Steven Universe 4×24 Review: Are You My Dad

We’re four episodes in to this Stevenbomb, and “Are You My Dad” was the first time any Gem other than Steven showed up; that alone made me love the first couple minutes.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the rest of “Are You My Dad”. While Steven Universe is no stranger to body horror, I’m not sure I’ll ever not struggle with its depiction. For instance, the episode “Cat Fingers” had me laughing so hard I was crying…until it became so cringe-worthy that I almost didn’t continue watching the show at all. Now, while “Are You My Dad” wasn’t quite on that level, the ending of the episode certainly belied its lighthearted beginning.

So, speaking of that lighthearted beginning, not only did we finally get to see the Crystal Gems, but there was some great banter between Amethyst and Steven (about Amethyst ‘drinking beans’, nonetheless), not to mention Garnet and Pearl “building a tiny house for crabs” (which was beautiful proof of how far Garnet and Pearl have come since the beginning of the series). I know I’m gushing a bit here, but as much as I understand that they had to move the story forward, I wish we could have gotten a lot more of this fun stuff before finally learning the mystery of the “giant” and “fairy” type shadows that kept appearing at the ends of this week’s episodes.

As it turned out, those shadows belonged to gems – and new ones, at that: an Aquamarine and a Topaz. Steven met the Aquamarine first, and while as soon as she sprouted wings it was obvious that she was one of the aforementioned shadows, she was unassuming enough for Steven to be more worried about the fact that she was looking for “her dad” than anything else. Not that he immediately forgot about his missing friends – he just didn’t put two and two together until said Topaz appeared with those friends, um, stuck inside of her?

Seriously, I’m still shuddering just thinking about that – and now Connie has been captured as well. The sheer number of people who have been dragged into this (into the Topaz, as it were), combined with the fact that this Aquamarine seems more powerful than her size and original demeanor suggested, certainly leaves me wondering how this Stevenbomb can possibly end on a positive note.