#finalreview

The final review of Monsterland. I talk about this episode and then compare it to the overall theme of the entire series.

My main podcast link https://anchor.fm/aviawinters <-- You can also find links to multiple platforms see down here as well if you click on the Anchor link.

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/drama-fiend/id1538721833

Breaker: https://breaker.audio/drama-fiend

Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8zZTFkNTMxMC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==

Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/f0y6xdcl

RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/drama-fiend-6rBp4d

so to give my review on the last season of steven universe. At first I thought the main purpose of this series was to complete some character story arcs and tie up lose ends that the previous seasons and the movie didn’t address, but boy, was I wrong! while I did like the season overall, I have some issues with it. The first half of the season felt very unfocused with a lot of one shot episodes that don’t lead up to anything, like when steven meets a bunch of rose quartz gems that look like his mom and he acts all awkward and uncomfortable around them which shows steven his clearly still not over have the lose of his mom even though they clearly established that he was in the previous season and in the movie, but the issue that steven still have issues to work out over his mom is never brought up again thoughout the rest of the season. The next episode focuses on volleyball or white diamond’s pearl and we discover that volleyball used to be pink diamond’s pearl and pink had some violent tendencies which caused the crack over volleyball’s eye and can’t be healed by steven because the damage is more mental then psychical. This might of implied that with pink diamond there was more to her then everyone thought there was and that she was not always the kind loving character we all know, but these issues are never brought again by the end of the season so they are left unresolved. Then the episode with bluebell felt kind of pointless because the whole episode was spend implying both aquamarine and eyeball rudy have turned good when in the end they really didn’t and they continue to hate steven instead of becoming friends with him and they just leave saying they will come back someday to get revenge, but by the end of the season they never do come back, so what was the point of that?

The episode with the two lapis gems felt kind of pointless too because the lapis gems don’t really change their ways and steven never becomes friends with them and they never show up again, so again what was the point of these characters? Then the episode where steven is over-stressed and overworked by trying to do all these different things with the gems at the same time by becoming fusions with them only to be an episode about good time management felt like really low brow writing. it felt like one of those chessy educational videos you whould show to little kids about simple life lessons, that kind of stuff I would expect from early 90s cartoons, but not from a modern progressive show like steven universe.  Then there was the episode where bismuth started to have feelings for pearl when they have a night out together with friends, but again this never really leads to anything because this plot point never comes up in the season again, we never see them fully hook up together and we don’t see them become a fusion, so again what was the point of this?

But then comes the episode that me groan the most, the episode when steven proposes to connie, this is where steven and the season as a whole gets the most dumb. Connie is going away to college soon and steven thinks her going to college means they will become further apart, so he thinks proposing marriage to connie is the thing to do to keep them from growing apart, but he is not sure if it’s the right thing to do, so he asks ruby and sapphire for advice, which I think was literally the worse thing to do because even though ruby and sapphire did fall in love with each other they still done fully understand how human relationships work and that every relationship is different depending how each person feels for each other. Personally I think steven should of asked an actual human being, like his dad? That way he would have been given better advice, he would of know that even though connie was going away they still can have a good relationship and also know that 16 is way to young of an age to propose marriage in the first place and would have avoided her rejection in the first place.  

Then comes the episode that eerked me just as much when steven and his dad go on a road trip together and end up at his dad’s childhood home, they break into his home and discover a lot about his past. I thought the episode was fine up until the last minute, we discover that steven’s dad never had a good relationship with his parents and that steven gets mad at his dad because he never had a normal childhood like his dad had, but those issues never get fully resolved in this episode. We never fully understand why greg never had a good relationship with his parents or why steven got so mad at his dad because he never had a normal childhood. Instead all we get is greg saying to steven that is proud of him for standing up for himself because he never did with his parents. While that is all well and good, it kind of makes it look like steven’s dad doesn't understand the real main issue going on here.  Also I would of liked to have seen more of a redemption arc with jasper since this series is all about villains getting redeemed. Jasper remains stubborn and unable to change her ways or becomes friends with steven until steven literally kills her by shattering her and once she comes back to life she just fully accepts steven has her diamond and quickly changes her ways, I just would of liked to see more of a slow gradual change to her character.  

Now on to the part of the season that I thought was both the best part and the most frustrating, mostly throughout the series we see all the trauma steven as experienced in his past is starting to take it’s toll on him and is coming out to the surface in negative ways by steven lashing out at people and more of his diamond powers coming out and reacting to all his stress in bad ways. I thought it was good in that we finally see the consequences of steven of going all these traumatic experiences and never really fully talking about it and steven constantly putting everyone else’s needs over his own. I thought it was good in showing how a character handles there own PTSD and that if it is not handled in a good way it can escalate in really massive bad ways and that’s okay to ask for help when you can’t handle it on your own. That being said though, it was equally frustrating to watch steven get worse and worse and yet he never seeks help, he constantly pushes the gems away even though he knows he needs help and the gems clearly see that steven is struggling but yet they do nothing. I know typically in this kind of situation other people should not push the person to seek help unless they want to seek help for themselves, but I think there is a point where someone else has to intervene in getting help for that person otherwise they end up doing something drastic to themselves (which eventually does happen to steven). So I think there were plenty of times the gems could of intervened to help steven before it got so bad he turned into a giant monster. Especially with garnet, if one of her powers is the ability to see into the future, she would have been able to foresee the consequences of steven not dealing with his issues properly or not seeking help and would do everything in her power to stop it, like maybe tell steven he if kept bottling up his issues and didn’t admit that he needs help he would turn into a giant monster. 

Furthermore, if the whole point of these season was steven trying to deal with his trauma from all his past experiences, why wasn’t the whole season focused on that? Have the whole season focus on a slow burn of steven progressively getting worse and worse on not handling his trauma very well. I mean we do kind of get that in the first few episodes with steven being more short tempered, irritable and angsty, and more of his gem powers coming out, but that stuff constantly gets interrupted by one shot episodes the focus on different characters and issues that don’t lead anywhere and thus end up being really unnecessary. Then the series takes a drastic turn to escalate the big moment we all know was going to happen. So yeah, the pacing of this season felt very uneven to me.

Furthermore, I was not so sure steven leaving beach city was the best decision for him? I mean yes, I get that he needed to leave to get a break from all the gem world drama and finally be is own person and make his own path out into the world, but at the same time is further isolating himself from everyone he cares about really the best way for him to handle his trauma? Plus does steven even know how to function as an adult on his own? It’s pretty obviously implied steven never went to school, so it’s kind of unclear of how much he knows even the basics of things. Plus if he plans to live on his own from now on, where would he live? Does he know how to get an apartment or a house? Does he know how money works and eventually has to get a job? If so, what kind of job could he get? Plus him being at the age of 16 he is still considered a minor and not an adult, so he wouldn’t be able to do a lot of things adults can do. I guess those are a lot big questions the audience is left to figure out.