Recap / Steven Universe S2E29 "Log Date 7 15 2"

^{Alternate promo}

Original airdate: January 8th, 2016

Production code: 1031-078

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Peridot is inside the barn, beginning a log with her tape recorder. She documents her own shock in her disobeying Yellow Diamond and calling her a clod, but when she stops recording, she plays back "a traitorous clod" numerous times. She excitedly celebrates the fact that she insulted Yellow Diamond but quickly falls back into hysterics. Steven asks her if she'll be okay, to which Peridot enthusiastically replies "no". Peridot explains that she used to follow every order but now she has befriended a team that is devoted to protecting the planet she sought to destroy. She still has a hard time coping with the fact that she is now a Crystal Gem. Peridot tries to throw away the tape recorder, exclaiming it "chronicles her descent into madness", and Garnet gives the recorder to Steven. Garnet takes Peridot outside the barn to talk privately, while Peridot questions if she would have to add a star to her outfit.

Steven notices Garnet and Peridot seem to get along well now, considering their hostile relationship early on, so he begins to seek his answer as to how through Peridot's tape recorder. He starts with the very first log, the day Steven gives her the recorder; She initially declines to call Steven by his name, but after he mentions that it's rude, she accepts his request. In the next log, Peridot takes note of insects and their poor choice of habitation and their capability of flight. She climbs up the roof of the barn where Greg is working to fix the roof, meeting Greg for the first time. She shoves him down and Garnet catches him below. Garnet chastises Peridot for her ignorance in assuming that humans are as robust as Gems and could survive such a fall unharmed but tells Greg to go easy on her realizing she doesn't know much about Earth (with Peridot protesting that she does). Peridot ends the log by saying that "the permafusion, Garnet, is the worst".

Her next log details her experience when assigned to clean the barn. She stumbles upon a chest of clothing and is excited to try on "appearance modifiers that aren't melded to [her] body". Garnet spots her and approves of her look, but Peridot is quickly embarrassed and rips up the shorts. In the next log, Peridot notes that today is the 30th day she's stuck on Earth with the Gems. Steven celebrates the occasion by teaching her about gifting and gives her two decorated paint cans for her to use as stilts. She chases Steven off, but during the night she tries them on, thinking of how she will appear to the Gems in a positive light. The log ends with her losing control by running backward and stumbling into a rock. During the following log, she attempts to learn humor and fails to understand it because she doesn't know what a chicken is. Later, Steven tries to introduce Peridot to human entertainment via television shows, specifically the show Camp Pining Hearts. She is disgusted by the romantic scene claiming to want no part of it, but in the next 78 hours, she continuously rewatches the same episode with great attachment. Steven notices her watching the same episode and notices that she made a chart detailing the best romantic connections between specific partners and her scientific explanation as to why. This launches her into a very long explanation of her proving why Percy and Pierre "are objectively the best for each other". Garnet shows her approval.

Peridot starts the next log by mentioning that the Cluster drill is coming along well but notes the work ethic of Amethyst, just as she distracts Peridot as a shapeshifted Lion. Peridot is bewildered as to why Amethyst wastes energy shapeshifting, to which Amethyst replies to by shapeshifting into Peridot and perfectly mimicking her. Peridot is interested in Amethyst's shapeshifting and tells her to change into a chicken. She finally exclaims that she understood the joke she read earlier, prompting Pearl to make a lion pun. Peridot notes that Pearl tries to be a good partner and Amethyst is fun to be around but is still perplexed by Garnet. Garnet shows her approval. During the night, Amethyst and Pearl put the drill head on supports by fusing into Opal and lifting it. This shocks Peridot, and Garnet calls everyone off for a break. Peridot approaches Garnet and questions why she is constantly fused, considering she never uses her powers for any specific, constructive purpose. Garnet tries to talk to her and says that she appreciates their differences. She offers to fuse with Peridot to help her understand fusion, and she hesitantly accepts. They try a fusion dance, but Peridot changes her mind at the last second. Garnet appreciates her effort to fuse and to understand fusion. Peridot says she still doesn't understand why Garnet remains fused, to which she replies, "I'm Percy and Pierre", which she understands.

The most recent log begins with Peridot saying that she is starting to learn more about fusion. Garnet interrupts her and directly talks to Steven during the log recording, stating that its best that Steven shouldn't have listened to Peridot's logs, but she knows he is only curious because he cares about Peridot. She ends the log by telling him to give back the recorder to Peridot, a statement that Peridot did not understand at the time. She and Garnet come back to the barn with Steven, and he returns the recorder to her. Garnet and Steven both give their approval to Peridot with thumbs-ups, which she returns in kind.

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Tropes:

• Actually Pretty Funny: When Pearl chides Lion!Amethyst for harassing Peridot, Amethyst explains that she was just trying to "lion" the mood. Upon getting no reaction, Amethyst says the line again, in the exact same tone of voice. Pearl has to pull her welder's mask down to suppress a chuckle.
• Addictive Foreign Soap Opera: Peridot starts watching a Canadian soap opera, then immediately spends 78 hours straight watching the same episode. Steven wisely decides not to tell her more episodes exist.
• Apocalyptic Log: Despite the threat of an Earth-Shattering Kaboom, Peridot's audio diary has been recording an entirely different disaster… according to Peridot.
  Steven: Well, that tape recorder seems to be helping.
  Peridot: *throws recorder* NO, IT'S NOT! It’s a chronicle of my descent into madness!
  Garnet: *catches recorder after it bounces off her face* You dropped this.
  Peridot: Get it away from me. Give it to Steven. Return madness to its source!
• Being Good Sucks: Trying to save the Crystal Gems has driven Peridot insane with fear and confusion.
• Blunt "Yes":
  Steven: Uh, Peridot? Are you gonna be okay?
  Peridot (recording): I'm a traitorous clod! ...traitorous clod!
  Peridot: (grins maniacally) No!
• Breather Episode: This episode comes after Peridot's Heel–Face Turn and before the threats of Malachite and the Cluster are faced and is mostly comedic.
• Brick Joke:
  • Peridot has trouble getting the "why did the chicken cross the road?" joke because she doesn't know what chickens are. Later...
    Peridot: So, can you shift into anything?
    Amethyst: Sure. Got a request?
    Peridot: ...
    Amethyst: [having transformed into a chicken] Bawk, bawk! I'm a chicken! (laughs)
    Peridot: (laughs) I get the joke now!
  • Peridot becomes a hardcore shipper of Pierre and Percy from Camp Pining Hearts, going into a long and detailed explanation as to why they are the ideal couple. Later, when she tries to understand why Garnet is constantly fused:
    Garnet: I'm Percy and Pierre.
    Peridot: ...Ohh!...
  • Steven teaches Peridot to say "Wow, thanks!" after receiving a gift. At the end of the episode, she says it when Steven returns her tape recorder.
• Broken Record: "I'm a traitorous Clod!... (rewind)... Traitorous Clod!... (rewind)... Clod!... (rewind)... Clod!... (rewind)... Clod!..."
• Call-Back:
  • Garnet saves Greg from falling off the roof after Peridot pushes him (in an attempt to see if he can fly) thanks to her future vision. Future vision is also how she knows Steven will be listening to Peridot's tape recorder before it happens.
  • The Gems have Peridot's escape pod at the barn. It was evidently adapted into the cockpit on the finished drill.
  • We find out where Peridot found the little alien face on her tape label. We don't know if she realizes how appropriate it is.
• The Cameo: Pearl and Amethyst fuse into Opal so they can move the drill.
• Character Development:
  • A concrete measurement of how far Pearl and Amethyst have come since "Giant Woman" — both as individuals and as teammates — is how readily and easily they fuse into Opal, contrasting with the difficulty and requiring a life-or-death situation in the earlier episode.
  • This episode shows how Peridot slowly studies Earth, to try and find the use in everything from ladybugs to television, and eventually comes to understand Garnet.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Amethyst shapeshifts into the Purple Puma to try to move the drill, but Pearl suggests Opal.
  • Opal returns with yet another new outfit, thanks to Amethyst changing hers in "Reformed".
  • Peridot apparently believes that the name of any human garment is called a shirt, probably due to Steven's distraction technique in "Catch and Release".
• Cooldown Hug: Garnet puts a comforting hand on Peridot's shoulder and gently suggests she calm down. It works, as Peridot goes from crying, cackling, and yelling to asking if she'd have to get a star and asking where she'd even put it, in more normal tones of annoyance.
• A Day in the Limelight: This episode is all about Peridot trying to find sense in Earth life and the other Crystal Gems, especially Garnet.
• Dénouement Episode: This episode serves as a dénouement to the second season, showing Peridot coping with her confrontation with Yellow Diamond and some of her thoughts leading up to it.
• Ditzy Genius: Despite her great intelligence and technical ability, Peridot hasn't enough common sense to know how to use a mop (she's scraping the handle across the floor). After all, she was doing cleaning duty "Like [she's] the Pearl".
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • The parallels between sex and fusion are ever-present. Peridot's nervousness about fusing, and Garnet's reassuring, kind of sound similar to someone nervous about sleeping with their partner for the first time, while their partner is aware of their nervousness and is trying to convince them that they don't have to. Indeed, the budding friendship between Garnet and Peridot seems to come off like a person who was raised to be homophobic, who has met an uncloseted homosexual for the first time and not only starting to question their beliefs on the matter, but their sexuality as well. Peridot's fear/lack of interest in fusing has led many people to consider her asexual, as she's the only Crystal Gem who doesn't fuse in the show's run. Word of God later confirmed that she was the Gem equivalent of asexual.
  • Interesting In-Universe example: When watching Camp Pining Hearts, when two characters get into a hot and heavy kissing session, Peridot exclaims "What is this strange ritual? Are they attempting fusion?"
• Dressed in Layers: Peridot wears some regular clothing (i.e., not made by her gem) purely as a novelty, and so doesn't see anything wrong with wearing it over her regular clothes.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Garnet helps Peridot understand why she's a perma-fusion by explaining it in a way she understands: using Peridot's preferred pairing, Percy/Pierre, on Camp Pining Hearts. invoked
• Fantastic Racism: The first interaction we see between Peridot and a full-blood human doesn't go well. She doesn't speak to Greg even though he politely greets her, and she knows he taught Steven. She also throws him off the roof to see if her theory that all organic life can fly is true (fortunately, Garnet caught Greg). Ladybugs can fly, but humans can answer questions.
• Fast-Forward Gag: Steven fast forwards through Peridot's long explanation on her preferred pairing in Camp Pining Hearts, as he's heard it before. During the sequence, Peridot is bouncing all over the place, has produced pages of notes, and finally Steven falls asleep near the end while Garnet has joined in.
• Fish out of Water: Via her logs, we see that Peridot has a lot to learn about life on Earth and those creatures that live there.
• Freak Out: Peridot's in a continuous Oh, Crap! state with varying emotions and intensities.
  Peridot: (laughs) And I called Yellow Diamond a clod right to her face! [falls to her knees] I called Yellow Diamond a clod right to her face.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • Peridot's eyes go briefly out of focus when celebrating the recording of her "traitorous clod" line and staring at the TV.
  • The joke book Peridot reads out of is subtitled "HOW TO MAKE PEOPLE LAUGH AROUND YOU INSTEAD OF FEEL BAD."
  • Percy, one-half of Peridot's favored ship, wears a pendant shaped like Peridot's gemstone and the patch on his hat and shoulder has the same Yellow Diamond symbol that Peridot wears. His girlfriend is wearing a blue scarf whose pattern is shaped like Lapis Lazuli's gemstone and hat with a blue diamond on it. This definitely raises the question of what Pierre wears.
  • Judging from the writing on Peridot's shipping chart, she's not used to writing in English script: she writes Rs where she meant to write As and spelt "analysis" as "analasys". Her chart also shows the pink face as the only one not linked to anyone else, which probably represents Paulette, going by Peridot's statement that "[she] has no place in the camp hierarchy".
• Fusion Dance:
  • Garnet suggests Peridot fuse with her, so she'll understand why Garnet chooses to stay fused. Peridot gets cold feet at the last second, though Garnet is glad she was willing to give it a shot.
  • Pearl and Amethyst's complete dance to form Opal is finally shown after being done off-screen both times before.
• Gilligan Cut:
  • Steven gives Peridot a pair of paint cans to replace her limb enhancers, and she shoos him off for thinking she would "stoop so low as to tie earth trash to my body." Cut to her on the stilts, pretending to show off to Pearl and Amethyst.
  • Peridot berates the taped show Steven shows her and asks how anyone would find the characters' actions interesting. Cut to her staring intently at the show inches from the TV, having watched that one episode over and over for three straight days.
• Good Costume Switch: Discussed by Peridot:
  So, am I gonna have to wear a star? Where am I gonna put the star?!
• Goofy Print Underwear: Peridot puts on white boxers with green aliens.
• How We Got Here: The episode starts with the title's log number. Steven uses Peridot's four recorded diary entries to find out how she managed to become friends with Garnet, showing each one of those days go by until the present time.
• Jerkass Has a Point: When Garnet yells at Peridot after she pushes Greg off the roof and tells her that she can't do that and she could have seriously hurt him, Peridot defensively asks how she was supposed to know that. Garnet nonverbally concedes the point since it's the first real time Peridot has actually interacted with a flesh and blood human, and she probably wouldn't know any better.
• Lame Pun Reaction: In one of the logs, Amethyst shapeshifts into Lion and explains she's trying to "Lion the mood". Peridot looks confused while Pearl covers her face with her welding mask. Later, when Amethyst is running around as a chicken, Pearl quips that "at least she isn't Lion around anymore", and Peridot feigns laughter.
• Love Bubbles: Peridot discovers a pair of shorts and shiny bubbles cover the screen when we zoom in on them.
• Love Chart: Peridot makes a relationship diagram of the characters on the camping show Steven shows her, claiming it shows why Pierre and Percy make the best pairing.
• Madness Mantra: Peridot seems to have recorded the phrase "traitorous clod" in order to repeat it over and over to herself.
• Mood-Swinger: Peridot goes through an emotional rollercoaster, starting with the completely straight face she always makes with beginning a log entry to a My God, What Have I Done?, passing through Laughing Mad, several Freak Outs and Sanity Slippage.
  Steven: Uh, Peridot? Are you gonna be okay?
  Peridot: (plays her "traitorous clod" line twice, grinning ear to ear) No!
• Moose and Maple Syrup: The show Peridot watches is clearly either set in Canada or doing a bad job of hiding where it was filmed. A Canadian flag is displayed (although it's green and white instead of red and white), one of the characters is carrying a gallon of maple syrup, the other is eating poutine (from a plate clearly labeled as "poutine"), and all the stated names (Pierre, Percy, and Paulette) are distinctly French-Canadian.
• Mundane Utility: Amethyst and Pearl fuse into Opal so they can move the drill easily. Amethyst would have done it in her Purple Puma guise, but Pearl thought they should be more careful. This drives Peridot to directly question Garnet on her fusion, since Garnet isn't using her fusion for any practical reason while Amethyst and Pearl are.
• Non-Verbal Miscommunication: Garnet gives Peridot a sincere thumbs up several times, but Peridot either doesn't recognize the gesture or thinks she's being sarcastic, as her reactions vary from confusion to rage. They come to an understanding by the end though, and Peridot gives a thumbs up herself.
• Obliviously Evil: Peridot tossed Greg off the roof to see if he could fly like the ladybugs. Garnet has to tell Peridot that, while a gem could definitely survive such a thing, "humans are fragile and soft".
  Greg: It's not like having a six-pack would save you from that height!
• The Ophelia: Peridot's mental stability is decreasing, but she's more emotionally open.
• Pun: In one of the logs, Peridot describes a moment with the Crystal Gems. Amethyst, shapeshifted as Lion, says "I'm just trying to Lion the mood". Amethyst then transformed into Peridot and calls her impersonation "Peri-phrasing". Then Pearl says that "at least she's not Lion around anymore." Peridot is polite enough to feign laughter.
• Rewind, Replay, Repeat: Peridot keeps playing the same couple seconds of her log during her Freak Out.
• Sanity Slippage: Peridot calls her tape recorder "a chronicle of my descent into madness!"
• Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: Peridot spent three solid days watching the same episode of a TV show because she wasn't aware there was more than one. Steven wisely keeps that info to himself, lest it consume even more of her life.
• Self-Inflicted Hell: Ironically, Peridot says that she doesn't want to think about what she did in order to forget, but she keeps repeating "traitorous clod" in the recorder, reminding herself about what she did and has become.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Peridot considers clothing to be "appearance modifiers".
• Shout-Out: There's no way that Camp Pining Hearts being Canadian isn't a reference to Degrassi Junior High or Total Drama.
• Shipping: In-Universe, Peridot becomes obsessed with Camp Pining Hearts (one episode of it to be specific), and starts pairing the characters, to the point of making charts and having long involved rants. Steven is not amused. On the other hand, her ferocious shipping analysis is what finally allows her to understand Garnet's existence.
• Small Universe After All: Garnet mentions that they can see Homeworld's galaxy, meaning that the Gems are not just an interstellar race, but intergalactic.
• So Proud of You: Even though Peridot can't bring herself to fuse with Garnet, Garnet tells her that it's fine and she's proud of her because she took the effort to try and understand her.
• Soap Within a Show: Steven shows Peridot the teen soap opera Camp Pining Hearts.
• Symbol Motif Clothing: Peridot asks if being one of the Crystal Gems means she needs to start wearing a star.
• Take That, Audience!: The way Peridot gushes about her compatible pairings mirrors the parts of the fandom that go crazy over shipping. Steven finds it annoying, but on the plus side it helped Peridot understand Garnet's nature as a permafusion better.
• The Talk: Steven says Greg has already explained the birds and the bees to him. He tries to give Peridot the talk, but she's too engrossed in Camp Pining Hearts to listen.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Thanks to her future vision, Garnet knows that Steven will listen to Peridot's audio diary and asks him to bring the recorder back to Peridot in the last log that he would listen to.
• Technically Naked Shapeshifter: This is given a nod by Peridot when she scoffs at the idea of having "appearance modifiers" (clothing) that aren't part of one's body.
• Title Drop: "Log Date 7 15 2" is the very first line of the episode, spoken by Peridot as she's about to make an entry on her audiotape journal.
• Toothy Bird: Amethyst as a chicken has teeth.
• Unreliable Voice Over: The audio logs play over the events they describe, and Peridot leaves out all the embarrassing, mean, or crazy things she does.
  Peridot (recording): [Steven] also said he wanted me to stop calling him "the Steven".
  Steven: It's just Steven.
  Peridot (recording): I said I'll call him whatever I want.
  (Peridot hisses like a feral cat)
• The Un-Reveal: Of what a fusion between Peridot and Garnet would look like. Peridot tries to fuse with Garnet, but the former backs out at the last minute. Garnet does offer to fuse with her whenever she's ready though.
• Villainous BSoD: Peridot starts the episode in the throes of a breakdown, attempting to reconcile her potentially centuries of near-worshipful loyalty to Yellow Diamond with the disastrous communique with her in the previous episode, which has caused her to be banished and forced even more into the ally of the Crystal Gems.
• Whole Episode Flashback: The episode begins with Peridot throwing away the tape recorder that chronicles her slow descent into madness, and then has Steven rewind it back to the beginning.
• Wingding Eyes: Peridot's eyes turn into stars during her self-berating rant.
  Peridot: I'm a traitor! A rebel! A Crystal Gemmmmmmmm!
• Yaoi Fangirl: Played with. On Camp Pining Hearts, Peridot ships Percy and Pierre, two guys. Though the reason she ships them is less because she has a fetish for it, and more because she believes they objectively make the strongest pairing (based on criteria that are likely quite unusual, since due to Homeworld culture, this show may have been the first time she was ever even exposed to the concept of a romantic relationship). She may also have no idea that Earth genders are even a thing, let alone that there's a way they're "supposed" to be paired.

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