Original airdate: May 14th, 2014
Production code: 1020-019
The episode begins with Steven polishing off a can of creamed corn. The Gems walk in from the temple door, and Steven excitedly tells them that he has eaten four cans of creamed corn due to there being a five dollar coupon for mini-golf because he wants to go with them. Unfortunately, the Gems have to leave on a mission and cannot hang out with Steven.
He decides to play Golf Quest Mini to pass the time and ends up beating the final boss. Just as the Gems return from their mission, Steven reaches a secret ending cutscene in the game. The Gems unintentionally distract Steven while he is watching the video (Amethyst blocking his view, Garnet showing him an ancient object they found called the Wailing Stone, and Pearl explaining what it does).
Amethyst presses the button on the Wailing Stone which produces a deafening sound wave and causes Steven's TV to break. Pearl deactivates it and then proceeds to scold Amethyst, but Amethyst claims that Steven loved the Wailing Stone.
As they yell, Steven vents his frustration of not being able to control anything in his life (not getting to play mini-golf, not seeing the secret ending, not being able to stop going to the bathroom after eating all the cans of creamed corn). Steven then says that he wishes for a place just for himself; at this, his gem glows and activates the door to his mother's room.
The Gems tell him not to go inside, but he runs in yelling at them about never wanting to do what he wants and claims that he has a place where he is going and that the Gems were not allowed to come. The door to the room seals and disappears, locking the Gems out. Steven then proceeds to explore his mother's room, which consists mainly of clouds. When he notes the lack of a bed, one appears out of nowhere. He realizes the room could give him anything he asks for, after asking for a quadruple bunk-bed with a slide and a tiny floating whale. Steven then asks to watch the secret ending of his game without being interrupted.
After he watches the ending again, he starts to feel hungry. The room then gives him a doughnut, but it disappears into a cloud when he tries to bite it. He then asks for a real doughnut, but it disappears again. Wanting an actual doughnut, he walks out of the room to get food, but when he exits the room, the Gems are not around.
When he steps out into Beach City, he sees it's night and hardly anyone is on the streets. At the Big Donut, he finds Lars and Sadie standing side by side smiling and staring at him creepily. The two are unnaturally still and unresponsive. When they do talk, they speak stilted dialogue in unison. Steven asks for one doughnut but is given a bag of three. Lars and Sadie then slide away toward the back of the store, Steven gives chase and exits the Big Donut through the back door and sees Sadie and Lars have disappeared, he finds Onion standing under a streetlight. He offers him a doughnut, but Onion only moves his eyes. Steven puts it on top of his hair and departs.
Steven walks down the boardwalk wondering where everyone is. He passes Beach Citywalk Fries, does a double-take, and sees Frybo in the window, who offers him fries. Steven, assuming that it is Peedee, attempts to talk to him, but Frybo keeps putting fries through each other in exactly the same spot, as if on a loop. Steven gets spooked and leaves to look around some more.
He walks around Beach City Funland, passing the rides, and stopping in front of the arcade. Meat Beat Mania instantly turns on, which shocks Steven. He runs towards the beach and sees Connie looking out at the ocean. He's surprised to see her because she's supposed to be out of town. He looks down and sees that the water seems to be looping (only barely touching her boots) and asks her what's happening. Connie turns around and is stuck on a repeat of saying "He was incredible!" exactly the way she said it in "Bubble Buddies". Steven turns around and sees all the citizens of Beach City, with their faces drastically simplified. Steven again runs away, but not before seeing Lion, not moving, also with a changed face.
The ground turns into water and he falls through, ending up at his dad's car wash. Mr. Universe comes outside and Steven is relieved to see someone acting like their usual self. Everything finally seems normal again as Steven shares doughnuts with his dad and explains how he is sorry that he yelled at the Gems and is just feeling left behind. Greg comforts Steven with some words of wisdom. However, when Steven wonders about the current state of Beach City, Greg starts reciting ill-suited platitudes. Steven realizes something is still wrong. He tries to bite into the doughnut, but it disappears. He then comes to the conclusion that he has been in the room this whole time.
Upon his realization, Beach City and everything in it starts disappearing in large chunks. He runs up the cliff overlooking the town but falls into oblivion as everything disappears, where Steven whimpers that he does not want this. The Tiny Floating whale reappears and asks him what he does want in a serene voice, to which he concludes that he wants to be back with the Gems.
Steven finally falls out of the room and lands on Garnet back in the house. Steven tests if it's really her by chomping on her forearm. Garnet responds with "ow", and Amethyst joyously follows with chomping on Pearl's arm who shrieks in pain. Steven recounts that the room tried to recreate a whole town to the astounded Gems. Pearl states that this is beyond its capability, and expresses relief for Steven's well being. Steven apologizes for snapping at them earlier, revealing that he now understands that he can't get everything he wants all the time. The Gems apologize as well, but the four of them go mini-golfing with their newly acquired free time (Garnet even wears Greg's golf pants.) The episode ends with Steven exclaiming he "always gets what he wants", before the usual cut to black.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: A more fitting moral than the one Steven ignores might be "Good things come to those who wait" or something about learning the difference between what you think you want and what you really want.
- Affectionate Parody: Golf Quest Mini is a parody of Pokémon, with references to other games like The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy.
- Armor-Piercing Question: The tiny whale asks, "What do you want, Steven?" to make him realize he wants to be with the Gems after all.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The room conjures whatever the user asks for, but Steven doesn't voice his desires with explicit clarity.
- Big Bad Friend: The Game Within a Show Golf Quest Mini has a character called Prof. Sandtraps, who gives the main character his first weapon. He turns out to be the game's Final Boss.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick:
- Early in the episode Steven laments his bad luck, saying "I can't go mini-golfing, I can't play my game, I can't stop going to the bathroom because I ate all that creamed corn... so much corn..."
- Room!Greg's advice eventually degenerates into "The important thing is family and friendship, honesty, values, and no one got arrested."
- Brick Joke:
- Steven suggests Garnet wear goofy golfing pants to mini-golf, but Garnet just stares at him. When they do go mini-golfing at the end, she does wear them.
- Steven realizes he's still in the room when he can't bite into a donut. Near the end, he bites Garnet's arm to see if he's still in the room.
- Broken Record: The room's version of Connie can only cry "He was incredible!" over and over.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Steven can't eat anything Rose's Room makes for him. When the room makes a facsimile version of Beach City, Steven realizes it's fake when he tries to eat a donut.
- One of first things Steven creates in the room is a tiny pink whale. In the end, the whale helps him escape the room.
- Continuity Nod:
- Steven got out Greg's unused golf clubs in preparation for his planned mini-golf trip.
- Frybo is working the french fry stand in the virtual Beach City.
- Cuteness Proximity: Steven squeals in delight at when the room makes him a tiny floating whale.
- Expy: In Golf Quest Mini, the main character's companions resemble Brock and Misty. Prof. Sandtraps resembles both Professor Oak and Dr. Robotnik.
- Face-Revealing Turn: Steven finds Connie staring at the ocean. When he gets close, she turns around, revealing she's a fake with Scary Shiny Glasses.
- Fake Town: While in Rose's room, Steven's attempt to exit just causes the room to create a duplicate of all of Beach City, and not a very convincing one.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Along with gradually degrading coherence, the fake Greg's true nature is given away right before Steven notices by how he keeps taking a huge bite of a donut without it ever getting smaller.
- Ghostly Glide: The fake Lars and Sadie slide around without moving their legs.
- A Glitch in the Matrix: Steven winds up in his mother's room, which can manifest anything the user wants. When Steven poorly words a desire to leave and get doughnuts (since nothing in the room is real), it manifests a copy of the entire town, the scale of which is too much for the room to handle. All the people are thus crude reflections of their real counterparts spouting a mish-mash of things Steven has heard them say before, before the entire illusion collapses.
- Hell Is That Noise: Played with. Amethyst thinks the wailing stone noise is hilarious and eagerly shows it to Steven. He might've found it funny another time, but she caught him at the good ending for his video game and destroyed the TV.
- Holodeck Malfunction: Steven gets trapped in a recreation of Beach City.
- Human Popsicle: The secret ending Steven tries to see in his video game features someone stored in a cryogenics lab; it turns out to be the main character's father.
- Ignored Aesop:Steven: I get it now. Things can't always go exactly how I want.
Garnet: But guess what: we have time to hang out now.
[Gilligan Cut to the Gems playing mini-golf]
Steven: I always get what I want! - Innocently Insensitive: Steven says his dad's oversized golf pants could probably fit on Garnet. Pearl and Amethyst both catch themselves before they laugh. She doesn't seem to take offense and actually does put them on in the end.
- Intentional Engrish for Funny: Somewhat subtle, but the secret ending of Golf Quest Mini tells the player "Congratulation!"
- Iris Out: Over Steven exclaiming that he always gets what he wants.
- Leave Me Alone!: Once the Gems call off time with Steven then accidentally destroy his game, he decides he wants some place he can be by himself, and the Temple gives him one. Funny, considering how much Steven likes to help out.
- Literal Genie: Rose's room interprets Steven's requests in this way.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: When Steven says he wants to leave the room, or more specifically, "now I have to go out for donuts", it makes a simulation of the town instead of letting him leave.
- Major Injury Underreaction: After Steven manages to eject himself from the room, the first thing he does is bite Garnet's arm really hard to see if she'll poof into clouds. Her only response is a flat "Ow."
- Mini-Golf Episode: The episode starts and ends with Steven wishing to take the Gems mini-golfing, and the video game he plays is a mini-golf-themed spoof of RPGs.
- Missing the Good Stuff: Steven unlocks the secret ending of a video game when the Gems arrive and try to show him an artifact they retrieved from the mission. At this moment Steven just wants to see the ending and wants the Gems to step out of the way until it's over, but then Amethyst activates the artifact, causing a loud noise that breaks the TV.
- Ominous Visual Glitch:
- Frybo gives Steven a basket of fry bits. Before Steven even picks it up, Frybo puts another, identical basket in the spot the first one was still occupying. It even looks like an animation error with the way the second basket overlaps and they fuse together.
- When Steven goes to the shore to meet Connie, he notices the tides are unnaturally fast and erratic.
- Once the room summons a bunch of people at once, their level of detail falls to the point they're completely immobile, don't speak, and are drawn the way the show usually draws characters that are very far away.
- Pun: The end of Steven's golfing-themed game:Protagonist: Saving the day is just par for the course!
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Steven asks the room to make him a tiny floating whale, which he squees at.
- Show Within a Show: Steven plays a Golfing RPG. Amethyst breaking the TV when Steven triggered the Golden Ending kicked off the plot.
- Speak in Unison: Lars and Sadie speak simultaneously in the virtual version of Beach City, one of the first signs that something's amiss.
- Sounding It Out: Most of Golf Quest Mini doesn't have voice acting, but Steven reads the text boxes aloud.
- Stock Audio Clip: The fake Connie's repeated line ("He was incredible!") is recycled from the end of "Bubble Buddies".
- Toilet Humour: "...I can't stop going to the bathroom because I ate all that creamed corn... so much corn..."
- Uncanny Atmosphere: The entire experience of Steven exploring and interacting with the holographic Beach City fabricated by Rose's Room.
- Wham Line: Near the end, the tiny floating whale is Suddenly Voiced and says this line in what is implied to be Rose's voice."What do you want, Steven?"
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl have to call off a mini-golf trip with Steven for a mission. Then when they get back, he ends up annoyed enough with them that he wishes they would go away.
- Wrap Around: Steven starts running away from shore in the fake Beach City, but once he goes far enough he's suddenly teleported a short distance into the ocean.
