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As an episode with a Double-Meaning Title about how weird dreams are where Steven discovers Dream Walker abilities, this episode is ripe for analyses.
Steven's first dream:Steven imagines his life as a sitcom, where the gems are human in different roles in his life. Pearl is his rather neurotic mother, fussing over his appearance as he prepares for a dance with Connie. Amethyst is a Cool Big Sis whose antics infuriate Pearl. Garnet is a Fonzi-esque Drop-In Character that's not a direct member of his family, but a cool and mysterious outsider that stops by to share the latest news on fun things to do and terse advice for what you plan on doing. Lapis replaces Connie in his dreams narrative at the door, erasing all other characters and the sound stage leaving nothing but a void becoming a giant wave crashing over her and Steven. This is Steven's first contact with Lapis, ambiguously initiated by either of them as she would be knocking as she's motivated by her relationship with him but it fits his dream's narrative following just after taking a break from looking for her. She replaces Connie because although Steven appreciates and desires his human relationships, he's aware his responsibilities as a Crystal Gem would encroach on that. His human plans are unexpectedly derailed by ongoing gem business that he's also invested in.
His second dream comes after discussing how weird dreams are even though they're based on past experiences, because Pearl doesn't yet grasp the concept of sleeping or dreams. Appropriately enough this dream is very surreal, entailing Steven flying through a weird sky ocean combination like Dogcopter before coming onto another black void. Steven notes how weird it is and hears Lapis agree. This is because she doesn't regularly sleep or have dreams. She argues she needs to maintain concentration as the background is quite literally washed out with a blue pattern of the ocean, where she is trapped. It's here that Steven wakes up and sees Pearl inadvertently projecting her dreams, paralleling the accidental contact with Lapis neither seem to have conscious control over. It's here he begins to consider he actually is talking to Lapis and endeavors to try it on purpose for information.
His third dream has him enter a mental representation of Malachite through her hair. It's in another black void but this time with a watery malachite surface with Lapis chained to it. It's been established before that gems could potentially lose themselves in the identity of their fusion, with Garnet reiterating Malachite's instability to that effect. Lapis is working hard to keep Jasper suppressed but representing it as being the one on the surface of Malachite suggests she's trying to maintain her identity on top of it. She echoes Pearl's sentiment of "Just let me do this for you!", paralleling her replacing Connie in his first dream and Steven convincing her against that mindset. Furthermore it echoes Pearl initially taking that philosophy because of internalized lack of self-worth coupled with Rose being the only one to give her any, just like Steven was the only one that showed concern for Lapis' well-being. Jasper then briefly takes control, looking quite unhinged, and while Lapis manages to take control back from her, she soon seems to loose herself to the fusion, and a giant Malachite, likely representing the composite consciousness, forms and the dream ends.
