The episode continues off from the last one, with Steven warping back to home, where he slowly and quietly goes inside and slumps on the bed. Then he gets a call from Connie, who notes that that she hasn't spoken to him since the hospital and asks if he is feeling better from the swelling. He jumbles with his response before settling on "maybe". He then attempts to change the subject by asking Connie how she's been preparing for college. Connie tells him that it's been fine, but becomes concerned with Steven's answer to her question. Panicked, Steven hangs up and once again struggles with keeping his mind together, which interferes with the TV, displaying his rage against Greg, Jasper's recent shattering, and nearly shattering White Diamond while controlling her. He turns the TV off and sees his reflection, noticing his pupils in the shape of diamonds.
Looking with disbelief, he denies his outbursts he has had with everyone, and constantly tells himself that he's fine. He yells this aloud and his powers, along with the denial, cause the windows to crack, and the Gems take notice of his presence, shocked at his appearance. Even Garnet herself says they're all worried for his condition, but Steven tries to reassure them that they have nothing to worry about. He gets the idea that since he has quit running Little Homeschool everything has gone downhill, so he should go and visit. Steven rushes out of the house with his super speed.
After arriving at Little Homeworld, Steven looks for any Gems in need of assistance. He starts by visiting Peridot in the Greenhouse, who is teaching her Gem students about horticulture. He takes notice of the plants in bad condition, and attempts to heal them with his powers, but Peridot halts him from doing so, reminding him that Amethyst told her about his last encounter with plants. However, the plants appear to be dying, as Peridot hesitantly allows Steven to use his healing powers to cure the plants. This all goes awry when Steven uses saliva to try and heal the plants, as the scene cuts outside of the greenhouse, where the plants have come back to life, in the shape of him, breaking through and running amok and trying to help others. As Garnet is giving advice to a couple, she hears Peridot screaming. She is ready to fight, but is blocked by multiple Topiary Stevens. Steven interprets this as though he's helped a lot, and uses his super speed to search Little Homeschool and see if anyone else needs help.
As he walks through Little Homeworld, he sees Bismuth's forge and monologues about the ongoing shop class. Amethyst, noticing Steven is talking to himself, asks if he is okay, but he doesn't respond. Inside the forge, Bismuth is testing new armor with Yellow Pearl as the model. Steven approaches, with Bismuth being impressed by his appearance. Steven asks if she needs any help, so Bismuth offers to let Steven shape a piece of the pauldron. Steven is excited, and prepares to mold it with his fists. Bismuth stops him, explaining that he is supposed to detail the armor. She offers him a small hammer, which he accepts, feigning forgetfulness. He taps the metal, bending it, but in the process splitting the anvil in half despite his careful touch. Steven cracks a joke, but Bismuth grieves over the destruction of her anvil, so Steven laughs the situation off, throws the hammer behind him, and leaves, seeking an opportunity to help elsewhere. He is followed by three Topiary Stevens.
Steven stops by to see Amethyst playing a baseball game with other Gems, and Steven asks if he can participate, which Amethyst allows him to. With Onion as the hitter, and Nephrite as the pitcher, Onion successfully hits the ball, but it begins to head towards a window where, inside, the Heaven Beetle and Earth Beetle are sharing tea. Steven rushes and catches the ball before it hits the window, garnering applause from the players. Steven is amazed at how he not only caught the ball, but also genuinely saved someone during the event, and didn't mess up as he thought he would. He shouts in joy, only to cause another outburst, destroying the surrounding buildings. Steven looks in embarrassment, and nervously apologizes for his mistake, but tries to brush it off by saying that making mistakes is okay, and he can improve from them. He picks up some of the remains of the neighborhood in Little Homeworld, as more Topiary Stevens follow him and do the same.
Back at the Temple, Steven warps back home, surprised to find Connie, Greg, and the Gems waiting for him. Connie tried to call Steven multiple times, until his powers interfered with her phone, displaying Steven's current behavior during the day. Steven continues to deny how he's feeling, and Greg responds that no matter what happens, everyone will be there to support him. But Steven once again reassures that there's nothing to worry about, and tries to leave the house, but everyone surrounds him, trying to give him the opportunity to talk to them and share his feelings. Steven strains and his swelling starts to get worse.
Steven starts acting even more hysterical, and even admits the things he's done from the events from "Mr. Universe" to "Homeworld Bound", which shocks everyone, especially the parts about him hiding that needed to go to the hospital, and when he admits to accidentally shattering Jasper and nearly doing the same to White Diamond. Everyone expresses horror at the revelation of Jasper being shattered, however Steven reveals that he fixed what he messed up and seems to come to the conclusion that he can continue making mistakes and fixing them forever, but his false cheery attitude becomes somber and frustrated as he comes to the conclusion that he hasn't learned anything from his mistakes and he strongly regrets the things he's done, that he's not the same person that people have always seen him as, he sees himself as the same thing he has seen his mother as for so long: a fraud... and a monster. At that moment, the episode abruptly ends with his shirt tearing as spikes emerge from his back, as his friends and family watch on in horror.
Here's where Steven goes berserk.
Tropes:
- Alas, Poor Villain: The Gems, Greg, and Connie are none too pleased when they find out that Steven shattered Jasper.
- Ambiguous Situation: Volleyball reappears for the first time since her eponymous episode, and the question of whether or not her eye is healed... is hidden by careful camera angles and an extremely conspicuous potted plant.
- An Aesop: Invoked/Deconstructed. Steven keeps trying to spin his mistakes and the damage he causes through the episode into some sort of object lesson, because that's what he (and, by proxy, the viewers) have come to expect.
- Barefoot Loon: Downplayed since Steven is only wearing one of his sandals throughout the episode, but it still indicates that he's not as "fine" as he claims to be and his issues are consuming him.
- Big "WHAT?!": Amethyst lets out one when Steven admits that he shattered Jasper.
- Blatant Lies: Steven is quite clearly not okay, even though he says he is. Everyone else tries to be supportive, but they can tell something's up.
- Body Horror: When Steven corrupts, spikes painfully burst out of his back. The episode then abruptly ends, leaving the rest to the imagination.
- Broken Record: The Plant Stevens chant "Steven's here to help!" over and over again while surrounding Garnet.
- Broken Smile: Throughout the episode, Steven acts at trying to help with a forced smile.
- Call-Back:
- The promo image shows Steven carrying a plate of Together Breakfast.
- Steven's ringtone is still the same from "Full Disclosure".
- Steven's transformation, specifically the spines erupting from his back, parallels the imagery and context of "Here Comes a Thought", where Connie's butterflies erupt from her backpack.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends abruptly with spikes bursting out of Steven's back.
- Continuity Nod: Steven is still subconsciously televising his thoughts and memories as first discovered in the episode "In Dreams".
- Despair Event Horizon: Steven's self-delusion breaks only for him to see himself as a fraud and monster, leading to his corruption.
- Dialogue Reversal: In "Growing Pains", Steven calls out Connie for not telling her mom about his failed proposal. Here, Connie calls Steven out on not telling the Gems about his hospital trip.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: Steven causes mayhem in his bedroom and Little Homeschool due to "helping" other people and yelling too strongly.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: After being angry, sad, and isolated for the past few weeks, Steven suddenly becomes oddly cheerful with no real explanation. His family and friends recognize that this means he's actually doing really, really badly, which is often what happens to people who are suicidally depressed.
- Downer Ending: After Steven's emotional breakdown ends with him declaring himself a monster, he ultimately transforms into one, with everyone only watching in complete horror from there.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Steven trying to explain away his unhinged behavior makes him realize he's been lucky not to kill several people, making him believe that he's a "monster" that breaks things and just fixes them before people can notice or care.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Steven is revealed to view himself as this in his rant.
- Failure Hero: Part of Steven's self-deprecation is a manic admission that he thinks he'll be constantly screwing up and scrambling to fix his own mistakes for the rest of his life.
- Freudian Slip: Steven's projected thought that "Steven's here to help!" is occasionally scrambled to become "Steven Help! Steven Help! Help Steven! Steven Help!"
- From Bad to Worse: First, Steven accidentally trashes his bedroom. Then, he trashes the greenhouse and breaks Bismuth's anvil. Then, he manages to destroy all of Little Homeworld with a shout. Then, he arrives home to his worried family and reveals to them that he had shattered Jasper. Then he gets corrupted.
- Gory Discretion Shot: When Steven starts corrupting, spikes burst out of his back before the episode abruptly ends, implying that the transformation was quite graphic.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Steven reveals he sees himself as a fraud and hates himself for it.
- I Am a Monster: Steven says this during his emotional breakdown. Unfortunately, the belief that he's a monster causes him to become one.
- I Have to Go Iron My Dog: Steven hangs up on Connie claiming that he doesn't want to wake up the Gems, prompting Connie to point out that they don't even sleep.
- Implausible Deniability: Even when it becomes more and more clear to everyone else that something is wrong, Steven keeps repressing and denying that there's a problem, to the point that he even tries denying that fighting with Greg, shattering Jasper, and thinking of shattering White even happened.
- Internal Reveal: Not only does Connie indirectly reveal to the Gems that Steven visited the hospital earlier in the season, but Steven himself reveals he had shattered Jasper.
- Ironic Episode Title: The title claims that "Everything's Fine" when we all know that Steven and his declining mental health are not.
- Irony: In the beginning of the show, Steven used to find it a bit problematic that he had no powers. This episode? Part of his mental struggles is keeping his Power Incontinence from ruining his life.
- Jump Scare: The literal final shot of this episode is spikes suddenly and loudly shooting right out of Steven's back.
- Madness Mantra: Steven repeating his name and desire to help people, especially when the plants that he accidentally animates keep repeating it ad nauseam as well.
- Mask of Sanity: The entire episode is basically "Mask of Sanity: The Episode". Steven attempts to put on a brave face and pretend that everything is okay. But as the episode progresses, Steven's mask begins to gradually fall apart until he finally admits that everything is not okay... and then he gets corrupted. Also, if you look carefully at the promo image, you can see the pink diamonds in Steven's eyes, all the more indication that he is not doing fine.
- Meaningful Background Event: Since she has precognitive abilities, the Sapphire in Peridot's horticulture class is already looking at Steven before the others turn around.
- Mental Picture Projector: Steven has begun projecting his thoughts on electronic devices even while awake.
- Obviously Not Fine: Steven keeps saying the episode's title. It's not remotely true.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Played for Laughs when one of the Plant Stevens chases after Steven moaning "Daddy...!" with outstretched arms.
- Power Incontinence: Steven's powers are near-constantly acting up, he keeps glowing throughout the episode, his subconscious projects images on his TV and calls Connie, a tiny bit of spit to heal a plant causes several plant Stevens to appear, accidentally destroying Bismuth's anvil and the Heaven and Earth Beetles' house...
- Riddle for the Ages: Volleyball's eye is conspicuously hidden for the entire time she's onscreen, so we never learn whether her eye was healed or not.
- Sanity Slippage: While Steven has been suffering this throughout several of the previous episodes, this is the point where it gets so bad that his negative thoughts cause him to corrupt himself, showing that what little sanity he had left is completely thrown out the window!
- Saying Too Much: When Steven is ranting at the end of the episode, he ends up accidentally revealing that he shattered Jasper and thought of slamming White Diamond's head into a pillar.
- Scenery Censor: After her last appearance, Volleyball appears in Peridot's greenhouse… but the viewers can't see her left eye because she's holding a plant that's blocking it, and the setting keeps obscuring that side just to keep the mystery going if it got fixed or not.
- Shatterpoint Tap: Bismuth gives Steven a small hammer to detail a piece of armor. He taps the metal, but that causes the anvil to break in two, while the armor plate is intact.
- Stepford Smiler: Steven adopts this kind of attitude for the entire episode. It barely hides his diminishing psyche.
- Tautological Templar: A tragic variant; Steven has gotten so self-deluded and obsessed with helping others, he will not accept that he's having a destructive effect on his surroundings, brushing off the damage as normal or something he can fix. He's desperately trying to deny what's happening to him in the hopes that this behavior will somehow fix everything.Steven: I know who I am: I'm Steven Universe! I help people, I don't... hurt them.
- Transformation Horror: The episode ends with a geyser of jagged pink crystal erupting out of Steven's back.
- The Un-Reveal: Volleyball makes an appearance, but the status of her injury is kept hidden by a conveniently-placed potted plant.
- Wham Line: "I'm a fraud. I'M A MONSTER!"
- Wham Shot: The episode ends in the middle of Steven becoming corrupted.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Steven seems to finally do something right when he catches a baseball to stop from breaking a window and save the Heaven and Earth Beetles from getting hurt. But when he screams in excitement at his success, he ends up accidentally causing much greater damage around him.
