Comics Review: Steven Universe #21

Learn a tune or two.

Our Take:

Peridot, as we know, absolutely loves Camp Pining Hearts, and has watched every episode. During one of her reruns, she fixates on one of the episodes where Percy decides to sing a song. Particularly, his song details his remorse for his actions.  As he put his soul into the performance, the campers are moved and accept his apology. Peridot is also moved by the song, as she feels that the song very closely reflects her own situation in having seen the error of her ways of being employed by Homeworld. As a result, she’s taken to the song and tries to mimic the vocals herself.

Steven thinks that she did a good job, and introduces her to the concept of song covers. She intrigued but gets immensely frustrated with the fact that she can’t get it perfect right away.

Our Take:

Anyone who has attempted to play a musical instrument before knows that it’s not easy. Don’t be fooled by classical performances or bands on stage- there is a precise craft involved, and it’s not something that people can just jump into. There is talent and understanding the concepts for sure, but it’s hard to pick things up right away, and even harder to get things right the first time around. After all, any sort of mastery of music, the arts, any craft, requires a lot of practice. No matter how good your teacher is, if you don’t put in the time and effort, then there’s no way that you can improve. Because Peridot is from Homeworld, where careers are decided upon birth and one’s entire life is already predetermined, branching out and trying new things isn’t really a concept. As a result, neither is hard work for the sake of improving a new craft. As a result, Peridot becomes increasingly frustrated with being unable to properly mimic Greg, an expert. These feelings are sad, not uncommon among beginners to any craft. You want to get there, but the goal seems impossible.

Luckily, Peridot doesn’t give up. She comes to understand that she needs to put in hard work in order to get what she wants. In the end, she’s able to succeed and play the very start of the song- not bad for a beginner! Even though it’s not the entire song, it’s still very impressive for someone who was just starting out and isn’t something to be discounted.

I’m really liking these comics. They feel a lot like the actual show: fun, charming, but has something to say. Most importantly, it conveys its message in a tender manner, never losing that undercurrent of hope.