“Zoltron sees sadness in your future.”

Queer representation in children’s cartoons, as I understand it, involves creators gathering all their energy like a Saiyan charging up a Ki Blast to explain to executives that queer characters have a right to exist. This isn’t just a Cartoon Network problem: Korra and Asami’s bludgeoned relationship from The Legend of Korra has Nickelodeon to thank, and the first thing these two do in the comic when they’re free of such meddling is make out. Shows like Adventure Time and Voltron also save their queer characters revealing themselves explicitly as such until the very end of the series, which technically counts as representation but doesn’t allow us to explore this side of their characters outside of subtext in past episodes. Even a show like Steven Universe, which fought the good fight for years, required extra convincing for something as basic and wholesome as a wedding.

(I wouldn’t call this a “fun” fact as much as a “how the hell did it take this long” fact, but for the record, same-sex marriage has only been legal in the United States since a week after Chille Tid first aired.)

So I’m not mad at anyone on the crew of Steven Universe for not making Mr. Smiley and Mr. Frowney’s relationship clearer. This isn’t J.K. Rowling, who probably could’ve written a gay orgy into The Deathly Hallows without her publisher batting an eye, mentioning outside of the books that oh by the way Dumbledore was gay. This is a team of animators doing their best to tell good stories that occasionally have queer characters, doing what they can to get these queer characters on screen. I don’t blame them for having to pick their battles. But it’s a damn shame that they do, because while it might be obvious to somebody looking for it, presenting Smiley and Frowney as past lovers in no uncertain terms would’ve been one more step in normalizing same-sex relationships for kids who need normalization the most. A stated relationship is so much better on-screen than as a footnote at the end of an outline.

As it is, we have two completely different episodes on our hands. One is about two comedy partners reconnecting after a falling out. One is about two romantic partners who were also comedy partners reconnecting after a falling out. The latter is way more interesting, but it’s not necessarily the story every viewer is led to understand, and it bugs me quite a bit that this is likely a caveat required by Cartoon Network.

Maybe that’s the reason this episode feels so bland to me, but it doesn’t help that it comes right after Mindful Education. Last time, we fit two full stories in a single episode, but in Future Boy Zoltron barely tells one. The pacing is so slow, and the stakes so small and disconnected from what Steven is going through now that we’ve established he’s upset, that it can’t help but feel disappointing.

I’ve hopefully made clear by now that I’m all for the townie episodes, as Steven is a child of two worlds and it’d be disingenuous to only show one of them. I wouldn’t even call their stakes lower, as many Gem episodes are just as invested in character building and just as uninterested in the greater lore; Beach City does start feeling smaller and smaller as Steven grows into his magical heritage, but that’s why it’s important that we’re regularly reminded of how much he loves his hometown and neighbors.

However, by now the stakes have gotten high enough (both in terms of the worldbuilding and Steven’s own arc finally coming to the forefront after taking a backseat to his friends’ character development) that veering back and forth from the storyline blunts the impact of smaller side stories. There’s nothing wrong with a post-Mindful Education non-magical episode in Beach City, but if it’s not exploring Steven’s changing perspective, even at the most subtle level, it feels out of place. We could take a break from the action more easily earlier, because Act I was all about introducing the world and Act II focused on the problems of others, but now it’s a story about Steven evolving, so it feels weird for him to be acting exactly the same as before.



I’ve lately talked about Steven Universe’s structure in terms of Acts, because Season 2/3 and Season 4/5 are essentially Act II and Act III of the series, but another issue here is best summed up on the season level. Season 3 itself has a clear three-act structure: the introduction of Lapis Lazuli to the team, downtime in Beach City after saving the world, and the return of Jasper. We’re allowed time to settle into each of these stories, and the townie episodes in the middle have a good sense of flow with similarly character-driven Gem episodes like Mr. Greg and Too Short to Ride. But Season 4 doesn’t seem to know where it’s going for the first ten episodes, and while I buy that Steven was eating his pain before Mindful Education, we’re sorta rudderless until Steven’s Dream. Future Boy Zoltron, Onion Gang, and Three Gems and a Baby feel like they could’ve gone anywhere, and each follows an episode that feels distinctly post-Act II, so it’s up and down and up and down for over a third of the season.

Future Boy Zoltron similarly meanders at the start before getting deeper into the plot. This meandering is actually my favorite part of the episode, as we get a bunch of great little character moments blended together: Peedee wanting to alphabetize the condiments off-screen, terrific Lars and Sadie banter (complete with some insight into Lars’s heart of gold), a top-notch Onion gag, and a glimpse at the Pizzas and Buck and the Frymans and even Suitcase Sam. It works so well it works as a reintroduction to Beach City after the many trials that ended Act II that I wish even more that it aired before Mindful Education.

The larger story begins when we meet an unnamed Mr. Frowney, instantly distinct for his dour appearance and Brian George’s depressed British accent. And it’s a decent story: after a delightful cameo from Garnet, Steven figures out that Frowney’s pessimism ensures that he’ll never be happy, no matter what Steven says. After learning he and Smiley used to be a comedy team (note from CN: they aren’t anything else!), we see again that there’s no forseeable future where Mr. Frowney allows himself to be happy. But Smiley tries anyway, and eventually cheers Mr. Frowney up by transforming this negativity into a comedy bit.

Again, a decent story. And we get a creative new look at future vision in the form of a slot machine. But there’s barely any substance to it beyond a lesson in positive thinking, and Mr. Frowney takes a bus out of town, never to return. We could’ve connected this with Steven’s own outlook, especially because we just had an episode about negative thoughts, but we end on a gag instead. Mr. Smiley is unchanged by the encounter, implying that he’s gonna keep grifting Steven for “breaking” an ancient machine that didn’t even work. And while the setup for Smiley’s comedy days isn’t quite as blatant as flashbacks to Lapis in The Message preceding the “mystery” of who this message is from, it’s still pretty clear setup for a show that’s capable of far more subtlety.

It’s frustrating to think of this as a mediocre episode (but again, not a bad one), because more than anything else it’s a victim of its own timing. It aired at a point where stories like this mess with the show’s funky flow, and it also aired at a point in the real world where queer representation is something that still has to be fought for tooth and nail. Considering how little we see of Mr. Smiley (to say nothing of Frowney), it could’ve been way more interesting as an earlier episode that establishes a small-time character. But as it is, Future Boy Zoltron embodies my Enh rating.

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



Sorry to be a Mr. Frowney here, but I wish this episode was half as exciting as its title.

Top Twenty



Love ‘em



Like ‘em

Enh

No Thanks!

5. Horror Club

4. Fusion Cuisine

3. House Guest

2. Sadie’s Song

1. Island Adventure

(If you like the promo image, I see browsing Chungsae’s artwork in your future.)