History Recap / StevenUniverseS5E28ChangeYourMind

** "I am a child -- what's your excuse" is Steven's armour-piercing response to White, and is also close to the comeback that Garnet got Steven to go back in time to deliver in the pilot episode. So ... did Garnet's futurevision in the pilot include this possibility in the finale?

** "I am a child -- what's your excuse" is Steven's armour-piercing response to White, and is also the comeback that Garnet got Steven to go back in time to deliver in the pilot episode. So ... did Garnet's futurevision in the pilot include this possibility in the finale?

* DeadAllAlong: Though Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond has been a PosthumousCharacter for the entire series, several episodes have questioned if she can see through Steven, if she is literally half of Steven, if she could come back if her Gem was taken from Steven, etc. This episode point-blank states that she's "[[DeathOfPersonality gone]]".

* DeathOfPersonality: Even separated from Steven's body, his gemstone takes his form and is completely focused on merging back together, showing for certain that Rose/Pink no longer exists as a person [[DeadAllAlong and has not since Steven was born]].

Inside, Steven attempts to get through to White Diamond instead, but she responds by using her EyeBeams to take over Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, before claiming that they are now perfect by becoming extensions of her, and insinuates that the other Diamonds are {{Literal Split Personalit|y}}ies of her that she removed to make herself perfect. She claims that Steven is just Pink Diamond deluding herself about being human, having created a human child to become just for the experience. But White proves herself wrong when she pulls out Steven's gem to force Pink Diamond to reappear: as everyone watches with astonishment, the gem nearly forms both Pink and Rose before settling on a pink version of Steven. Pink Steven causes the entire room to shake when he yells at White that "She's '''GONE!'''", cracking White's pedestal and sending the controlled Blue and Yellow to their knees. As Steven is reunited with his gem, becoming whole again, White has a FreakOut, claiming that he's not Steven, he ''has'' to be Pink Diamond, and that "she" is acting like a child. Steven points out that he ''is'' a child; what's ''her'' excuse?\\

In the tower, Steven has a dream of Pink Diamond, locked up there and visited by Blue, who chastises her for releasing organic creatures at a ball. Shortly after he wakes up, he and Connie get a visit from Blue, who won't let them out unless Steven apologizes for making a scene at the ball by fusing. Noting how similar her entrance was to his dream, Steven gets her to realize that she had made Pink cry so many times it had become routine, and it finally dawns on her just why Pink wanted to leave Homeworld so long ago in the first place. She agrees to help Steven and Connie, and smuggles them to Pink's chambers. Steven and Connie promptly pig out on the food they brought with them, and Steven changes back into his normal clothing.

Blue takes Steven and Connie to Yellow's bubble room, where the Crystal Gems' gemstones have been placed, only to find Yellow herself waiting for them, who wants to know what Blue thinks she's doing. When Blue points out that they both hurt Pink, which is what led to her rebellion in the first place, and that Steven would be better off away from Homeworld, Yellow reacts violently, and the two Diamonds get into a fight that quickly goes outside. Eventually, Steven and Blue manage to get through to Yellow about how the way she treated Pink was wrong, leading her to start crying--without any of Blue's influence. As Steven reclaims his family's gems, Yellow and Blue agree to help Steven and Connie escape from Homeworld, hopefully before White finds out.

However, they're too late when they're accosted by White Pearl outside of Pink's leg ship, and White's torso ship lifts off and lands atop the legs, taking control. Just then, though, Blue and Yellow's arm ships unexpectedly arrive and begin attacking White's ship, to the two Diamonds' confusion as ''they're'' definitely not controlling them. After White and Pink's ships are knocked over, the arms land to disgorge Bismuth from one, and the reformed Lapis and Peridot from the other. Bismuth is pleased that she got to "uppercut an upper crust" for once, and she gives Connie the new sword she made her.

Steven gets Yellow and Blue to take control of their ships to try and force White to listen, eventually bringing everyone onto the hands of the combined Diamond mecha. However, when Yellow and Blue voice their concerns about living up to White's perfect standards and Steven asks her to help, White responds by blasting Yellow and Blue with beams from the eyes of her ship that turn the two monochrome, just like White Pearl, before bubbling them into the ship. As the poofed Crystal Gems' gemstones fall and Steven goes after them, Lapis, carrying Bismuth and Peridot on a trash can lid with Connie hanging below, fly around to try and distract the Diamond mecha.

Steven manages to catch Amethyst's gem first, and, trying to get her to reform so they can save the others, fuses with her into Smoky Quartz. The Fusion is confused initially, before congratulating Steven on discovering that he can get the others to reform via fusion. Steven and Amethyst defuse, and Amethyst tells Steven she'll be fine as she shapeshifts into an owl, telling him to go catch the others. He grabs Pearl's gem next, and fuses with her into a bombastic fusion who immediately announces himself as Rainbow 2.0. Upon noticing the plummeting gemstones of Ruby and Sapphire, Rainbow flies down on his umbrella to grab them, before landing. Steven and Pearl defuse, and Pearl is complemented by Amethyst on her new jacket before she realizes that she and Steven fused, giving him a hug. Steven then turns his attention to Garnet.

As Lapis, Bismuth, Peridot and Connie join them, Steven fuses with Garnet just in time to save everyone from being crushed as White attempts to stomp on them with the Diamond mecha. The fusion, Sunstone, reassures everyone that she has this, and begins to climb up the Diamond mecha. However, she's not big enough to do it quickly, and falls off, causing Steven and Garnet to defuse. Steven declares that an even bigger fusion is needed, and Garnet agrees, announcing that all four main Crystal Gems will have to form Obsidian.

The act of fusing knocks Connie off her feet as she, Bismuth, Peridot and Lapis have to back away, and upon forming, Obsidian roars and begins to climb the Diamond mecha. The others take to the air as well to try and distract White Diamond, but Connie falls and is caught by Obsidian. Peridot manages to slow Bismuth's fall through using her powers on her armour at the last second. Connie declares she's got the situation, raising her sword, but Obsidian forms her own weapon, combining those of her component Gems into an enormous hilt which she dips into her second mouth, filled with lava, to gain a blade. She cuts off the hands of the Diamond mecha with it, before eventually reaching the head and roaring into the eye. The Diamond mecha headbutts a pillar, which causes Obsidian to defuse, and the Crystal Gems, Steven and Connie climb in through the Diamond mecha's eye.

Inside, Steven attempts to get through to White Diamond instead, but she responds by using her EyeBeams to take over Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, before claiming that they are now perfect by becoming extensions of her, and insinuates that the other Diamonds are {{Literal Split Personalit|y}}ies of her that she removed to make herself perfect. She claims that Steven is just Pink Diamond deluding herself about being human, having created a human child to become just for the experience. But White proves herself wrong when she pulls out Steven's gem to force Pink Diamond to reappear: as everyone watches with astonishment, the gem nearly forms both Pink and Rose before settling on a pink version of Steven. Pink Steven causes the entire room to shake when he yells at White that "She's '''GONE!'''", cracking White's pedestal and sending the controlled Blue and Yellow to their knees. As Steven is reunited with his gem, becoming whole again, White has a FreakOut, claiming that he's not Steven, he ''has'' to be Pink Diamond, and that "she" is acting like a child. Steven points out that he ''is'' a child; what's ''her'' excuse?

White is mortified to realize she's not perfect, and blushes a bright pink that extends to all of her controlled Gems and the outside of her ship, and causes the formerly white room to become pink as well. The shock of her realizing that contrary to her belief, she ''does'' have a flaw causes her to collapse and release all of her puppets from her control. The now-again Pink Pearl is confused, having no idea where she is. Blue and Yellow Diamond, meanwhile, are rather appalled to discover that White is off-color. Steven tells White, who doesn't know who she really is anymore, that he can help her with that, but she has to help heal the corrupted Gems and she's going to have to get out of her own head.

Back on Earth, Sadie Killer and the Suspects are performing a concert on the beach, with a good chunk of Beach City's residents in attendance, when the combined Diamond mecha lands directly above the stage as they perform a cover of Greg Universe's "Let Me Drive My Van (into Your Heart)". Sadie is so surprised she drops her mic, and the townspeople get a surprise when Steven, Connie, all the Crystal Gems and the Diamonds emerge from the ship. Just moments later, the Sun Incinerator lands on the beach and disgorges Lars and the Off-Colors. Rhodonite only notices the Diamonds ''after'' proclaiming that she's happy to have escaped them, and resignedly states that they're "cracked". Fortunately, Steven reassures them that things are actually okay.

** Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond finally complete theirs in this episode, with Blue realizing that all her attempts to discipline Pink just made her miserable when all she did was try to make them happy, while Yellow later realizes that by fulfilling the "perfect" society that White Diamond has built, she has driven Pink Diamond away, and realizes that she's hurting just as much as Blue for not having her around.

* HellIsThatNoise: Pink Steven's scream of "She's '''''GOOOOOOOOONE!'''''" is noteworthy for the raw fury in his voice, how all other sound cuts out from it, and the eerie echoes that follow.

* ThemeTuneCameo: Steven sings the show's theme song, "We Are the Crystal Gems", at Sadie's concert.

-->'''White Diamond:''' What is this?! Where's Pink?
--> '''Pink Steven''': She's gone.

* GoryDiscretionShot: When White Diamond pulls Steven's gem out, the scene is shot with black and white silhouettes, [[ShadowDiscretionShot cutting completely to black]] when she finally yanks it out. Granted, there is nothing really "gory" about it.

* GoryDiscretionShot: When White Diamond pulls Steven's gem out, the scene is shot with black and white silhouettes, [[ShadowDiscretionShot cutting completely to black]] when she finally yanks it out.

* FrickinLaserBeams:
** Blue Diamond attacks Steven by hurling a ball of energy at him.
** This is White Diamond's way of taking control of other Gems, as evidenced by Blue and Yellow Diamond, and later, the three main Crystal Gems.

** The Diamonds' abuse towards each other and Pink brings to mind older siblings who abuse the younger sibling to save themselves from the parent's abuse.
** The Diamonds' position is this: their abusive mother has gotten violent and they're desperately trying to protect their younger sibling/nephew from her.

** When "Pink" (actually Steven) tries Blue's patience one too many times, Blue ends up snapping and screaming, "That's ''ENOUGH!"'' while she blasts her "sister" with an energy beam. It ends up working against her as Steven calls her out for making Pink cry many times [[{{Hypocrite}} despite claiming she loved her]], causing Blue to finally realize what she had done and experience a HeelRealization.

* ContinuityNod:
** Rainbow 2.0 yells "Rainbow Quartz powers, activate!" when flying to catch Ruby and Sapphire's gems, much like what Pearl said when she first attempted to fuse with Rose in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E19NowWereOnlyFallingApart "Now We're Only Falling Apart"]], "Fusion, activate!"
** Sunstone shouts "Bungacowa!", which is what Amethyst shouted during Steven's dream in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E13ChilleTid "Chille Tid"]].
** In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E14TheBigShow "The Big Show"]], Sadie wanted her next concert to be in Beach City so her mom could watch. When the Crystal Gems return to Beach City, she and her band are already in the middle of it.

** Blue's imprisonment of Pink/Steven and claiming it's for their own good is reminiscent of a parent attempting to convert a gay or transgender child without realizing or acknowledging the actual harm they are causing.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: While removing Steven's gem doesn't cause a visible injury, he's left weak to the point where he can hardly walk and his skin is noticeably pale, as if he's suffering from blood loss anyway.

** Audio variant when Steven fuses back with himself; at two points, you can hear what's clearly an imitation of Rose Quartz's/Pink Diamond's giggles by Zach Callison (who's pretended to sound like Rose before, in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E8MrGreg "Mr. Greg"]]) among Steven's joyous laughing.

* AntiVillain: The Diamonds are ultimately proven to be this for the entire series, as it's revealed that Blue, Yellow, and Pink have spent their entire lives following White's doctrine, doing whatever they could to live up to her nigh-unreachable standards and whatever they think is necessary for their empire, and never bringing themselves to object prior to Pink's rebellion. Simply put, they simply view themselves as the rulers of an intergalactic empire, not realzing how miserable their empire has been for eons, even themselves, until Steven gets through to them. Yellow even lampshades it after Steven stops her from destroying Blue's physical form by knocking back her lightning with his shield:

* HoldYourHippogriffs: At the end, when Rhodonite sees the Diamonds on Earth, she says "Well, we're cracked" in much the same way a human would say "Well, we're fucked." In context, though, the meaning is more like "Well, we're dead."

* EasilyForgiven: Steven, Blue and Yellow don't hold it against White despite everything she's done to them.

-->'''White Diamond:''' ''[through White Pearl]'' You've made a grave mistake. Go to your rooms!\\

* GrandFinale: The Crystal Gems are reconciled with the Diamonds and Homeworld, the Corrupted Gems are finally healed, and Lars is back on Earth. It wasn’t confirmed as such until a month after the airing of the subsequent movie that indeed, it was the last episode of the series, with the material after that, ''Steven Universe Future'', being described as a separate series.

* FakeOutOpening: Steven wakes up alone in the tower. When Blue comes, he demands to know where Connie is. Then they start talking like Pink and Blue, and Steven realizes he's changing into Pink Diamond. Cue him waking up next to a sleeping Connie.

* BittersweetEnding: White Diamond is defeated and broken out of her denial about her flaws, Steven helps the Diamonds reconcile, and together they help heal all the Corrupted Gems. Lars is finally reunited with Sadie after his adventure in the stars ends. The Off-Colors finally have a place to live in without being persecuted for being different. But Pink Diamond, and her alias, Rose Quartz, is gone forever, having literally become part of Steven. The best way to deal with this is to accept it and move on.

* MythologyGag:
** Steven's comeback to White Diamond saying he's just Pink acting like a child: "I ''am'' a child... what's your excuse?" This effectively ends the conflict of the special, as it flusters White and releases everyone from her control. However, it's also highly reminiscent of his line, "I can't help it... what's your excuse?" from the unaired pilot when Garnet asks Steven, "Why are you such a buttface?" and [[ItMakesSenseInContext Steven needs to make a decent comeback in order to save the day.]]
** The pilot also featured a flying electric skull monster styled after the iconic candy skulls of the Mexican Day of the Dead. In this episode, one of the briefly seen uncorrupted Gems has the same facial coloration and hair.