History Recap / StevenUniverseS4E9ThreeGemsAndABaby

* HeroicBSOD: Pearl in the flashback was still shaken by Rose's death and entirely withdrawing from Greg, only speaking to him when necessary.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: It's pretty easy to miss, but still--Pearl assumes that the dictionary that she got for baby Steven will be very useful for him at the moment because she can't yet communicate. As a fun fact though, we humans have an inner system to learn languages that’s at its most effective when we’re babies; we literally only need to hear a language being spoken as kids to learn all it’s rules and the entire system of it. So, it doesn’t have to be taught, humans just learn that by themselves.

* GiftGivingGaffe: The Gems get Steven a bunch of gifts, but their execution is somewhat off; Garnet gets him a razor, which he ''will'' need eventually, but it's presently dangerous for an infant. Amethyst gets diapers, except they're for adults, and thus too big for him. Finally, Pearl gets him a dictionary so he can learn English, without considering that someone would have to teach him to speak first.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Much of the flashback deals with how Greg and even the Gems were confused at Steven's exact nature, not quite understanding that he's some sort of half-human/half-Gem hybrid (if it can even be described as that), especially after his gem glowed. The three Gems' interpretations range from the reasonably plausible (Garnet, thinking what happened is analogous to Gem fusion, which is ''loosely'' similar), to comically missing the point (Amethyst, thinking Rose just shape-shifted into baby form and got stuck), to the frankly ''murderous'' (Pearl, who thinks Rose is trapped inside Steven, literally in that his body surrounds her gemstone...and theorizes that removing the gemstone might restore Rose ''not realizing it could kill the baby'').

* UnexpectedCharacter: Ruby and Sapphire appearing is definitely not something a lot of people expected.

* ChristmasEpisode: Aired on the first day of December, features heavy snowfall in both the past and present, and Greg holding Steven in his van, huddled in a blue blanket and surrounded by the Gems, is strongly reminiscent of a Nativity Scene (with Greg, Steven, and the Gems as Mary, Jesus, and the Three Wise Men, respectively). The Gems in the flashback even come bearing gifts!

* MistakenIdentity: It turns out even ''the other Crystal Gems'' assuming that Steven having Rose gem means he was her, the same mistake Jasper, Bismuth, and Eyeball all made.

** "I was afraid we would become Snowman and Snowman Jr, son of Snowman!"

* FiveStagesOfGrief: The Gems show different signs of these stages during the flashbacks. Amethyst keeps calling Steven "Rose" as if she is in '''Denial''' over her passing, Pearl is obviously '''Angry''' over her passing when she is seen dropping off the gifts for Steven, the Gems go through a brief period of '''Bargaining''' when they kidnap Steven to raise him themselves, believing they can get Rose back somehow, and Pearl has a brief moment of '''Sadness''' when she can't bring herself to remove Steven's gem and cries over how growing and changing isn't natural to Gems as it is to humans. While none of them are close to '''Acceptance''' yet and still occasionally struggle with Rose's passing in the Present, Garnet comes to closest to this during the flashbacks when she says that this isn't about Rose anymore and from now on everything needs to be about Steven.

* NotSoAboveItAll: Garnet, who is known for being the most level-headed of the gems, gets Steven a razor even though he's far too young to need one, and and comes to believe he is a fusion similar to how Amethyst believes he's a shapeshifted form of Rose after his gem glows.

** Steven, being only a baby, has no memory whatsoever of the depicted events.

* NoInfantileAmnesia: Steven has no memory of any of the events described in the flashback.

** Mentioned by Steven at the end of the episode, when he says that the Gems were wrong about them not being able to change, as they ''have'' changed, especially compared to how they were fourteen years ago. To drive it home, his words are shown over Pearl giving Greg some tea and giving the tea bag to Amethyst; those three being characters whose relationships at the beginning of the show were arguments and avoidance at best, and destruction at worst.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "You unbuttoned all your buttons I buttoned up."

** Greg, despite having money to care for Steven and being more responsibe, is still new to the father business. He's reading up on the new task, and the song he accompanies it with is "I Could Never Be Ready".

** When Pearl makes tea, she feeds Amethyst the teabags, referencing her professed love of them in "Onion Friend".

** Greg and Baby Steven stay at Vidalia's house to beat the cold, calling back to Greg and her being close friends (And Greg mooching off her) in "Greg the Babysitter".

-->'''Amethyst''': There wasn't really a ''big'' idea... (Quickly) Just a bunch of small ideas that never came together.

** There are also quite a few references to the Nativity, such as the three Gems come bearing gifts, Greg's blue cloak and holding baby!Steven making them resemble Mary holding Jesus, etc.

** Mentioned by Steven at the end of the episode, when he says that the Gems were wrong about them not being able to change, as they ''have'' changed, especially compared to how they were fourteen years ago. To drive it home, his words are shown over Pearl giving Greg some tea and giving the tea bag to Amethyst; those three being characters whose relationships at the beginning of the show were arguments and avoidance at best, and destructive at worst.

* FusionDance: Fourteen years ago, the Gems hadn't quite understood Rose was KilledOffForReal. As a result, Garnet believed Steven was a Fusion with Rose as one of the components, even splitting up into Ruby and Sapphire to try and coax "them" to unfuse.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Much of the flashback deals with how Greg and even the Gems were confused at Steven's exact nature, not quite understanding that he's some sort of half-human/half-Gem hybrid (if it can even be described as that). The three Gems' interpretations range from the reasonably plausible (Garnet, thinking what happened is analogous to Gem fusion, which is ''loosely'' similar), to the comically missing the point (Amethyst, thinking Rose just shape-shifted into baby form and got stuck), to the frankly ''murderous'' (Pearl, who thinks Rose is trapped inside Steven, literally in that his body surrounds her gemstone...and theorizes that removing the gemstone might restore Rose ''not realizing it could kill the baby'').
* HeroicBSOD: Pearl in the flashback was still shaken by Rose's death and entirely withdrawing from Greg, only speaking to him when necessary.

* NotSoAboveItAll: Garnet, who is known for being the most level-headed of the gems, gets Steven a razor even though he's far too young to need one, and believes he is a fusion similar to how Amethyst believes he's a shapeshifted form of Rose.

* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: Due to the Gems having not yet realized that Rose was truly dead, Pearl initially believed Rose was imprisoned by being part of Steven.
* ShoutOut:

* HalfHumanHybrid: Much of the flashback deals with how Greg and even the Gems were confused at Steven's exact nature, not quite understanding that he's some sort of half-human/half-Gem hybrid (if it can even be described as that). The three Gems' interpretations range from the reasonably plausible (Garnet, thinking what happened is analogous to Gem fusion, which is ''loosely'' similar), to the comically missing the point (Amethyst, thinking Rose just shape-shifted into baby form and got stuck), to the frankly ''murderous'' (Pearl, who thinks Rose is trapped inside Steven, literally in that his body surrounds her gemstone...and theorizes that removing the gemstone might restore Rose ''even if it kills the baby'').

** There are also quite a few references to the Nativity, such as the three Gems come bearing gifts, Greg's blue cloak and hold baby!Steven making them resemble Mary holding Jesus, ect.

* WorthIt: Greg's van heater has failed to work ever since he installed the sound system, but he views this as a worthwhile trade.

** There are also quite a few references to the Nativity, such as the three Gems come barring gifts, Greg's blue cloak and hold baby!Steven making them resemble Mary holding Jesus, ect.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Much of the flashback deals with how Greg and even the Gems were confused at Steven's exact nature, not quite understanding that he's some sort of half-human/half-Gem hybrid (if it can even be described as that. The three Gems' interpretations range from the reasonably plausible (Garnet, thinking what happened is analogous to Gem fusion, which is ''loosely'' similar), to the comically missing the point (Amethyst, thinking Rose just shape-shifted into baby form and got stuck), to the frankly ''murderous'' (Pearl, who thinks Rose is trapped inside Steven, literally in that his body surrounds her gemstone...and theorizes that removing the gemstone might restore Rose ''even if it kills the baby'').

** Garnet unfuses in front of Steven as a demonstration, but as a baby, Steven lacks object permanence and doesn't understand where Garnet went.