Everything Wrong With Alone At Sea In Over 4 & A Half Minutes (Steven Universe)

[@Supersonic1014]

Hey, pinned comment here. I'm seeing an argument floating around in the comments that I want to put my two cents in on, as I think my thoughts on it are important to understand my thoughts on Lapis and Jasper as a whole. Some people have been saying that they thought I would criticize Lapis more harshly for being the "abuser" in the relationship. And I want to say that the reason I didn't swing one way or the other on the topic is because I don't really see this in a "this is X character's fault" way at all. I see their relationship as two people who both made bad decisions, in which both people responded to said bad decisions by becoming a fusion together under dubious pretenses. Jasper did it only because she wanted to get back at the crystal gems and "fight fusion with fusion", as it were, and Lapis only did it to get back at someone who had immrdiately trapped her again after she had only *just* been freed, as well as to protect Steven from Jasper. *Both* wanted to keep the fusion going for their own reasons. For Jasper, it was so she could take control of it and fight the crystal gems, and for Lapis, it was to keep her control over Jasper so she couldn't hurt Steven. This obviously traumatized Lapis, but Jasper, being addicted to the power she had when she eventually *did* have control, just wanted more of it. Which leads to the scene in Alone At Sea, where Jasper wants to put both of them in that horrible situation for *her* own benefit. Meanwhile Lapis, confused by her own feelings and struggling with severe self-loathing, just wants to move on and never have anything like that happen again. This makes Jasper come off as a gaslighting jerk who's only looking out for herself, which...yeah, that sums up her character quite perfectly. And it also comes off as Lapis being a troubled character with flaws that she struggles to cope with, but also wishes to move on from and try to have a better life, future episodes notwithstanding. I personally think that saying "Lapis abused Jasper" or "Jasper abused Lapis" misses a lot of greater context that paints both parties as flawed people who got themselves into a really bad situation. The show just paints Jasper as the "worse" character because *her own character* leads her to do things that we the audience assign to traits of an abuser. That's not to say they wrote her badly, I think the complete opposite is true. But it does go to show that some situations make some characters look better or worse than others, and that this is just my interpretation of it.

[@michaeleanthonyjr]

I think it's somewhat disingenuous to suggest that hte story does a great job at conveying both sides, because it's pretty aparent to me at least in the framing which side it wants the audience to consider. Jasper through all of the encounters is framed as the force to be viewed as bad. She's the character who the story doesn't bother to offer compassion towards despite the ways that she was also hurt and affected by the war. And in this scene where the story frames her as the ex who is trying to pull Lapis back into a toxic relationship regardless of who is the "worse" of the two in the relationship, which one of them gets blasted away? Which one of them is scrutinized as the antagonist? With how much empathy the story is willing to offer Lapis who stole the entire ocean to hope to return home, and Peridot, the chaperone to Jasper who was complicit in Lapis' suffering, it makes it stand out all the more jarringly to me when we gain the added context that Jasper was loyal to Pink as we left in the situation that she ultimately ended up in. You argue that the story paints both parties as flawed, but the follow up of that with Lapis as a character is that she's never requireed to learn or grow from her flaws. She does whatever she wants and the story is always willing to forgive her without scrunity because she was a victim to some capacity. The show paints Jasper as worse, when it should really be scrunitizing both characters equally, because Lapis is legitimately abusive to Peridot once the two of them became proper friends. And Jasper is legitimately also a victim of this war just like Peridot or Lapis is. It'd be one thing if the story eventually allowed Jasper the same opportunity for redemption that she deserved like Peridot and Lapis, but instead it frames her as wrong and bad, and treats her as if she doesn't deserve the same opportunity to be better as Lapis and Peridot. In general, I don't believe that the story itself sincerely acknowledges the greater context of their relationship in alone at sea, because it makes a lot of efforts to minimalize the context of their relationship outside of their fusion, focusing instead on that fusion as their starting point. The outside context certainly serves to inform how they reached this point to begin with, but with how this episode unfolds and how this conflict is resolved, it doesn't feel like a complete picture of the circumstance and it doesn't feel like a proper resolution to either character's side of the conflict since I don't remember it being brought up again after this episode as something with a lasting effect.

[@cameoshadowness7757]

​@@michaeleanthonyjr this. Jasper was treated like total crap story wise and was constantly pushed aside, belittled and forgotten for so long and suffered so much, even without Lapis. Sure, Jasper did want to use Lapis to fight the CG BUT she didn't lie about it. Lapis tricked her and dragged her away and we have seen Jasper try to escape but was being pulled back in by Lapis. Lapis was the one in control for so much yet she doesn't get punished. Jasper constantly gets seen as a horrible person but Lapis gets away with ADMITTING she abused Jasper. Its just sick to me.

[@DragonGoddess18]

@Supersonic1014 This. All of this. You are one of the few people who agrees that Jasper did what she did for selfish reasons Point is, I'm in the same boat as you (no pun intended).

[@DWAkhaten]

4:32 "I'll shatter you!" Considering what goes down between Steven and Jasper in the final season, that line is pretty ironic in hindsight.

[@el-verdadero_mordecai-456]

How the tables turned

[@DragonGoddess18]

Lapis and Jasper is an example of a co-abusive relationship And YES, they do exist in real life.

[@efaristi9737]

relationship where both partners are toxics to each others ?

[@nateclone3828]

I HATE how Jasper is dealt with in this episode. Everything leading up to her defeat is great, but it's just the fact that Lapis comedically launches her with a water fist that just bugs me. I get not proofing her due to this being the start of the Jasper arc, but I would have preferred something more in relation to the rest of the episode. Still, this is one of the best season 3 episodes, and it leads into my favorite arc of the whole series.

[@kylergriggs6897]

1:01 I’m gonna point this out because Lapis is one of my favorite gems. Steven is not disregarding her feelings, he’s finding a middle ground and slowly easing her out of her slump. This middle ground thinking is often required for healing to occur. As for the gems going against what they were made for, consider what Lapis’s were made for…Terraforming. Lapis’s abilities are water related, control over water specifically, and Steven is not forcing her to Terraform, he is reminding her that she has water based abilities and that she cannot ignore them forever. That was my two cents on the matter, and I know this may have been for nothing as it is a joke, but I still wanted to point it out

[@josiahtheawkward6008]

God I love Season 3. It’s not only my favorite season of the franchise, but one of my favorite TV experiences of all time. Remember “Summer of Steven”? Dude, I don’t know what Cartoon Network paid the Crewniverse to put out new episodes every week day for FOUR WEEKS, but that was an amazing time. I would go to the neighborhood pool every day in the summer, open 5-7p on weekdays. I would purposely get out at 6:50 every day to go home watch the a new episode in time. I was that hooked and excited. I made a friend who I still have to this day because of this season. I feel bad because this season went by pretty fast since they released 20 episodes in a month but man… one of the best memories as a teen.

[@augustomoreira7441]

1:56 its because it would be extremely inconvinient for a fish to eat the money, thus making it more likely to happen. Greg is smart and uses murphy's law in his favor.

[@Swagpion]

1:23 ringing in ears can appear quickly, and disapear just as fast.

[@themasterjay7189]

Jasper sayin “I’ll shatter you” to Steven is really good foreshadowing

[@josiahtheawkward6008]

0:43 Sin 3 And I hate how they decided this of all things, should be part of Steven’s character in Future. Geez… that epilogue series is gonna be the death of me

[@Dakarai_Knight]

I mean at least it didn't come out of nowhere. He was a kid trying to fix everything. Ofc he's going to lack some nuance.

[@lerelpannell4182]

I liked Future.

[@SQUAKKC]

That punch was so weirdly funny

[@zombiefreaktank]

Let's not forget lapis could save the boat by using, oh I don't know, THE FREAKING WATER SHE IS ABLE TO CONTROL. SHE LITERALLY CONTROLS THE WHOLE OCEAN WITH EASE. WHEN POWERS ARE ONLY CONVENIENT FOR THE PLOT.

[@BlueBladerBot]

Dude, I had a friend on wattpad tell me that LAPIS was the abuser and that JASPER was the victim, or at least, "not as much of an abuser as Lapis."

[@michaeleanthonyjr]

Lapis agreed to the fusion on false terms, and was clearly the one holding Jasper down. Lapis even implies that she enjoyed the power that she had over Jasper in their fusion. She may have been shown to struggle to hold Jasper down, but mind you Jasper didn't force Lapis to fuse. Lapis fused with her willingly when given the choice and was clearly trying to force Jasper to stay in the fusion even when Jasper was no longer in favor of the fusion. Everything about what the story actually shows us points to Lapis being the abuser in this situation. You can make a bigger list of things that Lapis did to Jasper while they were fused than vice versa because Jasper basically spent the entire time they were fused drowning until she finally managed to take control over it.

[@sandy_nes31]

​@@michaeleanthonyjr in my opinion that was just a lazy and bad way to make her story so the creators didn't had to think about making fusions with her

[@michaeleanthonyjr]

​@@sandy_nes31 probably

[@BlueBladerBot]

@@michaeleanthonyjr There's this thing called "Stockholm Syndrome" amd another thing called "Making excuses for other people"

[@michaeleanthonyjr]

@@BlueBladerBot Do you disagree with any of the points that I made? And can you provide arguments that counter or disprove any of my arguments? 1. Stockholm Syndrome doesn't apply to Lapis taking advantage of Jasper's trust, we see nothing that shows she had compassion or sympathy for Jasper as her captor. And we're also shown nothing that implies that she cared about Jasper. 2. You would have to be making excuses for Lapis to argue that she's exclusively the victim here. Even if you want to argue that Jasper was the worse abuser between the two, you can't ignore the numerous ways that Lapis wronged Jasper, because then you're not being fair.

[@KeroKeroGrips12]

2:04 also if Greg know how fishing works, you gotta do it early in the morning cause the fish fucking everywhere in the water

[@isaacbluestone1462]

Sin: In Gem Hunt Steven and Connie are in Stevens bubble. Steven took a picture but it didn’t show the pink color of the bubble. This doesn’t make the episode any worse but hey it’s still a sin.

[@ratrat8055]

Honestly lapis could’ve been the greatest character in the whole show, they ruined her with just shoving her in the barn for the whole show.

[@logicallayman2267]

The $20 bill for a fish was a dubbed Dragonball (original) reference.

[@criticaldel]

W A T E R C R A C K E R S

[@rocketleax5]

2:38 Ganondorf reference, video beloved. Although Jasper kind of reminds me of Ganondorf in some ways.

[@michaeleanthonyjr]

One thing I think you should add a sin for is the fact that the story treats Lapis as if she's exclusively a victim when she was actually the one taking advantage of Jasper. 1. Jasper didn't force her to fuse, she gave Lapis the choice. 2. Once they fused, Lapis betrayed the trust that Jasper placed in her and dragged them both down to the bottom of the sea. 3. Jasper was clearly trying to unfuse during the dragging, meaning that she no longer consented to the fusion, meaning that Lapis forced Jasper to stay in the fusion, not vice versa. 4. Lapis spends several months holding Jasper down, which she implies that she was doing in part because it made her feel good, meaning that she gained enjoyment out of abusing Jasper. 5. Jasper only had control over the fusion for a relatively short time. There are more elements in the story pointing towards Lapis being the actual abuser in this relationship, but since the story wants you to like Lapis and dislike Jasper, Jasper gets framed as the abusive ex who is holistically wrong and apparently trying to gaslight Lapis, and Lapis is framed as the victim being tempted back into a horrible relationship. All this even though Lapis explicitly states that she was aware of the fact that she was doing something bad too, which makes it all the more clear that she's at the very least just as bad as Jasper as far as the fusion goes. That's a big sin if you ask me, trying to convince a bunch of people that abusive relationships are one sided or whatever.

[@sandy_nes31]

I can perfectly understand how Jasper felt because I've known people who have had abusive relationships, ngl when I started thinking about it I started to dislike Lapis Lazuli because she just acts like victim when she was the one who started this, the worst thing is that the show makes you understand that Jasper was the abuser but she was actually the real victim, f this episode and f this whole arc

[@michaeleanthonyjr]

@@sandy_nes31 This was the start of me disliking Jasper too after my friend made me realize how bad Jasper is treated as a character. She's framed as being holistically bad despite the fact that she is also a gem who was hurt by the game that Pink diamond was basically playing with this whole war. She was more loyal to Pink than any other Diamond, and Pink let her believe that Rose killed her. She's hurt as hell and we instead just bubble her away until the finale

[@StevenPlaysMC_]

for your first, second and forth reason, lapis didnt hold jasper back because she was enjoying it, she was doing it to keep the crystal gems (or earth i dont remember) safe. that is shown in that one episode where steven was dreaming (there are lots of episodes where steven is dreaming but i specifically mean the one where pearl dreamed where she and rose were surfing) im not gonna say who is right and wrong because thats up to the viewer to decide while yes you do have several good points we have to see both sides of a coin

[@michaeleanthonyjr]

@@StevenPlaysMC_ Nothing Lapis says at the time of dragging herself and Jasper under sea implies that she's doing it for any reason other than selfish reasons. And if she really wanted to keep the gems, earth, or most like Steven safe above all else, she should have refused the fusion because Jasper was weakened and dealing with 4 opponents. She would not have won that battle, which Jasper knew, which is why she wanted to fuse. Lapis fused with Jasper as an act of deception and revenge and quite possibly to protect Steven. It's also possible that was the lie she told herself to justify keeping Jasper locked down. The right or wrong is not up to each individual viewer to decide. It's based on the totality of both parties and its possible that both are wrong in different ways.

[@efaristi9737]

@@michaeleanthonyjr In Steven dream about Malachite, Lapis beg Steven to let her hold Jasper down for him. She wasn't doing it for pleasure, she was doing it to protect Steven. I personnally think she choosed to fuse with Jasper because she had enough to be pushed around, i think that's what she meant when she said that she had enough to be everyone prisonner and that now Jasper was her prisonner. I also think that Lapis wanted to protect Steven but didn't care much about the cristal gems because of their history together. I mean, she has been prisonner of a mirror under their supervision for 6000 years and in none of the previous episodes she appears does she reconcile with them. As far as she is concerned, they are still ennemies. Steven is really the only one she care about. Lapis was relatively justified in what she did to Jasper but that was still abuse. Lapis admited that she battled Jasper to keep her with her and that she missed it and she was ashamed of it. Even during the whole exchange, Lapis is not presented as a victim or not just a victim, she said it herself "i was terrible to you, i liked taking everything out on you, i needed too! i hated you! it was bad!" That was one of the high moment of the episode how Lapis actually acknowledge she was the abuser and that she liked it and she recognized it was bad and unhealthy.

[@tidewave14515]

Okay so I noticed something in this episode that Ive been wondering about for a while. Towards the beginning Steven says "you can't let one bad experience with water affect you" (or something along those lines) and Lapis replies with "it was more than one"... WHAT WERE THE OTHER BAD EXPERIENCES AND WHY DONT WE GET TO KNOW

[@diamondbutterfly9034]

In this episode Jasper threatened to shatter Steven but in the Steven universe future Steven actually shutters Jasper nice foreshadowing

[@michaeleanthonyjr]

That's not foreshadowing lol

[@StevenPlaysMC_]

thats not how foreshadowing works. foreshadowing is like giving hints/similar things happening before the actual scene happens (idk how to phrase it) this is more like irony imo

[@CelticLegion]

Im surprised theres even content of this stuff good job

[@DriasMuncher]

genuinely i thought the $20 bill fish joke was just a funny gag/nod to mr. krabs from spongebob

[@efaristi9737]

1:43 Maybe eating thoses fishes changed him more than we know ?

[@Shmaowzaow]

3:23 Am i the only one who went ayo when I heard that

[@dylansettle5942]

It took me this long to notice stevens change of pants

[@nationalinstituteofcheese3012]

I mean Steven didn’t want to eat the fish in Island Adventure since it had a happy face

[@mqrchad2180]

0:21 the animators forgot how to draw feet as well

[@caitlynschwoerer6284]

I love this video! Also if you could reply that would make my day. Having one of my favorite youtubers talk to be would be amazing

[@Finn_the_Cat]

Lapis and Jasper are a mutually abusive relationship sure Jasper is more at fault but Lapis isn't innocent either, her intent for fusing was almost purely out of malice with the line "I'm sick of being everyones prisoner, now you're my prisoner" when I first saw the scene I thought she agreed to it to protect Steven, it's clear she doesn't need to because Jasper fused with a corrupted gem without the corrupted gems consent so you could likely force a fusion if you had enough brute force however Jasper instead attempts convincing first. But I think it woulf make it better if it was overtly stated the intent was too protect Steven as Steven saved her twice by that point that would be no small gesture and would make sense Lapis would want to pay it back. Another thing, Lapis hates Peridot for a reason that's never really explained, Peridot held her prisoner and it's said she interrogated her but it's never elaborated what she did to her, if it was it would at least make her mean spiritedness towards Peridot look like Peridot isn't giving her time to get over it and trying to force an apology out of her, not to mention Lapis just runs off with the barn puts Peridot in a depressed state and never apologizes for it, if I slash your face with a knife it doesn't matter if I put a bandage on it and fix it if I don't apologize for it. I like Lapis' character, but I think it could've been done a lot better

[@cravonomire9971]

Fish

[@lerelpannell4182]

I'm kind of surprised that you didn't criticize Lapis considering she forced Jasper to stay fuse with her and she was the abusive one in the relationship. Sliceofotaku actually made a video on this, which I liked it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5y0qHmgdtJ8mrc

[@Supersonic1014]

That's because I don't really see it that way at all. I see their relationship as two people who both made bad decisions, in which both people responded to said bad decisions by becoming a fusion together under dubious pretenses. Jasper did it only because she wanted to get back at the crystal gems and "fight fusion with fusion", as it were, and Lapis only did it to get back at someone who had immrdiately trapped her again after she had only *just* been freed, as well as to protect Steven from Jasper. *Both* wanted to keep the fusion going for their own reasons. For Jasper, it was so she could take control of it and fight the crystal gems, and for Lapis, it was to keep her control over Jasper so she couldn't hurt Steven. This obviously traumatized Lapis, but Jasper, being addicted to the power she had when she eventually *did* have control, just wanted more of it. Which leads to the scene in Alone At Sea, where Jasper wants to put both of them in that horrible situation for *her* own benefit. Meanwhile Lapis, confused by her own feelings and struggling with severe self-loathing, just wants to move on and never have anything like that happen again. This makes Jasper come off as a gaslighting jerk who's only looking out for herself, which...yeah, that sums up her character quite perfectly. And it also comes off as Lapis being a troubled character with flaws that she struggles to cope with, but also wishes to move on from and try to have a better life, future episodes notwithstanding. I personally think that saying "Lapis abused Jasper" or "Jasper abused Lapis" misses a lot of greater context that paints both parties as flawed people who got themselves into a really bad situation. The show just paints Jasper as the "worse" character because *her own character* leads her to do things that we the audience assign to traits of an abuser. That's not to say they wrote her badly, I think the complete opposite is true. But it does go to show that some situations make some characters look better or worse than others, and that this is just my interpretation of it.

[@lerelpannell4182]

@@Supersonic1014 I call bullshit that Lapis wanted to protect Steven from Jasper considering back in Jailbreak when Jasper was outnumbered by four crystal gems and lion, there is no way Jasper would have defeated the Crystal gems at this point. Lapis even admitted in this episode she choose to fuse with Jasper to take her anger out on her. If Lapis didn't want to fuse with Jasper she could have water punch her out to the other side of the ocean like she did in this episode, the ocean was literally right next to her for fuck sake, but nope Lapis's character is so inconsistent throughout the whole show and for a bullshit plot device and most people think Jasper is the abuser and Lapis is the victim which isn't true at all. Jasper never once physically abuse Lapis, but Lapis did when she forced Jasper to stay fused with her as Malachite as Jasper attempt to unfuse from the unstable fusion, which if you ask me that's pretty fucked up on Lapis's part. A youtuber name Gattling Golduck even said that Lapis's character inconsistent throughout the whole show and how the show portrayed Jasper as the abuser and Lapis as the victim. I would suggest you go check him out. I don't agree with him on every episode of Steven Universe Future, but I only agree with him on this episode Why So Blue? kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYGQc62ZqMyqfLM

[@Supersonic1014]

@lerelpannell4182 But Lapis didn't know that. For all she knows, everyone else was also weak after the crash, and so Steven could have potentially been killed. And also for all she knows, even just punching Jasper away wouldn't have been enough, she could've come back and killed Steven without her knowing. Keeping Jasper chained down via a fusion was, as far as a tired and angry Lapis could tell, the only way to keep Jasper's hands off of Steven. And yes, Lapis was spiteful. And yes, it doesn't excuse her actions. But the point of the arc wasn't to point fingers at one person and blame them solely for a situation like this happening, it was to shine a light on how *both sides* of a relationship like this can falter and cause things to spiral out of control. They showed Lapis' weakest moments in terms of motive earlier on, and in Alone At Sea, they showed Jasper's weakest moment in the form of manipulating Lapis into fusing again. I *really* don't see or agree with how this arc is being approached by some of the comments at all.

[@lerelpannell4182]

@@Supersonic1014 Considering that the crystal gems were protected by Steven's bubble during the ship crash and the crystal gems was ready to fight Jasper again after the crash, it's not fair to say that she assumed know the crystal gem was weak at the moment. Jasper and Lapis was actually the ones that wasn't protected from ship crash and after Jasper asked Lapis to fuse with her, she could had back stabbed Jasper and proof her with the ocean that literally right next to her and Steven couldn't have not been killed by Jasper because the crystal gems was ready to beat Jasper's ass again, Garnet literally had gauntlets out at the time, so there was literally no excuse for her to keep Jasper as a fusion for a whole month. It's just bullshtting writing if you ask me and Lapis even admitted in this episode she fused with Jasper to take her anger on Jasper for some shit she didn't do, if she did it to protect Steven, why didn't she fuse with Jasper again in this episode to protect Steven then? What make this time so different from Jailbreak.

[@lerelpannell4182]

@@Supersonic1014 Don't believe me, here's an image from Jailbreak. static.wikia.nocookie.net/steven-universe/images/1/1b/Jail_Break_427.png/revision/latest?cb=20190607163202

[@definablelife1370]

you called lapis jasper twice lol

[@ULTRAtheCYBORG]

"Ocean Man-" Lol

[@mcscrooge1965]

This episode was pretty boring until Jasper showed up, then it got interesting, I may not say much for the next few EWW in discussing my opinion on the episodes because I don’t have much to talk about since this episode is the last episode of SU I watched before finally losing interest fully until Change your mind

[@Variety_editz8537]

Sorry to mention this but the face reveal in yt shorts was Glued to mind I'm not saying your ugly it's just your face and how your voice describes your face are different

[@NickyTheSwordsman]

Lol. That is all.

[@galvin4808]

Excuse me, but why every time you start talking does the episode play very slowly?

[@personperson4571]

:)

[@personperson4571]

:)