This review will contain MAJOR spoilers. Do not read unless you've seen the episode or caught up with the series!

Stray Observations

Steven Universe is BACK FROM HIATUS. Well, kind of. I mean, we are literally getting two episodes and then the dry period where only Christmas specials air.Gem Harvest is the 8th and 9th episodes of the fourth season of Steven Universe, and the 111 and 112th episodes overall. It is the second 22-minute episode, the first being Bismuth.Bismuth was an absolute explosion of an episode that brought us this new gem character who was basically a living time-capsule from the war. The depth of it, the massive amount of lore the episode contained, and the absolute nail-biter of a climax where Bismuth revealed herself as a stone-cold murderer.Coming off that episode, coupled with the very little information we got of this episode beforehand, we all assumed some crazy twist was coming - yellow diamond or blue diamond coming to Earth, Jasper returning, the Cluster returning, us finally finding out what gem harvesting actually meant...Guys, a new human was introduced and they had a thanksgiving dinner with the gems.This episode was disappointing to say the very least. I, along with many other people, was expecting more from this episode, given that it was a 22-minute special. But this is more our problem for getting our hopes up too much. This episode for many was killed by the whole expectations vs reality deal. I was in the bandwagon of Blue Pearl appearing, and the gems finding their palanquin. I mean, it's about time the plot got rolling again. Seriously, it's time. It's been enough episodes since Bubbled. I think part of the problem is me expecting too much. It is ultimately a kid's show, they can only put so many mature episodes back-to-back without having to have a recoil period.Now let's talk about Lapis. And the fact she now finds her whole mirror ordeal funny. Sorry, I just don't buy it. At all. She's been free from the mirror for all of a year and a half by now. And she was in the mirror for 5000 years. I think it was... pretty damn stupid to have Lapis laugh at her ordeal. That's not character development. That's just poor writing. Considering a couple months ago when she was on a boat with Jasper she was still extremely traumatised from everything. This probably has to be the worst Lapis moment in the whole show. Or at least the most poorly written.And as far as my problems go with the episode... that's about it.Despite this episode being absolutely not at ALL what I expected, and that Lapis moment, this was actually a pretty good episode which I enjoyed a lot. This episode was absolutely NOT a bust, because it was absolutely bursting with great moments courtesy of this new character. Sure, this episode is no Tale of Two Stans, but this show's own take at the motif was still pretty dang good.The actual plot of this episode is that this strange man shows up and starts yelling at Lapis and Peridot to get out of his barn. This is Andy, Greg's cousin, whom Greg just stopped talking to 20 years ago. Andy himself is cold, racist, and bigoted. He is also angry at Greg for not keeping in touch after he met Rose Quartz. And for not marrying an American, but instead an interstellar refugee.What I absolutely love about this episode is that it feels like a big meta joke. Everyone is trying to explain the events of the show to an outsider. If you're a Steven Universe fan and you, like me, live in a place where literally NOBODY has heard of Steven Universe, you've probably been in this situation, where you've tried to explain the show to somebody who has never seen it before. You'll probably start with "So yeah, there's these weird aliens called gems, and there's three of them, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, and then there's Steven who is actually is dead mom who gave birth to him by having sex with a human, Greg, but then the birth of Steven ended up killing Rose Quartz. Oh and Garnet is two lesbians in an overcoat". It's... pretty awkward to say the least. And this is what goes down in the episode. Greg and the gems trying to explain the show's history to Andy definitely leads to some very awkward moments. Especially along with the gems' continued ignorance to human traditions. The moments generated here (such as literally handing Andy a gravestone and Pearl proposing everyone marries each other) are absolutely hilarious!Now of course, like with Bismuth, there were a few slow bits here and there, but these were necessary (again, like with Bismuth) to show us other facets of the new character. Andy is very rigid in his thinking, but he has to re-evaluate his thinking style at least three times in the episode. I mean, he thought the gems were hobos, hippies, and freeloaders at the beginning.The plane scene at the end is quite cool, with Steven confessing that he almost never got in touch with the human side of his life. Even though he does have human friends. As with almost every episode nowadays, Steven has a near-death moment when he falls off the wing of the plane, and his floating powers decide to fail him right then (he actually acknowledges this, which is a nice little touch and not a plothole that would have left the Reddit scratching their heads saying "Hmm... maybe he just... forgot to float then... idk"). Andy of course swoops down and saves Steven, saying "DO YOU KNOW WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU?" I love this line, because this is really the line that shows that Andy does now care for Steven as a family member.Now let's talk about Andy himself. I don't like his personality. He's very cold and closed-minded, and we all know people like this. And we aren't supposed to like Andy. But he's not so infuriatingly annoying and obnoxious that you want to punch your screen (I can think of PLENTY of SpongeBob and Adventure Time characters that fit this category perfectly). He's actually, like most of the rest of the cast, pretty layered. In other words, he's well-written. He IS willing to give things a chance, but not easily. He, like the rest of the DeMayo/Universe family, is very sentimental, getting very upset at the gems for dismantling the plane he first learned to fly in, but ultimately coming around to the contraption the gems used the plane parts for when it makes a good meal.And this episode left me intrigued to find out more about Greg and Andy's backstory. Greg clearly doesn't (until this episode) even consider Andy part of his family anymore. In "The Return" Greg stated that if Steven died, he'd "run fresh out of family". This really is the first time they've had any sort of contact in 20 years. And what happened to all these other relatives Andy mentions? Why did they all leave? It also makes perfect sense that all this change would upset someone as sentimental as Andy. So I can't wait to find out more about all of this. This episode has left me actually hoping to see Andy again. And in an episode all about adding a completely new character, an unlikable one at that, that's definitely a good thing.I really don't have that much more to say about this episode. For a 22-minute episode this review is pretty short. I will end by sweeping out the parts of the episode I haven't spoken about. The first five minutes are cute, with Steven, Peridot, Lapis and the Pumpkin Dog. Peridot misunderstanding the point of corn is hilarious, as is the whole part with Steven hollowing out the pumpkin and scaring the dog. The various other farming scenes are cool, and the obligatory thanksgiving-esque meal is entertaining (save for the Lapis thing), albeit a little by-the-numbers. It's just nice to see all the gems together again, for the first time since the show decided to shove Peridot and Lapis into their own little corner and keep them separate from Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl at all costs. It's been almost 30 episodes since we saw them all together by the way.So this episode was not full of diamond invasions, Jasper, Blue Pearl, gem soldiers or anything like that. Yes the promos were incredibly misleading. And no, we still don't know what the hell gem harvesting is. But it still stood on its own two feet, and introduced a new character that I want to see again in the future. This episode definitely achieved what it set out to do in introducing a new character and being a Thanksgiving special. And most importantly, it was entertaining and didn't feel very fillery.But seriously, it is time the plot got rolling again. Considering the show might be ending after season 5.-I didn't know they were allowed to say "turd" on kid's television.-I don't at all believe the theory that Marty and Andy are related.-"Now say clod. Cuh-laaahhhd"-"We can throw in a little bit of being born. And some dying! (Hands Andy a gravestone)" Oh Pearl.-Another great Pearl moment - "Why don't we all marry each other?"-Andy just accepts the fact the gems are aliens. I guess most humans have some knowledge of their existence.-"Get off my planet, out of my country, and out of my barn!" Add 1 sin for the logic in that line.-Why do they keep calling pumpkins vegetables? They're fruits.