It’s just kind of a shame that it didn’t get to stand on the sole strength of past-Greg’s realization.Īnd that’s week two of the Summer of Steven! Eleven episodes down, ten more to go. And finding that happy medium with Greg, a character who’s never fit into the typical American mold of “successful productivity,” is an interesting piece of nuance. Getting a job is what helped him feel secure and able to take care of himself. It’s almost a companion to “We Need to Talk,” with Greg struggling to be a self-sufficient person who can contribute mutually to his relationships, in the same way he wanted Rose to be open and honest with him. Rather, Greg’s problem is that he’s still “a baby.” He relies on others without really being in a place where he can give anything back, and he realizes that he doesn’t want to do that anymore. And it isn’t that he lives in his van, which the show’s never judged.
It’s not that he needs to grow up and give up his dreams for a steady job – he’s clearly lost his passion for music as a career, and just wants to be with Rose.
Though the portrayal of Greg’s situation is more nuanced than many other series might bother with. This is basically a more positive spin on that trite “growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional” saying that’s been slapped across a million bumper stickers and $5 shirts, and it winds up feeling more cringey as a result. But that episode had the excuse of wanting to clearly convey an important subject not frequently discussed in media made for (or to include) younger audiences. Like “Alone at Sea,” the statement of message here ends up being pretty blunt. It’s also nice to see Vidalia, who is the best, and eternally chill baby Sour Cream and the scene of Greg mooching some cereal is definitely the work of someone who’s been there, hungry and well-meaning and still kind of thoughtless about their impact on others. The babysitting stuff is cute, a nice foreshadowing for how good Greg is with Steven, and the various hijinks have a solid madcap energy (even if the whole thing could’ve been solved by asking Rose to fly up there any get Sour Cream in the first place). And it falls down a little more in that aspect. With all that talk about Rose aside, this is really Greg’s episode. With the tragedy of loving Rose hanging so heavy over the series, it’s nice to get a little bit of happiness too. The image of them just hanging around and reading goofy books together is the kind of grounded domesticity that the end of “We Need to Talk” opened the door to, and it’s nice to see that potential fulfilled. The musical montage at the beginning of the episode might be its strongest note, able to convey joy and creeping desperation and the downsides of having a fantastic alien girlfriend through song (and Greg, I hope Steven never stops asking you for songs). This also seems like the moment when Rose really starts thinking about children in regards to her relationship with Greg – and there’s no doubt Steven’s birth was part of some larger plan, even if her love for Greg was real.īut even with all that serious talk, it’s nice to just see them just spending time together actually enjoying one another’s company. Once Rose realized that Greg was totally alien in worldview as well as species, and someone she could really talk to, it seems as if it was inevitable that she would love him.
Rose’s monologue about Gem determinism versus human free will gives us a glimpse into how she sees the world: Gems are taught to do one thing forever from the moment they’re born, and I would bet that includes Rose so no matter how she came to desire a different way, that initial mindset would still inform how she tries to bring others to her side. And it winds up being somewhat telling here, too. It’s telling that the moment that really cemented her relationship with Greg was the one genuine break in that façade. Rose is someone who seems to be always performing, presenting the face that people need to see in order to move those around her toward what she seems to think is the greater good. Our glimpses of her have still been minimal up to this point, and most of them were staged somehow, from leaving Steven a message to playacting the Manic Pixie Dream Girl for Greg to the legendary warrior of “The Answer” and “Rose’s Scabbard.” This episode delivers something we’ve needed for a while, particularly now that Steven is developing his powers and becoming more proactive: a better sense of Rose as a person. The Recap: Greg tells Steven about how he got his job at the car wash after a disastrous day of babysitting an infant Sour Cream.