Steven Universe Future Episode 6 Review: A Very Special Episode

This Steven Universe Future review contains spoilers.

Steven Universe Future Episode 6 Review

Hey, remember when Steven Universe was JUST cute, wacky, and endearing? It certainly never stopped being those things but after the huge plot twists, deep character revelations, and massive world building, it’s easy to forget the series’ humble beginnings. The early episodes of Steven Universe had Steven and the Crystal Gems just kinda hang out and go on wacky adventures. We had very small hints of the bigger universe but they were mostly endeavors to endear us to the main cast and the world around them. 

‘A Very Special Episode’ reminded me of those old days with its incredibly low stakes plot of Steven overwhelmed with responsibility. Having to take care of Onion and stop Garnet giving a disastrous safety lesson doesn’t sound like much next to episodes like ‘Volleyball’ or even ‘Change Your Mind’ but it served as a perfect excuse to just have fun again.

Fun that involved getting to see more of Rainbow Quartz 2.0 and Sunstone! We’d gotten small glimpses of them back in ‘Change Your Mind’ but I hoped for something more and this was it! Since both of those fusions lend themselves to more zany adventures, a low stakes fun romp was the perfect place to let them go wild. Rainbow Quartz is an elegant delight but Sunstone really steals the show here. Their final wrap-up of the episode was delivered with a mix of sincerity and 90’s irony that worked majestically. Plus, anyone who considers motion smoothing on TV’s dangerous is worthy of nothing but praise from me.

read more: Steven Universe: Should Steven Forgive Rose?

As frivolous as the episode may seem it does tie-in well with the current season’s arc. Steven taking on too much responsibility is perfectly in line with what we’ve seen before and is just another example of him quickly reaching his breaking point. 

While some may write this episode off as a lark that wasn’t worth an inclusion in this limited season, ‘A Very Special Episode’ gave us a look into the kinds of stories it used to tell with the status quo it now has. That’s a great book end for a show that seems like it’s on the way out and I’m glad we got to have at least one last wacky adventure before the end. 

I’ve also got to give special props to the animators this episode. The expressions Pearl made when she called Steven were nothing short of hysterical. They perfectly conveyed the horror of her situation while still lending themselves to the comedic bent.

Which reminds me, I love that the show doesn’t seem to have any plans to reveal what the hell Onion’s deal is. He’s just a… very strange kid who apparently never ages??? Is he a god? A harbinger of death? The ultimate final villain of the show?

Probably not, but he’s still weird as hell.

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Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter! He also co-hosts a Robotech podcast, which covers the original series and the new comics. Give it a listen! Read more articles by him here!