In Steven's bathroom, he uses Diamond aura potions and his healing spit on the water of his bathtub to heal a corrupted Gem named Cherry Quartz, who is very confused about what happened to her. Steven is very upfront and tells her that she was corrupted in a Diamond blast and that he had just healed her.
After offering her some history books in both English and Gem Glyph, Steven drives Cherry Quartz in his new car over to Little Homeworld. He tells her who and what has changed in Beach City over the years, despite her not knowing any of the people he's talking about.
They arrive in Little Homeschool, a place where former Homeworld Gems can learn about how to live and be free on Earth. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are seen teaching other Gems about yoga, freedom, and technology respectively.Amethyst tells her class to do whatever they want for an hour and invites Steven to have lunch with her. She tells Steven that she's content with her place as a teacher in Little Homeschool, seeing as no one except Steven had ever really looked up to her. She is also excited by the fact that so many Gems want to learn how to be Earthlings. Steven, however, is saddened by the fact that one Gem refuses to attend the school. Amethyst tells him to forget about her, but Steven says he's still worried about her. He explains that they built Little Homeworld and its school to fix some of the bad things the Diamonds did, and if someone out there is still hurting because of them, he should try to help her. Amethyst tells Steven that he should stop trying to fix everyone, which he reluctantly agrees with.
On the outskirts of Beach City, Steven walks through a forest until he reaches a cave, trying to find the Gem who refuses to attend the school. Before he can walk near it, someone interrupts him. The gem is revealed to be Jasper, who is shown to destroy every living Earthling that invades her space, including the grass.Steven tries to talk to her, but it quickly escalates into an argument, in which Jasper tells him that "You are not my Diamond" and challenges him to a fight. Out of anger, Steven agrees, which pleasantly surprises her. He throws the first punch, but as the fight progresses Jasper gains the upper hand and taunts Steven by telling him that he is only strong because of the assistance he gets from his friends and that he is nothing without them. Then, Steven's skin turns pink, giving him the strength to break free of Jasper's grasp and win the fight by smashing her through several trees and into the ground. Impressed, Jasper laughs and says she didn't think he had it in him.Steven apologizes for the outburst, much to Jasper's disgust. Steven then tells her that instead of her learning from him, he could learn from her. He requests that maybe Jasper could teach him seeing as this fight helped him learn a new ability, to which she replies, "Consider that fight back there your first and only lesson". Steven then asks Jasper if he can come back and visit. Before walking back to her base, Jasper tells Steven to do whatever he wants.The scene then cuts to a montage of Steven making his way back home while repairing the damage from his and Jasper's fight, while explaining to Cherry Quartz that he still has more to learn about himself and notes that life is "a wonderful mystery". Cherry then asks if Steven could sign off on her class schedule. The episode ends with Steven signing his signature on her file.
Tropes:
- Aliens Speaking English: Lampshaded and parodied: Steven shows Cherry Quartz some pamphlets on what happened since she was corrupted, and said pamphlets — which he hands out to all uncorrupted Gems — are available in both English and the official Gem language, which is revealed to be called Gem Glyph. Steven also announces a forthcoming Spanish translation, suggesting that enough Gems dominantly speak Spanish to necessitate such a translation.
- And Then What?: Steven angrily asks Jasper if she plans to wait centuries for someone to give her a purpose.
- Apologetic Attacker: Steven apologizes to Jasper after gaining the upper hand in their fight and smashing her into the ground. Jasper tells him to stop apologizing.
- Audience Surrogate: Cherry Quartz essentially serves as the audience when Steven gives her an update about how the cast is doing and a tour of Little Homeschool. It's particularly blatant when he starts giving information on what the townies are up to, despite that having no real effect on Cherry whatsoever.
- Blood Knight: The first time Jasper smiles in genuine pleasure is when Steven finally agrees to fight her. When he goes Pink and starts going on the offensive, she’s giggling with every blow he lands, even when it knocks her miles back.
- Brick Joke: During his fight with Jasper, Steven crashes into a tree and a nest of baby birds fall out; he bubbles them and puts them in a safe place. After the fight, Steven unbubbles said nest and puts them back up in a tree, where the mother bird promptly arrives.
- Call-Back:
- Once again, Steven has a Gem in his bathroom who assumes that random objects are weapons.
- Art is once again called "morps", with Vidalia giving art classes at Little Homeworld, using Yellow Pearl as a model.
- Jasper is still assuming that Pink/Steven is "using" Gems and refusing his help.
- Continuity Nod: Lars' bakery has several of his ube rolls and a model of the Sun Incinerator on display.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Downplayed; Jasper starts to slightly warm up to Steven after being pushed back by his Second Hour Superpower.
- Enmity with an Object: Jasper considers grass to be "earthlings" just like every other life form on the planet, and so dug up all the grass around her cave due to it "invading her space". She comments on how yanking it all out took forever.
- First Day of School Episode: With the help of Steven, Cherry Quartz attends her first day of "school".
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Since she's a freshly uncorrupted Gem, Cherry Quartz is rather behind on the current situation, though Steven is there to help her, and they even have pamphlets for freshly healed Gems now.
- Fourth Wall Psych: When Steven is driving Cherry Quartz to Little Homeworld, we hear Steven narrate some of the stuff that has happened in the past two years. Turns out he was just talking to Cherry Quartz (who has no idea on who any of those people are). He does it again at the end of the episode.
- Friendly Tickle Torture: Amethyst briefly tickles Steven in the stomach during a bonding moment between them.
- Gretzky Has the Ball: Steven says "touchdown" after he throws a bubbled nest of birds onto a bush like a basketball.
- The Hermit: Jasper lives alone in a cave on the outskirts of Little Homeworld. She doesn't let in any other life form, not even insects or grass.
- Humans Through Alien Eyes: Like Peridot and Lapis before her, Jasper doesn't understand the basic differences between humans, animals, and plants.Jasper: Any earthling that invades my space gets crushed. Took me forever to yank those puny green earthlings out of the ground.
Steven: (bemused) You mean grass?
Jasper: I don't know their names! - Impact Silhouette: In a non-comedic use of the trope, Steven makes a Jasper-shaped crater after volleyballing her hard into the ground.
- Insistent Terminology: Jasper calls every life form on Earth an "earthling", even insects and grass. She claims she doesn't care what they are actually called.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Jasper rightfully points out that Steven never actually defeated her on his own, he always relied on his friends and fusion to help him out, so she's properly upset that she didn't really have a chance to win a fair fight on one-on-one against him or his companions.
- Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Jasper points out Steven has only beaten her as a fusion or through his friends, and challenges him to fight one-on-one. To Jasper's almost child-like surprise, he agrees.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers were carefully chosen and cut to make it seem Jasper was planning to attack Steven and his friends. In truth, Jasper has just bitterly kept to herself the last two years, and only fights Steven because he agreed to.
- Not So Above It All: Jasper looks downright giddy at several points when Steven agrees to fight her alone and matches her.
- Portmanteau: Lars opened his own space-themed bakery. Its name? Spacetries.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- You know Steven of all people is fed up with Jasper's attitude when he points out that, while the other Gems at Little Homeschool were corrupted by the Diamonds, Jasper corrupted herself in a failed attempt to win a fight, against him, and calls her out for stewing in the woods in her own self-pity for years, training for a war that's been over for a while, asking her if she's just going to wait for centuries for someone to give her a purpose again when he's trying exactly that.
- Additionally, Jasper throws her own speech at Steven during their fight arguing that Steven has never been able to defeat her on his own as he always relied on his friends for help. Even though he claims that everyone around him needs help, Jasper boasts that the only one who needs help is him.
- Reformed, but Not Tamed: While Jasper isn't out to kill Steven anymore (as far as we know), she is the first Gem revealed to have still not been swayed by Steven's philosophy. She is still convinced that Steven is a Manipulative Bastard hiding beneath a veneer of compassion and has since holed herself up on a small patch of land, preparing for the day when the war restarts.Jasper: Listen, weakling. You might have Pink Diamond's gem, but you are not my Diamond!
- Second Hour Superpower: Just when it seems that Steven's about to lose in his fight with Jasper, her mockery of Steven for not beating her on his own up to this point enrages him. Steven starts to glow pink and gains a significant power boost as he begins to fight more aggressively.
- Shout-Out: The shot of Connie studying resembles a still from Whisper of the Heart, famously used as the inspiration for thumbnails for several lo-fi compilation videos on Youtube.
- Stepping Stones in the Sky: Steven summons his shield in midair to rapidly change directions by jumping off it.
- Strength Equals Worthiness: It isn't until Steven actually agrees to fight Jasper that the two of them in any way connect.
- Wham Shot: Pink Steven's reemergence as a result of Jasper's (admittedly correct) statement that he was only able to beat her all the other times either via numerical advantage or through fusion, and that he was too weak to defeat her on his own.
- You Know the One: Before Steven visits Jasper's cave, he and Amethyst have a conversation about his attempts to help her that avoid calling her by name.
