Fridge Brilliance / Steven Universe Season 4

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Kindergarten Kid

"Kindergarten Kid"

• Peridots have iron in them, so Peridot is a semi-literal Iron Butt Monkey in this episode.
• After spending the entire episode mocking the monster's intellect and growing more and more frustrated that her plans failed, Peridot only managed to beat the monster by resorting to the most grabbing hold and withstanding an unintended drop purely by her own innate durability. She got much more into the monster mindset than she ever realized.
• Peridot having Super-Toughness makes sense when you think of her job: a mechanic and technician. That job would require being able to survive a lot of random accidents or heavy machinery. While Homeworld doesn't care much for their people, if a mechanic can't fix damage to a spaceship or other major piece of technology, an entire warship, building, or something else important (and possibly some rare or important Gems that are much harder to replace) could be destroyed with everyone in it, making Peridots being tougher than average Pragmatic Villainy.
• Another possible reason Peridot is so durable, the gemstone can rank up to 7 on the Mohs hardness scale. That's the same rank as quartz!
• Peridot, while battered and bruised, never seems to get hit with anything like the injector spar that poofed Jasper, nor the sword strike that poofed Bismuth, another possible reason for her durability.
• Peridot doesn't consider fusing with Steven to defeat the monster for several reasons: 1) She wants to prove she can do this on her own; 2) While she sees the practical side of fusing it still makes her uncomfortable; 3) While she loves Steven and Steven said he loves her in "Gem Drill", it's platonic Fire-Forged Friends love that doesn't necessarily lend to fusion intimacy.

Know Your Fusion

"Know Your Fusion"

• Why couldn't Smoky measure up to Sugilite? Because Sugilite is the product of three Gems, as to Smoky's one and a half; coincidentally, this makes them being on par with Garnet in strength impressive in hindsight.
• Why is Smoky's strength equal to Garnet's, when Smoky is only made up of one and a half gems as opposed to Garnet's two? Well, only one of Garnet's components was made to be a fighter; Sapphire was not designed for physical strength. Meanwhile, Smoky's components are a Quartz, who are specifically grown as soldiers, and a Diamond, the most powerful type of gem in existence. Steven's half-human biology as well as Amethyst's "defect" dampens their power, but only so much.
• While Garnet left the temple in Keystone Motel to be by herself and defuse, this episode also explains why she couldn't have stayed in her own room during the time, as defusing then would've made it collapse onto Ruby and Sapphire.
• On the strength test, we see only one non-Fusion on the entire thing, right there at the bottom. This makes sense... Not only are Steven and Amethyst not the only characters struggling with feeling inadequate... But given what happened prominently when we were introduced to her, of course the part of Sardonyx that comes from Pearl would put herself all the way at the bottom.
• Listen closely: Sardonyx's voice has a slight echo on it no matter what room she's in. Fitting, since she always seems to be hosting, performing, or presenting no matter the location or context.

Buddy's Book

"Buddy's Book"

• The Cloud Arena is the only major Gem structure that is absent from Buddy's book, which makes sense since it’s the one structure humans would have no way of accessing back then, since flying machines hadn't been invented yet and humans can't use Warp Pads without the help of Gems.
• Some of the locations seem mythologically appropriate in hindsight. The Field of Swords is shown to be in Norway, and would have probably inspired the myth of the war between the Aesir and Jotuns. The Sand Castle appears to have a vaguely Babylonian style of architecture, which seems to connect Rose to the myth of Ishtar, a Babylonian goddess often portrayed in the company of a pride of lions.
• There is a lion among Rose's pride that looked and acted just like Steven's Lion, only he wasn't pink. Well, after seeing "Lars' Head", turns out they are one and the same.

Mindful Education

"Mindful Education"

• Why did Pearl have her holo-Pearls "fuse"? Besides simulating an enemy fusion, it probably allowed her to make it bigger than she could by herself.
• Sapphire being in distress over a swarm of butterflies (that represent personal issues) while Ruby spends most of her time dealing with one. Ruby is more focused on a single problem at a time, but Sapphire with her more serious behaviour and Future Vision is in constant turbulence over past, present and future bad situations. And notice that it gets worse once Ruby separates from her in order to give chase to a single issue. Once Ruby calms down and goes to her again, she can balance Sapphire's hyper awareness and fatalism, bringing calm to both, and Garnet overall. Which is a nice Call-Back to "Keystone Motel", where it was Ruby's anger and refusal to forgive Pearl which unbalanced the fusion and split up Garnet.
  • Additionally, the way Connie's and Steven's problems play out in the episode strongly mirror Ruby and Sapphire in the dream sequence, and is even foreshadowed with the shot juxtaposing Connie and Ruby. Connie, much like Ruby, gets very upset over a single, recent problem, to the point where Stevonnie can't function, while Steven, much like Sapphire, has several, much deeper problems that's he's managed to bury for a while, but when they're triggered, his resulting breakdown is even worse than Connie's. And Connie, as with Ruby to Sapphire, is the one to get through to Steven and help him work through his problems.
• Butterflies feature heavily in promotional material for this episode. Butterflies are often associated with nervousness and anxiety — Steven and Connie have so much on their minds that they can't even concentrate on what's presently going on around them.
• BG Artist Jane Bak made one of the promo images depicting Steven and Connie with butterflies. Connie stares at one butterfly (Jeff) while Steven has two on his head and a third on his hand (Bismuth, Jasper and Eyeball). They're not facing each other, thus not seeing the issues the other has to deal with.
• This episode had a myriad of things related to Buddhism, such as mindfulness, lotus poses used for meditations, and facing one's own problems in their own mind. This is the 108th episode. Bonus points for having a Japanese animator help animate the episode.
• Steven's intense guilt over not being to help Bismuth, Jasper, or Eyeball makes more sense when you go back to previous episodes. He was able to get the older Crystal Gems to work out their problems with one another, convince Peridot and Lapis to see the beauty in Earth, help solve conflict between the Beach City residents, and convince the Cluster to not form. He was able to solve conflicts peacefully by using The Power of Love and The Power of Friendship. So, now he has to face people who have more complex (and understandable) reasons not to listen to him, so he has to respond with violence to protect himself.
  • That also adds another dimension to the meaning of his hallucination of Rose — after Garnet told him that she was able to fight in spite of not wanting to, he probably feels like she'd disapprove of him for not having the same dedication to protecting Earth.
• Steven sees a butterfly over Rose's sword before the unleash of his emotional turmoil, which hints the connection beforehand, but it also hints Steven's issues come from the discovery of Rose's martial side and inability to associate this side with the ideal already in his mind. That sword represents all of his mom's sins.
• Steven can already float better than Stevonnie on his own, and has done so while holding things way heavier than Connie, so why did they need to fuse to float when they were falling at the end? Because that power is tied to his emotions, so fusing was necessary to get him to calm down enough to use it at all.
• Stevonnie seems to flail their legs to use the float/hover ability. Smoky Quartz uses the ability fine. The difference being Amethyst has seen Steven and Rose using this ability while Connie has not.
  • It could also be that Stevonnie is 75% human and thus might have to put more effort into floating. Smoky, on the other hand, is 75% Gem.
• When Steven's guilt over his interactions with Eyeball, Bismuth and Jasper overwhelms him during combat practice, Stevonnie's left hand drops down the rose shield. At this point, the Steven half of Stevonnie has completely collapsed and Connie herself is holding the fusion form together.

Future Boy Zoltron

"Future Boy Zoltron"

• Mr. Smiley seemed a lot more angry than usual when Steven broke his machine. This might seem a little inappropriate at first — yes, it cost him thousands of dollars, but he had it in storage until that point, and on top of that, it's clearly not the most well-built fortune teller machine^note Most fortune teller machines have protective glass to keep people from messing with the teller — until you realize that he runs the entirety of Funland by himself, and Steven broke one of his means for accumulating income without having to run himself ragged.
  • Of course, assuming inflation is one of the things that still occurred normally in the universe's history, it's safe to assume that "thousands of dollars" when Mr. Smiley bought it amounts to hundreds of thousands if not millions today, making his frustration with Steven doubly justified.
  • Why didn't Steven just have Greg pay the machine replacement cost?
    • Because Greg's a "cool dad", not a foolishly-permissive one. Steven needs to learn responsibility for his actions, it's one of the good morals of the series.
    • While he still has money to burn, Greg's reaction towards seeing the bill in Empire City might also hint that he isn't THAT rich after that night. After all, he had mentioned how he only rented a boat in "Alone at Sea" and was beaten down when he ended up having to buy it.
• Mr. Smiley saying he'd "rather not talk about" the jokes he used as a former comedian when Steven asks, may be due to the fact that some of his jokes were adult in nature. Steven, being a kid, may not understand them, so hearing someone like Steven making a sex joke with his friends without knowing the connotations just because he finds it funny will be a bit awkward. Of course, there's Pearl and Greg we have to worry about, too.
  • Alternative possibility: He has a routine with Mr. Frowney. He'd rather not talk about it, because on one hand the jokes only work well with someone depressing giving him something to react to and also because him and Mr. Frowney parting is probably too depressing for Mr. Smiley to even consider joking about.
• Remember how Garnet remarks about this being an appropriate use of her powers? It might sound like Lampshade Handling at first, but she might actually be serious. Not only she helps 2 individuals resolve some issues they're both facing, something we've seen her be willing to do in Mindful Education, it would teach Steven that sometimes there ARE no easy answers to people's issues.

Last One Out of Beach City

"Last One Out of Beach City"

• Pearl may be totally clueless about the difference between apple juice and alcohol; but then, alcohol wouldn't affect a Gem any more than apple juice would.
  • She also could have meant, "I'm going to try drinking" literally. Steven needs to eat and drink, and Amethyst doesn't but does it anyway because she likes it, but Pearl has never been shown to do it before, and has in fact expressed complete revulsion at the process of consuming food. Consuming any beverage, alcoholic or not, would be seen as adventurous coming from her.

Gem Harvest

"Gem Harvest"

• The "Steven Reacts" short ends up predicting the plot for this episode: a typical Steven Universe conflict occurs when Steven creates Veggie Head for Peridot and Lapis, but is wrapped up quickly. Then new, hostile characters appear (the Angry Lunch Enemies as opposed to Uncle Andy) who want the former to Get Out!, only to be convinced to make peace.
• Peridot and Lapis being instant experts at farming, being able to grow a whole field of corn despite the fact that Gems dont need to eat and gems being at odds with human culture makes sense when you consider their perspective roles in gem society: a Kindergardener for Peridot and as "That Will Be All" explained, terraforming for Lapis. Growing plants involves planting a seed into the ground and letting it absorb nutrients from the soil until it comes out from the ground, a principle that Peridot, who used to grow Gems, would be familiar with. Likewise, farming involves manipulating the landscape to make land more suitable for growing (digging ditches, irrigation, etc.) which a terraformer like Lapis would be used to doing. In addition, Peridot has a tablet and access to the Internet so they could easily look up how to farm plants.
• Steven creating Veggie Head for Peridot and Lapis encapsulates how his relationship with them progresses: his first attempt to help them make a sapient vegetable backfires, but he continues to try to help them, and eventually Veggie Head goes to them.
• Andy eventually mellows when the Gems get the ridiculous wedding cake, the baby boy balloon and the tombstone. Why? Because they were trying to accommodate his wishes, without really understanding the rituals that he mentions. To Andy, they're flailing like children, hence why he cracks up, and Peridot thanking him makes him feel guilty for not fitting in when the Gems crack jokes about the Gem War.
• Steven may not have been acting Too Dumb to Live by asking Lapis to toss him onto the plane and then to fly back: he was trusting that Andy would care about him enough to catch him, turn the biplane around and head back to the barn. His gamble paid off, in that Andy suffers a Jerkass Realization as a result and accepts Steven's offer of becoming part of his family.
  • Also remember: Steven can float, even if he missed the biplane he would have just floated down safely.
  • It's also entirely possible that Steven trusted Lapis to have sufficiently good aim to not throw him anywhere he didn't want to be.

Three Gems and a Baby

"Three Gems and a Baby"

• When Garnet unfuses into Ruby and Sapphire, baby Steven cries, which could explain why Garnet never told Steven she was a Fusion right away.
• This episode also explains why Pearl was hesitant to comfort Steven when he regressed into a baby in "Steven's Birthday". Baby!Steven served as a painful reminder to Pearl as to why Rose is gone in the first place.
• The Gems' gifts to Steven are only useless to him as a baby. Pearl's dictionary will likely make him very eloquent after he learns to talk and read, Garnet lampshades how Steven will need the shaving razor when he's older (which was confirmed all the way back in "So Many Birthdays", wherein all of Steven's adult selves [except middle age] have some form of facial hair) and Amethyst's adult diapers will probably be helpful when he becomes an old man.
• The reasons for the Gems' speculations about where Rose's physical form went all connect back to them in some way. Amethyst and Garnet's guesses are the most obvious, but why does Pearl assume Rose is "trapped" in her gem and can't reform because Steven's in the way? Most likely because Pearl herself frequently got poofed trying to save Rose, and thus had to reform a lot.
• When Garnet unfuses, Sapphire had a distressed expression on her face before Steven started crying. Presumably, she had already seen with her future vision that Steven was going to get sad.
• Pearl briefly considers physically pulling Steven's Gem out to allow "Rose Quartz" to reform, but then decides against it. With the revelations in "A Single Pale Rose", it's possible that she realized that pulling out the Gem would reveal its true shape, and Rose's true identity, to the other Crystal Gems.

Steven's Dream

"Steven's Dream"

• Blue Diamond is both startled and immediately taken by Greg's offering her kindness and empathy, even if her response is to pick him up like a stray cat and stick him in a galactic zoo to "preserve" him. We've seen how every other Gem besides Yellow Diamond behaves towards Blue Diamond, with sycophantic bowing and scraping or silent unquestioning obedience, and Yellow Diamond calling Blue out in song form for "feeling blue" when it isn't useful. Greg might be the only sapient being in the thousands of years since Pink Diamond was shattered to offer Blue genuine empathy and just listen to her in her grief; no wonder she immediately wanted to preserve him from what she thought was the coming end of his planet!
  • Also, Gems who have not spent an extended period on Earth don't even register Humans as sentient, let alone as equals (at least on an intellectual level). When Greg opens up about his own loss (and validating Blue Diamond's own feelings of grief), she lifts her veil and lowers herself to his eye level to speak with him as an equal, even sharing the secret that she isn't supposed to be there with a sense of camaraderie. Of course, this does end up leading to Greg's abduction when she remembers herself (and place), but it does demonstrate that even Diamonds can be swayed.
    • The irony, of course, is that humans (as noted in the General Fridge Brilliance section above) would actually be very well suited for helping Blue Diamond: Gems are functionally immortal unless they're shattered, so it can be a shock for a Gem if their loved one is shattered. Meanwhile, death is not only a natural part of our life cycle, but sometimes it comes in unnatural ways. Sometimes it happens abruptly and possibly even violently, like what happened with Pink Diamond. Most human adults have experience losing loved ones, and a good number of them would likely be able to relate to Blue Diamond's loss, but the Diamonds don't realize that.
• Why wouldn't Garnet have warned Steven about the possibility of Greg being abducted by Blue Diamond? She didn't foresee Steven enlisting Greg and Andy in the way he did, which likely altered the timeline as Garnet wouldn't have accounted for travel by airplane rather than warp.
• In hindsight, Blue Diamond would feel happy to know that the Cluster isn’t going to emerge any time soon, because thanks to the efforts of the Crystal Gems (namely Steven and Peridot) in “Gem Drill”, an important memento of Pink Diamond’s legacy, humans and all, has been preserved.
• Greg thinking the ruined palanquin got a paint job to explain why it was blue instead of pink is because he was equating it to a car. The palanquins are a source of transportation for the Diamonds, so it could be the Homeworld equivalent to a car.
• Pink diamonds are noted to bring joy and happiness to a relationship. When Pink Diamond was shattered, all of Blue Diamond's happiness forever shattered with her.

Adventures in Light Distortion

"Adventures in Light Distortion"

• Assuming that the Diamonds' arm-like ships are standard space transports for them, the reason why the Roaming Eyes have "Diamond" settings is because, if their arm-like ships are somehow lost/destroyed, the Roaming Eyes would be the next (less comfortable) alternative.
• Steven and the Gems were waiting for Connie to arrive before Steven can't wait any longer and they have to go, despite this being one of the most high risk missions they've ever performed. That's probably exactly why they wanted to bring her: Connie is not only an extra warrior if need be, but can fuse with Steven into Stevonnie, who's powerful enough to fight the "Ultimate Quartz" head to head. While it probably wouldn't have been ideal, they needed all the help they could get. In addition, Sapphire/Garnet was considering the plan they ultimately implemented (which is in her nature), Connie and Steven could've formed Stevonnie if what ultimately happened with Steven did so.
• Why did Pink Diamond have a human Zoo? "It Could've Been Great" revealed that Homeworld's plans to terraform the Earth into a gem colony would've involved hollowing out the planet, resulting in the extinction of all life on Earth. By transplanting humans to a space zoo, Pink Diamond was ensuring that they wouldn't die out when the Earth did.
• One of the settings cause the gems' limbs to become overly long and noodly. It's probably the setting for Spinels.

Gem Heist

"Gem Heist"

• Holly Blue Agate doesn’t understand anything Steven says. “Incessant barking” and “hilarious noises” are mentioned. The Rubies who came to Earth and the Quartzes on the station could clearly communicate with him, though, and Blue Diamond could speak with Greg and he’s speaking the same language as Steven. As an administrator, Holly Blue doesn’t need to interact directly with humans. If there’s any equivalent to Translator Microbes, she has no need of them.
  • The Homeworld Gems have no concept of male gendered words, so when Steven yells "Dad! That's him!" all Holly hears is gibberish. And because of her Fantastic Racism, she's writing it off as Steven being an animal.
• After Holly Blue and Sapphire leave Steven, Ruby, and Pearl to check on the Roaming Eye, Ruby quickly orders Pearl to open the door. Pearl is displeased by this after being bossed about by Holly Blue, but Pearl is the only one among them who is tech-savvy and tall enough to work the door.

The Zoo

"The Zoo"

• A common question raised is how after thousands of years of intermixing, there are still distinct races among the Zoomans. However, the Choosening is probably what the Gems use to ensure as many as possible multiracial pairings. A zoo is fairly dull if all your animals look the same.
  • That, or the Gems replenish the Zooman population with test tube babies and Choosenings have a more social role, helping to keep them happy and docile. After all, several of the humans do appear mixed-race, and the first couple “Choosened” is interracial.
  • It also explains why Greg was immediately selected for the Choosening: he was fresh genetic material due to not coming from the current Zoo stock. And given that Greg is middle-aged and no longer in the prime of his life, the Zoo gems would want him fathering more children before he expires.
  • The humans in the Zoo could also live longer than the humans on Earth, who at the time they got abducted, and for a number of years, only lived to be at most 60. But since they're well cared for in a healthy, sterile environment, they likely tend to live longer, not 500 years like a Gem, but rather 120-130 years.
  • This might function as Truthin Television, because of the fact the Zoomans are virtually caged animals in captivity, and animals in captivity tend to live longer than animals in the wild, due to the fact they are being taken care of and less likely to fall victim to famine or disease.
• Given the size of the zoo, it’s entirely possible there are more than one group of humans there.
• The Zoomans have what looks like a free period before the daily routine begins. That must be when they tell stories and pass down what little culture they have. One of the few signs of individuality can be noticed when Greg’s story is mentioned and they start chanting “The bits!”; some are really into it, some are just smiling, and one looks annoyed and isn’t joining in.
• The name "the Choosening" sounds rather odd at first... but then you remember one thing: Gems have no concept of marriage or even sexual reproduction period. Their only possible means of gaining information on it would have been to learn from humans from more than 5,000 years ago. Of course the name would be strange.
• The Eternal English aspect of the Zoomans make sense when you remember they get their orders from Gems, who seem to speak English. They'd have to be able to understand orders, so even if they didn't speak it thousands of years ago, it makes sense they'd be taught it in some way.
• The reason why Greg and Steven have so much difficulty getting used to the way the zoo's way of handling humans is because unlike the Zoomans who were born in captivity, Greg and Steven are feral humans.
• The personalities of the zoomans make sense if one knows how domestication works. Wherever an animal is domesticated they become more baby-like in appearance and behavior over the generations (a possible origin for "the choosening") and many of the zoomans do have a somewhat youthful appearance.
• Surprisingly, there's actually little reason to fear genetic degeneration. Several studies indicate that the minimal amount of humans required to feasibly colonize is roughly 260 especially if new humans are collected every 4th year or so. This combined with an AI who obviously has some algorithm to decide proper breeding pairs makes the risk almost nonexistent.

That Will Be All

"That Will Be All"

• Also in the song, Lapis Lazulis are made to "terraform", that is, to reshape planets in useful ways. How might they do that? Well, they can fly and therefore see things from above, and they can control water on a grand scale (at least, "our" Lapis can). Water and water pressure can have astonishing effects on land, and might wear and wash away any features deemed "undesirable".
  • Both the Prime and Beta Kindergartens are located in canyons which are formed from the erosion action of rivers through rock. It's quite possible that Lapis Lazuli gems are the ones responsible for creating the Kindergartens. It might explain why Homeworld only made two Kindergartens on Earth given the Lapis that was sent to Earth wound up poofed and stuck in a mirror.
  • It might account for why Lapis has such self-hatred, and acts brooding: whose to say this is the first planet she has come to and strip away its life?
• Steven Universe has been nicknamed a show about Crying and Singing (which was lampshaded in "Too Far"). Here, Yellow Diamond sings a song to encourage Blue Diamond to stop crying!
• Peridot says that Pearls are made to stand around, look pretty and hold things. Here Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond's Pearls are told to sing for Blue Diamond. They end up providing backup vocals for Yellow.
• Ruby, who has fire powers, grabs Sapphire’s hand when the latter is "freezing up" in front of Blue Diamond.
  • Sapphire, on the verge of freezes up in front of the Diamonds, nearly gives them away until Ruby grabs her hand. Earlier, Sapphire stated using her Future Vision that the plan wouldn't work and they had to hope they could change fate. Remembering "The Answer", that's something Ruby has been able to do before. It's possible that she did it again.
• Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond have the exact opposite reactions to losing Pink Diamond: Blue is still deep in mourning after thousands of years and refuses to get rid of any of Pink's things, while Yellow wants to destroy all of Pink's things and refuses to let herself feel grief at all. Both are extreme reactions, and neither are healthy methods of dealing with their feelings.
  • Looking at it in terms of stages of grief, Blue is in Depression and Yellow is in Anger.
• After spending the last three episodes watching the Quartzes of Earth be belittled, physically abused, and shouted at, and knowing that they were all essentially Reassigned to Antarctica after the death of their Diamond through no fault of their own, to be bullied by a petty bureaucrat, never mind the hundreds of presumably blameless Rose Quartzes who were poofed and bubbled because of Steven's mother's rebellion — suddenly, our Earth-born Beta-incubated Jasper's hateful rhetoric, her self-loathing, and her desperate insistence on winning at all costs and proving herself to be stronger and better than anyone else make perfect sense as a form of severely internalized categorism.
• Why doesn't Blue recognize Ruby and Sapphire? Because they've likely gone through so many regenerations that they are unrecognizable. And since the Diamonds make all Gems identical, would this be the only Sapphire and Ruby she knows of?
• In "Message Received", Peridot seemed reluctant to use her serial number when speaking with Yellow Diamond because she was so used to being treated like an individual while on Earth. In this episode, Amethyst is delighted to learn her serial number because she's struggled all her life with feeling like she didn't fit in, like she didn't belong. Meeting her "Fam-ethyst", a small army of misfit Quartz gems like herself, probably helped her a lot with those feelings.
• For the overseer of such an important institution, Holly Blue Agate was beaten incredibly quickly. But pay attention and you realize why. Her weapon is an electrified whip, something useful for intimidation and pacification of say a rowdy defective Gem soldier or possibly a valuable escaped zoo specimen that you want retrieved with minimal injury but not quite so useful for outright combat. Compare this to Amethyst's whip which is much thicker, making it useful for bludgeoning and restraining others, and you realize that Holly Blue was designed to scare others into submission rather than engage in battle.
  • Also, Holly Blue believes that the Gem personnel at the Zoo are just rejects assigned there because of the benevolence of Blue Diamond. What's to say that she isn't in a similar boat based on her behavior?
  • Not to mention that, while Holly Blue can surely handle a misbehaving Quartz, she has no idea of what to expect from a "Warrior Pearl" and a mixed-Gem fusion like Garnet, plus she's used to the Quartzes being intimidated by her so she probably had never before faced a Quartz that didn't fear her, as is Amethyst's case. The Crystal Gems aren't just good fighters, but unpredictable ones by Homeworld's standards, and only a strong, experienced warrior like Jasper, or an Unskilled, but Strong enough gem like Lapis, can really battle them without any previous knowledge of their fighting styles.
• The Zoo's Quartzes, despite being loyal Gemworld's soldiers, are pretty friendly not just between themselves but also to their so-called enemies. We know this isn't an inherent quality of their gem type, as Jasper was practically the opposite; Amethyst, and Rose before her, are an exception because they got influenced by humankind... and the Zoo's Quartzes are the ones in charge of taking care of a human colony, so they watch over them and even directly interact with the Zoomans once in a while. That's why they're so quick to recognize Amethyst as their "little sister" and being so nice to her and the other Crystal Gems; they've seen this behavior among the Zoomans for thousands of years, and appreciate the values of familial loyalty and kindness.
  • Alternatively, Quartz soldiers are in fact inherently predisposed to be friendly, social, and boisterous, and need to be trained into being ruthless warrior-caste juggernauts. Rose broke her conditioning, Amethyst never had any, and the Beta Quartzes of the Zoo were largely disregarded, written off, and left to their own devices, allowing them to develop their own more relaxed dynamics among themselves. Jasper, on the other hand, would have been trained to be the "Perfect Quartz" in all things, and as a result has been conditioned to act as the perfect warrior; taught to act and think against her own nature, it's no wonder she's as desperate, angry, and miserable as she's proved herself to be, especially when compared with her sister Beta Jaspers.
  • Alternately-alternately, Jasper was the exception. The kind of friendship and camaraderie the Famethyst show is a definite asset in a group of soldiers that have to work closely together, so it would be a perfectly logical thing for Homeworld to engineer into and encourage in its Quartzes (Note that both times we've seen batches of Rubies on-screen, they've been pretty friendly to each other). Jasper, as the one perfect Quartz in a whole Kindergarten full of defectives, simply had nobody to feel that kind of camaraderie with.
  • With the revelations in "A Single Pale Rose", it's possible Pink Diamond specifically tampered with her kindergartens so that her Quartz soldiers would come out friendly, with Jasper being the only one coming out with the proper personality of a Quartz.
• At first, Blue Diamond not recognizing Ruby and Sapphire seems off, until you keep in mind the events that transpired in the room, and how both are barely holding it together. Blue and Yellow were trying their hardest to get them out as quickly as possible so they could continue talking, which you might notice when Yellow shoos Holly, Ruby, and Sapphire out after Blue loses her façade. And for not recognizing Ruby and Sapphire, remember that Blue Diamond is, by Homeworld standards, considered royalty, so our Ruby might not be the only one she's punished. Chances are she isn't going to remember a single, nameless Ruby from thousands of others.
  • Don't forget that all Gems of the same type of Gemstone, seem to have the same base forms, and Ruby and Sapphire have probably gone through so many regenerations that they're unrecognizable from 5,000 years ago, and since there are a finite number of places to put a Gemstone, there's likely other Ruby and Sapphires that look like ours.
• Yellow wanting to get Blue to move on makes more sense after "The Trial", where it's implied that Yellow knows more than she's letting on.
• Why does Holly Blue go on and on at length about the virtues of the Diamonds to other Gems, even when the Diamonds themselves are not physically present? Homeworld values loyalty and obedience, of course, but we also know that Gems can be shattered for extremely trivial mistakes or wrongdoings. If a Gem even so much as suspected another Gem of disloyalty, she could report her to the Diamonds and have her shattered. Holly Blue's, and later Prosecuting Zircon's, constant and excessive brown-nosing is a tactic to ensure that, at the very least, the Diamonds know they are loyal to Homeworld.

The New Crystal Gems

"The New Crystal Gems"

• Peridot being the leader of the Crystal Temps makes sense, considering that she was the only one to be officially deemed as a Crystal Gem by the episode's airing.
• Despite the aesop in the end about being themselves, the choices that each member of the Crystal Temps made on which member to emulate from the Crystal Gems are on par:
  • Connie as Steven — The youngest Token Human member (more so with Connie), underestimated by older Gem peers, Wise Beyond Their Years, Child Prodigy, and act as The Heart for the group.
  • Peridot as Garnet — Both wear Cool Shades of some kind, the most logical of their group, and are very strong (Peridot mostly in durability).
  • Lapis as Amethyst — The most emotional and the most comfortable when around Steven.
  • Pumpkin as Pearl — Organic based.
    • Not just that — Pumpkin is seen as a pet of some kind, and Pearls are considered servants expected to listen to their superiors on Homeworld. They're Homeworld's answer to Earth pets. Wouldn't make sense for Pumpkin to impersonate anyone else.
• Why does Lapis rudely brush off Connie's mention of attempting to drown her but was clearly ashamed of stealing Earth's water and breaking Greg's leg in "Alone at Sea"? Because Connie brought up Lapis' past crimes in clear, but well-controlled anger, a contrast to Steven forgiving Lapis instantly or Greg bringing it up but being nervous while doing so and just letting the subject drop.
• Connie's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to both Lapis and Peridot has more merit since their actions could have killed one or more of the Beach City citizens. And both Gems are... not that compassionate towards humans, Connie is a human. She can just see and understand the anger of the deceased's loved ones for the Gems' foolery.

Storm in the Room

"Storm in the Room"

• Why has Steven never thought of using the room to talk to his mother as he asks rhetorically? Because before he was used to Rose not being there, and being a paragon of love and heroism. He also hasn't needed his mother, thanks to Greg and the Gems filling that gap. Now that he's had a few weeks to register that Rose wasn't perfect and did terrible, necessary things, so that Steven and Greg feel sympathy for the Diamonds, Steven needs Rose's reassurances about what he thought about her, and what was real.
• In a sense, the episode gives away everything and nothing. How can Steven know what happened to Pink Diamond when, by extension, he is Pink Diamond?

Rocknaldo

"Rocknaldo"

• Ronaldo says his sword could "cut through a carton of milk like a carton of butter." Given that butter is mostly solid, rather than mostly liquid, a carton of butter would actually be harder to cut through than a carton of milk, which is roughly consistent with what we observe of its cutting ability.

Room for Ruby

"Room for Ruby"

• Navy tells Steven that she wants to stay on Earth because the other Rubies are mean to her. But Leggy is a member of Navy's team who comes off as a very innocent (if dim-witted) teammate. So what could Leggy possibly have against Navy? The answer? She doesn't have anything against her. Navy's contradictory claim is an early indication that she's lying.
• Navy initially missed the ship when she got to the barn. It's likely she knew exactly where it was all the time, but didn't try to take it immediately because she knew Lapis and Peridot would be able to stop her. When they'd grown to start to trust her, however, they let their guard down, which means it would have been way easier to take it then.
• Navy says she is unable to be mad at something or feel anger. The hint that she's telling the truth can be seen all the way back at "Hit the Diamond", where unlike the rest of her veteran comrades, she only reacts with a dull surprise rather than anger at being tricked by Garnet's components.
  • Alternatively, it could be taken as another hint that she's lying, as she's been shown angry in "Back to the Moon", "Adventures in Light Distortion", and the beginning of "Room for Ruby" itself.
• While it may have seemed overly naïve for Steven to immediately trust Navy and take her at her word about not holding a grudge and wanting to settle down on Earth, something Lapis points out, there are a few good reasons why Steven would accept her supposed Heel–Face Turn:
  • First, Navy manipulating Steven is the first time someone has taken advantage of his kindness by putting on a façade to get what they want. Every other Gem that has attacked Steven and/or the Crystal Gems has always made their hostility clear, and made no bones about wanting to attack them: Lapis warning Steven and the Gems away and attacking them when they didn't back down in "Ocean Gem", Peridot acting coldly detached from Steven in "Marble Madness" before attempting to squish him like a bug, Jasper mentioning in her first appearance about wanting to pound Rose, and the Ruby Squad going on the offensive when they recognized the Crystal Gems. In contrast, Navy acts sweet and friendly towards Steven, Garnet, Lapis and Peridot, playing along with their expectations while keeping her true emotions and intentions hidden, something no other enemy had done before, so it's no surprise that Steven would be unfamiliar with being manipulated and would fall for Navy's lies.
  • Another reason is that Navy is a Ruby, and as "Hit the Diamond" and "Back to the Moon" showed, not very smart nor good at lying considering Ruby's Bad Liar tendencies, the Ruby Squad forgetting how many members they had (which is how Ruby was able to infiltrate them), believing Steven's obvious lie about Jasper being on Neptune and falling for Amethyst's "tan" Jasper disguise. Even if Steven did consider espionage, he wouldn't believe that a Ruby would be capable of holding a believable façade due to their low intelligence, something Navy used to her advantage. Navy also acted pretty friendly and sweet during the baseball game when she and the Rubies thought the Gems were humans, and had no reason to lie then, so Steven would think that the friendly personality she had then was the real one.
  • Navy mentions the other Rubies being mean to her as the reason she wants to stay on Earth. Every Crystal Gem so far has been established as not fitting to Homeworld's standards (Garnet being a Fusion, Amethyst being defective, Pearl being a fighter instead of a servant, etc.) While other Rubies have been shown to be hot tempered and violent, Navy's appearances have had her being serene and peaceful, which would certainly isolate her from other Rubies (Leggy doesn't fit the Ruby mold either, though that could be excused by her literally being born yesterday). In addition, with Navy's first words upon her first appearance, "What a lovely planet!", Navy already fits the two prerequisites of being a Crystal Gem: being an outcast and having a love of the Earth.
  • Third reason is that Steven is still reeling from his failures to help Bismuth, Jasper, and Eyeball, as well as the knowledge that his mother shattered Pink Diamond. He still wants to believe that he can solve things peacefully through talking and trusting other Gems, so when Navy talks about wanting to turn over a new leaf, it seemed like things would turn OK after all, without someone getting shattered or bubbled. Navy has already expressed a love of Earth, so convincing her to protect it should be a cinch, in comparison to Lapis and Peridot, who took some time in seeing it as something other than a miserable hunk of rock. Navy has no grudge against Rose, having not fought in the Rebellion (unlike Bismuth, Jasper, and Eyeball) and didn't seem to hold Steven and the Gems' transgressions against them, so she has no reason to attack Steven and the rest of the Gems. Furthermore, the threat of Homeworld means the Crystal Gems are in desperate need of numbers, and Navy could act as a source of information, being a military Gem.
• Navy does to Steven exactly what the Crystal Gems did to the Ruby Squad; she lies to them and wastes their time (like the baseball game), she pretends to be their friend (like Amethyst pretending to be Jasper) and then she blows them out of her ship (like Steven did at the Moonbase). Sucks to be tricked, doesn't it Steven?

Lion 4: Alternate Ending

"Lion 4: Alternate Ending"

• Steven not being some kind of "chosen one" makes sense. Rose was envious of how humans can change and grow, never staying the same for a single moment. And she wanted Steven to experience that. Not being "destined" to do something like how she (formerly) and other Gems were "destined" for one and only one purpose their entire lives.
• While it's shown numerous times Steven has some identity issues, Steven spends this entire episode Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life. Why? Well, the previous episode, Steven for the fourth time was unable to help make a Homeworld Gem a Crystal Gem. And, up until this point, Steven has always identified himself as the "next Rose Quartz" or "the All-Loving Hero who can befriend anyone". And so far, he's only managed to befriend Peridot and Lapis, with the former technically being an official Crystal Gem. Failing more than succeeding can do a number on one's confidence and sense of purpose.
  • And adding on to that, this failure didn't have anything to do with Rose Quartz, but his past mistakes, which was constantly lying and tricking Navy and her fellow Rubies before blasting them into the empty void of space.
• Given that the physical sex of a human baby is already determined at the conception, and that the sex comes from the sperm cell as either X or Y chromosome, why was Garnet unable to tell Rose's baby's sex during her pregnancy? There are multiple options:
  • Steven's development is fundamentally different from full-human babies, and Steven's sex really was ambiguous that time. A boring option, plus if there was anything human-like included into the process, Greg's genetic material would still have determined the sex of the baby.
  • Garnet was (and maybe still is) more or less clueless about sex differences, since Gems don't have such thing and the Crystal Gems were largely isolated from humanity. Hence, she didn't really know what to look after when she was asked if the baby was boy or girl, and maybe Greg was too bashful to give details.
  • The most awesome option for now (concerning the sex question): Garnet did know that Steven would be born with male sex. However, she didn't want to destine' Steven to be male, but she wanted to let him to determine his own gender identity in his later age. Even if her future vision had told her that Steven was a boy and never wanted to be a girl, she didn't want to put too much weight on that — just think about how things turned out when Sapphire predicted herself being poofed that one time.
  • Maybe we all got it wrong: note that Greg's exact words were: "When you have a kid, you have no idea who they're gonna be. Even Garnet couldn't predict it." Following the exact wording, it is possible that he never asked Garnet about the sex of the baby, and that's why he and Rose came up with two names anyway.

Are You My Dad?

"Are You My Dad?"

• Why were the Topaz soldiers and Aquamarine, pure Knights of Cerebus, sent to Earth to collect humans, something that Peridot was able to do with her limb enhancers? Because eight Gems have gone missing after being sent to Earth: Peridot (presumed dead due to YD executing her remotely), Jasper (MIA), Lapis Lazuli (MIA) and a five-member Ruby squadron (presumably either still searching for Jasper or en route back to Homeworld to report their failure). Of course Yellow would send more firepower for such a simple task, since even a lowly Peridot couldn't follow her directive.
• Aquamarine has wings seemingly made of either water or (more likely) the blue energy her wand uses, and her gem is shaped like a teardrop. This gives her a huge resemblance to Lapis Lazuli (water wings, gem shaped like a waterdrop), but of course they would design them to be similar; her name literally means "seawater"!

I Am My Mom

"I Am My Mom"

• When Onion jumps off of Aquamarine and Topaz's space ship, he does so via a fearless and graceful dive into the ocean. Seeing as he's close to his dad, who is a fisherman that spends a lot of his time at sea, it's likely he got swimming lessons from him.
• Steven in "Storm in the Room" asked Cloud Rose if she just created him to handle all her mistakes. The answer is no, but Steven decides that when he has no choice but to make right what Rose did, and sacrifice himself to save his friends.

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