Review: Steven Universe “The Good Lars”

An episode full of Ube cake-flavored filler.

Spoilers Below

The episode begins when Steven tries out a gimmicky pumpkin-themed pastry made by Lars which Steven enjoys but Lars being the insecure dipshit that he is, tends to be too hateful to confess that made it. Shortly after that, Buck Dewey of the “Cool Kids” invites him to a “Potluck” event between friends to hang out him along with Jenny & Sour Cream which Lars awkwardly accepts yet is full of stress about the possibility of fucking it up but encouraged by Steven’s words he decides to make something that “has to be perfect”. We cut to Lar’s house as they try to figure out what to make but then decides on making a pastry involving an “Ube” which is a type of sweet potato.

A good chunk of the episode is spent on them making the pastry together which turns out to be a purple Ube cake roll which according to Steven & Sadie it’s a success in terms of taste since they end up making another because they both ate the whole damn thing. After Sadie leaves, Lars expresses his anxiety to Steven about how he fears he’ll be “uncool” to the eyes of the cool kids for his baking skills but Steven points out to Lars that if they didn’t want him to come they wouldn’t have invited him. The funniest moment to me is when Lars ask’s Steven how he got so mature with his wisdom and Steven’s response is “Somewhere between learning to summon my shield and finding out my mom is a war criminal”. Eventually, Lars with renewed vigor decides to do it assuring Steven he’ll meet them there and Steven leaves to bring his thing to the potluck.

We later cut to Steven & Sadie as they go to Buck’s house with Jenny & Sour Cream who all brought something and were quite friendly towards Sadie just for bringing paper plates so they “don’t have to wash dishes”. Sadie & Steven understandably wonder what’s taking Lars so long so Steven takes it upon himself to search his usual places including his parent’s house and tries calling him but to no avail. After the party, they find the cake lars made in the trash assuming he was too insecure to actually show up. Sadie laments how she wishes he can force him to be happy and despite how awkward she felt at the potluck, they were very cool and welcoming. They both decide to call it a night and the episode ends in cliffhanger fashion when that same large foreboding shadow from “Doug Out” that approached Onion last episode, approaches Sadie.

Our Take

For another filler episode, it was an interesting side to see of Lars, he’s still consistently an insecure jerk with the inability to be as honest & direct with his feelings but I think that’s part of how most teenagers are in social scenarios. Also, those looming shadows from “Doug Out” are really becoming a strong foreboding presence and I’m hoping the next episode will actually explain what the hell they are.

SCORE
6.5/10