Cry for Help (Steven Universe)

"Cry for Help" is the eleventh episode of the second season of American animated television series Steven Universe, which premiered on July 13, 2015 on Cartoon Network. The episode was written and storyboarded by Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu.

Steven Universe follows the adventures of a young boy named Steven and the three alien warriors Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, who are together known as the Crystal Gems. Their ultimate goal is to protect the Earth from colonization by other members of the Gem species. In the meantime, Steven must try to harness his own magical powers, which were inherited from Rose Quartz, his mother and the past leader of the Crystal Gems, while finding balance between being half-human and half-Gem.

The episode follows the four Crystal Gems attempting to destroy the Gem communication tower from "Coach Steven" when TV broadcasts are disrupted by signals emitted by Peridot from the tower. In order to demolish the tower, Garnet and Pearl fuse into Sardonyx, leaving Amethyst in dismay. However, the tower keeps getting fixed, and Steven and Amethyst are shocked to see who keeps doing these repairs.

Plot

The episode begins with Steven (Zach Callison) and Amethyst (Michaela Dietz) watching "Crying Breakfast Friends!". Steven seems to be enjoying the show, but Amethyst is confused at the cartoon's story line. The television stops working and receives a sudden bout of static. Steven complains about this happening again, and Amethyst offers to fix it. After a few swift kicks, the screen displays Peridot (Shelby Rabara) demanding help and extraction to Yellow Diamond in a message on all frequencies. Garnet (Estelle) and Pearl (Deedee Magno) catch the broadcast as well, and Steven confirms with Connie over the phone that he is not the only one receiving Peridot's transmission. Pearl wonders how it is possible to broadcast such a powerful message, and they deduce that it's only possible via the Communication Hub.

The Crystal Gems travel to the Communication Hub on the back of Steven's pet lion (while Steven stays in Lion's mane), as the Warp Pad was destroyed when Sugilite damaged it while in her rampage the first time they destroyed the Hub (Coach Steven). They find that the hub had been rebuilt with what was left of its remains the last time it was destroyed, and seems highly energetic. Steven understands that they must destroy the hub, and suggests to Amethyst that she and Garnet form Sugilite again. Amethyst seems happy about the idea, but states that it is Garnet's decision whether or not to form Sugilite. Garnet refuses to do so, stating that the previous time Sugilite was formed, she went berserk, taking over their personalities and consequently destroying the Warp Pad while smashing the hub. She then says the reason for it being a disaster is because Garnet can be rash and Amethyst can be reckless, and then informs that this time, they must be careful, and suggests fusing with Pearl. Pearl seems ecstatic at the idea and happily accepts the proposal to fuse.

Garnet and Pearl perform a fusion dance in order to form Sardonyx (Alexia Khadime), while Steven excitedly watches the process. After Sardonyx is formed, she appears to debut herself in an emcee host style, to Amethyst's chagrin. Sardonyx is happy to finally see Steven as herself, and plays with him for a bit before summoning Pearl's spear and Garnet's gauntlets and combines create a huge war hammer. Steven asks if Sardonyx will use her war hammer to smash the Communication Hub with it, and Sardonyx suggests different alternatives to how she operates that are antonymous with Amethyst's behavior. She then proceeds to take out pillars by hitting them, listing her characteristics in words with sophisticated connotations; "The proper words to describe yours truly are: specific, intelligent, accurate, faultless, elegant, controlled, surgical, graceful, and powerful! But yes, occasionally, I am known to smash." She cites these qualities as she carefully disassembles the key components of the re-built Communication Hub. Sardonyx then defuses.

Garnet and Pearl dance together in excitement and happiness after defusing, and Steven joins them. They are happy to express their victory, and share congratulatory words. Pearl wonders why they don't do that more often, as Amethyst sulks from a distance. Back at the temple, Steven and Garnet are watching "Crying Breakfast Friends!" again. Steven is invested into the show, but Garnet quietly shows apathy. Amethyst arrives from the temple gate and walks to the refrigerator, visibly annoyed, as Steven implores her to watch Crying Breakfast Friends! with him. As Pearl enters the house, the television receives static again and they all leave for the Communication Hub yet again.

Garnet and Pearl fuse again to form Sardonyx. She gloats about how her existence is demanded due to her personality (perhaps intentionally towards Amethyst). As she procceeds to disassemble the Communication Hub again exactly like last time, Amethyst begins to sing the song "Tower of Mistakes", expressing her sadness that she can't be with Garnet anymore and maybe Garnet is truly better off with Pearl. Later, Steven and Amethyst, along with Lion, arrive at the Communication Hub for surveillance. They know that Peridot had come back to repair the hub twice, and they can only assume that she will return to repair the hub again. Their plan is to keep watch and capture Peridot as soon as she is spotted. They take their position, hidden from sight, and survey their surroundings. Steven tries to pass time by teaching Amethyst a "magic sausage" illusion which is done with his fingers.

As Steven is about to leave, saying that even though they didn't catch Peridot, Amethyst now knows a neat trick, a green flash suddenly appears. Both of them spot Peridot's escape pod approaching the hub at a high velocity, and are confused as to how Peridot has access to her escape pod, since they had taken it into the temple in "Joy Ride", therefore rendering Peridot helpless to retrieve her damaged escape pod.

The pod lifts and puts the displaced pillars in position to rebuild the Communication Hub, and flies to the top, where its rider exits the pod, seemingly to inspect its structural integrity. After focusing in using his telescope, Steven and Amethyst discover that it is actually Pearl who has continuously rebuilt the hub. The next day, Steven and Amethyst discuss why Pearl would continue rebuilding the hub while watching television. Steven suggests that she might be studying how it works, but Amethyst eliminates the idea. Steven then believes that it might get them more channels and turns on the television, only to see static again as Pearl comes in and notices the static. As Steven and Amethyst's nervousness increases, Pearl exclaims that Peridot had repaired the Communication Hub, urging Garnet to destroy it. Garnet is frustrated that her future vision does not reveal them capturing Peridot, unaware of Pearl's deception. The Crystal Gems then depart for the hub again.

The hub seems fixed and operational, and Pearl is eager to keep fusing with Garnet into Sardonyx to keep disabling the tower over and over again. Amethyst realizes her motives for rebuilding the hub, and at the last minute she stops Pearl and Garnet from fusing. Steven hesitantly states that he and Amethyst saw Pearl repairing the hub. He suggests that she confess to Garnet and, realizing her plan is revealed, Pearl apologizes to Garnet and tells her that it's just fun to be Sardonyx with her. Garnet throws Pearl to the ground, realizing why she could not see the Crystal Gems apprehending Peridot in her future vision. Pearl tries to talk to Garnet and explain herself, but Garnet is angry and denies Pearl's claims that she only wanted to share a few victories, scolding Pearl and telling her that the past instances were under false pretenses. Amethyst attempts to defend Pearl and says that fusing with Garnet is their only chance of feeling powerful. Garnet furiously yells that Peridot is out there somewhere and Pearl is distracting the Crystal Gems with trivial matters for her own selfish needs. Pearl once again tried to explain herself, but Garnet cuts her off, then orders Amethyst to fuse with her. Once they form Sugilite, she takes out the Communication Hub with one punch, while Pearl stares, mortified.

Later, Steven and Amethyst are back home, watching Crying Breakfast Friends!. Pearl enters the house and walks towards the temple gate, and Garnet warps back from the pad and walks towards the door. They silently walk past each other, and Pearl is visibly saddened; Garnet's anger drives her to sever interaction with Pearl. Amethyst and Steven notice them, and Amethyst says, "Man, it sure would be nice if things worked out the way they do in cartoons", to which Steven agrees as he turns off the television.

Production

Episodes of Steven Universe are written and storyboarded by a single team. "Cry for Help" was written by Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu, while Ki-Yong Bae and Jin-Hee Park provided animation direction, and Jasmin Lai served as art director.

Sugilite's tower-smashing punch was inspired by the "Twister-Sock Punch" from Popeye and Donkey Kong's "Giant Punch" from Super Smash Bros.^[1] Pearl and Garnet's fusion dance was inspired by the choreography of K-pop artist Sunmi. The storyboards were timed to the track "Full Moon".^[2]

Music

The episode features the song "Tower of Mistakes". The song was written by Jeff Liu and features vocals by Michaela Dietz as Amethyst.^[3]

Broadcast and reception

"Cry for Help" premiered on Cartoon Network on July 13, 2015. Its initial American broadcast was viewed by approximately 1.71 million viewers. It received a Nielsen household rating of 0.4, meaning that it was seen by 0.4% of all households.^[4] 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 positive attention from critics, particularly for the emotional maturity of the story. Also highlighted was the introduction of Sardonyx and Amethyst's character development. Eric Thurm of The A.V. Club said that the confrontation between Garnet and Pearl was "maybe the single most complex moment of the show to date", calling it "rich, complicated, heartbreaking, and simply human".^[5] Vrai Kaiser of The Mary Sue opined that "that Steven Universe has reached that level of writing complexity in a relatively short time span is nothing short of astounding".^[6]

References