Steven Universe season 1 is technically a horror show. Like look at Steven and the Stevens, the cat fingers episode, Frybo, and Rose’s Room for example.
sasha betrayed her trust once again to help a toad rebellion and ruin their chances of going home
marcy, the one who she believed would never betray her, wanted to keep anne and sasha in amphibia and had no intention of going back home
but who was the one constant, the one thing that anne knew she could count on?
these guys, mainly sprig
because sprig was the first real friend that she had. remember anne’s perception of what was a good friend was toxic and having sprig as a new friend helped change all of that
he helped her grow.
he was the first one who was nice to her when she came to wartwood
he befriended her and the two got close over the last few months that she was there
they essentially became family
and seeing sprig, the one friend she knew she could count on, get thrown out of a window and be dead??
her whole world was just slipped out from under her.
the whole montage of moments between her and sprig are so damn sad i started crying
she only knew him for a little bit of time but he was always there for her and she was there for him always
true colors really got me f’ed up and i applaud the hard work the cast and crew put into this episode and all of amphibia it is truly such a great show
Moments like these remind me that the entire government of a fragile amphibian-based society is currently resting on the friendship dynamic of three teen girls
We saw Anne struggle with snail riding because she treated Bessie like a car. Now we need to see Sprig struggle to drive because he thinks cars are alive.
Anne, slamming her feet on the gas: GUN IT
Sprig: YOU NEED TO SAY PLEASE ANNE -smacking the side of a scooter- THINGS ARE GETTIN' MESSY
You know, thinking about the circumstances of True Colors, there’s a certain dark irony to the trauma the Plantars suffered, particularly the eldest of them.
Since the start of the show, Hop Pop had been characterized as very strict and overprotective of his grandchildren, to where he buried the music box in a panic and willingly lied to her face for months. Then, After The Rain recontextualized all of that as the result of his self-blame and guilt over not being there when Sprig and Polly’s parents were killed by herons, wanting to keep what was left of his family safe.
But even though said family has grown over the past several months, in this episode, he came so close to losing them ALL.
Here, Hop Pop had to watch his newest adoptive grandrobot - whom Polly had sworn to herself to protect - be destroyed while protecting her, Polly narrowly missing being crushed to death out of sadism through pure chance, Sprig being dropped to what would have been certain death solely to make a point to Anne about friendship, and Andrias was about to make absolute sure that his first adoptive granddaughter was truly dead only to actually succeed at murdering a child Hop Pop had extended the same offer to just two months ago.
Here, he WAS by his family’s side like he wishes he had been last time, and yet he STILL had been utterly powerless to do anything except watch it unfold right in front of him, a fresh stab to the heart over and over again in quick succession.
Out of the entire Plantar family and discounting the indirect command to Toad Tower to squash the frog rebellion all the way back in S1, Hop Pop was the only one Andrias did not directly and personally go after and at least attempt to kill.
Yet once the Plantars have time for all four members to properly process through everything that happened, I imagine Hop Pop might feel that it would’ve been preferable to have been the only one to actually die at King Andrias’ hands rather than go through the multiple metaphorical deaths he had in a row.
@picturejasper20 pointed out to me how this could easily lead to an important talk between Hop Pop and Anne this coming season. Both of them had tried so hard to protect the ones they loved, and both of them could only stand by and watch as Andrias attempted/succeeded at murdering their loved ones.
Anne had been overprotective of Marcy when they used to be on Earth, and several months of worrying about her friend’s current whereabouts had likely exacerbated the issue even further. Marcy at The Gates came by and helped soothe that issue down with Anne finally finding the trust to let Marcy be able to be on her own without Anne, but then Andrias showed his true colors and Anne was forced back through to Earth without her friend.
Anne and her adoptive grandfather have a lot to unpack and address here, both for themselves and between the two of them. Hop Pop would be the closest person who could relate to her probably survivor’s guilt and self-blame over Marcy’s death, and Anne would have a clearer understanding of why Hop Pop did what he did with the music box.
Two old souls, both aged in unwanted traumatic experiences and one also in years, will have a lot in common together this coming season, and it will be interesting to see exactly how their relationship with each other and their remaining loved ones play out.