“Okay, I’m ready for this episode to end!”

Uncle Grandpa is not for me. This doesn’t mean I hate it—I’ve literally only seen its pilot and Say Uncle, which isn’t enough to form a strong opinion—but I’m just not interested in watching anything further. From what I’ve seen, it’s funny in a nonstop madcap visual assault kind of way, one that lends itself to watching one or two episodes then spending the rest of your life letting your eyes rest. But this is in large part thanks to me not being a child; I can imagine plenty of children getting a huge kick out of its Random Humor on Amphetamines brand of comedy.

Crossovers also are not for me, because they tend to suck. Well, that’s not fair; gimmicks tend to suck, and crossovers are a prime example of this. It’s easier to swallow when the characters share a world, such as in comics or with Buffy and Angel, but smashing two universes together usually ends with an episode that spends way too much time explaining the situation, shuffling through a collection of meta jokes pertaining to each show, and ending with nothing changed. At least it’s not a clip show?

Considering this, the best thing I can say about Say Uncle is that it should’ve been wayyyyyyy worse. It’s incredible that this isn’t my least favorite episode of Steven Universe, that it’s straight-up enjoyable for stretches at a time. In fact, if not for one early gag ruining the tone for the rest of the episode, it might be something of a cult classic in my mind.

But alas, they had to introduce Uncle Grandpa impersonating Rose Quartz. Oh man, what a riot! See, this kid going through an existential crisis thinks he gets to reunite with his dead mother, but instead it’s a kooky prankster! It’s funny because we’re really attached to this relationship and it’s one of the emotional cores on the show, so we don’t expect someone to shit all over it. What a surprise! Ha ha! Ha!

…I mean really, what the hell? It only takes the first joke for Uncle Grandpa to sledgehammer away whatever goodwill Say Uncle had as a crossover, and the rest of the episode is spent crawling out of the rubble. It’s tasteless in a way that can be comedic in the right context, but in no way has Steven Universe ever provided that context.

It also forces Steven to transform into a character we haven’t seen before, because the one that we know and love would be a wreck at this point. Instead he ignores the serrated knife that Uncle Grandpa shoved in his heart and is thrilled to see him, consistency be damned. And they never speak of it again.

But like I said, I do enjoy the rest of Say Uncle, even if it takes fast forwarding through the first thirty seconds to do so. Declaring outright that the episode isn’t canon, reinforcing it by declaring April Fools, and sinking Lars and Sadie’s literal ship before cutting back to the beach like nothing happened is a perfect introduction (which makes the other introduction even worse by comparison), and from there it’s a ridiculous nonstop romp.



The closest equivalent to such a fully comedic Steven Universe episode is Looney Toons homage Kindergarten Kid, and even that feels quiet compared to Say Uncle. Reality-bending shenanigans, shifting animation styles, Deedee Magno Hall getting to go full ham, this is really all over the place. And it is funny! Mostly! While most of the laughs rely on random humor, there’s still fluidity in its joke structures that gives it a surprisingly wide comedic range.

I know the death of comedy is overanalyzing why it’s funny, but take my favorite joke in the episode. Wandering Uncle Grandpa’s TARDIS of an RV, Steven says that a million vans could fit inside, to which UG replies that it’s actually more like forty or fifty. We see a pile of forty or fifty vans. It’s sorta funny.

But then Pizza Steve shows up (with a glorious intro sequence that’s also a favorite) and takes issue with Steven sharing his name. He lays out two rules, one of which we know from context will be something along the lines of “I’m the only Steve in this neighborhood.” But his first rule, which could’ve been any random funny-sounding thing, is “No more than forty or fifty vans.” What we thought was one of the episode’s many throwaway gags was actually the set-up of another punchline. It’s a good old-fashioned brick joke, and there’s something about a classic done well that warms my old heart.

Uncle Grandpa as a character is at his best when he actually sounds like an adult, even if these moments are rare: Pete Browngardt’s reads on “Don’t worry kid, I’m wearing a helmet” and “I’m still a rock star, kid” lend a sense of actual paternal/avuncular authority that contrasts nicely with the fog of zaniness surrounding him. Unfortunately, for the most part, he goes full annoying in a way that Steven and Steven Universe haven’t since the very beginning of the series. Ramped up to twenty. Spongebob Squarepants is an obvious influence here, but we don’t get to see UG grounded by a straight man like Squidward or an enhancer like Patrick, so to borrow another sea term, he’s kind of floundering.

Still, the situational humor works more than it doesn’t, and I appreciate that Uncle Grandpa’s powers are intentionally unnerving instead of being played for laughs 100% of the time. There’s a certain discomfort in his spontaneous self-duplication that goes beyond typical cartoon tropes like hammerspace and invulnerability, and this unease is acknowledged by the Gems (and, occasionally, Steven himself).

I already mentioned Pearl’s hamminess, but it truly is the wackiest breakdown you could hope for from her, full of screaming reads and hilarious animation. And I’m glad she’s the only one that has this reaction; even in this Uncle Grandpa-ized reality, Garnet should be cool as a cucumber and Amethyst should be go-with-the-flow, because this is true to their characters and funny as a foil to the bizarre events (with more time, they’d have been the Squidward and Patrick I was longing for). Pearl is already been prone to freaking out, and her ridiculous reaction makes perfect sense in this ridiculous scenario.

(That said, her apology for attacking Uncle Grandpa is still a bit much.)

Uncle Grandpa and Pizza Steve are the only visiting characters that leave much impact. Mr. Gus kinda comes and goes, waxing meta to the point of revealing Steven’s power source in a way that most viewers are already aware of—it’s a real shame that we get so little out of a character voiced by the incredible Kevin Michael Richardson. Giant Realistic Flying Tiger stands out visually, but in no other way, and…I guess the fanny pack is a character? Yeah, even when we get in the RV, this crossover is clearly dominated by Steven’s Universe, which is honestly fine by me.

Regardless of its strengths, I’m with Garnet on this one: I’d rather move on to the show that I like watching than try out one that isn’t for me. Still, awful beginning aside, Say Uncle is mostly harmless. It’s hard to get too mad at an episode that pulls its moral word-for-word from Princess Mononoke; we would all be better off seeing with eyes unclouded by hate, even if that has to extend to crossover episodes.

I guess you could read it that way…

The non-canon nature of Say Uncle makes it pretty easy to move around in viewing order (or skip), but it was still meant to air in the first season, which meant Steven’s shield woes were written to precede his big summon in The Return. I guess it makes a little less sense for him to be as troubled after such a heroic moment? Not really, I like that he still doesn’t have a handle on summoning even after a major success.



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

I really do enjoy Say Uncle for the most part. Its major flaw sinks it pretty low, and its lack of importance to the series makes it wholly irrelevant, but as I said, it’s nuts that this isn’t at the bottom.

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