Steven Universe recap: The Big Show

Steven directs a documentary of Sadie’s band in an underwhelming episode. 

Of the Beach City residents, Sadie is one of which that has been richly developed over the years to the extent that it feels like she has had a legitimate arc over the series. That’s part of the reason why it was so great to see getting more involved with the Cool Kids (Buck, Sour Cream,  and their band. If nothing else, she deserves this. That goes double for her continued efforts with Sadie Killer and the Suspects, the band she started with the Cool Kids.

And that’s what this should be. This should feel like more of a big deal, but it seems very bland instead. A lot of that is due to the fact that this is shot camcorder documentary style when there’s not really any reason to do that, other than they thought it would make for a nice break from a normal episode. What results, however, is an episode where we feel more disconnected from the band due to that very flourish.

This should be a character building episode for Sadie, and it is to a certain extent, but the documentary format feels more like a barrier to entry rather than an unfiltered look at the band itself.

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To its credit, there are a lot of fun moments throughout like Buck not knowing how to work a tie or Greg getting involved as the band’s manager (which seems like it would be a terrible idea on paper), and Joan freakin’ Jett making cameo at the very end.

Even by Steven Universe standards, though, there’s not very much to this episode. It makes the emotional crux about Sadie and her mom and naturally that takes up a good portion of the episode. It overshadows everything else. This could be fine, but that dynamic has never been one of the strongest on the show.

On the other hand, the song that they perform towards the end in Empire City is completely fantastic. It does make you long for a true musical number on the show that they haven’t done in so long now. Steven Universe, we’re still anxiously awaiting “Escapism”. When’s that going to come?

Overall, this is a fine episode, but, more than anything, it feels somewhat like a stall, which is fine, but Steven Universe can be better than that.