Well, if you were hoping for some plot movement this week you might have to wait. “Escapism” is less transitional than it is tangential, in the sense that the story is largely a self-contained caper in which Steven psychically visits Earth to ask Bismuth for help. Not that this is a bad thing—after a few episodes of portentous subtext and Gems talking dramatically all the time “Escapism” feels like a breath of fresh air, and a deliberate throwback to a sillier period in Steven Universe history: Storyboarded and written by Joe Johnston and former Adventure Time showrunner (and Rebecca Sugar’s old storyboarding partner) Adam Muto, “Escapism” is almost entirely dialogue-free. It’s also very funny.
Despondent and languishing in the cell on Homeworld, Steven and Connie have a hard time finding a way out—the walls are too high, the windows too small, and food is running out. But one of Steven’s abilities seems likely to come in handy: his psychic powers, allowing him to potentially put out a distress call to Bismuth back in Beach City. Steven locates Earth with his psychic empathy powers, only to wake up to see the trees on Mask Island—so that we know, a moment before he does, that he has once again entered the body of one of the Watermelon Stevens. Pretty much the entire episode runs on this basic engine, having Steven go through a series of semi-predictable, but exceedingly well-done joke trials as a watermelon.
Nearly everything Steven does throughout “Escapism” is funny, from the way he tries to sneak away from an incipient war between rival tribes of Watermelon Stevens (one of them has stars on their bellies, the other has lines under their eyes), shaking his head at their innate lust for violence, to shooting seeds out of his mouth to try to make his raft go forward on a windless day, to losing a foot to a hungry watermelon shark—only to hold the shark and comfort it, quenching its thirst for blood. Steven is really at the top of his game here, and Johnston and Muto wring a lot of humor out of the fact that we know him well enough as a character that his moods will scan automatically.
Overripe and decaying, Steven washes up near Beach City, where Lion finds him and brings him to Greg. In another dialogue-free sequence, Steven manages to tell Greg and Bismuth that the rest of the team needs backup before passing out and leaping back to Homeworld. Though Steven can’t talk and we can’t hear Greg or Bismuth (who mostly communicate in gestures anyway), the scene is musically backed by “Escapism,” written by Rebecca Sugar and sung by AJ Michalka, a short and sweet song that acts as more of a button on the scene. It’s a very gentle, tender cap to this adventure, a breather and lightly contemplative moment that’s especially useful since the next episode is going to be the climactic showdown with White Diamond.
The use of this piece music also calls attention to how little speaking there is through the rest of the episode. The quieter moments of “Escapism” really highlight how difficult it is to tell an entire, cohesive story with this little reliance on characters talking: Take the shot of Steven swimming in psychic mind space, seeming not to move (backgrounds are wild) as he starts to head toward Earth—a shot that gets echoed relatively quickly when he washes back onto the shore of Mask Island, still paddling like a maniac. Or my absolute favorite moment of the episode, a shot of a watermelon bird cawing, then flying off of its tree branch perch—only to immediately plummet to the ground. It’s such a simple, predictable, dumb joke (which I mean in an entirely positive way), handled with impeccable timing, to the point where I’ve laughed out loud at it all three times I’ve watched this episode.
His mission accomplished, Steven wakes up back on Homeworld, in the arms of a sleeping Connie, who has promised to stay by his side. (Where else would she go?) After the day he’s had, he’s surprisingly sanguine about the rescue mission: “Guess we’ll see what happens.” You and me both, Steven.
Stray observations:
- At the beginning of the episode, Steven briefly freaks out about how badly his plan has gone, which mostly consists in fretting over what Greg will think: “His only son, in jail, at 14. What a disgrace.” This is a great line, and a great Zach Callison line reading.
- Connie, snapping to attention as it becomes clear that Steven needs to use his dream powers: “Alright, bedtime mister!”
- The runner about how no one can understand Steven’s art is very funny, especially after last week’s bit about Blue Pearl’s drawings. It’s been a while since Steven Universe did a goofy joke about subjectivity and art, and I’m pleasantly surprised to see one this close to the climax!
- Next time: it goes down, as Steven tries to get White Diamond to “Change Your Mind.”
26 Comments
Damn Cartoon Network’s habit of wanting to put specials on long weekends making us have to wait two weeks to find out what the hell happens next, instead of just one.
making us have to wait two weeks to find out what the hell happens next, instead of just one.WHAT.
Yeah, the rest of it is on the 21st.
I hate this show’s schedule so damn much. And I hate Cartoon Network.Oh well. we’ve waited this long just to get new episodes, so I can’t complain too much. Still, how stupid.I guess I just have to remember that this is still a kids show and they likely want to capitalize on whatever holiday’s coming up for more ratings.
“Well, if you were hoping for some plot movement this week you might have to wait.”I have to find out what happens in this show that’s meant to teach retarded kids about feelings!! fuck!!
Hello again! Just putting out a reminder, if you miss disqus and like to interact with some ol’ AV Club commentors, the-avocado.org has your back with a discussion up for the new episode.
One of the weaker recent episodes IMO, but at least the song at the end was nice. “Battle of Heart and Mind” can’t come any sooner!
“quenching its thirst for blood” – or rather, thirst for juice? : )
Took the words – er, seeds – out of my mouth.
“shaking his head at their innate lust for violence”One side had an innate lust for violence. One side had an innate lust for peace. Neither was very helpful until they worked together. Hrm. Hrrrrrrrm.
It’s crazy how much the fandom is freaking out and hating on this episode, I absolutely loved it. AJ Michalka’s singing voice just breaks my heart.
Of Course, they are; Steven Universe has been in dire need of fat trimming for years. An episode like this is just there to soak up the excess foreshadowing the writes insist of cramming into every other random moment of the show. Instead of building the story to fit the bomb format that fans ingest the story.
A lot of people just want lore lore lore and “important” episodes all the time. And that’s fair, I can’t blame them, but yeah, I personally don’t mind a trip to Watermelon Island or even *gasp* a townie episode. They’re fun.
It’s almost as if Steven is half Gem half Earthling and is defined by his role in both worlds or something.Naw that can’t be it the writers are just too dumb to realize the show should permanently take place in space.
I agree I loved this episode and in my opinion it was probably the only good episode in this arc so far.
That the chorus repeats when Steven has to draw in the sand again I found way funnier than I was probably supposed to.
UGH! A- seems a bit generous because much like Watermelon Steven, I found myself impatient and annoyed that I had to put up with this nonsense.Yes, the visuals were beautiful and the song was charming and the plot was cute, but I’ve come to expect all of that from this show. Perhaps this series has spoiled us but all of that has become the baseline; it’s pH neutral. The only way for the show to standout at this point is with the story, and it’s not like there aren’t PRESSING ISSUES to deal with on Home World!You want to know when this episode lost me? It was when Steven resolved to call Bismuth for help. BISMUTH?! I love Uzo Aduba, and it’s nice to see that Bismuth is being treated like the real member of the Crystal Gems she is (instead of the fancy dishes that’re only taken out for the holidays), but she’s on Earth, she’s got no soldiers to help (Peridot and Lapis are still KO’d), she’s not a pilot, and she’s got NO SHIP! You know who I thought, no EXPECTED Steven to reach out to ever since I saw the trailer last week? LARS! He’s already in space, has a ship, a crew, and fighting experience! Plus it’d be rewarding to see the Off-Colors make a triumphant return to Home World. But no, instead, let’s watch a watermelon reenactment of Dr. Seuss’ “The Sneetches,” belly stars and all.Maybe from a pacing standpoint, it does make sense to have a breather, and I won’t pretend like there isn’t anything to enjoy with this episode. The watermelon bird made me lose my shit, if only for the cruel evolution cul-de-sac it represents. I also laughed pretty hard when Watermelon Steven attempted to draw the dilemma and THEN switched to writing it out. But while humor is subjective, good drama will always be appreciated. And I can’t help but feel like Lars would’ve made the better choice for backup. So despite all the effort that obviously went into this episode, the lingering feeling I’m left with is nothing but restless irritation especially with knowing that we have to wait 2 WEEKS for the conclusion we’ve all been waiting for.
Am I the only one really worried about this rapidly evolving and spreading watermelon-based ecosystem?
If only there was a way for us poor people to watch this show, and I mean legally. Please don’t respond to comment with links to pirated content.
It’s not pirating in most places if it broadcasted on TV unless you are charging people to watch it (or if people were charged to watch it directly) and as long as you keep the commercials in place.Also, it isn’t illegal to watch pirated media that falls into that category (i.e. big screen movies). It is, however, illegal to download or upload them.Steven Universe has no commercials, so it’s easy to stream uninterrupted without violating any laws.Still not sharing. Just wanted to comment on sharing vs piracy.
The scheduling on Canada’s Cartoon Network is even more sporadic than in the US, so I buy the season pass on iTunes. Even that’s not perfect. Sometimes the episode is available for download the morning after it airs in the US, sometimes I have to wait a couple of weeks. To put things in perspective, “Escapism” just became available for download today, January 20.
This was seriously one of my favorite episodes in a long time. I’m a sucker for “Show Don’t Tell” narratives, and I feel a breather like this kind of reminds us of the themes we should be focusing on with this arc. The warring Watermelon tribes served as a simple but effective reminder that “This is dumb, we should be working together.” Not saying Steven will easily get the Diamonds to understand that, but it’s a good reminder nonetheless.
Isn’t it funny? Even just five years ago I’d have said narratives about prejudice were too on the nose, but in 2019 I’m like “We need ALL the narratives condemning prejudice, because clearly some people aren’t getting it!”
The watermelon bird might have been the funniest gag I’ve seen on this show.
This isn’t necessarily a bad episode, and I may be seen as a “hater”, but did this really need to be placed in the middle of the climax? I really had to put my annoyance at that to the side to try to understand why the reviewer gave this an A-. Same thing goes for a lot of the side episodes in the series, I’ve usually been forgiving of them but in hindsight the decision to place them when/where they’re placed is, at times, baffling. I understand that all episodes don’t need to be “epic” or “crucial to the story” but like the article said in the beginning, this episode was an enormous tangent.
“Fruitful” because of all the watermelon. I just got that. Sometimes I’m slow.
I’m honestly surprised this got an A-. I thought this was a very boring, confusing, inconsequential episode that just KILLED the momentum that has been building. I don’t have anything against a filler epsiode, but Steven Universe isn’t known for it’s bad filler episodes, and this was just bad. The story of the two watermelon clans didn’t read at all, and there was nothing going on with them that made me interested in any way