“Yeah. With you.”

Before Lapis Lazuli confirmed it, Steven Universe hinted at the Gems being aliens. Or rather, Pearl did: she’s the one who calls the Lunar Sea Spire “an oasis for Gems on Earth” in Cheeseburger Backpack and raves about why she loves the planet in Serious Steven. So it’s only fitting that she ushers us into the Space Age.

What’s the Space Age, you ask? It’s how I (in my head, and rarely again in a review because I don’t wanna explain my dumb personal jargon every time I mention it) designate the series post-House Guest. I call it this because:

It begins with a Space Race,

The stakes shift from local to cosmic, and

The show’s overall quality skyrockets.



Space Race is great enough on its own, but as a table-setting episode it’s one of the best. We establish with gusto that the Gems, as Greg will put it in We Need to Talk, really are aliens (even earthlings like Amethyst). We’re introduced to the Galaxy Warp and the barn, both crucial recurring locations. We hear a brand new phrase, “Gem Homeworld,” slip in without fanfare. We meet the Crying Breakfast Friends as a source of meta commentary on the show itself. And for the first time, but certainly not the last, we see that the Gems’ flaws can outweigh what we’ve taken as a given thus far: doing what they think is best for Steven.

As opposed to Greg’s uncharacteristic fling with deception in House Guest, Pearl’s obsession with spaceflight is totally in-character. We’ve seen her manic determination before, and this instance is informed by her bond with Steven and disdain for Greg. Like Greg last episode, she lies to Steven based on selfishness that she mistakes for good intentions, but unlike Greg, moral ambiguity is part of who she is. Both are in the wrong, but Pearl is wrong in the real way: her flaws here (self-centeredness and obsessive tendencies) recur throughout the series and provide avenues for her to evolve.



Speaking of Greg, he’s right back to normal, thank goodness. His sweetness matches Steven’s innocence throughout their construction project, and his dopey demeanor is balanced by an understated competence: the Mach I might not work for spaceflight, but it’s certainly a better roller kart than I could make. This is also the most mature we’ve seen him thus far: the reveal that his aunt and uncle were also hoarders leads to a hilarious pause of self-reflection, and we actually see him put his foot down when the situation calls for it, literally grounding his son when Pearl gets too intense and standing up to arguments on two fronts with a solid backbone.

Most notable, though, is Greg’s desperate search for Steven’s escape chute after the shuttle explodes. We so often see Steven in danger (“I’m used to it”) that it can be easy to forget how terrifying this is to an outsider; Greg’s worries are half-jokingly touched on in Ocean Gem’s water fight, but Tom Scharpling’s shift from frantic pleas to a pitch perfect sigh of exasperated relief takes the emotion to a whole other level. This is some series-best Greg.

But let’s get back to Pearl. This episode is intriguing in rewatch for showing that she misses Homeworld—yes, she’s shown to miss space travel in general more, extolling the wonders of other planets and the cosmos, but she specifically longs to see what’s been going on without her. We eventually learn that she spent a few thousand years with Pink Diamond before coming to Earth, so she’s bound to have different feelings about it than Garnet (whose life as a fusion began on Earth) or Amethyst (whose life period began on Earth).

In the semi-flashback of Rose’s Scabbard, we see that Rose pitched exile from Homeworld as a consequence with the same gravity as being killed. Pearl’s choice was conditional on Rose’s location (“Why would I ever want to go home if you’re here?”), and Space Race has her grapple with this choice’s eventual outcome well before we learn why she made it. When Steven points out that she’s on Earth with him, he’s unknowingly reminding her she’s not on Earth with Rose. This, combined with her homesickness, fuels her somber responses to his attempts at reassurance.

Between these emotional peaks, Pearl’s greatest moment is the monologue where she slowly realizes that mechanical spaceflight is feasible, interrupted by the Pearliest aside about furniture quality we could hope for. We’ve heard so many speeches from her already, but this time her audience isn’t really Steven, but herself. The facial animation here alone earns an A+, but Deedee Magno Hall’s read on “Althou(uuuuu)gh” merits extra credit.

Surprising no one, Aivi and Surasshu shine, from the first instance of the eerie Galaxy Warp theme to the UUU rocket science montages, but their best work here is the flight of Mach III, which is wonderfully integrated into the show via Pearl’s piano-based controls. The design of the makeshift vessel is phenomenal, managing to be sleek while clearly made of scraps (alternate episode title idea: Arts and Spacecrafts); beyond the piano, it gleefully borrows elements of Greg’s van and makes an ejector seat out of the “disgusting” recliner.

Unfortunately, that ejector brings us to the episode’s only notable flaw: on a kid’s show that thrives by subverting traditional lessons, the moral of Space Race doesn’t exactly put the b in subtle. Alongside all the other firsts in this episode is our first instance of Greg flat-out tell us what we’re supposed to learn, and it’s always a little disappointing. Knowing when to bail may be an important piece of wisdom when the common “never give up” message can so easily be taken too far, but this show is capable of relaying it far more cleverly.

That’s hardly enough to sink this spaceship. Space Race is probably the best episode in Season 1B’s buildup to Lion 3, and certainly is the best Greg and Pearl we’ll see until then. Maybe they’ll even start getting along someday!

(Not anytime soon, though. I give ‘em 58 episodes or so.)

Future Vision!

I mentioned that this is the first time we see the Galaxy Warp, but Steven’s stickers specifically come back in a big way when Peridot comes to town.



Obviously Back to the Barn brings us back to the barn, but the makeshift robots and drill are yet another important plot point whose seeds are sown in Space Race .

brings us back to the barn, but the makeshift robots and drill are yet another important plot point whose seeds are sown in . Pearl reiterates her desire to have taken Steven to Homeworld in Gemcation, by which time he’d seen it through a much more competent kidnapping.

If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have inconsistencies…

I’m really curious how Pearl found out about the detailed history of human spaceflight considering how much of an isolationist she still was in the actual Space Race. I don’t consider this an actual continuity error (I can totally imagine her studying up on humans after Steven came along) but it’s an example of how her understanding of Earth culture can fluctuate based on convenience to a plot or joke.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

This is the bedrock upon which giant portions of the show are built, hiding behind a classic Steven mix of fun and heart. The lesson may be on the nose, but it’s still a hell of a ride.

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