunt contrasts with Amethyst’s apparent lack of care. But are her distractions strategic in another way?
Review:
In the middle of 2016, the bell tolled for Steven Universe.
While working on Seasons 4 and 5, Rebecca Sugar was informed that Cartoon Network was turning off the tap. No new episodes of her series would be ordered. Steven Universe was facing death; the way things were going, it appeared doomed to end on a cliffhanger at best, and possibly horribly rushed at worst. It was not just an emotional turmoil having the show of her dreams (and, as of this writing, her magnum opus) sent to the wall, but so many questions could have been doomed to be unanswered, so many plot threads left in the lurch.
Fortunately for us fans, she got a partial reprieve from the network – the show got an extension on the season to wrap up major plot threads, then was granted a movie and a new epilogue miniseries. But you can just sense from this episode forward that the show was getting ready for the final bow. Even with the reprieve, you can see the show starting to wrap up as many remaining plot threads as humanly possible starting here. Not that Season 5 hadn’t already done so – Lars had his renaissance, Sadie had her new career, Connie re-centered herself, and we found out Rose Quartz was the product of reinvention. And now the time has come to complete the arcs of the Crystal Gems.
How apropos that we start with Amethyst, and how brilliant that the title of this outing is “What’s Your Problem”?
Ironically, we start with the newfound disaster area, a surprising one to people watching before this particular arc – Ruby and Sapphire’s relationship. Long the components of the seemingly most stable of the Crystal Gems (even if that is a statement with many qualifiers), their apparent breakup in the last episode was sharp and brutal – Sapphire running off furious and yelling at Ruby to start the episode, and Ruby subsequently fleeting into the wide, wild world to end the outing. Steven’s perception has been radically reshaped after a prolonged period of questioning and discovery, with the reveal of Pink Diamond’s alias being the nail in the coffin – Ruby and Sapphire’s perceptions will be reshaped much more rapidly.
But the pain will be just as sharp in the short term for all involved. Naturally, Sapphire is gutted at this turn of events – a feeling like she drove her life partner away for good has smashed into her with full force. What was said can never truly be unsaid, and the relationship is forever altered. Tears of grief fill her eye – even if they are to reunite, the pure romanticism that appeared to underpin their relationship, being “the answer”, was undermined. Even after being rebuilt in the shadows of the ruins, it took on a totally different shape… and it might not even survive such a reshaping. Even her future vision has no guarantees – Ruby’s id-driven behavior
What else is new? Well, Amethyst was present when Ruby bailed. In fact, she wound up delivering the fateful pen and paper that Ruby drafted her “Dear Jen” letter on, and hadn’t seen her since. With that in mind, she is relatively nonplussed by such a turn of events, laying back on Steven’s bed and firing up his GameCube. The stiff upper lip presents itself – she’s kicking back, playing video games, seemingly certain that Ruby will return and something approaching the status quo will present itself. After all, she found out her former leader was a frigging Diamond and took it in relative stride; this is not much more of a shock to the system, right?
Right?
…In any event, with Sapphire and Pearl emotionally collapsing due to this turn of events, Steven takes it upon himself to track down Ruby. Yes, Steven is tasking himself with trying to repair some of the damage caused by events that weren’t his fault – that’s gotta be good for his mental health. And Amethyst, initially content to play video games, actually tags along. An impulse tied to the discomfort of watching two of her loved ones utterly despondent over the unknown? At first glance, obviously; however, there is a method to her madness.
Following this is an Amethyst-Steven team-up, and in many ways, this does remind me of “On the Run” – Steven has a quest that involves crossing the globe all rooted in his love of youth novels, and Amethyst is tagging along, albeit with a certain psychological distraction. Yet, the tone is totally inverted – whereas Steven’s quest in the former was very childlike and broad with no definite end, here, it’s finite and based on far more serious circumstances. And while Amethyst’s disquiet with trying to find home was very transparent in that episode, to the point where it overshadowed her jokey aura, her emotional discomfort here is held closer to her chest; she’s much better at keeping up that goofy comic relief aura.
The reason is simple – she’s watching Steven and her friends go through hell. And she’s watching Steven descend into the same psychological despair that had so thoroughly torn her loved ones and herself to shreds. She’s trying to pull him back, keep him from emotionally collapsing in much the same way Sapphire did, that Ruby did, that Pearl was compelled to do. Steven’s just compounding such attitudes by forcing himself to be the emotional referee; the prior three fell apart due to forces largely beyond their control. Steven is sliding down the cliff, and Amethyst is the first to notice it. She won’t be the last.
Interestingly, there is an inherent, yet positive, contradiction in how she operates here. Her behavior in this episode underscores the concept of thinking about one’s own well-being. In several other shows, that would be written off as the epitome of selfish behavior, not to be imitated. Indeed, if taken too far, it can be damaging and the epitome of solipsism. But Steven Universe has presented a good argument in favor of such an attitude here; while it does praise the values of selfless behavior and thinking about the broad community (particularly with regards to elevating underclasses), it also notes the emotional toll that goes into laying yourself on the line time and time again, especially if there’s little reward or fulfillment.
In this case, the show paradoxically argues for acting in one’s self-interest by demonstrating Amethyst at possibly her most emotionally generous, yet strangely provocative, state. Over an impromptu dinner at Fish Stew Pizza, she probes Steven over Pink’s facade, the raison d’etre of Rose Quartz, and Steven trying to reconcile with this rapid reshaping of her legacy. It plays more like a session between a therapist and her patient.
Amethyst: How are you feeling?
Steven: I feel confused. I-I thought I’d really finally got it; that Mom didn’t have everything figured out, even though everybody put her way up on this pedestal But now, I guess she’s royalty, too?
Amethyst: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Steven: I’m relieved that she didn’t shatter anyone, but she lied to everyone. I mean, I’m not surprised; I knew she was a liar. But this is just so much.
Amethyst: But like… Aren’t you mad?
Steven: Kind of? I don’t know… I can see how she was good and bad, and bad and good. But I – I guess what really matters right now is how hard Garnet took it.
Consider that last sentence; Steven’s just had the image of his mom torpedoed beyond his wildest dreams, and he’s refusing to consider how it’s impacting him, her progeny. Yes, Garnet literally fell apart over such a reveal, a debacle in its own right. But Steven… Steven looked up to this woman, too. He did so much in her name at such a disturbingly young age, and now that name has been revealed as a forgery. So much of his life was done in the service of a falsehood. Even with the nuance provided in the prior episode, so much of what he knew – particularly in the past two years – has been turned on its head.
Amethyst even points out this inherent contradiction, all while underlying the tragedy of the Sins of the Mother, a moment of pure catharsis:
You were always under all this pressure to be like her! But was she even like her? Was anyone ever like her? She was supposed to be so great, she was supposed to know everything, and – ugh – she was supposed to make everything better! It’s not fair! We shouldn’t have to deal with any of this; we shouldn’t have to fix any of this! We weren’t around for her stupid war! This is everyone else’s problem. This has nothing to do with me… and you! This, this has nothing to do with you!
These are the children born after the war, left sifting through the rubble of the chaos their elders created. Amethyst, mind you, emerged after the corrupting light was activated. Steven was born millennia later. Her largest tie was being conceived for war and coming out later; the end result left her psychologically traumatized repeatedly, and she has only just made peace with this facet of her life.
Further, being born after the rebellion may have made her much more likely to accept that such a historically revered figure was anything but the saint the world presented. She never lived through that concept of creating the world they lived in; the emotions were less pointed. It brings to mind a certain pattern; younger generations, particularly (but not exclusively) here in America, are more likely to look at the “great men” of our history with a bit more askance, largely over their personal cultural biases but occasionally regarding their actions. We’re living in their world, warts and all, and information regarding their behavior and thought processes is more accessible; accordingly, we have a clearer picture of their values measured against their contemporary impact, and can cut through the romanticism laid at their feet over past generations.
While “Rose” was something of a mother figure to Amethyst, that concept of being the liberator never applied to her directly. Amethyst, who wasn’t directly born in the rebellion but succeeded it because of a twist of fate, has learned some damning information and realized; “Oh, Rose was a fraud and we fought for a facade. Okay… why should we still do this?” To her, that legacy is not exactly worth getting emotionally invested in. At least, that’s what she tells Steven.
But she can put that extra step under her feet that Steven hasn’t been able to… because she’s not the physical successor to the leader’s legacy. Steven is. It’s a legacy he even relayed to Amethyst in despair. That extra psychological weight is harder to shake off. And it bears repeating, but Steven has thrown himself (and been thrown) into as many of the residual issues that have stemmed from this millennia-long debacle. He’s 14 years old – kids his age should be playing video games and having crushes. And he’s doing so… all tempered by his inadvertent involvement in an interstellar war. All for a cause that was built on a reconstructed persona. He’s inherently going to sort through the mess. The question is, should he?
Amethyst argues no. Steven counters by his action, and Amethyst attempts to run off. To Steven’s eyes, she’s dodging the emotional turmoil; to her eyes, he is. Frankly, Amethyst is much closer to the truth than Steven right now despite the show’s presentation of the chase that follows this moment, a deliberately ironic choice on behalf of the Crewniverse.
Speaking of which, said chase – where Amethyst turns into a helicopter while running off all while Steven tries to play psychologist – is probably the most over-the-top cartoonish moment this season. Yet, I don’t think it detracts from the atmosphere. Steven Universe can often swing between deep drama and lighthearted comedy, and I think this moment gets the balance quite right. Beyond that, it includes the most literal pun of all time thanks to Amethyst’s helicopter shapeshift (“You’re literally inside my head!”) Credit where credit is due, I got a laugh out of this one.
It culminates with a literal crash back to where the two started today’s search, and where Steven effectively started his own path to today’s events – the beach. Amethyst, uninjured by this turn of events, lays it on the line, a brutal yet unflinching declaration… of self-assurance:
You wanna know how I feel, Steven? […] I feel like I don’t want to say, “What about me?” Okay? And I don’t want to be bent out of shape, I don’t wanna be stuck in the past, and I’m not responsible for what Rose did. None of us are! Not you, not Pearl, and not Garnet. But I am responsible for me! And right now, I am not gonna dump another thousand-year-old complex on you or anybody else! I’m ending it right here.
I am the ding-dong sunshine future! Your friend, forever…
And I’m not gonna fall apart on you.
So, Steven, how do you feel?
Steven Universe lays it on the line – to love and care for others is beautiful, and to love yourself is divine. It’s not selfishness, it’s self-preservation. Steven has captured the former to almost a fault – he must capture the latter. It won’t be easy. But Amethyst, after so long in her own psychological midst, is now leading the way. You have four Crystal Gems with levels of self-loathing and self-doubt. Pearl went through her arc of acceptance and surrendered the largest ghost of her past, though the effects of the past still visibly linger. Garnet is still in pieces, believing her life was a lie. Amethyst is confronting her agonies head-on and solo – at the very least, she’s leaving them to the side for the time being and serving as the new leader of the Crystal Gems.
Remember “Friend Ship” and Garnet’s rebuttal to Pearl? “I’m not as strong as you think. I fell apart over this. Ruby and Sapphire were in turmoil over how you deceived me. I came undone. It’s not easy being in control – I have weaknesses too, but I choose not to let them consume me. I struggle to stay strong because I know the impact I have on everyone.” This reclaims Garnet’s thesis in that episode, moves it over to Amethyst, and reframes it in a more positive light. It won’t be easy, but Amethyst will reunite the Crystal Gems and won’t let her doubts about the situation derail the end goal – the reconstruction of the team better than ever before.
The question remains – will Steven be able to help himself when the chips are down?
If the episode were to end here, Amethyst noting that Steven is a great person while being one herself, and the latter declaring her “the most mature Crystal Gem” despite her protests, it would be great. For a character who was introduced as Steven’s psychological equal, the tomboyish hedonist of the trio, the character development the show gave can’t be understated. The Crewniverse have taken the archetype of the id-driven womanchild, deconstructed it, and rebuilt the character from the ground up. She’s still Amethyst, she’s still the best friend, and now she’s in control of her future. Add in Michaela Dietz’s delivery of the aforementioned missive, and you have quite a powerful statement.
But we still have an arc to move on, and we end with Greg and Ruby on top of Brooding Hill. Trust me, it’s less dramatic than that sentence makes it. So we have some more road to go before the “Garnet Collapse” plot thread is complete, and we’ll be getting some insight into Greg’s reaction very soon.
“Why would Ruby be a cowboy?” Why, indeed, Sapphire?
As far as this outing is concerned, “What’s Your Problem” does a damn fine job of completing Amethyst’s character arc, gives foreshadowing to Steven’s own character arc in the show’s epilogue, and provides a pivotal lesson in self-care. In short, it’s some of Steven Universe‘s greatest hits, the show starting to take some final bows as it dips off the stage. Its biggest fault is being in a show that gave the world the likes of “Mindful Education” and “Steven vs. Amethyst”; the comparison to greatness means that “What’s Your Problem” must settle for relative midtable. Again, that’s still great by normal TV standards, but SU is a bit better than quite a bit of TV.
Hell, ten years after this show first aired, almost six after this episode aired, it can still be the path on which to build the ding-dong sunshine future. No cancellation, no trimmed runtime, will ever take that away.
Tidbits:
- Did you like Deedee Magno Hall’s expressions of grief across the past five seasons? Were you pulled in by Erica Luttrell’s expression of despair back in “Keystone Motel”? Good news, you get a two-for-one special, with Sapphire and Pearl crying their eyes out. Nice job, Crewniverse… you sadistic nuts.
- This is the last “normal” episode to be written by Katie Mitroff (she contributed to two longer installments), so I might as well tip my hat to her right now. While her tenure had a few episodes that didn’t exactly gel with me (“Onion Gang” and “Restaurant Wars”), she was also behind some stone-cold classics – “Back to the Moon”, “Same Old World”, “The Answer”, and “Alone Together” come to mind, and those are just the normal-length outings. (She was one of the pens behind “Bismuth”.) Thank you very much for your contributions to such a fantastic series.
- Meanwhile, this is the last normal episode of the Original Series that Paul Villeco worked on. He will have some more contributions in the Future epilogue, so I’ll hold off on a tribute until then. (Looking at you, “Homeworld Bound”.)
- There’s also a brief scene where Amethyst and Steven are underwater, and Steven uses the same bubble that he instinctively used back in “Bubble Buddies”. How intriguing, given that Amethyst was possibly the most vocally supportive of Steven asking Connie out. Of course, Amethyst isn’t in the bubble because, you know, Gems can breathe underwater.
Wrap-Up:
Favorite Scene: Steven and Amethyst playing therapist to one another at Fish Stew Pizza. Quite understated, yet quite poetic.
Best Character: Amethyst
Memorable Quote: “I am not gonna dump another thousand-year-old complex on you or anybody else!” I really could’ve picked much of Amethyst’s dialogue, but this particular line underscores how far this character has progressed.
Verdict: Silver, but that’s more due to competition than anything. There’s a reason why Steven Universe remains a pivotal watch a decade after it launched. “What’s Your Problem” enters the episode rankings at #73, behind “Lion 4: Alternate Ending” and ahead of “Garnet’s Universe”.
The Review Nebula 