Steven Universe has been on an unbelievable hot streak this year. Consistently balancing humor, pathos, and joy in a scant 11 minutes per episode, it’s shaping up to be one of the best shows of 2015 so far. There are many, many reasons to get caught up, including an empathetic, nuanced, and often-hilarious take on childhood, beautiful action sequences, and Nicki Minaj as a giant purple monster. Steven Universe recently wrapped up its first run of episodes, but that doesn’t mean the show will be slowing down any time soon.
First up, tomorrow Cartoon Network will air the Steven Universe/Uncle Grandpa crossover episode it teased at its upfronts in February. The crossover has caused a bit of head-scratching among fans, not least because the deeply surreal and ridiculously over-the-top Uncle Grandpa is much weirder than Steven Universe. (Not for nothing does Uncle Grandpa feature a talking piece of pizza named Pizza Steve voiced by Workaholics’ Adam DeVine.)
The episode, “Say Uncle,” finds Uncle Grandpa trying to help Steven gain full control of his Crystal Gem powers, the struggle that incited the first episode of the show. But as this preview suggests, Steven’s Gem mother-sister figures—Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl—don’t take too kindly to Uncle Grandpa’s presence. While he certainly endangers Steven, Uncle Grandpa also threatens something even more important: the fourth wall.