Gem Harvest

Did You Know?

• Dave Willis guest-starred in the role of Uncle Andy.
• Some critics noted a similarity between Willis's performance as Andy and his role as Carl Brutananadilewski on Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
• As a 23-minute episode, "Gem Harvest" had a larger storyboard team than a typical 11-minute episode.

Plot

Steven goes to the barn where Peridot and Lapis Lazuli live after fleeing the Gem Homeworld. The two Gems have started farming but are disappointed that their vegetables don't get up and walk around or talk. Using his ability to create living plants, Steven licks a pumpkin seed. By the next morning, the seed has grown into a barking pumpkin-dog, which Peridot and Lapis adopt as a pet.

Suddenly, a biplane lands near the barn. The pilot climbs out and angrily complains about the changes Lapis and Peridot have made to the building, calling them hobos and hippies squatting on his land. Lapis and Peridot get ready to fight him, but Steven calls his father Greg for help. Greg arrives with Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, and introduces the pilot as his cousin, Andy DeMayo.

Andy is happy to learn Steven is his nephew, but he is furious at Greg for cutting himself off from the family and for letting "illegal aliens" live in the barn. Andy remembers the annual DeMayo family reunions that used to happen there, so Steven suggests they prepare a big dinner to convince Andy to let Lapis and Peridot stay. The Gems start harvesting vegetables and cooking, but things get tense when Peridot and Pearl build a stove by taking apart an airplane engine that was a treasured keepsake from Andy's parents.

The Gems leave to buy party decorations, and Andy relaxes a bit, telling Steven about his passion for flying. When the Gems come back with a strange mix of wedding, baby shower, and funeral supplies, Andy accepts it without complaint. At dinner, though, Andy feels out of place because of the Gems' odd behavior and inside jokes. When they all thank each other for helping with the meal, Andy is left out.

Hurt, he leaves in his plane. Steven has Lapis fly him up to Andy's aircraft. Midair, Andy tells Steven how frustrated he is that the rest of his family has moved on. Steven says he wants to be part of the family and get to know his uncle.

Steven slips and falls off the plane, and Andy dives to catch him. Flying back to the barn, Andy admits he is partly to blame for losing touch with his relatives. The Gems awkwardly welcome him back, and Greg and Andy hug and make up.

Reception

Critics were split on "Gem Harvest." Many acknowledged the episode's Thanksgiving-adjacent plot about a family dinner where a bigoted older relative learns to accept different lifestyles felt timely, but several deemed the narrative uncomfortable or in poor taste given it aired just after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Eric Thurm of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B, describing it as "sweet but somewhat lacking." He commended how it explored the flexibility of family and handled a large cast, plus the nuanced relationship between Greg and Andy.

However, he found Andy a thinly written character and called the episode "disingenuous" for suggesting prejudices like Andy's disdain for "hippies" and immigrants, and his support for "traditional marriage," could be resolved so easily. Thurm also compared it unfavorably to the earlier double-length special "Bismuth." Vrai Kaiser of The Mary Sue disliked the episode, arguing it was inappropriate when conservative views like Andy's were gaining ground, and deemed its hopeful reconciliation unrealistic.

While Kaiser respected the writers' ambition to address "larger, darker" themes, they felt the episode "bit off way, way more than it could chew." For ComicsAlliance, Elle Collins and Katie Schenkel called the timing "cringeworthy" and the message "simplistic," finding it hard to sympathize with Andy given the political climate. They suggested omitting some of his reactionary attitudes would have improved the episode. Still, they praised the depiction of Peridot and Lapis's relationship and appreciated Andy's character growth throughout the story.