Steven Universe S03E15, "Alone at Sea"

[kate_nepveu]

. . . hmmm.

I am not quite sure the pacing on this episode worked fully. I think the Jasper confrontation needed a little more meat on its bones? I got the impression that Jasper was lonely and seeking what she's been taught to value, power, via fusion, but somehow it didn't quite land the way I wanted it to, maybe because it came so late in the episode. I'm impressed they're trying something this complex with the black-hole abusive relationship, again, and I think it was almost there. Or it's just fatigue talking. I dunno.

("Thanks but... I'm not putting that on my body." I love Lapis' bored/disgusted/side-eyeing faces.)

(S.S. Misery, indeed. Whether "loves company" or Stephen King, I see what you did there.)

Comments

[rushthatspeaks]

I loved this one, because of the subtle thing it did which makes me think that somebody in the writers' room has been in an abusive relationship and really understands them.

The episode frames it so cleverly, with Jasper coming back and making the whole 'I've changed, it will be different, you've changed me' speech, and everyone in the audience sits here going oh god, Lapis, don't go back to the terrible abusive thing, and what I am betting most of us watching have forgotten, because I haven't seen it mentioned online at all and I am looking, is that Lapis is the abuser here.

Jasper asked to fuse with Lapis. Jasper was clear about her reasons: strength, power, fight the war. Lapis agreed, and then double-crossed Jasper the moment they fused, dragged Malachite off into the ocean, chained her, and kept her from either carrying out Jasper's clearly stated goals or separating. We in the audience have been feeling basically okay about this, because Jasper is a threat to everything we care about, and because Malachite does, in fact, keep Jasper from doing as much damage as she probably otherwise would. It may have been the best idea, under the circumstances! It totally sucked for Lapis, and it's genuinely going to take her a long time to recover!

... from extensively psychologically torturing both herself and a person who had as far as we know done nothing of the sort to Lapis or to anyone else. Jasper never even lied about her own goals; it's just, they are opposing goals.

Is torturing enemy combatants while they are in custody an okay thing to do? Of course not. Torturing yourself at the same time doesn't make it any more acceptable.

Jasper reads the unfusion as a rejection. Jasper says I'll be stronger next time, you changed me, I'm good enough for you now, please come back, you can hurt me again all you want, I know you liked it, please come back. Jasper is in a mode of needing her abuser's approval, of needing the terrible dynamic between the two of them because even though it hurts it's the only way she can feel good enough. Jasper has no reason to expect any other Gem on Earth ever to fuse with her, and fusion is taboo on Homeworld. Jasper is willing to take the abuse for the sake of having the relationship, because she would rather have the relationship than nothing, now that she has had a relationship at all.

It was difficult and brave for Lapis not to take her up on it. I think the reason Lapis could manage not to was that Lapis has other, healthier relationships, whereas Jasper at the moment does not. But, in thinking it over and looking at the outcomes of what Lapis did, this one moment of difficult bravery does not actually make up for the rest of it. Lapis knows that; she's looked at what she did and she does not like what she sees. Jasper has a point right now with the word monster, and it's going to be a long road even for Lapis to stop being one, let alone for her to make amends.

All that, in about fifteen seconds, disguised carefully as its exact opposite. Because of this way of framing it, we never lose sympathy, or empathy, for Lapis. We can follow her thoughts, we want her to recover, we want to help her out of this dynamic. We don't write her off as terrible, because we know her, and because this episode so carefully puts us on her side.

I am absolutely certain that the fact that Lapis is the abuser here is going to be explicitly addressed later, because this isn't a show that countenances torture. And it is going to be fascinating watching the fandom handle it, because I am also absolutely certain that Lapis is going to get a redemption arc, and that the writers are not going to let any of the complexities vanish; we are going to see all of the consequences of Malachite and the way everyone moves on from it, good, bad, or indifferent, and no one will be entirely evil or entirely right, and the audience will not be allowed to write anybody off.

Wow, show. Just, wow.

[avram]

It may have been the best idea, under the circumstances!

This episode demonstrates how easily Lapis could have beaten Jasper without fusing, The fight was taking place on a beach; Lapis had as much water as she needed to smack Jasper with with right there! Lapis doesn't have the excuse of needing to engage in dysfunctional fusion to save the Earth; she did it because she wanted to hurt Jasper.

[rushthatspeaks]

I think that's true. I also think Lapis wanted to stop being herself. Also not a great idea.

Malachite is, as well, Lapis's way of trying to get some agency over her situation, and I'm sure Lapis feels that on some level she was only meeting violence with violence. Not remotely a good enough excuse. I'm also pretty sure Lapis would say that she wanted a longer-term solution to the problem of Jasper than just punching her, which is not an excuse either, because the Crystal Gems demonstrate that you can, in fact, spend thousands of years just punching gem shards when you need to and have that be an aggravating but manageable status quo.

Violence of some kind seems to be what all the Gems, not just Lapis, resort to habitually when they have no idea what else to do, which is one reason Steven's position as breaker of patterns and forger of new, healthier models is so significant. I'd say that habitual violence is a characteristic trait of Gems, except that, uh, also a trait of many, many humans, just not mostly the ones this show focuses on. Culturally, the Gems are all certainly encouraged to be violent, and not to think things through overmuch.

Going to be interesting to see what the writers do with Jasper, since physical violence is one of Jasper's major things, and we've seen her trying to work with others so far only in a context where Jasper frames that as 'this is how we can be more efficiently violent'. And she is met with violence both times she asks for something, too, though I am way, way, way more down with the second time and Lapis punching her, because punching Jasper is at least a proportionate response. But Jasper is, I think, going to have to learn something else to want and some other ways to react to situations, and we really have no hints yet as to what those are going to be, as Steven has not yet had a chance to interact with her except while she's actively being a danger to him.

[kate_nepveu]

This is so interesting, thank you both, and I suspect that it is partly why the scene wasn't landing for me quite right!

[caminante]

Wow, this is some incredible analysis, thank you for it! I haven't been able to put my finger on what seems off with Lapis's characterization to me and you just laid it all out!