Review: ‘Steven Universe’: Future Boy Zoltron: Harsh Lessons

Steven tells people’s fortunes at Funland.

SPOILER ALERT

Steven breaks a fortune teller machine at the Funland arcade and has to replace it by acting like he is the game. From there it becomes a more comical episodes. Though these kind of episodes can be hit or miss, there still something which can be taken away from this one.


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As Steven tries to give people the answers they want he finds it more and more difficult. Especially as he meets with an old acquaintance of Mr. Smileys. This is probably for Steven’s own good and is the reason why Garnet allowed him to have access to her future vision once again. The boy tries too hard to be a people pleasure, wanting to make everyone happy. Anyone who has tried to do this in real life knows it’s exhausting and often results in the person trying to make everyone content becoming unhappy in the process. Considering he needs to work on becoming a more mature character as the series goes on, this is a step in the right direction. This is the best way to look at a more comedic lighthearted episode.

It’s also interesting to see how the show made a breaking the fourth wall joke. As Mr. Smiley talks about how he used to be a comedian, this could easily be a reference to how the character was previously voiced by Sinbad. The character has been portrayed by actor Coltron Dunn since season two.

With any luck there will be less episodes like this which are less than necessary to the overall story. It has been possible to have episodes where the side characters of Beach City are featured yet the overall plot of the show can be advanced. This episode was serviceable but others which follow this format sadly haven’t all been as good.

Anthony Wendel
Anthony Wendelhttp://www.thegiganticproject.com
Anthony is a geek through and through who still looks forward to new releases, sneak peeks, Giant Monsters, and robots of all shapes and sizes. He loves animation of all shapes and sizes. He has a distinct apprehension for trolling and clips shows. His books, The Handbook for Surviving A Giant Monster Attack and Santa Claus Conquers Manos: The Hands of Fate are available on Amazon.