![]() He’s talked back before, but there’s not a trace of childish petulance when he angrily reacts to her implication that he’s the worst Crystal Gem, pointing out that he’s doing what the Gems wanted by getting stronger. Amethyst’s bad mood drives her to insult Steven, and it’s so refreshing to see him stand up for himself as an equal. It’ll soon be overshadowed by their final talk, but I love this conversation. He’s no stranger to comforting the Crystal Gems, but this time his actions are the reason Amethyst needs to be comforted. It makes sense that he’d do something like this, especially if we consider his possible guilt over gloating, but it also makes sense that he sucks at cheering her up in this circumstance, because he’s never had to do it before. Unfortunately the awkwardness gets even worse after this, because we get Steven’s well-meaning but lousy attempt to make her feel better by tanking a video game fight. And unlike Pearl, he’s soon able to notice that something’s wrong, so he gets a pass. So he has his fun, and matches the level of boastfulness that he’s seen from Amethyst herself in a way that’s bratty but understandable. Neither does Pearl, who rubs in Amethyst’s shortcomings by reinforcing the notion that Steven is inferior and reminding Amethyst to take it easy on him. His showboating may seem out of character at this point in the series, but he doesn’t recognize that this isn’t a game to Amethyst. The entire show has been about him trying to become an equal, but now he’s not only equal but superior to Amethyst. ![]() Yes, he’s been training and she’s a slacker, but it’s been such a given that he’s a level below the Big Three Crystal Gems that it’s shocking to see him on top. And honestly? I share her surprise that Steven has surpassed her. On a logical level the most likely outcome is failure, as that seems to be what will drive the plot, but on an emotional level it is rough to see her confidence balloon back up over and over, only to burst at the end of each competition. Watching Amethyst allow herself to be vulnerable around not only Steven but Pearl only to fall short again and again is awful to watch, and the training sequence is expertly drawn out to keep giving us shreds of hope that she’s gonna get a win. Most of this episode is painfully awkward, and none of it is played for cringe comedy. Zuke’n’Florido already showed off their grasp of Sullen Amethyst in Too Far, and ratchet up the tension by directing her sulking ire towards our lead character instead of a newcomer like Peridot. After a glimpse of core-shaking sadness at the very end of Crack the Whip, Amethyst’s walls are right back up at the beginning of this episode. It’s surprising and cathartic to see these two frankly and bluntly describe their problems in a bubble, this could be mistaken for bad storytelling (it’s generally not riveting to see characters just tell us how they feel), but with nearly a hundred episodes of backstory, a therapeutic moment between two close siblings is allowed to be frank and blunt.īut let’s not get ahead of ourselves. After Amethyst bottles up her emotions about Jasper, insecurities from long before Crack the Whip finally explode, leading Steven opening up about his headspace in a major way for the first time since Joy Ride. Amethyst is an episode that makes subtext text. I can’t imagine her relief upon finally outranking someone after all that time feeling like the runt of the litter, but I don’t have to imagine what it would be like to feel that sense of long-awaited progress go up in smoke, because we have an entire episode about it. As I calculated back in Tiger Millionaire, this immense amount of time spent as “the worst Crystal Gem” is roughly relative to 29 years and 11 months in the life of a 30-year-old. We’ve known for a while now that Amethyst came out late and was the youngest, weakest, and smallest surviving Crystal Gem for her entire life until Steven’s birth (unless we count Ruby or Sapphire separately for size). Moreover, I don’t feel that I’m worse than my brother (except at film studies), or that my sister is worse than me (except at Mario Kart, come at me), and there was never any sense of judgment or competition over who was “the best kid” growing up. I’ve always gotten along with my older brother better than Amethyst has with Pearl, and my relationship with my younger sister is nothing like Amethyst’s and Steven’s because I’m only two years and eight days older so I don’t remember life without her. I’m a middle child myself, but there are many ways that I don’t identify with her experience. I’ve talked a lot about Amethyst as a middle child, but here’s where I should clarify that middle children are, shock of shocks, not homogeneous.
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