Shocking! Finally discussing something that isn’t Doraemon related...

I’ve been on a Steven Universe rewatch and have made it at least half way through season 2, yet to get to the Peridot arc. However ‘Sadie’s Song’ was among the last few I watched. and it led me to want to discuss something I’ve never publicly spoken about. Discuss or well, complain actually.

I’m still bothered by the lack of consequences she receives from what happened in 'Island Adventure.’ Lars still hangs out with her, cares about her and while their relationship has changed there’s no real resolution to what she did to him? I understand, of course, Lars is a jerk. Yet he’s a jerk in a sense of being an insecure teenage boy, not so much a genuine asshole kind of way. Still, in the end I don’t think it’s fair to excuse her actions just because he can be unfair.

Sadie in the episode actually reminds me of the dynamic with her mother that’s introduced in Sadie’s Song, being controlling and thinking you are doing what’s best for someone even when it’s suffocating. Don’t get me wrong, I actually love a complex angle at love like this- my issue lies in the fact it isn’t treated as big of a deal as it is. If we can have a six episode arc about Pearl having betrayed Garnet’s trust with fusion, why couldn’t Lars have drifted away from Sadie for her betrayal against him?

Sadie, while her intentions were initially good, were still wrong. It’s acknowledged, but when Lars states he feels Sadie did this to come on to him- thus her bad actions are thrown out the window, is where the problem lies. From his perspective what else would it look like? Even if she didn’t intend for it in the first place, what if the monster hadn’t attacked? When would she have fessed up? When do your good actions become rotten depending on how long you wait to confess? How long would she have taken advantage of his vulnerability to have what she wanted?

We won’t ever know, but as it goes in the episode- Lars does kiss her first but she created a situation where he was desperate, sad and above all- lonely. She consents to the kiss, and doesn’t have a moment where she thinks otherwise due to the dishonesty of it all. Even as he pulls away and tries to move on, she tries to get him to come back. Sadie doesn’t plan to tell him then and there until she’s forced to.

If Lars crying and telling her he misses home and is feeling bad before the kiss didn’t do the trick, what would’ve? In a non-desperate life or death situation at least...

So honestly, his statement of her coming onto him isn’t really false- it’s treated that way by Sadie and the fandom. I can hardly consider it a sign of him being a jerk because his trust was just betrayed, I think he’s earned the right to be a bit mad about that. It’s not too different from what happened with Pearl and Garnet, at least, it’s similar enough. So I don’t quite get why it wasn’t handled with the same sort of levity...

I may be more miffed about this due to the fandom, years of dealing with it and the absolute hatred people had for Lars or any character of color has kind of made me resentful of that episode and Sadie to an extent. She’s fine, looking back on it, still hard to shake those feelings.