Nice low-key episode this time. I was a little worried after last week's heady backstory drama that the rest of this stretch of episodes would all be super-intense, but this dialed it back enough for a silly plot while still letting us know some nasty stuff is on the horizon.

Well, Lapis is sapient.

I'm confused that you're lumping in Lapis with an insectoid monster. She was clearly looking out for Steven's well-being in this episode!

Yeah, it did come off a little better on rewatch. I was probably projecting my own anxiety onto Pearl.

The weird thing is that by goading everyone into commenting again and again, he's actually making the show look more important and successful to the AV Club people.

There's something really sad about the final shot of Pearl in the episode, where she and Steven are riding Lion. Her eyes are out-of-focus and she looks like she's deep in reminiscence.

I know this guy's a troll, but I'm not sure anyone deserves to have their dirty laundry aired like that.

Can you just express your opinion once and move on?

Alone Together was groovy. It feels like a loving throwback to and reconstruction of a forgotten era of animation. I just wish I knew what era that was.

Yeah, it was freaky. The show isn't as comfortable with giving Pearl those raw emotional moments as it is with Amethyst. But this episode was definitely a step in the right direction after "Space Race".

Yeah, I definitely got the feeling that Pearl has been pining for Rose for a long time. And I am *not* a shipper by any stretch of the imagination.

It is time for everyone to exercise proper restraint and use the "minimize" button.

the Gravity Falls thing only really worked because Disney only airs a new episode every three weeks at best. When we're getting six episodes in a single week…

"arthouse films"? That's your idea of sophistication?

Yeah, I loved the holographic conversation. It does seem like the sort of thing Pearl might do under stress.

My favorite not-covered episode is probably "An Indirect Kiss", just because it manages to tell a heavier story like the past couple episodes with two separate plotlines while not feeling strained at all. It covers how the Gems deal with stress and how Steven relates to the Gems and his mother. And it's got the twist…

This episode had a lot of powerful moments but was kinda unwieldy as a whole. The issue is that, while it made great reuse of previous environments and plot points, it also had to work overtime to introduce new characterization. I mean, we've already seen Pearl's nervousness overflow many times before, but this was a…

Personally, Steven Universe can have some melodramatic elements, but I don't really find them any more sentimental or overwrought than the Ice King's backstory or the stuff about the Mushroom War. I like that stuff, and it was probably the impetus for me to check out the show in the first place, but at the same time…

I'd say that it's a lot more comfortable as a kid's show than Adventure Time is. Most episodes are built around clear morals, even if they subvert them at the last moment for comic potential. They generally don't head into muddy/symbolic territory like AT has recently. There are moments where the show does head into…

The one who sounds the most different now is Amethyst. She's gotten raspier.