Review: Steven Universe “I Am My Mom”

Shit gets real in the season 4 finale.

Spoilers Below

Picking up where “Are you my Dad?” left off, Steven warns the other Gems about his encounter with Aquamarine with Pearl wondering why they’d steal specific people within Steven’s circle but whatever the reason it clearly isn’t good since Aquamarine & Topaz are elites that were personally sent by the Blue & Yellow Diamond. Suddenly, Steven gets a picture from Connie’s camera-phone and recognizes the scenery which gives them a solid lead on where they are. When they get to the place, the gems split up while Steven attempts to call Connie and follows her ringtone only to discover it was a trap. Aquamarine mentions there’s a “list” of people they’re after and are curious if Steven knows about this List demanding that they help them out as Yellow Diamond has ordered specifically “six human variations” which are word for word specified in a past report Peridot made when she first encountered Steven in the episode “Marble Madness”.

In other words, when Steven said to Peridot “My Dad” they simple-mindedly thought the words “My Dad” was the name of an actual person and not someone related to him. Steven comes to the horrifying realization that in his first encounter with Peridot from Season 1, he indirectly gave them a list of people to kidnap. As the Crystal Gems try to stop them, they’re put at a disadvantage since Topaz uses the captured people as a human shield while Aquamarine uses her wand to repel people from trying any long distance attacks and further fucks with them psychologically by asking if the report specifies if they wanted them alive and threatens to crush Jamie’s head unless Steven tells her where “My Dad” is so Steven does the selfless thing and gives himself up allowing himself to be fused into Topaz.

Steven attempts to separate everyone safely by creating a bubble within Topaz which doesn’t immediately work due to Jamie going overdramatic about their peril but after they enter Aquamarine’s ship, he manages to concentrate a bubble separating everyone safely. Aquamarine then orders Topaz to recapture them but as everyone tries to get ready to leave the ship, Lars shows how much of a cowardly dipshit he is when he freezes up and runs away when Sadie gets recaptured which is a dick-move. With the exception of Lars, Steven & Connie manage to get everyone out and Steven starts to feel guilty blaming Rose and himself for putting everyone in danger. The Gems manage to stall the ship long enough by taking the fusion form of “Alexandrite” which is abruptly stopped by Aquamarine’s powers. The episode ends in cliffhanger fashion when Steven offers himself in their place by revealing that he’s technically his mom since he’s the human/gem hybrid of Rose Quartz. The leader of the Gem Rebellion thousands of years ago.

Our Take

A lot happened in this episode that I didn’t expect but whenever Rebecca Sugar releases promotional material for a wave of new episodes, it’s often lightheartedly deceptive. Eventually, we’ll find out what will happen to Steven & Lars later when Season 5 begins at the end of May. If the writers wanted to keep us hooked for the next season, mission accomplished!