Well, Romeo and Juliet were love at first sight, too. I meant internal conflict more than external conflict.

I know it's the best-rated show on the network, but they're airing it like it's the *only* show on the network.

Man, this episode aired between two episodes of TTG. What is up with Cartoon Network and that show? It's apparently listed for seven hours on their schedule for today, and I'm pretty sure the airing before SU was unscheduled.

Well, yeah. I think the real formative aspect of Rose's relationship with Garnet is that neither Ruby or Sapphire probably thought of themselves as a fighter before her suggestion, what with all those huge Kindergarten gems filling the warrior caste.

It is weird, given that Garnet said that, that every fandom representation I've seen of how Ruby and Sapphire met *has* been "love at first sight".

My theory is that Rose knew about Ruby and Sapphire's relationship and offered the two of them the opportunity to fight for their freedom together, as Garnet.

I wonder where those cars landed.

Her parallels with Utena are becoming more apparent.

This was good fun. The premise was a bit of a kids' show cliché, but by god the animation was amazing. I think a lot of people love Joe and Jeff for their big "event" episodes, but they probably have the best sense of humor of any of the boarders, and have a slick, dynamic style that works really well in a more…

*eats apple, explodes*

Jasper's helmet is summoned in a very similar way to the Crystal Gems' weapons.

But it would mean the show is almost halfway over! I am conflicted.

Yeah. I feel like the focus on Peridot has flattened the rest of the Crystal Gems a little, to the point of reducing them to a plot device in certain areas.

On that note: how long would you like this show to last, in the long run? I think 3 seasons would give the show enough time to develop its characters and serialized arcs to my satisfaction. I wouldn't say no to more, though.

So long as we get stuff that looks utterly radiant every now and then like "We Need to Talk", I'm happy.

After that Peridot fan-verse for "Stronger Than You", I've thought that it would be really cool if the Crystal Gems sang and the Homeworld Gems rapped.

It doesn't really bug me when the show pares down its animation style. To be honest, I think the reason for it is because they went to the Kindergarten on an episode that was budgeted like a Beach City adventure.

Of course, that does raise the question of why Steven was able to summon his mother's shield without any training.

I wonder how long it'll take some enterprising fan to step up and give us "The Ballad of Rose and Greg".

On that note, this is one of those episodes where you can definitely see the budgetary restrictions. That scene with the fusion monsters at the end was probably the ricketiest one I've seen on the show.