I’m a monster! I’m an adorable cat monster!

Somehow they managed to make two episodes in a row that involve monsters created by magical accidents, and they’re creepy in completely different ways.

This one begins when Amethyst shows up to tease Steven and Greg as a cat (which Greg is somewhat understandably uncomfortable about).

Steven: I wish I could shapeshift like you.

Amethyst: You could probably learn.

Steven: Really?

Amethyst: Sure, you have a Gem.

Pearl explains that all Gems can change their forms into just about anything, but is hesitant to teach Steven (again, somewhat understandably, since his human-ness is clearly an oddity, to say the least).

Steven: I want to try it all!

Pearl: Don’t bite off more than you can chew, Steven.

Steven: Alright! Show me how to change into a huge lion!

Amethyst: Actually, for once Pearl is right. If you’re gonna do this, you gotta start with something easy.

Amethyst ends up agreeing with Pearl quite a bit this episode…but Pearl’s cautions still go largely unheeded in the wake of Amethyst’s cool shapeshifting demonstrations.  So Steven tries to turn into a cat.

Evidently shapeshifting works a bit differently for half-human boys, as not only can he not manage to change the overall shape of his body, but the cat finger actually has a (cat) mind of its own.

Steven naturally wants to show off his new power/pet to everyone in town, but things quickly get out of hand.

(heh)

Steven: I guess cat fingers don’t function well as…fingers.

He’s clearly starting to get overwhelmed when he discovers the Crystal Gems are heading off on a time-sensitive mission and his cat fingers prevent him from following.  Or eating.

Steven: Enough! No more cat fingers! I want Steven fingers! And I don’t mean little me-heads on fingers, I mean my regular fingers!

To be fair, I imagine Steven fingers would at least be less contrarian and selfish than cats.

Then things get much, much worse, and with his magical guardians away, he turns to his dad for help.

Steven: Help! The cat things are taking over my body!

That is supposed to be Steven, and the animation on this thing is frankly disgusting, and no amount of cute cat noises can make up for it.

Fortunately, Steven discovers that the cat-things “don’t like” water, so a trip through his dad’s car wash is just the thing to rinse them away, and now the abomination is gone!

Pearl: It just goes to show – always listen to me and never listen to Amethyst.

Amethyst: That’s fair.

Garnet: It goes to show, you should have a little more faith in Steven.

Steven: Yeah, that would’ve been a total cat-tastrophe!

It also goes to show that if Pearl really wants Steven to learn things “the right way”, maybe she shouldn’t leave all the teaching to Amethyst.  Seriously, what do you expect when the self-proclaimed mess is the only one trying to teach him new things? More magical mischief, that’s what.

Until next time…