Original airdate: June 19th, 2015
Production code: 1031-063
It's evening — Pearl and Amethyst are sitting together on an inflatable raft out at sea so far that land isn't visible. Amethyst is dangling Steven under the water upside-down by his ankles. She's bored and has forgotten if one wiggle or two means she should pull Steven up. Pearl is antsy and unhappy, feeling like they've spent too much time out on the water, and complains of the "life diapers" they all must wear.
Garnet surfaces with Steven, who chokes and flops like a landed fish. The reason they're all out there is that they're looking for Malachite — that is, to say — Lapis Lazuli and Jasper. Garnet describes their fusion as very dangerous because it's a bond built on anger and mistrust.
They are about to start looking again when it becomes obvious that poor Steven is completely exhausted and needs some rest. He's literally falling asleep on his feet, but trying to throw himself into the sea to keep looking.The Gems return home with Steven, who suggests they all could use some rest because they look terrible. The stress of having found Peridot and the horror of the Kindergarten's experiments, plus the hunt for Malachite, has taken its toll, though Garnet denies it.
Garnet: We look awesome.
Steven suggests a slumber party and offers them plush toys to snuggle with. Amethyst and Pearl both decline. Garnet tells them to relax, sleep well, and that there are snacks in the fridge. She goes off on her own, warping out to search the ocean for Lapis and Jasper. Amethyst dozes off at once, but Pearl has a harder time grasping the concept of sleeping.
Steven tries to explain it to her and dozes off in the middle of his explanation, drifting into a dream...
...in which the front room of his house is a sound stage, Pearl is a substitute mom, Amethyst is a rowdy kid, and Garnet is a two-eyed cool person next door. He's in an old black and white situation comedy! He's preparing for a date: going with Connie to The Big Dance. But when he opens the door expecting Connie, who should be there instead but Lapis Lazuli, suddenly in full color — weeping and vomiting seawater, filling the house.
Steven is jarred awake, and takes another moment to explain to Pearl what dreams are. He soon drifts off to sleep again, having a new dream ...
... wherein he is flying with a helicopter rotor in his back. Dogcopter is flying beside him. Steven is delighted and professes his fandom. Dogcopter, unimpressed, meows at him and takes off. Pearl's giant head engulfs Steven, then spits him out, upgraded from helicopter to rockets, he encounters Amethyst riding a whale. But before long, he's surrounded in blue. Lapis is there once again, demanding that Steven leaves her alone, because she has to concentrate!
Steven wakes again because Amethyst is laughing. She awoke to find Pearl had drifted off to sleep, and was having a dream about surfing on a giant slice of pizza with Rose Quartz, only to have Rose suddenly turn into Greg. The dream is projected from Pearl's gem onto the ceiling, so Amethyst and Steven can see it. Steven mentions he saw Lapis in his dream again and that she could maybe tell him their location. Pearl, awakened but trying to hide her reaction to her dream, posits that perhaps they're communicating on the dreamscape. Steven says that to fall asleep again he wants Pearl to describe her dream. Pearl is reticent, but Amethyst insists it's for the greater good. Steven has already dozed off on his own by the time Pearl is convinced to try.
The third dream is Steven sort of lucid dreaming, floating his way through blackness until he finds Lapis Lazuli. She insists she doesn't need or want his help — and tells him he has to go because she cannot be distracted even for one second! But talking to him was distraction enough. She is soon pulled below the surface, and Jasper rises from the surface, winded from struggling against Lapis' tight grip on the fusion. She notices Steven (who she still believes is Rose), and begins trying to crawl toward him, despite still being shackled to the water.
Steven backs away from Jasper as she struggles toward him for a few seconds. Lapis soon asserts control again, though, and drags Jasper back below the surface, rising above the glassy water herself. But Lapis is tattered and battered, with visible wear. The effort of maintaining control has cost her.
Steven again tries to insist that he and the Crystal Gems want to help, but Lapis demands:
She finally ends their conversation by telling him:
The horrifying fusion Malachite appears, monstrously huge. She turns toward Steven and shouts for him to "GO!" Steven awakens again, just as Garnet gets back. Steven rushes to her, upset. Garnet acknowledges Steven's emotions but tells him there's nothing they can do for her right now. She admits needing to rest, and immediately tips right over, falling on her face and snoring.
Good night, everybody!
Tropes:
- Angrish: Jasper gets one line this episode, consisting entirely of several "you"s and a single "no". Her fury and outrage still come across in no uncertain terms.
- Ascended Fridge Horror: This episode addresses the potential for disaster with Malachite fans have wondering about since her first appearance, like what happens if Jasper takes over or they unfuse, and how effectively Lapis can maintain control.
- Aside Glance: Sitcom Garnet gives the camera a glance when she tells Steven "Don't Do Anything I Wouldn't Do~" followed by a laugh track.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Lapis and Jasper are constantly fighting for dominance in Malachite, depicted as the dominant one chained to the surface of a malachite floor, pulled underneath when suppressed to be replaced by the other. Ultimately they both lose, as Jasper and Lapis are both subsumed by Malachite.
- Big "NO!": When Jasper is losing her control and sliding away from Steven, she lets one of these out.
- Book Ends: "Sworn to the Sword" and "Chille Tid" are the first and last episodes of the June 2015 StevenBomb. And they both have a Gem emotionally asking "why won't you let me do this for you?!"
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: When Steven is telling Garnet about his weird dreams, he says "Amethyst was on a skateboard, and then Dogcopter meowed at me and was just not interested in what I had to say at all, and I might have some issues I have to work out..."
- Call-Back: The Crystal Gems are still searching the ocean for Malachite.
- Clothing Damage: After Jasper overpowers her, Lapis quickly regains control, but returns bruised and tattered to show how much strain she's under.
- Continuity Nod:
- Steven scolds Pearl that "safety is no punch line" in regards to the "life diapers" they're wearing; he heard Sour Cream make a similar remark about seatbelts back in "Lars and the Cool Kids".
- Garnet's swim goggles return, from "Love Letters" and "Giant Woman".
- Steven wakes up from his first Lapis dream to find that Pearl has been watching him sleep, like she did in "Lion 3: Straight to Video".
- Dogcopter from "Lion 2: The Movie" appears in Steven's second dream.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Steven's Sitcom dream.
- Double-Meaning Title: "Chille tid" means "chilling time". That could mean "time for chilling (relaxing)", which is what the sleepover was supposed to be. It could also mean "a time that is chilling (frightening and uncomfortable)", which is what the dreams of Lapis end up making Steven's night. It also sounds like and is an anagram of "chill tide", "chill" again meaning to relax or scary and "tide" referring to Lapis and her water/ocean-based powers.
- Dream Walker: Steven discovers that he can connect to other Gems (specifically, Lapis), when dreaming.
- Drop-In Character: In Steven's dream, Garnet suddenly comes into Steven's house to tell him about a party, parodying the use of this trope in sitcoms.
- Face Plant: How Garnet falls asleep.Garnet: Let me show you how it's done. (Falls over, stiff as a board.)
- Face-Revealing Turn: Played for laughs in Pearl's dream, when Rose turns around and reveals herself as Greg.
- Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: The Gems are wearing life jackets, even though only Steven is really in danger. Garnet Double Subverts this trope by not initially wearing one and throwing the one Steven gives her overboard. She then converts her top into a life jacket.
- Given Name Reveal: Although the credits of "Jail Break" already showed it to the audience, this is the first time in-series that we hear the name of Jasper and Lapis Lazuli's fusion, Malachite.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: The title is Norwegian for "chilling time".
- Gross-Up Close-Up: After the gems say that they don't need to sleep, Steven mentions that they all look exhausted. Cue a close up of the three gems' faces, with overly detailed age lines and messed up hair.
- Helicopter Pack: Steven has one in his second dream. Similarly, Dogcopter returns in that dream.
- Heroic Willpower: Lapis is still in control of Malachite, but just barely, and she has to keep focusing or Jasper might be able to take over.
- Humanity Ensues: The Gems are human in Steven's first dream.
- Innocuously Important Episode: The episode seems to have no plot importance outside of being an update on what's happening to Malachite but it does introduce Steven's apparent telepathic powers, which become important in "Super Watermelon Island".
- Laugh Track: Steven's first dream has this. Amusingly, it segues into wild cheering for several uninterrupted seconds when Garnet appears.
- Madness Mantra: When Jasper sees Steven, she crawls towards him with pure fury in her eyes, muttering "You... You! YOU!" before Lapis regains control.
- Meaningful Echo: Lapis echoes Pearl's "Why won't you let me do this for you?" from "Sworn to the Sword".
- Mental Fusion: Just like with Sugilite, the Malachite persona seems to be gaining strength over Lapis and Jasper. It's not clear to what extent this is actually true, as opposed to something Lapis is just saying to discourage Steven from trying to find her.
- Mental World: Steven enters Malachite's, which is a flat plain of green, glowing water, with the Gem on the surface acting as the dominant mind in the fusion.
- Mental Picture Projector: While sleeping, Pearl's gem projects her dream of Rose being with her.
- Mistaken from Behind: In a dream, Steven lands on Malachite's voluminous hair from the back and mistake it for Lion's mane.
- Mood Whiplash: Steven's sitcom dream turns serious when he opens the door to find Lapis standing in front of it.
- Mundane Utility: Garnet shapeshifts a life jacket.
- The Needless: The fact that Gems don't need sleep comes up again, but it seems that when Gems are tired, sleep can help them recover and rest even if they don't need it.
- New Superpower: Steven can connect to Malachite in his dreams. Interestingly, this may be a power unique to him, rather than one inherited from Rose Quartz.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Subverted. Steven discovers that he can connect to other gems with his dreams. He somehow connects with Lapis, but his presence and desire to help almost causes her to break her concentration of keeping Malachite in control, though she manages to retain control.
- Ocular Gushers: When Steven first sees Lapis in his dreams, water is flowing out of her eyes and mouth. Played for horror.
- Real Dreams are Weirder: Most of the dreams featured semi-meaningful nonsense (Steven's life as a sitcom, Steven flying with dogcopter, Pearl surfing with Rose), which is what makes Steven take notice of his much-more straightforward dreams where he talks to Lapis. Steven actually mentions how weird dreams can be to Pearl at one point.
- Rule of Symbolism: The chains on Lapis and Jasper seem to represent both the metaphorical "reins" of Malachite and how Lapis is willingly binding herself to protect Steven.
- Rule of Three: It's in his third dream that Steven makes the most solid contact with Lapis Lazuli and sees the strain of keeping the Malachite fusion together.
- Sanity Slippage: Jasper seems to be taking the imprisonment worse than Lapis. When she briefly reemerges when Steven contacts Lapis, she mutters madly while crawling towards Steven before Lapis regains control. Not that she was ever all that stable to begin with of course...
- Ship Tease:
- Even more for Pearl/Rose, with Pearl's dream. They're not even subtle about it.
- In Steven's first dream, he's preparing to go to a school dance with Connie.
- Shout-Out:
- The title art for the episode (as seen above) parodies Disney Theme Parks Splash Mountain ride. More specifically, it parodies the trend of people setting up funny scenarios for the picture that the ride takes of you right before the big drop (just look up "funny Splash Mountain pictures").
- Garnet's appearance in Steven's sitcom dream is based on The Fonz.
- Pearl and Rose's pose in the former's dream seems very similar to a certain scene from Titanic (1997). Double points for both scenes having a character named "Rose".
- Steven with helicopter fans on his back looks a lot like Karlsson on the Roof.
- Jasper and Lapis’ predicament in the dream realm is akin to The Chain Neck Death Match in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood between Jonathan Joestar and Tarkus.
- Sickly Green Glow: The mental plane of Malachite where Lapis and Jasper are has a teal glow that washes out all other colors.
- Sitcom Homage Episode: Steven's first dream is one where he and the Gems are normal humans — Pearl acts like a substitute mom, Amethyst is a skater girl, and Garnet is a cool neighbor—there's a Laugh Track, and it's Deliberately Monochrome.Greg/Narrator: Steven Universe was filmed before a live studio audience.
- Sleeping With The Fishes: Said by Steven.Steven: Don't worry Lapis, we won't let you sleep with the fishes.
- Slumber Party: Steven decides to through one for the Gems after a long night out at sea.
- Splash of Color: Lapis is the only thing in color in Steven's first dream.
- Supering in Your Sleep: When Pearl is asleep and dreaming, her image projection power runs involuntarily, showing her embarrassing dream to everyone.
- Talking in Your Sleep: A variant. When Pearl falls asleep, she unconsciously projects her entire dream onto the ceiling for everyone to see, much to Amethyst's amusement.
- That Woman Is Dead: "No. I'm not Lapis anymore. We're Malachite now."
- Title Drop: Garnet introduces herself with "Chille tid" in Steven's dream.
- Unit Confusion: Pearl does the classic example involving light years as a unit of time, and Amethyst calls her out on it, albeit just saying it "measures light" rather than specifically how it's the distance light travels in a year. Considering Pearl once built a (partially) functioning spaceship, you'd expect her to know that, though it may be a sign of just how exhausted she (and everyone else for that matter) is from the search.
- Villainous Breakdown: Jasper is not taking her imprisonment well.
- "You!" Exclamation: Jasper, upon seeing Steven in front of her. Exaggerated in that this is all she says, over and over, giving the impression that she's coming unhinged.
