Steven has heard rumors of a pair of Gems that are still destroying worlds. If he can't stop them, maybe Lapis can.
Tropes:
- All There in the Script: The credits list the Lapis Lazuli with freckles as "Nice Lapis" and the other as "Mean Lapis".
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Played with. The pair of rogue Lapises disregard Crystal Gem Lapis as weak and pathetic until she makes a dramatic display of her power. Cowed and impressed, the pair agree to obey her after seeing her strength. At this point, "our" Lapis laments that she was still weak because she did not truly restrain herself in showing her power, a real act of strength.
- Beware the Nice Ones: "Our" Lapis is willing to be patient with her fellow Lazulis, and follows Steven's advice in trying to bring them around. But when the other two push her too far, well... look out.
- Bittersweet Ending: Our Lapis manages to stop the two rogue Lapises from destroying any more worlds, but is disappointed in herself for resorting to violence to stop them, seeing it as weakness on her part. Despite this, Steven assures her she has still come a long way from how she was previously, and one of the other Lapises eventually shows up to attend Little Homeschool after Steven had previously mentioned it to them.
- Black Comedy: Lapis's reflecting on what helped her realize the value of other life-forms is Played for Laughs.Steven: [The Lapises] just need to realize that this is wrong. What made it click for you?
Lapis: A cycle of horrible torture. (Beat, followed by a cheery smile) But other than that, living in nature, getting creative.
Steven: Yeah. Come on! We can do that for them.
Lapis: Okay. Just a little torture. - Continuity Nod: It was previously established in "That Will Be All" that Lapises' role in the Homeworld caste system is to terraform planets. This episode shows the details.
- A Day in the Limelight: Most of the episode is focused on Lapis and her development, who's only had non-speaking cameos in Future up until this point.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Despite being bigoted, stubborn and rude, the freckled Lapis does show an interest in dancing, unlike her companion. She comes to Little Homeschool at the end of the episode, indicating she wants to try to be better.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Nice Lapis's incredulous reaction to being told that what she's always done is now considered wrong is similar to how real life people respond to values shifting and old attitudes being treated as offensive.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Nearly every point Steven and our Lapis try to make ends up giving the other Lapises ideas on how to better destroy things.
- Expecting Someone Taller: When they first meet Steven, Mean Lapis comments that he's smaller than she expected. Probably justified in that the Diamonds tower over other Gems, even Pink, so a Diamond's son would logically be at least taller than most Gems.
- Foreshadowing:
- When Steven and Lapis are dancing, the freckled Lapis starts to join in. She's the one who decides to come to Earth at the end of the episode.
- Our Lapis is revealed to be abnormally powerful for her Gem type, capable of curbstomping two others at once. This was foreshadowed by Jasper back in "Alone at Sea", who is incredibly impressed by her sheer power and implies it's abnormal, and even earlier in "Ocean Gem", when Pearl expressed surprise at how powerful Lapis was.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Played for Laughs; the two Lapis Lazulis reason that because Steven is only half-Diamond, they'll only bother to half-listen to him.
- Heel–Face Turn: Nice Lapis decides to try going to Little Homeschool at the end. Mean Lapis doesn't.
- Hostile Terraforming: This episode shows how Lapises terraform for Homeworld: they gradually level the whole planet by slicing the land to pieces with pillars of water.
- Hypocrite: In the eyes of the two Lapises, Steven is a hypocrite for espousing his philosophy of freedom and independence and then backpedaling to say that they're free to do anything they want with the exception of destroying planets. Steven hadn't expected that would need specifying.
- I Hate Past Me: Our Lapis openly reflects about how she used to destroy planets without considering the life that already lived there, and has since learned how precious life really is.
- In Medias Res: The episode opens as Steven and Lapis warp onto the alien planet, recounting to each other that they're there to stop some Gems rumored to still be destroying worlds.
- It's What I Do: The Lapis Lazulis don't have any justification for destroying planets other than it being something they've done their whole lives.Nice Lapis: Why would we stop?
Steven: Because it's wrong!
Nice Lapis: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. How can the thing we've always done just suddenly be wrong? At the very least we've got to finish this world! We're almost done! - Might Makes Right: The other Lapis Lazulis laugh at our Lapis for singing and dancing "like Pearls", but are eager to listen to her after her hydrokinesis overpowers theirs. She doesn't take the compliment well because to her, restraint and patience are strength, and almost beating them down in anger is weakness.
- Minimalist Cast: Only four speaking parts, three of whom are voiced by Jennifer Paz since same-type Gems share voice actors.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Our Lapis showing the two rogue Lapises how to create shapes with water only ends up helping them make more powerful attacks. During their fight, they even lampshade how they borrow Lapis's attacks to use against her.
- Obliviously Evil: Nice Lapis, at least, honestly does not understand how her Hostile Terraforming could be wrong when she's always been doing it.
- Plant Aliens: The indigenous lifeforms on the alien planet are a small, tulip- and lily-like race of alien creatures that bloom when they feel safe. Curiously, they have the same body-type as Pumpkin.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The plant aliens on the planet are shaped like walking lilies that bloom into flowers when they feel safe. They are very short, cute and easily frightened.
- Security Cling: As the Crystal Gem Lapis Lazuli's water giant looms over the other two, Nice Lapis fearfully hugs Mean Lapis.
- Shadow Archetype: Lapis sees the two rogue Lapises as everything she hates about her old self: a self-centered Gem who blindly fulfilled her function with complete disregard for all life around her.
- Shaping Your Attacks: The two new Lapises simply used pillars of water to carry out their duties. After Lapis shows them they can express their creativity by making meep morps, they elect to apply this to their terraforming by making a flying circular saw to cut down a mountain. Later in a fight with her they directly mimic her making hands and chains out of water. Lapis responds by making a giant version of herself, wielding a spear, out of water.
- Shout-Out:
- Lapis's giant water clone bears a similarity to Irma's giant water clone.
- The shot of Nice Lapis hugging Mean Lapis while Lapis is about to impale them resembles Ariel and Eric clinging onto each other while Ursula is about to attack.
- Sunk Cost Fallacy: When Steven tells them terraforming is wrong, Nice Lapis replies they need to at least finish this world because they're "almost done" working on it. Steven and Lapis can't allow that because there are still living creatures on it.
- Sword over Head: After Lapis throws the Lapis Lazuli duo into the water, they're left paralyzed with fear as she prepares to poof them with a giant water harpoon. Lapis then looks at Steven, who's not impressed as she was expecting, and decides to just demand they stop terraforming.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Implied with Mean Lapis. Nice Lapis does show interest in dancing, but Mean Lapis's disapproval causes her to stop. Mean Lapis is also notably absent when Nice Lapis comes to Little Homeworld at the end.
- Violence is the Only Option: The rogue Lapis Lazulis ignore any of Steven and Lapis's arguments, and only stop terraforming when Lapis forces them to. Steven and Lapis's earlier methods don't go entirely to waste, as one of them comes to Little Homeschool afterward.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The other rogue Lapis doesn't come to Little Homeschool with the freckled Lapis, and it isn't explained where she went.
