In Pink Diamond's room, Steven discovers that furniture will appear if he lies down, courtesy of a number of small beings in the walls and floor who scurry away at his presence, the Pebbles. He finds that he can get them to make furniture if he asks, and they assume that he's Pink when he thanks them, as she was the only other one who did. Pearl arrives, able to deliver his things despite the others having to stay on the ship because she's considered one of his things. Just then, Yellow Diamond's version of the Diamond chime sounds: her Pearl's arrived with a message that "Pink Diamond's" presence is required in the extraction chamber. Pearl tells Steven he'll need to change.
Steven is not sure why he needs to wear swim trunks, but Pearl assures him they'll be more comfortable than his jeans. The extraction chamber turns out to be very similar to a sauna. Yellow thinks Steven is Pink, but with amnesia. She's rather envious when Steven tells her he managed to get in two-and-a-half words during his audience with White Diamond, since she's had so many successful conquests and yet "Pink" gets one after failing with "her" sole colony. Steven suggests that she fail deliberately if she wants to see white, which makes Yellow laugh, noting that she'd forgotten how Pink used to be able to get her to do that. But then Yellow has to leave to check on Citrine production, just in time for Blue Pearl to turn up requesting Steven's presence.
Blue Diamond is in her bath, a structure that's much older and still adorned with the original Diamond Authority symbol. When Steven arrives, she tells him about how all four Diamonds used to spend time there, and a game where Pink would stand on the bottom of the pool and sing, and the others would try to guess what she was singing from above. Blue thinks that Steven is a nickname Pink came up with for herself, noting that it was a habit she had, having once named a batch of Pyrites "Fool's Gold" to White's irritation. Steven tries to talk to her about getting the Diamonds together again, but Blue has to leave for her next appointment, leaving Steven sitting at the bottom of the drained pool very frustrated, as no one is listening to him. When he gets back to Pink's room, Pearl excuses herself, asking Steven to stay there even though he doesn't know where he'd go.
As he flops down on a part of the floor that's quickly turned into furniture by the Pebbles, Steven starts to wonder why the whole situation seems so familiar, beginning a song as he also wonders who his mother really was. The Pebbles open up a wall to show a path to Pink Diamond's old vanity, where Steven finds several old drawings of Pink and the other Diamonds, like those done by a small child of their family. He realizes why he feels such familiarity, as the Pebbles measure him and make a copy of Pink Diamond's outfit for him out of the curtains and some of the stuff in his duffel bag: it reminds him of how things used to be with the Crystal Gems at the beginning, as he started to get involved in their world and go on missions. As he's dressed up in his new clothes, with a sweat drop creating a new Pebble from a stone in a bowl on the vanity, he decides to try and take his mother's role to stop the Diamonds' reign of terror by getting them to change their ways.
When Pearl arrives, having smuggled in Garnet, Amethyst and Connie in her Gem, all of them are surprised to see Steven's new outfit. Steven asks Pearl what Pink Diamond used to do, since she didn't conquer new worlds like the other Diamonds. Pearl, wondering what's become of Pink's court, reveals that Pink used to throw massive balls that everyone attended to celebrate the other Diamonds' accomplishments. Steven decides that he's going to throw a ball himself, since if everyone comes then it's the perfect opportunity to get White Diamond's attention and help the corrupted Gems on Earth.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: After Yellow excuses herself to check on the Citrine production, Steven tells Pearl about this, mistakenly referring to them as "Citron".
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Yellow grumbles about White ignoring her in favor of Pink despite being the more successful Diamond, Steven suggests that she should "fail" to gain White's attention. This gets Yellow laughing so hard that she starts tearing up.
- Animate Inanimate Object: This episode reveals that not all Gems possess a humanoid form, nor do they all fulfill a job that can be considered a profession that humans can do. This includes a series of Gems that make up the walls of a hallway in Yellow's chambers, Blue Diamond combs her hair with a sentient comb, and one of the carvings on the wall outside of Blue's bathhouse blinks.
- Benevolent Boss: It becomes clear that Pink Diamond was this, with the Pebbles in her palace absolutely adoring her and being ecstatic when they think Steven is her — which happens the moment he says "Thank you".
- Brick Joke: As the Pebbles are rooting through Steven's pockets, one of them takes his cellphone. When Steven returns to Pink's room later and the Pebbles come out of the woodwork, the phone is seen again, set up in a living room of sorts.
- Cassandra Truth:
- The Pebbles take Steven as Pink Diamond just joking around when he genuinely asks who they are.
- Yellow Diamond still sees Steven as Pink, but with amnesia.
- Blue Diamond assumes that "Steven" is just another nickname that Pink made up. Apparently Pink used to love nicknaming herself (little wonder how she came up with "Rose").
- Conversation Hog: Discussed by Steven and Yellow Diamond about White Diamond, calling back to the previous episode:Steven: All I got to say was 'Hi', 'Um', and 'I'.Yellow Diamond: Two-and-a-half words. That's a record.
- Curtain Clothing: The Pebbles make a resized version of Pink Diamond's outfit for Steven out of pieces of his clothes and part of the curtains in Pink Diamond's room.
- Double-Meaning Title: While the title primarily means "Familiar" in the way Steven sings about (someone who is familiar), one could also see the Pebbles as Steven's Familiars.
- Everything Talks: Much of the furniture in the Diamond Authority's palace is sapient, has a face, and is able to talk, including Blue Diamond's comb. It may have something to do with what's "extracted" from Yellow Diamond and Steven, some of which spills off and brings a pebble to life.
- Exact Words: Yellow Pearl calls Steven "Pink Steven" and "Just Steven" because he told her to. Then he catches on, and jokingly tells her to call him "Lasagna", which she does.
- Failure Gambit: Steven suggests that Yellow fail on purpose to get White's attention when she gripes about White actually speaking to Pink despite her one colony being a failure, despite Yellow's many successful colonies and other endeavors. Yellow finds the idea hilarious.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Prior to her rebellion, Pink was the Foolish younger family member of Yellow, who is Responsible. It's implied that Yellow resents White for favoring Pink in general, as she grumbles about White speaking to Pink instead of her despite the massive repercussions of Pink's actions against Homeworld.
- Fun Personified: Pearl explains that Pink loved to throw parties and Yellow states that she was able to make someone as uptight as her constantly laugh.
- Generation Xerox: Steven eventually realizes that Pink's relationship with the Diamonds was just like his early relationship with the Crystal Gems. While they all loved each other, the elder members of each group would often treat the youngest differently:
- Garnet serves as a parallel to White. Both are the tallest of their groups and the most responsible, Garnet being the defacto leader of the Crystal Gems, and White being the leader of Homeworld. Both also serve the role of The Stoic, Garnet rarely emoting initially, and White being stuck in her own head.
- Amethyst serves as a parallel to Blue. Both had the closest relationships to the youngest and are the most emotional of the group, but they still underestimate the youngest and treat things they say as jokes.
- Pearl serves as a parallel to Yellow. Both are the most uptight and neurotic of their groups and often ignored the youngest due to business, but also proved to be the most overprotective of the youngest, which accidentally comes across as condescension. They also both resented the youngest on some level due to having the favor of someone they cared for, Rose for Pearl, and White for Yellow.
- Hope Spot: When Blue Diamond calls Steven by his real name and tries her hand at trying to pronounce "Steven", it seems she's coming around to recognizing him as his own person. Then she backs out and calls him "Pink" again, assuming "Steven" to be another name Pink made up, having evidently done that in the past on occasion. At least she doesn't call him "Rose" anymore.
- Literal Metaphor: Yellow Diamond claims that White Diamond almost never leaves her own head these days, referring to White's thoughts and the room inside her head-shaped statue.
- Literal-Minded:
- Steven's attempts in getting Yellow Pearl to call him by his name instead of Pink Diamond results in "Pink Steven", "Just Steven", and "Pink Lasagna", in that order.
- When Pearl tells Steven that Pink Diamond would throw balls for the other Diamonds and their courts, Steven takes this to mean she was a juggler. While Pearl confirms Pink Diamond could in fact juggle, she clarifies that Pink Diamond threw parties.
- Mistaken Identity: Due to the discovery that Steven shares his mother Pink's gemstone and psychic aura, Yellow and Blue believe that he's really their long-lost fellow Diamond in another form and don't seem to acknowledge him as his own being. Blue especially is disappointed that "Pink" doesn't remember anything from "her" former life at all; she does call Steven by his name at first, then thinks it's just something Pink picked up on Earth and resumes calling him by his mother's former name. Even the Pebbles think Steven is joking when he tries to explain he's not Pink.
- Mundane Utility: Blue and Yellow both have Gems whose sole purpose in life seems to be decoration for their homes.
- Non-Nude Bathing: Yellow and Blue Diamond are shown sitting in a steaming sauna and a bathtub full of water, respectively, while still wearing their usual clothes. In this case, it's justified by the fact that their "clothes" are just an extension of their projected bodies, and cleaning themselves doesn't really seem to have been the point. Steven dresses down but still sticks with swim trunks.
- Not Now, Kiddo: It's revealed that Pink Diamond, as the youngest of her family, would always get pushed aside by the other Diamonds so they could focus on more important, dictatorial matters. Steven gets treated the exact same way when he tries getting Yellow and Blue's help to talk to White again, causing him to realize he used to go through the same thing with the Crystal Gems.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Steven comes to this discovery with Pink Diamond, who was the jester of the family for all intents and purposes, and while the other Diamonds do love her, they still find far more important things to do.
- One-Word Title: "Familiar".
- Parental Favoritism: This episode further implies that White prefers Pink over Blue and Yellow. Yellow secretly resents White for it. Or at least, this is Yellow's interpretation. Steven's entire "dialogue" with White consisted of her talking over Steven and sending him to his room. Yellow's jealousy stems from the fact that she apparently can't even get that much interaction with White.
- Shared Family Quirks: The Pebbles' unsurprising reactions to Steven suddenly singing to himself suggest Pink Diamond did much the same.
- Shout-Out: To various Disney movies:
- The reveal that the Diamonds' own palaces have sentient architecture and accessories has elements of Beauty and the Beast.
- Steven passively creates life during a musical number just like Elsa.
- The Pebbles recreating a smaller version of Pink's ballerina-like outfit for Steven by using a hodgepodge of items also came from the 1950s version of Cinderella, where talking animals did the same for the titular heroine.
- Shown Their Work:
- Diamonds can in fact be cleaned by steaming, hence Yellow Diamond's sauna-like "extraction chamber".
- Blue Diamond tells Steven a story about how Pink renamed a group of Pyrite Gems "Fool's Gold". Pyrite is alternatively known as "fool's gold" because of its outward similarity to gold, fooling those who don't know better, but it doesn't have the same properties.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: Steven's voice during "Familiar" sounds deeper and more adolescent than his speaking voice. His voice actor uses his normal voice.
- Something Only They Would Say: The Pebbles think Steven is Pink because he said "Thank you" to them.
- Title Drop: The episode has a song titled "Familiar", which is all about Steven realizing that Pink Diamond has gone through the same motions with the other Diamonds as he's been with the Crystal Gems prior to his Character Development.
- Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Blue Diamond's depression is gone now that Pink is back (as Steven). She fondly remembers the good times the Diamonds had together when Pink was alive, but does tear up when she notes that they all broke apart after Pink left them.
- Unfortunate Names: In-universe; Blue tells Steven of how Pink renamed a group of Pyrite Gems "Fool's Gold", much to White's fury.
- Verbal Backspace: Pearl says Pink "would throw huge balls", and Steven thinks she's talking about juggling. Pearl tries to clarify she meant "host parties", but appends that Pink did juggle.
- Villains Out Shopping: Apparently the Extraction Chamber and the bathing area are the closest thing to "off-time" the Diamonds ever have.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Implied. Yellow secretly resents White for favoring Pink despite the latter's mistakes and betrayal, and wants to be acknowledged for her many accomplishments and loyalty. She vents this to Steven, thinking that he's her fellow Diamond. Given that Pink herself wanted Yellow's approval in "Jungle Moon", this makes them Mirror Characters.
