Review: Steven Universe “The New Crystal Gems”

The newbs.

Spoilers Below

While Steven and the Crystal Gems are away, Connie, Lapis, and Peridot are left in charge of protecting Beach City. Peridot thinks this means they have to take on the roles of the Crystal Gems. Connie is dubbed Steven, Lapis becomes Amethyst, Peridot claims Garnet, and their pumpkin dog is Pearl. When a client comes to the car wash, the three of them work together perfectly to clean the car. That is where the problems start. Other people want to see Peridot and Lapis using their powers to wash the cars but Peridot thinks that Lapis isn’t being very “Amethyst” by not being overly showy with her powers. Lapis complies by shooting water at everyone. Then Peridot and Lapis start arguing about who is which Crystal Gem. The fight ends when the gems throw a truck into the car wash sign.

Back at the house, Connie gives them a big speech about how they aren’t the Crystal Gems. They are the Crystal Temps. They should just be themselves instead of trying to be someone else. Peridot and Lapis agree and the three (well, four if you count the pumpkin) make a plan to fix everything.

By the time Steven, Greg, and the Gems have returned, everything is fixed. Peridot and Lapis even made a brand new sign for the car wash. It’s a bit flashier than the old sign but Greg loves it.

While this wasn’t the best episode, it was cool to see characters interacting without Steven around. Peridot and Lapis have been on their own for awhile. They aren’t used to working with someone else, much less a human they barely know. The same goes for Connie. She’s used to fighting with her sword. I think she forgot that she could use her brain instead. Maybe this new, Crystal Temp, group could go around fixing problems in Beach City in their own way. They could be a different kind of useful for the city.