Steven Universe Season 5 / Tear Jerker

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"You cannot fathom how much I've mourned. What thousands of years of grief has done to me!"

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Stuck Together

Steven's lines as he pretends to be Rose Quartz. "I love shattering Diamonds, I just want to shatter them all the time!". He could just be saying what he thinks will convince his captors or this could be Steven's perspective of his mother.
It turns out that Steven's deal with Aquamarine was at the end futile, as she decides to still bring Lars to Homeworld and mocking Steven for attempt to negotiate with her.
Lars confessing that he's a wuss and how he's always scared and envied Steven for being so brave. Steven confesses back to him that he's frightened at the moment. Following that, Lars actually tries to comfort him by looking at something positive. Considering how antagonistic and jerkish Lars is, this moment really cements he's not really a bad person and is very capable of comfort and empathy.
Topaz getting highly emotional after hearing Steven and Lars' heart-to-heart. She then confesses that she's actually trying hard to keep it together and sympathizes with how even though they're in a less than ideal situation they still have each other which is similar to her own situation.
The look of defeat on Topaz's face when Aquamarine pressures her that if she continues with her conduct, the Diamonds will shatter her.
When they finally reach Homeworld, Lars and Steven are separated. They call for each other and it is clear fear is evident in both their voices as they are now apart. Especially harder when they just had a heart-to-heart about how they think they'll be fine as long as they weren't alone not so long ago.
- Notice that even the Topazes are jogging away when most of the time, they were walking before. It's clear that they're still effected from a possible conflict between Aquamarine's threat of how they'll get shattered and their sympathy towards Steven and Lars' emotional connection.

The Trial

Blue Diamond's reaction when Steven suggests that Rose used the Breaking Point to shatter Pink Diamond as she grips her head in sorrow and frustration.
It was a SWORD!
- Blue's grief and frustration actually cause her to unleash a wave of some sort that tinges the room blue and causes every being with a Gem, even Yellow Diamond, to shed tears.
  - It's even the current page image for Emotion Bomb!
In a sense, this whole episode can be a bit of a Tear Jerker if you think about it from Blue Diamond's point of view: she's spent thousands of years mourning the shattering of Pink Diamond, to the point of essentially hoarding everything related to her fallen family member. Then after recently finding a human who seems to be able to empathize with her (and that same human disappearing relatively soon afterwards assuming if she ever finds out), she's now confronted by the person who she thinks murdered her fellow Diamond. However, her sense of fairness (for what it's worth) in allowing the trial to properly continue reveals that not only does the apparent killer not have any idea of how the killing actually occurred, but now there is a disturbing possibility that said killer DIDN'T kill her family member, and that the assassin may very well be another Diamond, one of her own kin. She really got hit with the short end of the stick.
- Depending on how you look at it, Yellow's furious attack on Zircon when she accuses the Diamonds—sure you could view it as an implication of guilt on her part, but think about how this must feel from her point of view: She's essentially being accused of killing her own family member.
- The fact that through the whole episode, Yellow Diamond shows a lack of interest during the trial, prefering to shatter Rose Quartz ignoring Blue's wishes to learn the truth, one must be reminded that during her appearances Blue has always been with Yellow as a way of having emotional support, that Yellow doesn't want to know what happened to Pink is already depressing, but is becomes heartbreaking that is later shown that Yellow wants actually to force closure on her and make her forget about Pink, you really can't stop feeling sympathy for Blue Diamond after seeing that not even her own family member seems to understand her feelings.
Poor Defense Zircon. For starters, she is assigned to defend Rose Quartz, known war criminal among Homeworld about to prosecuted for the crime of shattering Pink Diamond. Since Homeworld's society is based around a cult to the Diamonds, and because this crime is common knowledge among the local gems even if it may not be true, the chances of winning the case are already very bleak, especially since Steven is already declaring himself guilty, and the punishment for losing is shattering for both herself and her client. She was a Nervous Wreck during the first part of the trial and if weren't for Blue Diamond, Yellow wouldn't have even bothered hearing the defense. She was on the verge of a breakdown during the small break, and when she finally managed to give a very logical and convincing testimony, she had the bad luck of accusing both Yellow and Blue Diamond of being the murderers. This caused Yellow Diamond to get angry and immediately squash her even when she tried to apologize for the comment. Even worse, one can hope Blue Diamond steps in her defense before Yellow Diamond decides to shatter her gem as well.
- Prosecuting Zircon's fate also qualifies. Sure, she was a racist Smug Snake and a butt-kisser, but she didn't deserve to be zapped and poofed by Yellow Diamond only because she spoke when the diamond became angry.

Off Colors

When Steven and Lars first meet the Rutile Twins, Lars screamed in fear...and the twins' expressions become one of these in retrospect, given they later reveal they only survived because everyone else ran away from them in fear. Lars unintentionally dug up some bad memories.
The manner in which the Rutile twins describe what defines "off color" in Homeworld terms, more or less stating what they believe themselves to be.
Left Rutile twin: Y'know... wrong.
Right Rutile twin: ...Not right.
Left Rutile twin: Flawed.
- Considering how lovable the entire group is, and that we already know of Gems who either have been described as "off color" themselves (Skinny and Carnelian) and there's no doubt countless more, it hurts to hear that this is what these types of Gems seem to think of themselves in most cases. If they didn't have others like them as support, it's exceptionally likely that Gems like these would face the same level of self-loathing displayed by Amethyst in the past.
A small one, but just as the robonoids lights are closing in on their gem, the Rutile Twins huddle closer together and grip each others' hands.
Lars' Heroic Sacrifice and Disney Death. He gets caught point blank in a Robonoid explosion, hits the wall, and falls to the ground. Steven runs towards him and checks his heartbeat, and starts sobbing when he can't find one, believing someone he's known for years and just had a heart-to-heart with earlier died trying to protect him.
- How utterly realistically the scene is played out. Lars doesn't get some heroic goodbye, or grand speech, he just gets flown against the wall thanks to the explosion and drops to the ground, dead. No last words, and with no intention of actually performing a sacrifice. Just like that, a teenager who's only just starting to get over the issues that have plagued them their entire existence, has the life snuffed out from them in an instant.
- How the Off-Colors react: at first they're cheering on Lars and thanking him for saving their lives. Then they see Steven crying, and go silent.
  - That's not the only part that's upsettingly real - Steven's entire reaction. We've seen Steven cry before countless times, and he's been through a lot, but this is the only time he's ever saw a living, breathing person die before him, let alone someone he sees as a friend and is his only familiar company in an alien world where his mother's a wanted criminal. When Steven realizes Lars' heart isn't beating, he just gasps with a look of utter horror on his face, and outside of stifling his own sobs, he doesn't make a sound - the poor boy just holds Lars' dead body up to his face and hugs it as he clearly stops himself from barely breaking down. He knows Lars is dead and as far as he's aware, he thinks he can't undo it - and the way he reacts to it speaks more than words ever could.

Lars' Head

With Lars coming back to life via healing tears, there's the heartbreaking realization that Lion, the lion that we've known since the early seasons and grown to love, at one point died... and his death affected Rose so much to cause her to reanimate him with her tears. Even Steven seems to realize this once he goes back to bring the food to Lars and the Off Colors.
- Adding to that, its not known how Lion died. Whether he died from an injury or sickness and Rose had to come across his dead body. Or like Lars, did Lion die during a fight. Perhaps defending Rose from a monster which could've added to Rose's guilt as Lars's death did to Steven.
Lars finally matures, and offers the Off-Colors and Steven a chance to escape through the portal in his hair, knowing that he'll be left behind. He does so without hesitation or fear.
- The part where he talks about how there aren't any robots flying on Earth, just seagulls flying in front of the sunset, and that he took it all for granted, and the Off-Colors shouldn't pass up the chance, all that tells you how he really feels.
Crosses with Heartwarming, Steven and Lars' final discussion before Steven heads back, with Steven clearly not wanting to leave Lars behind on Homeworld.
Lars: But you've gotta go back!
Steven: But it doesn't feel right to just leave you here!
Lars: You said yourself that everyone on this planet is out to get you! You won't be safe until you're back on Earth!
Steven: But, Lars-
Lars: Don't argue with me! You're always trying to help me! You brought me back to life! Just let me be some one who deserved it.
- That last line can take on a heartbreaking turn with the interpretation that Lars thinks he doesn't deserve to be alive.
- And then they share a goodbye hug. That Lars initiates.
  - Tears of Joy for the Crystal Gems, Connie, and Greg when Steven returns. They were all that terrified for him.
  - Steven may have gotten back to Earth in the end, but Lars is still stuck and he's going to have to explain to Lars' parents what happened to their only child...
According to Word of God, shortly after "Change Your Mind" was released, it was revealed that Lars can still eat if he wants to...but he's lost his sense of taste.

Dewey Wins

Continuing from "Lars' Head", Steven and Connie's first-ever real fight, making the whole scene the show's second most depressing case of Both Sides Have a Point.
- Connie arguably came off as brusque in expressing her hurt, and ended up not completely elaborating it in the end, but from her view Steven still didn't uphold his promise that they would/ could face the gem-related threats as a team. There's also the fact that everyone he saved thought he was either dead, or alive and being tortured for information, and feared they would have been too late to rescue him.
  - The way she lists the previous experiences of what she and Steven trained through out of desperation. Connie really took each and every one of them to heart, from their first time fusing into Stevonnie, to developing a combative and protective spirit under Pearl's tutelage, all to utilize against a genuine Homeworld threat to Earth— and then her best friend, the person she's doing it all for, shuts down, raises a white flag, disappears with said threat for who knows how long, and seemingly brushes it all off with "It's okay, my way saved us all, that's what's more important." No matter how cynical or stuck-in-the-past her argument seemed, the whole scene can hit home for long-time friends who genuinely offered help and were rejected, or for anyone who thinks they could have contributed what they could to an emergency.
- On the other hand, though it's brought up rather casually, Steven is also correct that everyone part of Aquamarine and Topaz's hit list faced a pretty uncertain fate once they were taken into space, the two most prominent outcomes being imprisoned in the human zoo, or executed by the Diamond Authority. And he had been in the midst of a Heroic BSoD at the time from the knowledge of being the unwitting catalyst of the kidnapping (either from listing the human targets to Peridot, busting Greg out of said zoo, or possibly even both).
  - In addition, after seeing Aquamarine immobilize all of her and Topaz's captives (sans Lars), as well as Alexandrite, a fusion of three of the Crystal Gems that was many times her size, in one swift move, Steven possibly figured that she was too powerful and that continuing to try and fight her would've more than likely resulted in a worse situation for everyone. He may have also realized that even if they were to have defeated and bubbled the two Homeworld Gems, it would have attracted the Diamond Authority's suspicions, as they would've been the third team sent to Earth (the first being Lapis, Peridot, and Jasper, and the second being the Rubies) to go MIA in recent time (due to Lapis and Peridot defecting from Homeworld, Jasper being corrupted, and the Rubies being stuck drifting in space for some time), and would have resulted in the Diamond Authority sending more of their forces to Earth, and possibly starting another war. So in Steven's mind, giving himself up was the only way to save his friends and family and keep Homeworld away from Earth (at least for the time being), even if it meant breaking his promise to Connie.
- Before Connie storms off in frustration, Lion shoots a Disapproving Look at Steven before going with her, showing that he's just as angry as Connie is at Steven.
Despite the advice he got from Garnet and Connie in "Mindful Education", Steven is apparently repressing his mental trauma yet again, with the implication being that coming to Mayor Dewey's aid is part of that same self-distraction.
The absence of Lars hits Sadie pretty hard... and Lars's parents even harder. Mr. and Mrs. Barriga are melancholy for nearly the entire episode with the latter frequently in tears and quite sensitive to Mayor Dewey's attempts to solve it.
- Considering how nice and sweet she is, and how frantic she must be feeling about her son, it's both a Moment of Awesome and sobering that Martha launches a tomato at Dewey for his answer.
- There's also their reactions to finding out Lars became an undead being infused with Gem Magic. After Sadie finds out, she breaks down crying, and all she can say is "Glad he's not... well, at least he's some kind of alive". While we never see Steven telling the Barrigas what happened to their only child, their tearful attitudes during the episode indicate they reacted as one would expect. Long story short, Lars Came Back Strong, but it doesn't change the fact that he still died after his Alien Abduction.
Everything to do with Mayor Dewey, too, despite and because of his various unsympathetic remarks. In general, his whole job through the series had a cycle of sorts: the Crystal Gems were the ones who dealt with all the gem-related weirdness around Beach City, even if they didn't take responsibility for any fallout (which he would take upon himself through various, lawful, tactical distractions). Once he was flung into the position of taking responsibility for the post-abduction situation on top of being part of an election against a more competent opponent, to boot, this cycle of reassurements and promises are worth zero, and it's understandable that he would easily fold under the pressure.
- Just how happy Dewey is to shunt the responsibility and blame to Steven when Steven brings up that maybe they should make a speech about how it was Steven's fault. Even at the end of the campaign, he's more resigned to looking for a new job than truly grateful for Steven's assistance.
- When Sadie asks what Dewey is going to do about Lars, who is stranded in space, Dewey doesn't think his answer through. He says he'll do everything he can to get another doughnut boy. Steven in the background realizes how callous that sounds.
- Minor, but while he and Steven are working on his campaign speech, this exchange also makes it apparent that Dewey's relationship with Buck is still strained.
  Dewey: Aw, shucks, Universe. You're like the son I never had.
  Steven: You... have a son.
  Dewey: I know that! You're just very different from him, that's all.
Really, just how much the two above conflicts parallel each other in the episode. Even Steven recognizes this after Dewey concedes, albeit too late.
After Steven finally realizes how much he hurt Connie, he tries to call her. She doesn't pick up.

Gemcation

Doubles as Nightmare Fuel: Pearl finally makes an active effort to tell Steven what she knows about Homeworld after being too upset to do so on numerous occasions, only for her right hand to seemingly move on its own and cover her mouth multiple times before she can eke out another word. Even after her Character Development through the millenia of living on Earth, it's jarring to see she didn't completely overcome a part of her programming, or whatever was done to her on Homeworld.
- Becomes even sadder when we know the truth behind her actions: she's acting out her Diamond's final order, long, long after her Diamond's demise. And that Diamond is Rose.
Just Steven being completely morose for the whole episode about Connie's silence, almost to the point of indifference to Greg and the Gems' concern. The string of texts he sends to her even calls back to "Full Disclosure"— but with the roles reversed.
- Four words. "Please talk to me."
When Steven and Garnet are sitting in the hot tub, Garnet tells Steven that she knows what's troubling him. Steven, thinking that she's talking about his sacrifice, laments how badly he screwed up with this action. Though Steven clearly thought at the time his Heroic Sacrifice would have helped everybody^note, he's clearly now realizing that in the long run it did just as much harm (if not more) as it did good: His sacrifice resulted (albeit indirectly) in Lars' Disney Death, the Barrigas' and Sadie's grief over his fate, Beach City blaming Dewey for the abductions and losing his position as mayor, and Connie and Lion's anger at Steven. And as future episodes prove, this is only the beginning of the consequences.
After Pearl tries and fails to get through to Steven, with the others listening behind the door, he finally cracks and admits the fight he and Connie had, tearfully fearing that Connie now hates him since she's not responding to any of his texts or calls.
- During the confession, he also says that even though the experience on Homeworld was "really messed up," it wasn't what was bothering him at the moment. That's how horrible he feels about the whole experience: The hardest part wasn't the trial itself, the introduction to Homeworld, or even Lars' fate, it was having to face the people he sacrificed himself for, especially after his best friend (and possible crush) chewed him out for surrendering.
- When Greg asks why he didn't tell them about the fight sooner, Steven admits it was partially because he was embarrassed, and partially because he thought Greg and the Gems would instantly side with Connie if they found out what happened. He was that worried his guardians are also furious at him for giving himself up.

Raising the Barn

It doubles as heartwarming, but while she's aggressively yanking and yelling at Pumpkin, one of the things Peridot says is "LAPIS NEEDS US!". Peridot, who in this moment outright yells out how horrible it will be for them in space, and has so many valuable things on earth, values Lapis so much that she outright treated staying as a non-option. It's both heartwarming to see how much she cares... and makes what happens next ten times more heartwrenching.
Lapis deciding to just outright leave Earth than get caught up in another possible war. She just... leaves. She gives Peridot and Steven one final, clearly heartbroken glance before flying off, but still.
- What makes it even more heartwrenching is Peridot's speech to Lapis, in a more or less last ditch effort to get her to stay. While it certainly is heartwarming how far she's come, Lapis's continued mindset of not getting caught up in another war shattered that, and so she left anyway.
- Not only that, she takes the barn with her, along with everything in it, and leaves Peridot and Pumpkin behind. Peridot is now not only without her best friend, but basically homeless.
- The way Peridot reacts to the entire thing is just heartbreaking. After Lapis leaves, all she can do is stand there silent and motionless, and Steven just walks up and puts his hand on her shoulder. After taking her and Pumpkin home to the beach house, she just walks over to her makeshift bed, gives Steven an incredibly unenthused thanks, and lies down on her side. It's heartbreaking to see such a normally energetic character like this.
- Lapis' departure isn't any less heartbreaking from her perspective, either. Taking the barn to space is the first meaningful thing Lapis has done in millennia without having someone or something forcing her hand or limiting her options, and even then it couldn't work out for her. It's easy for the Crystal Gems to be brave and optimistic, none of them had to spend the post-war years imprisoned, degraded, and badly injured in someone else's conflict; for her, she was choosing between being attacked by the most powerful beings she knows could ever exist or spending the rest of the foreseeable future alone, just like she was in the mirror. Better the devil you know, right?
The episode ends on Steven looking at his phone while sitting next to the bath tub to see no response from Connie once again and sighing, and Peridot turning around with an exhausted, sad expression and just asking "...What do we do now?". Normally, a line like this would just be silly or funny from her, but her tone is just so broken. She really doesn't have any idea what to do, either. She's got no home, none of her possessions, and her best friend and roommate is gone, and she doesn't think she'll ever see her again. Peridot really doesn't know what to do with Lapis and the barn gone.
Also, think about it from Steven's point-of-view; Lapis decided to ditch Earth when she learned that Steven ran away from the Diamonds from his trial. Even when Steven tried to reassure her that as far as they knew, "Rose" was still hiding out somewhere in the Homeworld Catacombs, Lapis says that it doesn't matter. "Rose" is too valuable to them and the Diamonds would take their anger out on Earth if they couldn't find "her". Steven is witnessing two more harmful consequences his Heroic Sacrifice caused; he had reawaken Lapis' trauma from the Gem War, and he cost the Crystal Gems an extremely powerful ally.

Back to the Kindergarten

We open the episode and get to see that Peridot has spent the last few days doing nothing but lying in the bathroom listening to music. That's how bad she took what went down in the last episode. Peridot.
- After Lapis' departure, Peridot acts markedly unlike her usual self: in fact, through most of the episode, Peridot behaves almost exactly the way she did prior to her officially becoming a Crystal Gem and her ensuing character development from living at the barn. Yes, she still values Earth and its life and isn't a morally blue and orange character anymore, but seeing Peridot be driven to acting like the sourpuss she used to be again all because of what happened with Lapis is just so heartbreaking. We've never seen how Peridot acts when she's miserable for long periods of time after her redemption until now - She stops crying after a while, but she just... tries to shut herself off and becomes totally grumpy. After the last season or so of her being so enthusiastic and cheerful, it's a jarring change.
The sheer regret Peridot seems to harbor now for being an Expert Kindergartner. Specifically how her work takes what was probably a nice bit of nature, and sucks it dry until it turns into an utterly lifeless ravine. Becomes even sadder when you realize that she probably wanted to garden and grow those sunflowers there as a means of atoning for the ruin Kindergartening brought to this place, even if it wasn't done by her, and for some comfort in knowing that there was some hope that life could grow there again.
Peridot: This used to make sense to me. I thought life was generated in a Kindergarten. Formless, aimless energy channeled into new, useful gems. But life doesn't start in a Kindergarten. It ends here. I've gotten used to plants everywhere. Bugs and breeze, and sunshine... all of that has been sucked out of this place. It's with the Amethysts that were produced here, and now this place is nothing but a miserable husk. And all of the Amethysts are gone...
After finally cheering up a bit again after the gardening in the kindergarten, and outright thanking Steven and Amethyst for helping her do so... Peridot returns to the Kindergarten to see the sunflowers completely wilted. Yes, we know that it was probably because the Kindergarten has been resource-drained, and now is a shadow-covered area in which plant-growing would be much harder to accomplish, but her entire reaction to it is still horrible to watch. Losing her home, possessions, and best friend caused her to go through days of doing nothing but lying down in misery. Returning to discover the thing that had been giving her hope completely destroyed just brought it all back. Hearing one of Peridot's angry, childish-sounding rants never felt so awful.
Peridot: (after picking up a wilted sunflower and watching it crumble to dust) ...I don't know why I'm surprised. I should have known not to have hope.
Steven: But... maybe if we try again-
Peridot: IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK! IT'S NEVER GOING TO WORK, OKAY!?
Amethyst: Hey, don't be a jerk! We were just trying to cheer you up!
Peridot: Heh. Good job with THAT! I feel great now that I know that nothing's EVER going to get better! Everything is just ruined forever! We can't get ANY of it back! Not my home, not Lapis, and not THIS CRUMMY PLANET EITHER! We might as well just THROW it all in the garbage and toss ourselves in after, because IT'S ALL JUST HOPELESS TRASH!
- The way she crushes the original "flower" during her angry tirade. Sure, it turns out seconds later to just be part of a corrupted gem, but her expression after doing so and before the tremors begin turns briefly from furious to looking like she's ready to just break down and run off in tears.
  - The similar expressions from Steven and especially the previously angry Amethyst to seeing her do it don't help matters at all either.
- The fact that Peridot doesn't even try to run or defend herself when the Gem monster eats her, nor does she look particularly relieved when Smoky Quartz rescues her. Although she does start to recover a bit at the end of the episode, between Lapis leaving and the failed attempt to restore life to the Kindergarten, it's easy to assume Peridot had hit absolute rock bottom at that point and did not care what happened to her next.
- Finally, Steven and Amethyst consoling Peridot over the sad idea that nothing may ever grow in the kindergarten again, no matter what she tries, as a metaphor for her losing Lapis and the barn. Most other stories and shows go the optimistic route, that with enough time and effort, you'll bounce back, good as new, everything will be okay! Indeed, it's rare for media aimed at kids to try and tackle a hard subject of how sometimes, there's a possibility that some emotional wounds may not get better for some, although fortunately for Peridot, they do, although the Downer Ending here is nevertheless uncomfortable to witness.

Sadie Killer

Sadie being completely overworked at the Big Donut without Lars' help. When Steven goes to visit her, she looks like she's ready to collapse from everything.
- Her lyrics in 'Working Dead' reflect just how much emotional pressure her job is keeping her under.
  Sadie: I really ought to be in mourning,/ but I've got another shift this morning...
- That line in particular. While it could just be a part of the "living dead" theme that her song has, there's the strong possibility that the "mourning" she's experiencing is for Lars. Even though she knows he's alright, he still died while up in space, and even if he manages to return home, he won't be the same Lars she's come to know.

Kevin Party

Many of Steven's dejected expressions, but especially after he hangs up one of his "missing Lion" posters at the start of the episode.
- Also, several of Connie's disheartened expressions later on during the party when Steven deliberately ignores her attempts to get his attention in seeming favor of hanging out with Kevin and his inner circle instead. Though he was only doing it on the former's advice to get her to make the first move and come to him, it nevertheless is sad seeing him take unwitting revenge on the best friend who unintentionally spurned his attempts to reconcile for weeks. And for Connie, as Steven's cold shoulder treatment continues, it's even more sadder as she slowly starts to believe that her weeks-long desertion and silent treatment of him might have done even more damage between them, to the point that he now seems to have lost all interest in making amends with her and possibly resents or even hates her now for it.
At the party proper, Steven and Connie's reunion doesn't start off smoothly. It's just... awkward.
- After he recognizes Connie at the party, Steven ends up freaking out over her new look, simultaneously trying to figure out what to say to her, and becoming split between wanting to just leave without even trying to talk to her or head over to her side of the pool to apologize for hurting her. It's so bad that after Steven decides on the second option while bursting into tears, Kevin has to pull him aside and advise him to put on a "cool teen" facade so she'll come to Steven.
- Connie's entire angry and confused reaction to watching Steven happily socialize with Kevin and completely ignore and shun her for the whole party might have come off pretty harsh in return, but think of it from her view: She's spent the last few weeks processing the events leading up to Steven's kidnapping and her subsequent feelings (her helplessness at getting kidnapped by Topaz and not being able to stop Steven from surrendering himself, terror and worry about what was happening to him on Homeworld, and anger at how lightly he treated his experience and the anguish he put everybody through, as well as him breaking his promise of them always being a team and blatantly ignoring her feelings about it all), and possibly even felt terrible for how she reacted when he did return, if also still pretty mad about his choice. After a first failed attempt at responding to Steven's texts by visiting the temple to talk, and getting another chance to do so from the very last person she'd expected (Kevin), seeing those same two people hanging out with seemingly no animosity towards each other while also shutting her out altogether may have well brought back Connie's emotional baggage, which now included the (incorrect) belief that Steven, after being (unintentionally) ignored and completely left in the dark by her for the last few weeks, had now grown to hate her for it, or at the very least, resent her enough to no longer want her as a friend at that point.
  - It's even more upsetting considering that upon first seeing her in the episode, Connie is brimming with confidence, socializing and laughing with the other guests and showing how much she has grown as a person. But now, the belief that her unintentional complete shutting out and abandonment of her best friend, aka the person who helped her grow so much, for the last few weeks may have permanently driven him away from her and into the arms of the biggest jerk she's ever known has apparently shaken her up so badly that it has caused her to backslide into her old anxiety-stricken loner ways, to the point where she ends up isolating herself from everyone else (except Lion) in her grief.
  - Even more so for Connie, she is now forced to face the heartbreaking possibility that she has now lost her best friend for the third and (seemingly) final time in as many weeks: the first time being when he gave himself up to Homeworld to save her and everyone else; the second being when she estranged herself from him following his return up until this point, not answering any of his attempts to make amends, continuing to remain silent even after he stopped trying to reach out, failing repeatedly to meet him in person despite her best attempts, and knowingly allowing his guardian pet to stay with her the entire time and not telling him about it; and now the (assumed) third time, where she finally reunites with him after having ghosted him and struggled with trying to meet him in person for weeks with the hopes of finally mending fences with him, only to find instead that, after so long of being (unintentionally) shut out and abandoned by her (and Lion), he has seemingly become so embittered and disillusioned with the prospect of reconciling with her (and also presumably regaining Lion's loyalty) that he has opted to instead both sever all remaining ties with her (and seemingly Lion as well) and take on Kevin, their biggest human rival, as his new best friend.
Whatever incident happened between Kevin and the girl he name-drops, Sabina, most likely did not end well, and judging from his embarrassed non-response to Steven asking who she is, it's apparently still bothering him in the present.
- Heck, no matter how unsympathetic Kevin was, and still in a way is, the lines he drops about having no actual friends and his feelings of "being sick" suggests that for all his dickish bravado, he probably has the poorest self-esteem of the show's teen cast (even poorer than Lars prior to his Disney Death).
When Steven and Connie finally apologize to each other, both of their honest admissions are pretty bittersweet: Connie admitting she didn't completely ignore Steven so much as become conflicted as to how to respond, and Steven admitting that he gave himself up because he couldn't stand the thought of Connie or anybody else he loved being taken away forever by Homeworld... then realizing he forced them to go through that same fear. This makes their ensuing reconciliation that much more cathartic.
Connie: Steven, I wasn't trying to ignore you. I was going to text you back, I... I wrote "I can't talk to you right now." But then I realized if I sent it, that would be talking to you. And didn't make any sense. I wasn't making any sense. If we were going to talk, I thought, "It's got to be in person." So I rode Lion to your house, but there was a note on the door that said "Gone Vacationing." And then I ran into Kevin, and he said you'd be here, but... maybe this is still too soon... I-I don't even know what to say to you. I'm angry, I miss you... I feel like I'm out of my mind!
Steven: No, you're not! I surrendered myself to Homeworld. I let them take me away, maybe forever, and then... I came back and I tried to act like it was no big deal! But it was a big deal. I couldn't stand the thought of you being taken away on that spaceship, but... then I did that to you! I promised you we'd always be a team, and... I let you down... (tears up) I'm sorry. Jam Buds?
Connie: (tears up and nods) Jam Buds!

Lars of the Stars

We see a pretty big crack form in "Captain" Lars' tough facade when he sees the pictures of Sadie and the Cool Kids in their band, and he starts to seriously worry Sadie has moved on without him. For all the amazing things he's done with the Off-Colors, he's still an angry, insecure teenager at heart.
Apparently, within the whole of the Gem Empire, Emerald's strongest emotional bond is with an inanimate object...

Jungle Moon

One of the Nephrite pilots has apprehensions about proceeding on a planet with organic life. Yellow's comments paint a poor look of that pilot's future...
What we see of Yellow Diamond and Pink Diamond's relationship. As it turns out, Pink was very much like a Spoiled Brat younger family member, with Yellow being the more responsible older family member. Throughout the scene, Pink pesters and annoys Yellow, insisting that she wants her own planet and colony, and declares that she's just as important as Yellow. Yellow replies that she should start acting like it. The scene ends with Pink Diamond smashing a window in anger. For the very poor (or at least, strained) relationship they had, it puts a different light on Yellow's grief over her loss.
- The build up to the scene - Pink is at first cheerful wanting to spend time with Yellow, while Yellow is annoyed she's still in the control room. It escalates from there as Pink wants to partake in Diamond stuff only for her resentments of being brushed off by Yellow boil over.
  - Pink's enthusiasm and eagerness can really remind you of Steven or Amethyst.
  - The setting of the dream, and the size of Dream!Dr. Maheswaran/Yellow Diamond in comparison to Stevonnie (from Connie's added perspective) might also indicate that on her end, there may still be some leftover feelings of dread regarding her mother, even three seasons after they made amends.
- When Pink goes too uppity and begins childishly batting at Yellow's terminal like an excitable child, Yellow grabbed her entire arm in her giant fist, using it to twist her around. It's not that different than what you might see an impatient parent do to an unruly three-year-old, but what makes it sad is that "Stevonnie" is still clutching her pained arm as she plods away. Yellow's outburst actually hurt her.
- For anyone who has a younger family member, this scene can be very hard to watch, especially because Pink Diamond looks and acts so young compared to any other Diamond we've seen.

Your Mother and Mine

The Off Colors have the idea that they're worthless mistakes that don't deserve to exist so ingrained in their consciousness that they can't even comprehend the idea of somebody complimenting them. When Garnet shows up and goes full on Squee mode, they assume she's making fun of them.
- Come to think of it, the Off Colors are what Amethyst would be (and perhaps still is) if she hadn't grown up on Earth with the Crystal Gems. She'd be a poor insecure gem living under the deep-rooted belief that she's an aberration because she didn't "come out right".

The Big Show

Greg admitting to Sadie, that his parents were never supportive of his music endeavors and never even bothered to come to any of his shows; he says this in his usual chipper tone, not a hint of resentment or sadness. Sadie, who just asked her mom not to come suddenly feels very guilty about it.
The song "Ghost": the singer wakes up on the day of her funeral, happy because she was sick for so long. Then she realizes that no one can see her, even if she screams in their faces, knocks down her coffin and tosses glitter at them. She starts to ask, "Am I a ghost?"
The in-universe Reality Subtext for the song: Sadie is a Nightmare Fetishist, but the guy she loves is now an undead magical being and is trapped in space. Sadie still mourns that he's away and is no longer quite human. For all intents and purposes, Lars has similarities to the singer, basically trapped in a void.

Pool Hopping

Garnet's breakdown at the end, admitting that all the randomness was an effort to try and sort out her future vision powers since they've been failing her lately and she feels like she's been unable to provide proper guidance as a leader because of it.

Letters to Lars

Mayor Dewey's awkward attempts at joining various activities are kind of sad on their own. When Peedee talks about how easy it was to get the old Mayor-Mobile, it is really driven home: Dewey isn't needed anymore, and he isn't wanted anymore.
Even though it becomes somewhat better for him, Dewey's Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life speech shows how lost he's become after losing his job as mayor. He knows he doesn't deserve it anymore, but he still misses it.
Mayor Dewey: You know, Universe, seeing my old mayor-mobile turned into a giant potato made me realize that nothing is like it used to be. My old life, my old town, my old citizens, they've all changed. They've... all outgrown me, I suppose. You know what I miss most about being the mayor? The little things, getting dressed and ready for work, walking down the boardwalk seeing everyone's smiling faces, yes. Knowing I had a place in this town. I used to look forward to it every day, (gestures to the Big Donut) just like the people of this town used to look forward to their morning donut. I guess no one gets what they want.

Can't Go Back

Lapis revealing that she got so lonely after fleeing Earth that she snuck back to the moon and used a Homeworld monitoring device to spy on the Gems, especially Peridot. She feels bad about it, but part of her wanted to know how Peridot was doing without her, and for a moment she looked like she wanted to join in as well.
The fact that even after living with Peridot for months, sharing dinner with Steven's whole family, and even his general treatment of her like his favorite big sister, Lapis still can't believe that Steven is happy to see her. She thinks that little of herself.
The flashback Steven has, besides the ending bit with Pearl that rattles Steven, has a conversation with Blue and Pink, with Yellow standing with her back turned. Blue, the only one speaking, tells Pink that she was the one that wanted the Earth as a colony, and basically implies that Pink had been turned into a Puppet King for her own colony, even saying that all she needs to do is smile and wave.
- Blue also tells Pink that she shouldn't be worried about the "Rose Quartz" rebel that's threatening her, and to keep a brave face for her subjects; she also shushes Pink when the smaller Diamond attempts to speak. In the end, as far as Blue and the other Diamonds know, the same rebel they told Pink not to worry about was the one responsible for her Shattering. No wonder Blue in particular has been taking Pink's "death" so hard for so long.
  - And that's hardly any worse than Yellow, who stands with her back to Pink the entire time with her nose in the air, giving Pink an angry silent treatment and refusing to look at her throughout the entirety of the scene.
- Oh, and the clincher? The context of the dream juxtaposed by The Reveal in the following episode strongly implies that this was the last interaction Blue and Yellow had with Pink before her "death". Jeez. It's hard to judge whether its more heartbreaking that Blue's and Pink's relationship ended with such Parting-Words Regret, or that Pink's and Yellow's relationship didn't.
- While not at much touched upon, Blue chastises Pink with the few excuses that the smaller Diamond made in order to delay the colonization effort. One of which being that the Humans' "Cities were too difficult to dismantle". Exactly how much of Humankinds' own culture, language, and history was irrevocably destroyed because of the Gem Homeworlds' attempt at Colonization thousands of years ago?
- The conversation takes on a different light with The Reveal the following episode that Pink was Rose: she was trying to abandon Earth to the Crystal Gems and humanity but no matter what she tried, her family members wouldn't allow her to. After both Blue and Yellow leave Pink alone, a shadow of Pearl walks up to her from behind, carrying Rose's sword, presumably to give it to her. All while Pink just... continues to stand there with her head bowed, looking like she just crossed the Despair Event Horizon.
- It's implied that Blue and Yellow misinterpreted Pink's excuses and begging as her having a hard time with her first colony, so they made Pink a puppet ruler who would be able to deal with the easier parts ("You don't even have to do anything, just smile and wave.") while her older fellow Diamonds did the rest. Neither of them knew it would be the last straw.
When Steven has another vision about Pink Diamond, Lapis misinterprets it as a sign that the Diamonds are coming back and flees Earth again in a panic. She was this close to overcoming her issues and reuniting with her friends, only for all her problems to get dredged back up because of a misunderstanding.
- This exchange hits particularly hard:
  Lapis: I'm not like you and your friends, Steven! I can't just let go of what happened to me! I can't go through that again!
  Steven: Would you rather be ALONE?!
  Lapis: (stares at Steven in helpless silence, then sadly closes her eyes) I'm sorry.

A Single Pale Rose

WARNING: This is considered the definitive tear jerker episode of the series thus far. The huge Mood Whiplash that happens right at the end of the episode doesn't help. As a reminder, Spoilers are Unmarked.

Every single mistake that Pink Diamond did usually ended with someone she loved getting very hurt by it and was always caused by her own self loathing. This still extended to her alter ego "Rose Quartz", that was created in a desperate path to change herself.
Pearl wanted so much to tell Steven the truth, despite Rose/Pink's orders, that her deep subconscious self took her phone and started texting Steven to show him instead. When he comes out afterwards, she breaks down crying and mentions that she's wanted to tell him for so long, but couldn't.
- Remember Pearl's reaction to Steven giving himself up as Rose Quartz, and the shatterer of Pink Diamond in "I Am My Mom" when she was covering her mouth with tears rolling down her face. The boy she loved like a son was about to admit to something that neither he nor his mother did and she couldn't tell him the truth. It must have been harrowing to know that she knew that she had information to save him but she was literally unable to tell him.
  - The one who made it so Pearl, the only person who Pink ever genuinely trusted, is unable to speak about the truth about Pink Diamond was Rose/Pink herself who gave a last order to Pearl to never speak about the event ever again. What she did to Pearl was very short sighted and ended up being so harmful to Pearl and others around her, the sad part is it didn't even cross Rose's mind she did something wrong.
The Reveal that Pink Diamond genuinely believed her fellow Diamonds didn't give a damn about her at all and thus if she 'died', Earth would be free. The fact it failed because she underestimated how much they did care about her adds to the tragedy.
- Pink Diamond's situation can hit extremely hard for those who think that their family, friends, and other loved ones don't really care about them at all, Poor Communication Kills or not, which in some cases have driven some to kill themselves out of the belief that their deaths would genuinely improve their lives. It certainly puts Rose giving up her physical form to give birth to Steven in a new light, especially with her line about being unable to shatter herself.
- For the other Diamonds, blowing off their loved ones, unintentional or not, until it led to a greater tragedy. It paints their grieving thousands of years later in a more tragic light, especially since the last time they interacted with Pink, they had refused to let her give the Earth up to the Crystal Gems and humanity, made her the Homeworld equivalent of a puppet queen, and dismissed her when she tried to say something, essentially trapping her in the circumstances that they believe killed her.
- All this time, Yellow and Blue have been trying to murder their own family without even knowing it.
- During "The Trial", rather than being confronted with Pink's killer as they had thought, Yellow and Blue were unknowingly reunited with the reincarnation of their beloved fellow Diamond, and they came pretty close to executing 'her'.
- Additionally, this means Blue once kidnapped her 'brother-in-law'.
- A big one? Pink is genuinely dead, having sacrificed herself to create Steven. Yellow, Blue, and White will never be able to reconcile with Pink. If Rose didn't realize otherwise before her death, she died thinking that her family never truly cared for her. The Diamonds might be tyrannical galactic despots, but that's sad no matter how you look at it.
Pearl's subconscious selves seem to represent facets of her personality, with a memory to accompany it. The first one Steven meets represents her perfectionism and is pretty silly. Then he meets the next two, who represent her grief over Rose dying to make Steven and her PTSD from her experiences in the Gem War (particularly the Diamonds’ final attack that corrupted all the other Crystal Gems and turned them into hideous monsters). The former is a sobbing wreck, while the latter is a despondent shell who barely even reacts to Steven’s presence.
- Just the sound of Pearl's grieving subconscious sobbing. It's painfully raw and realistic, and generally sounds less like affected acting sobs and more like Deedee Magno dredged up something that never quite healed.
- This scene, especially when it is revisited via a flash-forward after The Reveal, also shows the absolute unfairness of the situation Pearl was put in. After spending thousands of years with Rose, the one confidant of her greatest secret, her right-hand Gem in a revolutionary war, Rose's closest and longest-standing friend, a pioneer in the new, free world that Rose so dearly wished for both of them, and having going through all of this because of the simple comfort that once it was all over, she and the love of her life would get to spend life in free peace... Rose Quartz "dies" in simple childbirth. And Rose chose to do so with full knowledge that it would happen. Pearl isn't just crying because she's losing the woman she's been in love with for practically forever. She's crying because her entire world is crashing around her.
  Grieving Pearl: (Inelegant Blubbering) What am I going to do when she disappears? I'm going to lose her, just like I lost my...
  - Also, if you subscribe to the idea that Pink Diamond hated herself so much she threw herself away to make Steven, Pearl's situation is like that of a someone who supported their suicidal friend for years. In fact, she says herself later that she was "created to make [Pink] happy" - and ultimately that support wasn't enough to stop Pink essentially 'taking' her own life in the end...
- The memory that shows Pearl shapeshifted as Rose just after "shattering" her own Diamond is pretty heartwrenching. Shortly after Steven enters this memory, one can hear what sounds like Pink Diamond's entourage crying over her "demise" in deep grief; these Gems are never seen on-screen during this scene, but their cries are so clearly filled with distress and sorrow that it quickly becomes obvious these Gems genuinely loved Pink Diamond and are now actively mourning their "fallen" leader. Even Pearl, who knows what's really going on, can't help but cry as well after destroying her Diamond's physical form.
With the reveal in this episode, you'd expect that Steven would be relieved. His mother didn't shatter Pink Diamond! Neither did Pearl! They were both innocent! But multiple things hit Steven at once as soon as he leaves Pearl's subconscious: Rose lied to everyone except Pearl about who she was, faked her old identity's death which led to Blue and Yellow's grief as well as Jasper and Eyeball's trauma, gave up her previous form to become someone else, and ordered Pearl to never speak of it. Also, he's a Diamond, aka the Gems that would have deprived Earth of organic life, and he is Pink Diamond, the one that Yellow and Blue are trying to avenge. His whole identity has come into question. Can you blame him for looking utterly shocked and miserable in a Troubled Fetal Position?
- It gets worse when you consider this: Steven gave himself up to Aquamarine and the Topaz duo in "I Am My Mom" because his mother Rose Quartz shattered Pink Diamond; now he's discovering that Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond the whole time. Not only was Steven's sacrifice based on a lie that fooled everybody, but the actual truth ultimately rendered it pointless. And what makes it even worse? The Reveal means that the emotional anguish the sacrifice caused for everybody and all the negative consequences that ensued ^note occurred for no reason. Also, Steven already knows that his sacrifice did a lot more harm than good; would it be a surprise if he’s starting to realize that what he found out makes it so much worse in hindsight?
Rose wasn't the paragon that the Crystal Gems thought she was. She was a demi-mortal being who was mentally a teenager, due to Pink Diamond being a Womanchild. No matter how much Rose wanted to change, no matter how much she saw the beauty of Earth's nature and life, she wasn't sure how to best do so. There's also the implication that she never wanted Steven to find out this rather important revelation.
Knowing what we do now, Pink Diamond convinced Garnet by describing herself with her worst traits - a selfish, cruel, petty tyrant. What if that was so convincing because it was what Rose believed herself to be? Poor Pearl was unable to tell anyone about her Diamond's positive traits.
While Amethyst and Garnet's reactions to the truth at the end of the episode are Mood Whiplash, especially with Amethyst's Big "WHAT?!", it's hard to blame them for being so shocked. Everything they knew about Rose has come into question, and the fallout is definitely coming.
Every time Steven starts believing the Crystal Gems don't love him or have faith in him becomes so much Harsher in Hindsight, especially "So Many Birthdays" - the Diamonds' perceived lack of love was what led Pink ultimately dying. The Crystal Gems had no idea they've nearly repeated history with Steven.
With The Reveal in mind, imagine how Rose must have felt when the Diamonds fired off their attack. On top of the expected anguish at the fact that she's losing thousands of friends and allies, knowing that she can only save two (five if you count Ruby and Sapphire separately from Garnet), she also has to deal with the realization that her own fellow Diamonds are doing this out of grief for her, which further adds a healthy layer of guilt to the whole thing, as the whole attack was triggered by her faked shattering. One wonders if Rose has been smiling all those years to keep from crying.
Hell, the very framing of the episode is gutwrenching. The sheer unhealthiness of Pearl's psyche is on full display, what with Surface Pearl outright bragging about her ability to compartmentalize and repress her trauma, and her inner layers seem to exist in some degree of permanent anguish. It's been obvious that Pearl's mental state isn't the greatest for a long time, but this episode really drives home just how bad it really is. And she's physically been unable to talk about the worst of it since it happened.

Now We're Only Falling Apart

The very next episode after "A Single Pale Rose" is the start of the focus on the aftermath of The Reveal that Rose Quartz used to be Pink Diamond. Garnet ends up unfusing into Ruby and Sapphire because she can't process this.
- Look carefully at the scene right before Garnet fully unfuses: she's trembling and struggling to hold herself together, and she's already crying out of Sapphire's eye.
It's implied that normally Ruby would be more upset about this sort of deception but she hasn't even had time to let the revelation sink in. For Sapphire, though? The revelation has registered. Hard.
Sapphire, unlike Ruby, is absolutely livid that "Rose" lied to them for millennia, to the point where she runs away in tears. It's a complete 180 from "Keystone Motel" because Sapphire was able to see the outcome that time. Here, nobody knows what to expect anymore.
Ruby: Sapphire...!
Sapphire: (yelling) SHE LIED TO US! SHE LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING! She held our hands, looked us right in the eyes, and told us to never question who we are as Garnet! We never questioned ourselves... or her!
Ruby: We couldn't have known!
Sapphire: No... you couldn't have known. You never know what's going on! That's what I am for!
Ruby: Sapphire...
Sapphire: (voice breaking) But I never looked into her! I trusted her. I let her make fools of us all!
Ruby: (as Sapphire is leaving) Sapphire, wait!
Steven: Guys! (slips on Sapphire's ice)
Ruby: Please! We could just... s-stay calm a-and talk about this, right? Let's just... talk.
Sapphire: Talk about what? How our relationship is based on a lie?! What else is there to say? (Warps out of the temple)
- Specifically, Sapphire appears be more focused on the fact that she and Ruby became fugitives of Homeworld, were stripped of their positions on Homeworld, spent thousands of years fighting and hiding on Earth, trying to fix corruption, losing "Rose", and raising Steven— all both because of and for someone that technically did not exist, and because of and for someone who they were convinced was a cruel and cowardly tyrant, never knowing that they were one and the same.
  - Technically, "Rose" did exist, but only as an identity of Pink Diamond. That meaning, Pink created Rose to hide herself from her fellow Diamonds and to be Earth's savior. Thus, Rose never had her own life separate from Pink Diamond (having to share Pink's body) nor deviated from what she's made to be. It's only when Pink "died" that Rose is free from that purpose and allowed to live as her own person. Rose Quartz wasn't born as Pink Diamond, she became more than just Pink Diamond's Secret Identity.
- It seems her anger is because she never used her future vision to look into Rose’s future because she trusted her as a leader. When you think about it, if Garnet used her future vision to see Pink/Rose fake her shattering and had been able to warn her that would be a bad idea, the corruption would never have happened. No wonder Sapphire is upset!
- Also, in the above argument, Sapphire calls Ruby out on her supposed ignorance towards the whole issue, as if she blames her for not foreseeing that Rose was actually Pink, claiming that Ruby never knows what's going on and that Sapphire has to do all the thinking. It may have been out of sheer upset and frustration with herself, but hearing Sapphire blame Ruby for something that wasn't even her fault was just cruel - especially when one notes that Ruby has issues about perceiving Sapphire as smarter and better than herself that, previously and when thinking straight, Sapphire usually tries to dissuade.
  - And worse than that, her parting words imply that she now believes that her relationship with Ruby, and by extension her time as Garnet, wasn't even real. No wonder Ruby is crying when we last see her.
After Sapphire runs away using the Warp Pad, Ruby is so hurt and upset that she just falls on her knees. She starts to tear up when Steven reassures her, and bursts out crying when Pearl and Steven warp away to go after Sapphire.
Pearl was given to Pink to make her happy, but apparently didn't have any luck for millennia until they came to Earth.
Pink, watching the Amethysts emerge from the viewing room, glad for something to break the monotony of setting up the colony, only to forget that she isn't actually there and trying to hug one that had just emerged.
The Amethysts would literally have no choice but to leave behind their youngest sister, 8XM/our Amethyst, alone on Earth. No matter how much that they wanted to stay behind and wait for her to emerge so they could all depart together.
Pink seeing humans for the first time and realising that life may be thriving on Earth but it won't survive the colonisation.
Pink: All this life that's been growing wild here on Earth, none of it will survive my invasion. We're not creating life from nothing...we're taking life... and leaving nothing behind.
Pink first formed Rose at Pearl's suggestion, as a way to interact with the Quartzes from the Kindergarten without Blue and Yellow getting on her case about it. But then she saw more of the Earth, and realized what completing the colony would entail.
Pearl is so distraught after trying to fuse with "Rose" that she tells Pink to "replace" her. Homeworld has conditioned her to think she needs to be replaced immediately just for doing one harmless thing out of line.
- Rose's immediate and alarmed "No!" in response to this becomes one in hindsight after the reveals made towards the end of the season - specifically, that her former Pearl who talked with her and provided her company was "replaced" just for getting too close to her... with replaced in this context meaning having her personality completely replaced in favor of being made into White's puppet. She's not just upset that Pearl would say something so awful about herself - she's already lost a Pearl in a horrendous way before.
- Future actually reveals that Pink didn't 'lose' her first Pearl, she damaged her beyond repair. Losing her first Pearl was her fault.
Pink did try to convince her fellow Diamonds to spare the Earth, to the point of getting on her knees and begging them, but they didn't listen to the point of undermining and ignoring her authority as a Diamond, as well as accusing her of being ungrateful. Is it any wonder Pink came to believe they didn't care a darn about her?
- On the other side, we know from hearing their perspective in "Can't Go Back" that they didn't realize Pink was emotionally suffering and were on some level trying to encourage her to be a good Diamond. By the time they realized their mistake, it was too late for them to make amends.
- The expression on her face when she morphs to Rose Quartz upon deciding that she had to be someone they couldn't ignore. It's a Death Glare and tells just how far Pink felt pushed to do such drastic things - because we know that she loved her family dearly and going against them like this wouldn't have been easy.
- One of her attempts to end Earth's colonization led to Blue creating the Human Zoo because she thought that's what Pink meant when she wanted to spare the native life. And according to Pearl, Rose was always upset that she and the Crystal Gems could never save them. Knowing that she indirectly inspired the Zoo would compound Pink's guilt even more.
The episode ends with Steven, Pearl, and Sapphire returning to the Temple to see it empty with a note addressed to Sapphire on the floor. Given what we know from the other teasers, it's nothing good.
Sapphire: Oh no...

What's Your Problem?

Sapphire reading Ruby's note. The rest of the episode basically sees her bawl her eye out for leaving Ruby on such bad terms in the previous episode, a far cry from her usually composed and emotionless demeanor.
An easily missed moment, but Ruby's letter has a scratched-off part before her signature, which appears to be a heart.
Though it's partially played for laughs, Pearl trying and failing to comfort Sapphire before she starts sobbing with her can be harsh if you remember the Sardonyx arc. Both times, Pearl was a main factor in causing Garnet to literally fall apart, even if the causes of both scenarios were different; in the past, the first instance resulted from her insecurities about her worth and having no one she knew well to determine what she should or shouldn't do. Now, this mess stemmed from how much of the truth she knew about Rose/Pink Diamond and what actually happened during the Gem War, and her inability to admit it to any of the other Crystal Gems. As if Pearl didn't have enough regret on her plate to work through already...
When Amethyst tries to figure out how Steven is taking the "Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond" reveal, Steven says that he's relieved his mother didn't shatter anybody... but she still lied to everyone. Then Steven admits that he shouldn't be surprised about that, since he knew that Rose was a liar.
This line before Amethyst takes off to Brooding Hill to find Ruby. It shows how much Amethyst wants Steven to let go of his Guilt Complex and not carry his burdens alone.
Amethyst: Let me handle this, Steven! No more adult should be putting anything else on you. Just let someone else take care of it for once!
Amethyst's outburst on the beach. Specifically, she's sick and tired of Steven feeling like he has to take responsibility for other people's actions even though he had nothing to do with them, she's sick and tired of Steven holding his emotions in until it bubbles up and hurts him badly, and she's sick and tired of both her and Steven being forced to pay for the consequences the Gem War brought forth even though neither of them were around when it happened.
Even if her reaction to it is hilarious, the fact that Amethyst feels that she does need to be the mature one must be hard for her. She's the youngest and is used to being the wild child, the one who doesn't need to be sensible and think too hard of others - but Garnet's fallen apart (quite literally) and Pearl's still too wrapped up in trauma from being too close to the touchy subject. She's all that Steven has left to guide him in this gem-related matter and that means being mature for once.

The Question

Ruby confessing to Steven that even though she's been enjoying herself, she still can't stop thinking about Sapphire.
- Towards the end of "Ruby Rider," her voice even wavers a little in places, which further supports that point.
- While she talks to Steven about how she misses Sapphire, she rubs the palm of her right hand — the place where Sapphire's gem sits when they're Garnet.
Ruby wants to go back to Sapphire, but she also wants it to be different from how it used to be, when someone else told them to be together. Luckily, Steven has an idea...
- ... which leads to an adorably happy tear jerker: Ruby forgives Sapphire for her outburst, and decides to propose to her so they can reform Garnet on their own terms. To that end, they're basically deciding to stop being Garnet for a while, so they can have time for themselves.

Made of Honor

Sapphire gets a bit depressed over how so many of their friends and allies can't attend the wedding.
Bismuth seeing all the gems in the Burning Room and thinking that Rose bubbled everyone who disagreed with her like she did, leading to the below.
Bismuth sees a bubble containing Biggs, and frees her... only for her to be one of the corrupted Quartz monsters Jasper dominated. She's too stunned to even fight for a bit, Steven having to use his bubble to defend her before she fights back with Berserker Tears in her eyes.
- Made even worse by the fact that Bismuth explicitly states Biggs was one of the friendliest and well beloved of the Crystal Gems who everyone got along with, and calls her 'buddy'. This is the first time we actually get an idea of what one of the Corrupted Gems was like before and it makes it completely heartbreaking.
Bismuth learning about the Rose/Pink secret, and realizing that she must have given Rose the idea to fake Pink's/her own shattering out of belief it would just end the war...and realizing the horrible consequences that happened afterwards was what would've happened if Rose had let her shatter one of the Diamonds herself.
Bismuth: I really thought all of our problems would disappear if we could just shatter a Diamond...! (looks down remorsefully, then looking up at the bubbled corrupted gems) Guess she ended up taking my advice...
Steven tries to get Bismuth to see the Crystal Gems again, but she's so guilt-stricken over attacking Steven the last time she was free, and too ashamed of her previous actions to face her friends that she flees to her forge to try and distract herself with forging weapons, only to carelessly toss them into a corner.
Bismuth: You seriously think they're gonna want me around, when the last thing I did was try to shatter you?! You told them everything, and they made their choice: They want me in a bubble, and you out there.
Steven: But, Bismuth...
Bismuth: You say they want me to be "made of honor", well I am. I'm made of the most solid, flexible, diamagnetic stuff there is, and I'm not as dense as you might think. I've got enough self respect in this gem to accept that they don't want me on their team anymore...(scoffs)...I blew it...! Everything was different and I didn't believe it...
- Right from the very moment she's freed, Bismuth already shows hints of remorse. She's visibly confused and even mildly horrified over the prospect that Steven freed her despite her actively trying to kill him, even correcting herself when she calls him "Rose" out of habit. It's clear right there and then that not only is the fight they had a while ago still fresh on her mind, she regrets having it — and she genuinely believes she deserves to be in a bubble forever for it.
  Bismuth: Rose... I mean, Steven...
  Steven: Oh... There's a third option now.
  Bismuth: Why would you let me out? I just tried to shatter you.

Reunited

Each verse of "For Just One Day Let’s Only Think About (Love)" starts off with what's worrying each Gem, but Peridot's is the most depressing as she stands staring into space by the crater where the Barn used to be and thinks about Lapis and whether she was right about the Diamonds coming to Earth eventually. The music even changes from the somewhat bouncy rhythm it's been following to something more foreboding.
Jamie apparently still holds a bit of a torch for Garnet, which allows him to connect with the equally lonely Dewey, Sr.
Garnet's wedding is rudely interrupted by Yellow and Blue Diamond arriving to free the Cluster.
Garnet: (clawing at Blue Diamond's cloak) THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY DAY!
Blue's anguished summation of her own Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds status.
Blue: You cannot fathom how much I've mourned! What thousands of years of GRIEF has done to me!
Peridot's stunned reaction to Lapis's return. It's like she never expected to see her again, and can't properly process that she's back.
Lapis No Selling Blue Diamond's depression beam on the grounds that "[she's] felt worse".
Blue destroying Rose's sword, an iconic mainstay of the entire series.
Peridot getting poofed by Yellow Diamond, who doesn't even give her the satisfaction of being recognized as the Gem who called her a "clod".
Lapis getting poofed herself before she even has the proper chance to fight, and right after her Big Damn Heroes moment, too...
Steven seemingly being crushed by Yellow Diamond. Connie, believing her friend to be dead, desperately and frantically tries to wake Steven up. Though it turns out that he's Not Quite Dead...
When in the mental plane, Garnet is doing her best to keep it together, Amethyst is worrying about being shattered, and Bismuth is worried she'll lose her friends again.
When Steven gets a look into the Diamonds' psyches, he discovers that Yellow has long been blaming herself for Pink's "death". Her tone when she says that line is a clear blend of anger and sorrow. She must've really been beating herself up over all this.
Yellow: How miserable... I knew Pink couldn't handle her own colony... but I gave in... and now I am to blame for her fate...
Blue's thoughts reveal taking her revenge on the Crystal Gems isn't helping to fill the void over losing Pink - in fact, it's making her feel worse. But she still fights because she feels her revenge is all she has now. At least, until Steven intervenes...
Blue: What good will any of this do? The more I make these Gems suffer, the more I long to see you again, Pink...
As Steven tries to get through to Blue Diamond, she remarks that she feels a presence. Yellow rather coldly remarks that she's just being hysterical, "more so than usual." While our insight into her thoughts makes Yellow slightly more sympathetic, it's still disheartening to see that she has little to no empathy for Blue's grief.
- On the other hand, considering that Yellow has her own unhealthy coping mechanisms in regards to losing Pink, it's possible that Yellow feels resentment towards Blue for essentially abandoning her duties as a Diamond to wallow in grief while she had to pick up the slack. In a way, she didn't lose one family member, but two.
After Steven reveals the truth to the Diamonds, he regains consciousness to see everyone staring at him in concern... including the Diamonds.
Blue: (with Tears of Joy in her eyes) It's you! Pink!
Rebecca Sugar & The Crewniverse didn't lie when they said the show would have no true villain and the way that's played out, especially in this episode where we see how death in the family really hit otherwise immortal beings, grabs a hold of the heart strings and pulls them until they snap. The Diamonds do terrible things, yes, and they are particularly vindictive toward Earth. But it's because they legitimately don't know any better having been the immortal rulers of an empire for an unknowable length of time. They were born as adults without the chance to learn empathy of the value of others. To put a heaping helping of sadness on top, the reason they feel so much drive to destroy Earth is because both of them are hurting so completely and totally they don't know how else to react. Grief isn't a natural part of their lives as far as we have been lead to believe.

Legs From Here to Homeworld

Blue and Yellow will evidently have to face the facts that their reunion with "Pink" is a bittersweet one, as Steven doesn't have any of her memories.
- It also seems that they will regret the way they treated her by finally listening to her problems, even if she isn't with them anymore.
The Diamonds apparently thought their attack had killed all the Gems on Earth. This worried Blue Diamond enough considering she realized they did it while Pink Diamond was still there, and wondered how the Crystal Gems managed to survive in the first place. Steven decides to introduce them to Centipeetle. Given the fact that Peridot mentions that they don't have anything like the Corrupted Gems on Homeworld, the revelation of what they'd done will likely hit Yellow and Blue very, very hard.
The Diamond's attempt to un-corrupt Centipeetle. Yellow's touch restores her body but her mind is still fractured, lashing out and snarling like a beast. Blue's touch restores her mind but she's permanently stuck in a loop of her last moments before the Diamond's attack hit, repeating "No, please, no, no no, we're all going to be—" while she clutches her head and cries. Finally Steven's touch restores her mind totally, and her first real words are an apology to the Diamonds before her that she didn't heed orders and evacuate, but she's overjoyed that since Blue and Yellow are here that must mean everything turned out alright, that they must have defeated Rose Quartz and avenged Pink Diamond. Yellow and Blue, realizing the gravity of the situation, flinch away from Centipeetle and without their touch she reverts back into monster form quickly.
Yellow: Ugh, Pink, how many perfectly adequate Gems did you have us ruin?
Blue and Yellow, both afraid of how White will react to to all this news, seem honestly worried for Steven's safety when they head to Homeworld to see White. Yellow especially, who continuously warns Steven of White's temper, and how he should stay on the ship until White "calms down" and to let her do the talking if he doesn't want to be "bubbled for the next few millenia". It gives some uncomfortable similarities to siblings living under an abusive parent.

Familiar

Pearl arrives at Pink's room, revealing only she was allowed there because she was seen as one of Steven's things. He instantly understands just how much it hurts Pearl to be in such a situation again and can only offer an uncomfortable "yeesh" as condolences.
Pearl: I'm only here because I'm bringing your things... (looks off to the side, her expression and tone dropping) And they consider me one of your "things"...
The adorable reveal of the gnome-like Pebbles is slightly undercut when you remember, from Peridot, that calling someone a "Pebble" is considered an insult for Gems. Considering their only purpose seems to be to construct furniture for their masters, and their immediate reaction to the mere possibility of being seen is desperate, fleeing terror, the fact that they react in shock to Steven thanking them and immediately recognizing him as Pink simply because he bothered to thank them, and taking into account that their very NAME is an insult in Gem culture, it doesn't paint a particularly cheery picture for how Pebbles are seen and treated by Gems.
- We even get to see a bowl of other inanimate pebbles in Pink Diamond's vanity during the musical scene of "Familiar"; given her poor relationship with the other Diamonds and her chafing under Homeworld's standards, we can infer as to how the original Pebbles were created and why there are so many of them.
Yellow and Blue (especially Yellow) are/were apparently extreme workaholics, and only Pink's parties could get them to really take a break.
Blue explaining that the Diamonds used to hang out together and act like a family, even White, and her assertion that she and Pink were extremely close was true. Which makes the end result all the more tragic: the Diamonds did love each other, but when the other two refused to listen to Pink's pleas or consider her feelings, they ultimately broke apart. This caused Pink to believe they didn't love her, and played a main role in her betrayal of the authority through faking her shattering, along with the rest of the Diamonds all falling apart emotionally (and in White's apparent case mentally) as a result of her "death".
Yellow claims White has "never left her own head" since Pink's supposed shattering. Blue and Yellow may have chosen horrible methods of dealing with their grief but are still functional enough at the end of the day. White, on the other hand, seems to have taken the loss of Pink so badly that she's suffering from Sanity Slippage, shutting herself away, almost completely cutting herself off from her court and her own family, and keeping what little direct interaction she allows so minimal that speaking to her and getting two and a half words in is considered with humorless laughter "some kind of record" by Yellow; ultimately revealing that White's wide-eyed smile and cheery tone is not as genuine as it seems.
Yellow bitterly notes how Pink seems to be the only one that can get through to White in her current state, outright complaining that her numerous successful colonies seem to mean nothing compared to the single failure that Pink had where White is concerned. Not hard to see her as The Unfavorite when that gets brought up, doesn't help that the sentence is similar to a typical phrase The Unfavorite would say to The Favorite Child.
Yellow: It's so unfair. I have hundreds of successful crystal-system colonies, but you get to see her because your one colony is a failure!

Together Alone

Steven's nightmare at the beginning of the episode. It heavily implies that White Diamond's Pearl used to belong to Pink, and that they were very close friends. But this behavior between master and servant was forbidden on Homeworld, and when they were caught, White Diamond punished WD!Pearl by removing her entire personality (to where she's now a blank shell that's only used as her current Diamond's mouthpiece) and gave Pink a replacement Pearl. No wonder Pink was so uncomfortable with CG!Pearl's sycophantic behavior in "Now We're Only Falling Apart"; it reminded her of her first friend and how her family took that from her.
- The fact alone that Pink Diamond was basically the equivalent of an ignorant, lonely child in a toxic family, and her one true friend who she didn't have to fear or argue with wasn't just ripped away from her by said family, but stripped of her personality entirely and reduced to an extension of White Diamond, the most oppressive of the people who isolated Pink to begin with. Just imagining how that must've felt for her is absolutely heartbreaking, and it completely drives home just how messed up the Diamonds were as a family.
Blue Diamond's dismayed to see that Steven hasn't changed forms for the ball, and tries to convince him to 'stop fooling around', showing that she still thinks that 'Pink' is playing some silly game that she's just been tolerating.
Blue Diamond gleefully mocks Garnet for calling herself "a Garnet", sneering at the notion of her entering the ball alongside the 'REAL' Garnets. All Garnet can do is grit her teeth, bow her head and growl out that she simply won't attend, much to Steven's dismay and Blue's dismissive disdain, as the latter snipes about how "At least the Sapphire has some sense."
- Following this, Steven sadly tells Garnet that he thought they could all attend together, while she calmly comforts him. Later, he notices Sapphire and Ruby among the others filtering in and worries that Garnet split up purely because he'd complained; he didn't want them coming if they couldn't be comfortable.
  - Becomes harsher when you consider that they just got married, meaning they're supposed to be on their honeymoon and they're already being made to separate. It also makes Ruby's "We'll be together even when we're apart!" declaration Harsher in Hindsight.
After making a series of concessions and compromises in hopes of getting all of the Diamonds together at the ball and winning them over, Steven's hopes are completely dashed when White Diamond doesn't even deign to show up, having her Pearl announce that "White Diamond has more important things to attend to". Having seen how uncomfortable the rest of the Crystal Gems were with all the restrictions imposed upon them, he doesn't take the notion that it was All for Nothing well.
When Garnet and Opal rush to protect Stevonnie, a pair of Homeworld Gems abruptly fuse and declare that they'll help as well, emotionally declaring that "I knew it! I knew I couldn't be the only one!". Her courageous act, born out of delight at seeing firsthand that she wasn't alone, promptly gets her zapped and poofed by Yellow Diamond within seconds.
This episode provides a very harsh contrast to Blue and Yellow's treatment of Pink last episode. After thousands of years of being separated from her, thinking Pink has been dead, and despite the last episode having the two of them show tenderness and affection for "Pink", they still consider her a lesser Diamond not even close to their level of standing. Case in point: Despite it being "Pink's" ball for Gems in hers, Yellow's, and Blue's courts, Yellow not only brutally poofs her known friends-slash-companions in front of "Pink" (actually Stevonnie), she all but tosses "her" into a room and point-blank tells "her" to "think about what (she's) done". Blue also joins in on the chastising, but Yellow's brutality brings "Jungle Moon" to mind. It's especially disappointing as one of the main reasons Pink rebelled in the first place was because they never listened to her or took her seriously— and they still don't.
- It's especially heartbreaking when Steven wanted to prove to his mother that the Diamonds still love her enough to change their ways. He was wrong. The Diamonds have shown that they were already hesitant to accept her as Steven, but immediately turn against her as a fusion, meaning it wasn't unconditional. Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond was willing to accept anyone no matter who they are, but the other Diamonds could not accept even each other as anything other than what they're supposed to be.
  - This makes Pink's desire to completely discard her past as a Diamond, as well as her beliefs that Yellow and Blue didn't care about her, a lot more painful to recall; if the other Diamonds would just short of disown her for simply fusing with another Gem, there's no way they would have kept loving her if they had known about her hand in the Rebellion. From what the Diamonds' other dialogue implies, they don't even seem to be considering the fact that Rose Quartz and their beloved Pink are one and the same, and even if they do, they don't seem to consider the possible reasons that Pink rebelled in the first place.

Escapism

After getting trapped inside the Prison Tower, Steven once again blames himself for getting everyone in this predicament. Despite Amethyst pushing him to let go of his Guilt Complex, it looks like it's something he can't totally do.
When nobody on Watermelon Island understands what Steven is trying to do, he tries to work it out for himself, only to realize that getting of the island is harder than he thought. He's even about to cry after he fails in one of his attempts to construct his raft, probably thinking about giving up already.
While Steven managing to set off with the help of the Watermelons is a happy moment, Watermelon Dog is the only one not cheering. It may remind one of leaving their own pet behind.
Greg, Lion, and Bismuth crowding over the collapsing Watermelon Steven.

Change Your Mind

"How many times did you lock her in here? How many times did you make her cry?"

The whole episode is sad, dealing with symbolic versions of very real problems that real life children have to go through as shown with the interactions between all four of the Diamonds.
- If you stop and think about it, Blue, Yellow, and White weren't just being abusive to Pink- they were being abusive to each other, as well. Blue would frequently subject the Gems around her, particularly Yellow, to her Emotion Bomb on numerous occasions (even if she was unaware of how it affected others), Yellow was never the most respectful about Blue's attempts to maintain the few vestiges of Pink that existed, and it's implied that both have been chafing under White's inflexible orders for eons.
Connie's comment about having been grounded before, while defiant and a bit funny, references when things weren't as good between her and her parents as they are now.
"We finally have you back, and you're worse than ever." And this is coming from Blue Diamond. Granted, this is almost immediately followed by her Heel–Face Turn, but just hearing her say that to who she thinks is Pink (and even by the standards of it actually being Steven) is almost appalling.
Blue Diamond firing an energy blast at Steven, whom she believes to be Pink. While the attack only pushes him backwards, seeing Blue Diamond physically harm Pink Diamond, the family member she loves so dearly and mourned for thousands of years, is heart-wrenching. It's even more heartbreaking when you rewatch Blue Diamond's interactions with Steven in "Legs From Here to Homeworld" and "Familiar".
- Shortly thereafter, Steven's Armor-Piercing Question to Blue about how often she did this to Pink triggers Blue's Heel Realization as it hits her that she'd been hurting Pink all this time. It's a My God, What Have I Done? moment at, perhaps, its finest.
- It's more than just simply realizing she hurt Pink: Blue enters the room more or less exactly how she did in Steven's Past-Life Memories dream to confront Pink. Blue's first reaction to Steven's question is denial... then her expression transitions to one of thought, then one of guilt and horror. Blue had hurt Pink so many times it'd become routine, and it isn't until Steven confronts her on it that Blue ever realized it. Is it any wonder she was so taken aback?
- Blue shouting "That's enough!" at Steven and claiming that being on Earth "warped [Pink's] sense of right and wrong" is a hint that she really didn't want to do what she just did. You can straight up hear it in her voice - she's pained because she really does love Pink, but is evidently worried to death about the little Diamond's behavior and simply doesn't want her to act out of line, failing to understanding Pink's feelings in the process. It becomes especially clear once she does realize she's been unwittingly hurting Pink anyway, and that's when she finally caves for good and helps Steven and Connie - it goes to show that despite the things she did, she just wanted Pink to be successful and never truly wanted to hurt her.
At this point, Blue and Yellow get into an actual fight. Blue had a Heel–Face Turn, and her attempt to reason with Yellow about letting Steven and the Crystal Gems go devolved into Blue slapping Yellow, then blasting her back with her powers. Yellow retaliates in response, and it snowballed from there. Yellow's heartbreaking reaction being the kicker:
Yellow Diamond: When we thought Pink was shattered, when she abandoned us, I alone was there for you! And you would use your power against ME?!
- The above quote could be interpreted as Yellow saying that back when they thought Pink was dead, Blue would lash out at Yellow with her Emotion Bomb. Having Blue's grief forced onto her while she tried to deal with her own must have been horrible for Yellow, and to have the very person she stood by and comforted during her grief attack her must have left Yellow with a unbearable feeling of betrayal towards Blue.
- Her expression while she's blasting Blue with her lightning. She looks distraught. More than that, she also looks horrified, as if she doesn't know what else there is to do. And their conversation leading up to that moment is especially heartwrenching.
  Yellow Diamond: You'd hurt a fellow Diamond?!
  Blue Diamond: Didn't we hurt Pink!?! She was suffering in silence for ages! Just like our Gems, just like me!! And I know you're suffering in silence too!
  Yellow Diamond: (grimaces intensely, as if trying to hold back her emotions, before shooting her lightning at Blue in desperation)
Yellow's Motive Rant after Steven protects Blue from her (albeit incredibly reluctant) wrath. Behind all the anger, it really seems like this is an argument that Yellow's had with herself more than once.
Steven: You don't have to do this!
Yellow Diamond: Yes, I do! This is what White Diamond expects of all of us; from a thin flake of mica to the deepest, hardest stone! We all must make sacrifices for the sake of our perfect empire!
Steven: Does THIS look perfect to you?!
(Yellow Diamond pauses, looking around at the fallout of her wrath - an injured Blue Diamond, and her damaged citadel. Tellingly, she doesn't answer)
After Steven points out that just wiping out everything that doesn't fit with perfection only means losing everything important along the way, with Blue adding that this was how they lost Pink, Yellow... collapses to her knees, hit with her own Heel Realization.
Yellow Diamond: Stop. ...Stop it, Blue. Stop using your power on me.
Blue Diamond: ...I'm not!
- After this exchange, Blue gets up, approaches Yellow, and puts her arms around her. Yellow, continuing to deny her own emotions even as she cries, doesn't return the embrace or even acknowledge Blue: she simply sits and lets Blue hold her. It's both sad and sweet, as so often their roles are reversed with Yellow tending to shield Blue more often than not.
Yellow and Blue Diamond trying to reason with White Diamond, revealing that all the pressure forced upon them by her doctrine did more damage than either of them wanted to admit. Which makes White Diamond's... response... all the more heartbreaking.
Yellow Diamond: We Diamonds may be hard, but we're also brittle.
- In general, Yellow and Blue's obvious and intense fear of White is heartbreaking; when having to confront her, they suddenly go from huge, powerful dictators to terrified children, with even Yellow having to physically struggle against her fear just to talk to White, clearly needing to get her feelings out but also terrified of White potentially punishing her for it. It really hammers in how White is, for all intents and purposes, an Abusive Parent, and that Yellow and Blue are victims of an emotionally abusive upbringing.
- Yellow and Blue each air different grievances to White: Yellow admits that she feels immensely pressured by White's ridiculous standards and doesn't feel acknowledged for all the work she's put into furthering the empire. Blue admits that she realizes all of the "silly things Pink did for no reason" that made them laugh did have a reason; they used to be a close-knit family unit but became alienated from each other, which Pink was trying in vain to reverse with her antics. She admits that she doesn't like enforcing rules that make herself and the Gems in her court miserable, and is desperate to repair the Diamonds' family bond. When viewed from a certain POV, these are basically two sisters dealing with a narcissistic, perfectionist, overly-controlling mother, realizing that their misguided attempts to keep themselves and Pink on White's good side permanently drove away their little sister, and pleading with their mother to see the damage her attitude has caused. And White, like a controlling narcissistic perfectionist would, simply doubles down on her abuse to bring her daughters back into line, because she thinks her way is best even though they've directly told her how much pain they're in because of her.
- A small thing, but while Blue is talking to White's head, they briefly show Connie and the auxiliary Crystal Gems. Lapis and Peridot have looks of grim determination or anger, but Connie and especially Bismuth look genuinely sad for Yellow and Blue.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/change_your_mind_773.png

"No... please... I need- I need it."

The confrontation with White Diamond puts Steven through more pain and suffering than anything he has experienced before on the show. First, he has to watch as Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are assimilated into White Diamond's control. Her obsession with perfection and insistence that Steven is Pink Diamond shut down any attempts he and Connie make to reason with her. She even turns it around on Steven, suggesting that he's nothing but a long-running facade created by Pink. This denial leads White to remove Steven's gem from his body, and while it is never fully explained what was happening to him, it is safe to assume that Steven was dying.
- The aftermath that overwhelms poor Steven is pretty saddening. When he gets his gem removed, he becomes so sickly and weak that he has no strength to even talk and whimpers in utter pain and tears as he attempts to reach for his pink double that just emerged from his gem. There's also the fact Steven is a very positive and outgoing character himself, making his dying struggle even more painful to watch as we're forced to witness a lovable child we all knew stripped of nearly all life energy and on the brink of perishing.
White having a Villainous Breakdown when she realizes that Steven really isn't Pink, when Pink Steven forms from his removed gem. And then it gets worse when she realizes that she's as flawed as everyone else that she looked down on.
- In her ensuing Villainous BSoD, White seems to completely shut down, having no idea what to do. She reaches out for Blue and Yellow, clearly desperate for aid or validation of her previous worldview. Of course, given what she put them through, both Diamonds flinch back in fear and disgust, and Yellow even murmurs that White's gone "Off-Color". Afterwards, White can only kneel on the floor with her back turned to everyone, whispering questions in a frightened, broken voice. It really drives home that, for all of her madness and haughty demeanor, White Diamond is as much of a Tragic Villain as her "daughters".
  White Diamond: This can't be happening. I can't have a flaw. I'm supposed to be flawless. If I'm not perfect, then...who am I? (turns to Steven) If you're not Pink, then... who are you? Wh-who is anyone?
While many viewers knew this was the case before this episode, Pink Diamond's gem regenerating into Pink Steven drove the point home with sad finality: Rose Quartz - Pink Diamond - is gone once and for all. The Crystal Gems (especially Pearl) never will see Rose again. And Yellow, Blue, and White will never be able to apologize to Pink personally.
White Diamond: What is this? Where's Pink?
Pink Steven: (quietly) She's gone.
White Diamond: What did you just say? Answer me.
Pink Steven: (turns his head towards White) She's GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!
- While Pink Steven's screaming that Pink Diamond is gone is horrifying, it's pure, raw emotion in vocal form. It's as if Steven/Rose/Pink's emotions over being ignored, mistreated, and attacked by White Diamond had come to life in Gem form so they could finally hammer in the truth that White Diamond has been trying to deny for eons, forcing the very person who acted like an Abusive Parent to the other Diamonds to finally come to terms with her actions.
As Pink Steven marches toward Steven and Connie (and flawlessly blocks White Diamond's attacks in the process), a frustrated White Diamond yells at what she believes is Pink Diamond "I only want you to be yourself!" Because the Crystal Gems and the other two Diamonds are under White Diamond's Mind Control, it looks like they're saying it as well. This brings on another meaning when you think about it: since the beginning of the series, so many Gems have mistaken Steven for whom they believed was his "real" self (Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond). Jasper did it, Bismuth did it, Yellow and Blue did it... and even the Crystal Gems did it back when Steven was first born; even after they realized Steven was different from his mom, they still put pressure on him to live up to her legacy, which wasn't being "himself" at all. Yes, things have changed since then, but it's still sad to remember that even the Crystal Gems, Steven's guardians and protectors, were unintentionally doing harm to the person they loved the most.
After White Diamond's Mind Control is removed from everyone, including Pink Diamond's former Pearl, Steven walks over to her and solemnly places a hand on her shoulder before giving a brief smile. What makes this scene a Tear Jerker is because ever since Pink Diamond had her first Pearl taken away and became a Meat Puppet to White Diamond, it was probably the last time that the two of them would ever see each other. Pink Pearl has no clue what had even happened since she was taken away by White: that 6000+ years have passed, that her beloved Mistress that had treated her Pearl like an equal was given a replacement Pearl along with a colony of her own, that Pink started a Civil War with herself, faked her own shattering to get away from her life as Pink Diamond and live as Rose Quartz, and then to millennia later give up her very existence to have a son: Steven Universe. If you think that Our Pearl had it bad when we saw her in "Three Gems and a Baby", then the imminent fallout that Pink Pearl will go through when she finds out everything will be completely excruciating...
Pink Pearl: W-what happened? Where am I?
Steven: ...Welcome back.
- Doubly so compared to the grieving of the other Gems that have lived for YEARS or milennia without Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz and have grieved like her death happened only a few hours ago. From the perspective of Pink Pearl: She had only left her Diamond's side just a few seconds ago to go see White Diamond.

Tear Jerker / Steven Universe Season 5

WARNING: This is considered the definitive tear jerker episode of the series thus far. The huge Mood Whiplash that happens right at the end of the episode doesn't help. As a reminder, Spoilers are Unmarked.

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Tear Jerker / Steven Universe Season 5

Edit Locked

WARNING: This is considered the definitive tear jerker episode of the series thus far. The huge Mood Whiplash that happens right at the end of the episode doesn't help. As a reminder, Spoilers are Unmarked.

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