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Recap / Steven Universe S1E39 "Future Vision"

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Original airdate: January 29th, 2015

Production code: 1026-039

The episode begins with Steven in his room, having a pretend conference with his toys. He imagines and reacts to their make believe dismay at his having declared himself "a big boy now" and too old for the toys (and too old to call himself a "big boy"). He packs them away in a box, pausing only to consider whether his Master of Ceremonies Bear Bear should also get trashed. He decides in the end that the bear can stay, and starts down the stairs with his box. He unfortunately can't see, because of the box, that there's a ball on the stairs. He steps on it and goes flying, losing his grip on the box.

But he lands safely because Garnet just happens to be standing her very tall self right at the terminus of Steven's fall. Steven expresses gratitude at how lucky it was she was there. Garnet says luck had nothing to do with it. Curious, Steven asks her to explain. She declines to explain, saying that she doesn't think he can handle knowing it yet. Steven insists he's a.... large man and ready to know. So Garnet relents and explains to him that, after a fashion, she can see the future.

The two do their morning exercises on the beach, after which Steven decides to have breakfast. Still curious about her power, Steven asks Garnet what sort of options he has for breakfast. She tells him since they're already outside, he'll likely go to the Big Donut. This turns out to be Steven's decision, but once they get there Garnet explains her power a bit more thoroughly. She doesn't see the future precisely.

Garnet: No one can see the future. I see options and trajectories. Time is like a river, that splits into creeks, or pools into lakes, or careens down waterfalls. I have the map, and I steer the ship.

At the door, though, he asks what will happen if he says hi to Sadie. Patiently Garnet tells Steven she'll probably say "hi" back. Steven asks what the possibilities are for greeting Lars. Garnet tells him that there's a single possibility Lars will high five Steven — but at least two possibilities that result in Steven getting third degree burns over most of his body! Oblivious to the worse possibilities, Steven proceeds to say hi to Lars anyway. Lars, startled, loses his grip on his extremely hot carafe of coffee. Garnet simply steps in front of Steven and gets splashed by the boiling liquid.

Lars: Criminy! Are you okay? That coffee was really hot.
Garnet: I drink coffee for breakfast!

Shaken by his experience, Steven and Garnet go to Fryman's. Steven asks Garnet about possible outcomes here. She describes them one by one: he could choke to death on one of his fry bits. He could not look where he's going while eating the fry bits and fall into a sewer. He could get food poisoning. Or attacked by wasps. Now properly freaked out, Steven begins imagining his own lethal misfortunes: a shark attack, being squished by the big doughnut from the shop, and Cookie Cat returning in his spaceship to fry Steven with a laser.

By the time they return home, Steven is pretty much a nervous wreck. He's gone and found a helmet and put it on, and is trying to work up the nerve to pick up a dull plastic knife to spread mayo on his sandwich. Unable to convince himself that he can wield the knife safely he turns the mayo jar upside down and dumps the whole jar on his sandwich and the counter. Amethyst and Pearl arrive, ready for a mission. Steven, near tears, begs Garnet not to leave him because the future and not knowing it is terrifying to him. Garnet tells Steven that he's in control, and all she will tell him about the future is to not go on the roof.

As a humdinger of a thunderstorm begins, Steven's nerves get on edge as the front door is blown open. His mind conjures more images of him dying horribly. He bursts into tears and hugs his MC Bear Bear. Steven begins to wonder what Garnet saw happening to him in the future if he gets on the roof. He recalls himself saying he's a big boy now, and that he's a Crystal Gem. This helps Steven get a hold of himself. He goes out on the roof in the pouring rain, and stands there. The Gems come home, and Garnet comes outside to see him on the roof. Steven tells her that his life is terrible now that he knows there are possible futures, and that the more he knows, the more he knows he doesn't know.

Garnet attempts to explain her reasoning for telling Steven not to go on the roof. She thought he might understand not to go up there, and they would be closer.

Garnet: I see so many things that can hurt you. I should never have let one of them be me.

Steven slides down off the roof, runs to Garnet and gives her a hug. Despite the weirdness between them, they are closer than ever. As Garnet hugs Steven with one arm, there's a thunderclap. Garnet lifts one hand and takes the lighting strike on her palm gem.

Steven: ... what was that?
Garnet: ... nothing important.

Iris Out.


Tropes:

  • Artistic License – Physics: Neat as it is to see Garnet deflect it, in real life that lightning bolt wouldn't have come close to Steven's house. It would be drawn to the lighthouse on the top of the temple.
  • Art Shift: All the descriptions Garnet gives of how Steven could die, and all of Steven's Imagine Spots of dying, are in an adorable Super-Deformed Style.
  • Badass Boast:
    • Garnet explains how her future vision works, using the metaphor or time being a series of splitting and connecting rivers, ending it with "I have the map. And I steer the ship."
    • When she is unfazed and unhurt by the hot coffee Lars accidentally spills on her, Garnet insists "I drink coffee for breakfast!" At least it was meant to sound badass.
  • Black Comedy: Steven imagines possibles ways he could die.
  • Blessed with Suck: As helpful as Garnet's future vision is, it's also a stressful ability to have. She can see lots of futures where Steven gets hurt or killed.
  • Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick:
    Garnet: Steven, I can't be with you all the time. Just trust me when I saw you are in control.... and do not go on the roof. No matter what.
  • Call-Back:
    • This episode expands on Garnet's enhanced perception previously described in "Arcade Mania". It's implied to be connected to her third eye in the illustration given along with her explanation. Also she once again shows some degree of Shock and Awe ability after deflecting a lightning bolt.
    • Garnet's tic of touching her shades when using Future Vision is revealed, which adds a new complexion to her past actions, especially her reactions at the conclusion of the previous episode, "The Test."
  • Continuity Nod:
    • The toys from "Steven the Sword Fighter" return in what is their apparent swan song. Steven puts them in a box to get rid of them.
    • Cookie Cat, whose first appearance was in "Gem Glow", shows up in Steven's imagination.
    • Garnet mentioned back in "Giant Woman" that she could swim through lava, so of course some hot coffee isn't going to be a bother for her.
  • The Cuckoolander Was Right: Steven imagines his refrigerator falling on top of him. Around the same time, this actually happened to Ronaldo, though it didn't kill him.
  • Death Montage: They're not all together, but we get a montage of Steven's many imagined deaths.
  • Dude, Not Funny!: In-universe, Steven doesn't take kindly to Garnet's crack when he's afraid to use a knife to spread mayonnaise and spills a bunch on his sandwich.
    Garnet: That will kill you faster.
    Steven: Not funny!
    Garnet: Oh.
  • Expy: The two wasps in Steven's imagined possibility of being 'bullied by wasps' bear resemblance to the Pokemon Beedrill, just with a pair less legs.
  • Eyebrow Waggle: Steven does this to coerce Garnet into going with him to Big Donut. He actually waggles his eyebrows three times, each in a different way.
  • Growing Up Sucks: Steven has to learn to deal with the harsh reality that injury and death is possible with every action or non-action he takes, as everyone eventually learns. In fact, most of Garnets predictions can be avoided by simple common sense.
  • Iris Out: Over Steven and Garnet hugging each other.
  • Life Will Kill You: Almost all the death's Garnet predicts as possible are immensely mundane, like choking on food or food poisoning.
  • "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: Steven claims the middle name of "Danger" (it's really "Quartz"), but Garnet says it's "Cutie Pie".
  • Multiple-Choice Future: Garnet insists she doesn't see the future, but a wealth of possible futures and their individual probabilities.
  • Negate Your Own Sacrifice: Garnet blocks Steven from getting doused by hot coffee, but since she's extremely heat resistance, it's just an annoyance.
  • Necro Non Sequitur: In contrast with Garnet's predictions, all the ways Steven thinks he might die are bizarre and almost all impossible. The most likely was getting crushed by a falling Big Donut sign, but he also imagined Cookie Cat suddenly turning out to be real, showing up, and murdering him and a Falling Chandelier of Doom in his house (which has no such thing).
  • Noodle Implements:
    Steven: At least tell me what's going to happen with my lunch. Do I choke on a pickle?
    Garnet: ... you don't choke on a pickle.
    Steven: That means something ELSE happens with the pickle!
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Garnet willingly removes her shades to apologize. Before that she'd wear them unless they were knocked off.
  • Puppy-Dog Eyes: Garnet actually willingly takes off her shades and gives Steven these when she plaintively tells him she should never have let one of the things that could hurt Steven be herself.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Garnet foresaw Steven's freakout on the roof as a possible consequence of revealing her future vision. But he only ended up on the roof because she specifically warned him against going there.
  • Skewed Priorities: Oh, Steven.
    Steven: What would happen if I said hi to my BFF, Lars?
    Garnet: I see a single potential future where Lars gives you a high-five. And two more potential futures where you suffer third degree burns all over your body.
    Steven: A high-five...from Lars!
  • Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter: Sick of being afraid of the future, Steven goes to the roof while in a raging thunderstorm and demands the future to come at him. Steven would have been struck by lightning if Garnet hadn't have returned and convinced him to come down.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: Steven's imagined deaths are all accompanied by an upbeat piano pieces, which is officially titled "Death Rag".
  • Staircase Tumble: Steven carries his box of stuff he's putting away down the steps, but slips on a tennis ball, sending him flipping over and down to the next floor. Garnet saving him is what makes him find out about her future vision.
  • Stripped to the Bone: Steven imagines all his deaths resulting in his skeleton being the only things left, even in cases where it makes no sense whatsoever, like death by falling refrigerator.
  • Tempting Fate: Garnet tells Steven not to go out on the roof. He does anyway — during a raging thunderstorm. He's tired of being terrified of possible futures and demands that whatever will happen up there, happens.
  • Threatening Shark: One of Steven's many imagined deaths is a shark coming out of the water at the shore to eat him.
  • Wicked Wasps: One of Steven's imagined deaths is by giant wasps that laugh at him as they sting him, until he swells up and explodes.
  • A Wizard Did It: Steven imagines being attacked by giant wasps while inside his house during a rainstorm.
    Steven: How come YOU guys are back?!
    Wasp: We're made of magic!

 
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Future Vision

Steven does this to coerce Garnet into going with him to Big Donut. He actually waggles his eyebrows three times, each in a different way.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (9 votes)

Example of:

Main / EyebrowWaggle

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