Episode no. Season 2
Episode 22 Running time 11 minutes | Original air date January 4, 2016 | |
Directed by Byung Ki Lee (animation)
Jasmin Lai (art)
Joe Johnston (supervising)
Ian Jones-Quartey (co-excutive producer) Written by Lamar Abrams
Katie Mitroff ← Previous
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"Steven's Birthday" | ||
"The Answer" is the twenty-minute episode of the second season of American animated television series Steven Universe, which premiered on January 4, 2016 on Cartoon Network. It was written and storyboarded by Lamar Abrams and Katie Mitroff. The episode was viewed by 1.384 million viewers.
Contents
The episode takes place at midnight on Steven's birthday. During that time, Garnet tells him the story of how Ruby and Sapphire met each other, formed their romantic relationship, and eventually joined the Crystal Gems. The episode received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Short-format Animation, and was adapted as a best-selling children's book.
Plot
The episode begins with Steven (Zach Callison) sleeping on the back of a pickup truck in his family barn. Suddenly, Garnet (Estelle) appears and wakes Steven up because it is midnight, meaning his birthday has arrived. Garnet's plan of telling Steven that she is a fusion was ruined by the events of "Jail Break", but she instead offers to tell the tale of how Ruby (Charlyne Yi) and Sapphire (Erica Luttrell) first met and came to be Crystal Gems, which excites Steven.
Garnet introduces the setting as Earth, 5,750 years ago; Homeworld was in the process of colonizing the Earth, but a group of rebels were halting progress. As a result, a team of diplomats was sent to Earth to investigate, among them being Sapphire and three Rubies who were assigned to be her bodyguards. Sapphire was summoned by Blue Diamond, the leader of the mission, to give a report of the possible outcomes surrounding the rebellion in the future, and along the way, two of the Rubies, who accompany Sapphire, discuss how they will fight the rebels, punching each other in the process. The third Ruby is shoved into Sapphire and apologizes, but Sapphire excuses her, referring to her future vision. While her Rubies wait, Sapphire approaches Blue Diamond and informs her of the future – the rebels will attack the Cloud Arena, defeating seven Gems in the process, including Sapphire herself and two of the Rubies, but despite this, the rebels will be captured, ending the rebellion. Blue Diamond thanks her for telling this future, and Sapphire leaves and rejoins her Rubies.
Immediantly afterward, a voice urges Blue Diamond to abandon Earth. Hearing this, everyone sees that the rebels have appeared, and they reveal themselves to be Rose Quartz (Susan Egan) and Pearl (Deedee Magno), the original two Crystal Gems, as they begin attacking the Homeworld Gem diplomats. The attack proceeds exactly as how Sapphire had foreseen, and Pearl approaches Sapphire after Rose "poofs" two of the Rubies. She thanks the remaining Ruby for her efforts, making her realize that Sapphire knew the future all along and had accepted her fate. Ruby refuses to accept this outcome and then jumps towards Sapphire, saving her and unintentionally fusing with her and forming Garnet for the first time. Garnet is utterly confused as to what happened, as the crowd of diplomats stare in surprise, anger and disgust. Rose stops Pearl from attacking Garnet as they flee the arena.
Garnet immediately defuses and the crowd surrounds Ruby and Sapphire. Blue Diamond is disappointed that what happened was not exactly what Sapphire had foreseen, and Ruby intervenes by taking the blame. Blue Diamond sentences Ruby to be broken, but Sapphire grabs her and escapes, jumping down into Earth's surface. Ruby is furious that she failed to protect Sapphire, and Ruby's impulsive nature had stopped Sapphire from seeing the future. Ruby accompanies Sapphire to shelter and they hold out during a rainstorm. Ruby expresses her frustration of failing her mission of saving Sapphire, but she tells her that Ruby already saved her. They discuss their feelings of when they were fused as Garnet, along with the strange new properties they inherited from each other. The two Gems sing the song "Something Entirely New", exchanging thoughts of love and caring for each other, and end with a fusion dance, fusing into Garnet once more.
Garnet was beginning to get used to her new form as she continued sustaining her fusion. She tumbles down a hill into Pearl, who recognizes her, and Rose arrives. After Garnet's plea for mercy, Rose urges her to stay fused. Garnet is concerned that she may be upsetting Rose, but Rose mentions that the most important thing of all is how Garnet herself feels as a fusion. She admits to feeling lost and scared, but also happy. Rose welcomes Garnet to Earth, presumably titling her as a new member of the Crystal Gems. Garnet asks Rose many questions about Ruby, Sapphire, and their fusion, but she tells Garnet that she already is "the answer" she seeks to all her questions. As Garnet finishes her story with this, Steven asks her what the answer was, to which she replies is "love". He mentions that he knew it all along, and she agrees.
Production
Episodes of Steven Universe are written and storyboarded by a single team. "The Answer" was written by Lamar Abrams and Katie Mitroff, and directed by supervising director Joe Johnston, while Byung Ki Lee provided animation direction, and Jasmin Lai served as art director. The art style of the episode was inspired by Lotte Reiniger, an animator most well known for directing The Adventures of Prince Achmed, the oldest surviving animated feature film. Rebecca Sugar liked her for doing something new in an era where there wasn't much precedence for animation. Sugar herself has been compared to Reiniger for her milestone of being the first woman to independently create a series for Cartoon Network. Storyboarder Katie Mitroff called this her favorite episode.
Music
The episode features the song "Something Entirely New". The song was arranged by Aivi & Surasshu, the music team for the series, and written by series creator Rebecca Sugar. It features vocals by Charlyne Yi (as Ruby) and Erica Luttrell (as Sapphire). Jeff Ball plays violin for the song. The episode also features several instrumental songs by Aivi & Surasshu: "Happy Birthday, Steven/5,750 Years Ago", "Blue Diamond", "The Rebels/Garnet's First Fusion", "Escaping the Colony/Feelings of Love" and "The Answer".
Broadcast and reception
"The Answer" premiered on Cartoon Network on January 4, 2016. Its initial American broadcast was viewed by approximately 1.384 million viewers. It received a Nielsen household rating of 0.30, meaning that it was seen by 0.30% of all households. The episode was the first in a "StevenBomb", which refers to a programming schedule in which one new episode of Steven Universe airs daily during the regular work week.
The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics, with particular praise going to the song "Something Entirely New" and the voice acting by Estelle. Several critics favorably compared the episode to a fairy tale. Lyn Muldrow of Autostraddle said that Steven Universe had "out-gayed" itself with this episode. Eric Thurm of The A.V. Club was somewhat critical of the episode, giving it a B+, and stating that it "doesn’t really tell us anything we couldn’t have guessed, or anything that we really needed to know". He also felt that Ruby and Sapphire were still one-note characters, not complex enough to compare to the other characters of the show. Sarra Sedghi of Paste listed "Something Entirely New" as the fifth best song of the show's first two seasons.
Book adaptation
A children's book adaptation of the episode was released on September 6, 2016. It was published by Cartoon Network Books and written by Rebecca Sugar, with art by Elle Michalka and Tiffany Ford. The book reached no. 7 of the New York Times Best Seller List for Children’s Middle Grade Hardcover books on October 2, 2016.
Fusion praised the book as "a subversive fairy tale that both upends and queers the storybook canon". Like Fusion, PBS's report described the book as "part of a larger, changing story about how cartoons portray LGBTQ characters for kids."