But I must add that from the viewpoint of optics, it's hella good that the Crewniverse is extremely, almost painfully, obvious with gay romance now. Maybe it's a bit odd that marriage is a big deal now to alien gems, but given the attempts at censorship and they're-just-friendsing, it's megagood that denial just flat out isn't possible.

5. The Question

I felt somewhat that like with Now We're Only Falling Apart, I'm clearly not the target audience, guessing very early on that this is an episode about remaining individual in a relationship (which doesn't really speak to me as an individual) and getting closure. Falling Apart was about Pearl getting insight into what her relationship with Rose was (which I also felt like I knew) and also closure. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the episode, it's just that I didn't get that much more insight into the characters than I already had, but I'm sure kids don't mind and given the awkward scheduling, probably benefit from repetition.

Honestly, I loved that Greg saw some use here and that he has relationships with gems outside of Steven. I think lesser shows would forget about those or make him into a buffoon. Amethyst as a horse was hilarious and the more western comic with more realistic presentation than the show itself was pretty great stuff. But I do wonder what Pearl and Sapphire talked inside.

Also, I've noticed that this show has a genre pastiche for everything. Now it had its own western episode! What's left, honestly?

4. What’s Your Problem

Very good episode, imo. Hardly any action besides talking, but I think the Crewniverse managed to make it compelling by attention to the manner of delivery. My favorite crystal gem keeps changing and now it's either Pearl or Amethyst, the latter reaffirmed based on this episode. She took real leadership here in a healing manner, which I suppose really is what the show wants to take us from it.

I mean it's basically one of the most obvious aspects of the show, but I love how the set up of three "moms" keeps delivering. Pearl has very teen problems despite being the most conventionally mom like, Amethyst can be mom-like in a cool big sister way or behave like a cool big sister. Garnet feels a bit aunt like to me.

Off topic, but still related: do you remember the strawberry fields back in an early episode when the Crystal Gems went off to investigate the ruins of a temple? It turns out that strawberries flourish in a sandy soil and sand is nothing than fine grained quartz. So basically it's an ancient battle field, it's the Verdun or Somme of the Gems. Fan theory? Very much.

3. Now We're Only Falling Apart

The lore dump continues! Nothing too surprising, in fact I'm feeling that this batch of episodes sorta ought to be watched as a kind of a TV movie.

This is a jump, but I can't help but think of Bismuth. She was right.

Syndication starts at hundred episodes and all the sweet sweet syndication cash starts as well then.

that's kind of a lot.

been listening to harmon's podcast with jessica gao. loved andrew ti (yo is this racist) for years so I was super pumped with their crossover episodes and hints that dan is a fan. andrew is a writer when he's not doing yo is this racist, so i'm really hoping he gets on board for writing rick and morty.

also same

woah same

same

one of my friends used to talk about it and i thought it was over the hedge and I was confused why he liked the squirrel movie so much

i actually havent but i feel like i should

baked fresh take: only arcless AT episodes are good

I must warn you, while disagreement is tolerated, I have access to the ban button as well.

I don't discriminate between filler and plotful episode and even then, I know that I'm using "filler" somewhat wrongly. But I think the show has only gotten better as the time has went and the first and second seasons can't hold the candle in comparison to what has come later. It's sort of weird, however, that AT stopped being this cultural phenomenon all the while it kept getting better and better.

baked fresh take: only arcless AT episodes are good

every time they hit the THIS IS THE PLOT NOW button it made me want to go back to the first two seasons. I really think the show shines when it's doing more in ten minutes than most shows do in 45.

Honestly I thought this was a somewhat shit article, but I thought it might spawn some thoughts about the cartoon and fandoms and shit anyways. Here's my rants:

Honestly I feel like this is a pretty shallow reading of the show, which is ironic given that this piece considers it dumb. I've yet to see any rise in "I'm a piece of shit" defenses either, it's not like the trumps, weinsteins and abu bakr al-baghdadis of the world are openly flaunting their flaws. Lastly, I'm not sure that the piece has identified what drives the "bad fandom", since things like Steven Universe, My Little Pony and Undertale, while advocating very different values and the first one a conception of masculinity incompatible with Rick's, have had notoriously toxic fandoms as well. The biggest difference seems to be the god damn Szechuan sauce debacle, which couldn't have happened without the help of the McDonald's itself and will probably remain one of a kind event.

The problem with R&M is mostly how it makes Rick both cool (on shallow reading at least) and practically indestructible in face of his own poor judgement. He's free in a way that the mediocrities of the family Sanchez can't compete with and must appeal to those as well who are trying to find salvation in technological progress (the future lanyard types). It's sort of like war movies, anti- or prowar, might do more to solidify the idea that violence is the answer or that it's meaningful. The reality of being blown up by a roadside bomb after a few months of low level activity would be terribly anticlimactic and contrary to the demands sense of drama.

I think the edginess of the show is kind of an original sin of animated sitcoms from The Simpsons onward. Rick is sort of a dark Lisa Simpson, the citizens of C137 and Springfield are both fumbling, incompetent morons. Both shows have gratuitous violence (in a way that I guess supposedly satirizes it but fails to do so), family members abusing each other without much of a consequence, plots that are homages to past media (classic film with Simpsons, classic scifi with R&M), celebrity guests. I wonder if a good reading of the things at hand is that adult animation needs some fresh blood and explore new territory.

If only could I figure out what people watched Marvel movies for before Black Panther.

tru

Black Panther? it's cause the guys are hot

if only i could figure out what they do watch them for

I get the sense that no one really cares that the action in marvel movies is bad, because that's not what people watch them for.

Just by casual reading, I stumbled upon a more plausible theory: they're deep in negotiations as fourth season means syndication bux.

Tbh there was enough complaining on the internet about the show when the sauce drama was ongoing that you'd think the show had hemorrhaged 75% of its audience.

i was just shitposting it would be ridiculous if they did it because of the sauce incident

Actually it might be of this, but the solution seems obvious: let Harmon go.

If this is the case then the people of Adult Swim/Cartoon Network are objectively bad at business. Annoying as super intense fandom is, it's a license to print money. I suspect there's some further drama behind the whole shenanigan.