The Recap: People have been going missing around Beach City. The culprits, Aquamarine and Topaz, have been sent by the Diamonds to recover what they think is one of every “type” of human on Earth. In order to save the others, Steven reveals himself to be Rose Quartz, and allows himself to be taken back to Homeworld (without knowing that Lars is still trapped onboard).
Despite being an unusual slow burn among its peers, this wound up finishing strong as a Bomb. Part of that is down to it being a smaller scale experience: while most Bombs past have revealed something major about Homeworld or provided some massive shakeup to the show’s universe, this one is more about personal convictions. We find out something about the people that we meet in the lead up, and what they believe, often accompanied by how those beliefs are shaken (Steven and his magical destiny, Sadie and her low self-worth). It’s thematically solid if not rich in spectacle, making it more appreciable in retrospect.
This last pair of episodes is heavy in callbacks ranging from fairly new or minor, like Onion’s secret room, to far back enough that even I needed a refresher (the actual detailing of the list). They’re smartly done in both cases, with a drawn slideshow rather than clips for the location rundown, which works to make the insertion of the actual “list” clip feel less intrusive later on, since the show very rarely employs those.
Most striking of all is how directly the two-parter works to thematically parallel the season one finale (and the very first bomb).
While we’ve had plenty of Gems pop in from space since that first, monumental landing, now we’ve got another large enforcer Gem and a small conniving one sent on a capture mission, both of whom easily overwhelm the Crystal Gems, which ends with Steven being taken away on a Gem ship. The similarity of those basic plot elements once again does great thematic work by underlining how far things have come.
Aquamarine is a proper nasty antagonist, to start, loathsome in all the best ways (with a very cute design in the “small evil child” subset, with very expressive eyes that do a lot to make the soft, round silhouette menacing) where most of Peridot’s threat lay in her representation of the utter mystery of Homeworld. Topaz is more of a blank slate, but the body horror that comes along with her use of fusion is its own star, implying a whole swath of skin-crawling unpleasantness. They’re the most clearly surmountable villains the show’s had in a while, deadlier than the officious Holly Blue or the short-sighted and petty Rubies (the whole “kill the hostages” thing putting at least Aquamarine well over the line) and more surmountable than the reach of the Diamonds.
And then there’s that matter of choice. Homeworld represented an impossible Other back in season one, something we knew only in context of a nebulous badness. Now we and Steven both are familiar with what turning himself over means, and yet he goes willingly rather than being contained. He’s said it’s what he wants to do, but there’s an alarming lack of self-preservation in his behavior as well. It’s unclear whether he has a plan at all, or if some part of him just wants that baggage over with one way or the other.
The implications are dark, but it makes sense. Steven is someone who’s always done things for other people, and yet Rose’s rebellion–which was ostensibly all for the sake of others, for everyone–got an awful lot of people hurt, and still is. After questioning her and then slipping somewhat into the comfort of suspicion and blame, he’s confronted with the list: something he did when he didn’t know any better, when he was trying his best to make friends, that’s now had ripple effects which could’ve killed all his loved ones. He’s got to be shaken, and faced in the heat of the moment with the realization that facing the truth about Pink Diamond might bring him peace. Even if it doesn’t, it’s the right thing to do.
It’s one of the few active between-season cliffhangers (not that it matter much, since episodes will resume airing at the end of May and the app has already begun new shenanigans), but it feels earned. There’s still an air of closure to what Steven’s been struggling with all season, and rather than introducing new hooks at the end both of our new Gems feel like a culmination of Blue and Yellow Diamond’s conversation about their shared grief. Which might, y’know, result in picking up a few last strays before wiping the Earth off the star map, no big deal.
We’ve been left with potentially a huge piece of the show’s overarching puzzle on its way to being filled. If all the major players in the show become aware that Steven is the son of Rose Quartz, that will inevitably change the shape of everything from future character interactions to the outcome of the Cold War of sorts between Homeworld and Earth. It’s like season one in that way too, where just enough has suddenly become clear for everything to seem possible. It’s rather exciting.
As I mentioned, the next batch of new episodes are due to air at the end of May, though it’s not clear yet if that’s the sign of another “Summer of Steven” style Bomb (please … please I’m not sure I can survive another one) or another brief spate of weekly episodes. Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing them pull the trigger on this plot maneuver. Hope to see you there!
Vrai is a queer author and pop culture blogger; they’re preemptively exhausted at the thought of another entire season airing over the course of a month. You can read more essays and find out about their fiction at Fashionable Tinfoil Accessories, listen to them podcasting on Soundcloud, support their work via Patreon or PayPal, or remind them of the existence of Tweets.
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