Review: Steven Universe “Sadie Killer”

Is this episode a killer or bad filler?

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The episode kicks off when Steven comes to visit Sadie who’s pretty on edge as she’s taking over two work-shifts at “The Big Donut” by herself in combination with the absence of Lars weighing heavily on her mind, but it leads to Steven revealing that he’s been partaking in a band with the “Cool Kids” Sour Cream, Jenny Pizza and Buck Dewey with Steven inviting her in which she responds that she’ll try to show up. Later, Buck shows up saying they now have a gig but the pressure is on as they’re pretty damn unprepared and they don’t have any songs made nor a band name. By the time Sadie shows up, they decide to call it a night and meet up tomorrow.

The next day Steven and the “Cool Kids” show up at Sadie’s house after her shift is over and spends much of the running time showing the “Cool Kids” bonding with Sadie when they awkwardly discover her love for classic horror films which eventually leads to them breaking into a musical number with Sadie doing vocals in a song called “The Working Dead” the lyrics while catchy, perfectly encapsulates the current frustrations of her job while mixing the fun factor with classic horror synth sounds into something that could easily pass as a something you’d hear on a Halloween party playlist but the band loves it so much it earns her the nickname “Sadie Killer” yet sadly she turns down the offer to be leadsinger due to her intense shift.

Later, Steven comes to Sadie for scary lyric ideas, but she vents out the sadness of working without Lars in her life combined of with feeling the uncertainty of being in a band despite the idea of it being the best escapism for her. When Steven tells the “Cool Kids” she can’t come, they decide to go without her but out of nowhere Sadie chases after them and says she can finally be part of the band and the episode ends with a surprise twist regarding the outcome of Sadie’s Job.

Our Take

With all the changes made within Beach City since “Dewey Wins“, this is possibly one of the more positive ones. Sadie as a character is now given proper development without Lars despite feverishly missing him but it’s the most open and happy we’ve seen Sadie in a while. Also, the twist ending regarding what’s become of Sadie’s stress-inducing job gives me a lot of predictions to what might happen next if the writers are going to take that direction.

When you think about it, Lars & Sadie separately have dramatically changed in different ways but whether or not it’ll be a positive reunion if the two ever meet again remains to be seen in future episodes.