Original airdate: July 5th, 2018
Production code: 1053-152
Preparations for Ruby and Sapphire's wedding are well underway. However, Sapphire laments that there are so many old friends of her and Ruby that won't be able to attend, due to being corrupted or shattered. This gives Steven the idea to, as a surprise, unbubble Bismuth, even though she was re-bubbled in the first place because she tried to kill him. When he releases her, she's ashamed of what happened before, and insistent that Steven is still better than Rose. But when she sees the corrupted Gems in the bubble room, she freaks out, believing that Rose imprisoned them for the same reason that she was imprisoned, and before Steven can stop her and explain, she releases her old friend Biggs. Biggs, who Steven knows better as one of the Great North monsters, reforms and attacks them, to Bismuth's confusion. She's forced to poof her old friend in tears, and Steven re-bubbles Biggs. Bismuth deduces that the Diamonds, specifically Pink, must have been responsible, and asks why Rose didn't stop her. Steven tells her what he'd been trying to explain before Bismuth saw the other bubbles: because Rose and Pink were the same person.
One Exposition Cut later, Bismuth admits that everything that didn't make sense to her about the war does now with the revelation, but has to scream into lava for a bit. She also admits that, in retrospect, of course Rose wouldn't want to use the Breaking Point to kill her sisters, and how the offer of the weapon must have sounded to her. But she's not sure that the other Crystal Gems will take her back, given what she tried to do to Steven before. She tells him that, given that he's kept them together when even Garnet fell apart over the shock about Rose, she considers him the Crystal Gems' leader now. Steven is confident the others will accept Bismuth back just fine, and tries to prepare a surprise for her arrival. But when she doesn't respond, he goes back into the house to find that she's left via the warp pad.
He finds Bismuth at her forge, making weapons. They have a talk about Rose, and what happened at the forge the last time they were there. Bismuth is guilty about what happened the last time, and doesn't think she's worthy of an offer of redemption. Steven eventually persuades her that if she comes back with him, the others will know that everything's all right. When they do get back, everyone but Peridot, who has no idea who Bismuth is, is shocked, and Ruby and Sapphire appreciate the wedding rings Steven got Bismuth to make for them. Bismuth gets hugs, a member of the Crystal Gems once more.
Tropes:
- Apology Gift: Bismuth, on Steven's suggestion, makes wedding rings for Ruby and Sapphire as a peace offering. They hug her tighter and say they love the rings.
- The Atoner: Bismuth is genuinely sorry that she tried to kill Steven after finding out the truth, and while she thinks she can't redeem herself to her friends, she is much kinder to him.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Bismuth notes how she thought shattering a Diamond would resolve matters before pointing out that Rose/Pink actually took the advice, apparently never having considered while forging the Breaking Point how Yellow and Blue would react.
- Berserker Tears: Bismuth gets tears in her eyes when she's forced to fight against the corrupted Biggs.
- Big "NO!": Played for Laughs when Steven tells Bismuth about Ruby and Sapphire splitting up, because they're her favorite couple.
- Big "OMG!": After Steven tells Bismuth the truth about Pink Diamond and Rose, she dunks her entire head into lava and starts screaming, and when she finally emerges, yells, "OH MY GOSH! It all makes sense now!"
- Big "WHAT?!": Bismuth shouts one of these when Steven tells her that Garnet split up.
- Blatant Lies: After Steven tells Bismuth everything about Pink Diamond, she cheerily claims to be fine after hearing it, only to excuse herself so she can dunk her head into the nearby lava pool and starts screaming for a good 6 seconds.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Self-Deprecation example; Bismuth correctly points out that the Crystal Gems would be right not to trust her after she attacked Steven, their leader. Steven then points out that he trusts her enough to let her back on the team, and the Gems will trust him to trust Bismuth.
- Brick Joke:
- When Bismuth doesn't show up for her grand introduction, Steven tells everyone to hold onto the sodas he gave them. When he brings Bismuth back, everyone does a Dramatic Drop except for Peridot, who brags about winning.
- Steven suggests that, when Bismuth sees the others, she greets them with a Bismuth pun like she usually does, coming up with "Did you Bis-muth me?" on the spot, which only gets him a Lame Pun Reaction in response. When she actually does greet the other Gems at the end of the episode, that is exactly the line she uses.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Bismuth returns in this episode after getting poofed and bubbled.
- The orange corrupted Gem from "Gem Hunt" is briefly unbubbled by Bismuth, revealed to be the Biggs she had mentioned in "Bismuth". Being forced to poof and rebubble them leads to Steven finally informing Bismuth of the Corrupted Gems, Rose's true identity and everything else that has come to light since their last encounter.
- Call-Back:
- The moment Bismuth reforms, she calls Steven "Rose" on impulse before quickly correcting herself and continuing the scene talking about them as separate people. Her last moments before poofing last time was coming to that realization and calling Steven Rose's Superior Successor.
- When Bismuth hears that Garnet unfused, she moans that they were her favorite couple. Just like Steven did last episode.
- Like Peridot, Bismuth initially misunderstands the purpose of the Burning Room due to lack of context.
- Steven's love of weddings that caused the events of "Open Book" returns, as Steven reveals he's been obsessively putting together a wedding planner for his entire life.
- Cathartic Scream: Bismuth dunks her head in lava and lets loose after Steven tells her the truth about Rose.
- Character Development: Once she gets the full gist of the situation, Bismuth comes to understand Rose's actions, even if she doesn't agree with them, realizes that Steven isn't Rose, and decides to not attack anyone who opposes her.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Steven says he's not lava-proof, while comfortably sitting on the edge of the lava pool.
- Cope by Creating: Instead of confronting her old teammates, Bismuth leaves to the forge to work and stew in her sorrows. It is especially tragic considering that she is making weapons indiscriminately for a war she believes is now lost for an army of Gems that have either died or gone mad with corruption.
- Crazy-Prepared: Steven's wedding planner book not only has an option for Ruby and Sapphire's request for fire and dolphins, Steven knows exactly what page to check for it. When Sapphire asks how long it took Steven to put the book together, Steven answers "my entire life".
- Didn't See That Coming: Bismuth doesn't know that the Gems in the Burning Room are corruptednote until she lets Biggs out...
- Didn't Think This Through: Bismuth realizes this was the case with her plan: she never considered how the other Diamonds would react to one of them being shattered. When she sees how they would have, she has a Heel Realization as it hits her that her falling out with Rose and subsequent sealing was all over something that never would have worked anyway.
- Bismuth remarks on how she thought just shattering the Diamonds would fix their problems, before noting the consequences of what did happen.
- Bismuth blindly frees one of the bubbled gems without knowing why they were bubbled in the first place. While that may have worked for her, randomly freeing prisoners doesn't work out.
- Dramatic Drop: When Steven presents Bismuth to the other Crystal Gems, they all drop the soda cans they're holding. Except for Peridot, who has no idea who Bismuth is and thinks she's won some sort of game by not dropping her can.
- Easily Forgiven:
- While it's not clear she's forgiven Rose, Bismuth's reaction to learning Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond is to admit Rose was justified in her reaction to the Breaking Point, since it was the very weapon that was made to shatter her, right before her very eyes.
- Bismuth herself is also easily forgiven by Steven and the other Crystal Gems — although to be fair, Steven is used to befriending Gems who tried to kill him, and Pearl, Sapphire and Ruby are just overjoyed that their old friend Bismuth is back (Peridot is there, too, but doesn't know who she is).
- Exposition Cut: Happens when Steven fills Bismuth in on Rose being Pink Diamond, and everything that happened as a result. The next scene has Steven telling Bismuth, "And that's the whole story."
- Failed Attempt at Drama: Steven attempts to surprise everyone with Bismuth's return by having them all turn around and have Bismuth reveal herself. But Bismuth doesn't come out when Steven gives the signal because she has left for her forge, and thus everyone just turns around to see nothing.
- Fish out of Water: Bismuth has no idea what a wedding is, as she's not acquainted herself with human culture (nevermind she's been in stasis since humans were barely forming civilizations).
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: It's more Not Forgotten, But Forgiven. The other Crystal Gems do not forget that Bismuth tried to kill Steven, but when she returns to them as redeemed, they forgive her.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: One of the gifts Steven suggests to Bismuth on his phone is "Elite Meat Beat Mania", the game Garnet played in "Arcade Mania".
- Fun with Homophones: Played for Drama. The title refers to how Steven tells Bismuth she can "be maid of honor", and her parsing it as a challenge to be "made of honor".
- The Glomp: Ruby, Sapphire, and Pearl all jump on and hug Bismuth when she returns.
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!: After dunking her head in lava, Bismuth loudly yells "OH MY GOSH!"
- Group Hug: Bismuth, Ruby, Sapphire, and Pearl hug together when they're reunited.
- Heel–Face Turn: Bismuth shows she regrets her actions and rejoins the Crystal Gems.
- Heel Realization: Bismuth sees Biggs' current state and has the reality of everything explained to her, causing her to realize how her proposal must have sounded to Rose and that her plan to shatter the Diamonds would've backfired catastrophically. And though Bismuth doesn't think herself fully wrong in that instance, she's also realized Steven really isn't Rose, and utterly regrets nearly murdering a completely innocent person in her rage.
- Heroic BSoD: Bismuth sees Biggs's corrupted form and freezes up completely, unable to even defend herself for a few moments. She despairs again after she realizes that "shattering" a Diamond just led to the Gem corruption.
- Hope Bringer: Bismuth expressly calls Steven the one who's brought hope to the Crystal Gems and will lead them well.
- Hypocritical Humor: Bismuth loves making awful puns on her own name, but Steven's suggestion of "Did you Bis-mith me?" gets a Lame Pun Reaction. She then doubles down and uses the line anyway.
- I Thought Everyone Could Do That: Bismuth soaks her feet in lava and invites Steven to join in. He politely declines, pointing out he's not lavaproof.
- Innocently Insensitive: Bismuth realizes that in her excitement to show Rose the Breaking Point she was basically gushing to her that she was going to use it to shatter her and her sisters.
- Internal Reveal:
- Steven tells Bismuth about how he learned Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz are the same person. It is still unknown if Peridot has also been told, however.
- Double Subverted. Steven wanted to surprise everyone with Bismuth's arrival, only for her to warp off to the Forge to be alone with her thoughts while she works. Steven eventually convinces her to come back, allowing for a proper reveal to happen.
- Irony: Bismuth acknowledges that Rose bubbled her because she thought that shattering a Diamond would have led to victory, only for Rose to technically do the same thing with catastrophic results.
- I've Heard of That — What Is It?: When Bismuth is invited to Ruby and Sapphire's wedding, she's sure it'll be the best wedding ever, before admitting she has no idea what a wedding is.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Bismuth gives Steven one when he suggests she use a "Bismuth" pun during her reintroduction to the Crystal Gems.
- The Leader: Bismuth states that Steven, not Garnet, is the leader of the Crystal Gems, because the only reason they are all still together after finding out about Rose's lie is because of him.
- Limited Social Circle: Lampshaded when Peridot complains they've been spending all day mailing wedding invitation, but Amethyst points they just finished, with a whopping ten envelopes.note
- Locked Out of the Loop:
- Bismuth wasn't told about the corrupted Gems. She also didn't know about Pink Diamond's "shattering". Steven explains all of this to her, and then throws the "Rose is Pink Diamond" reveal on top of it.
- No one told Peridot about Bismuth, leaving her confused as to who she is and why everyone knows her. Amethyst leads her off so Bismuth can share a moment with Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: Steven recommends that Bismuth defuses the tension by using one of her name-centric catchphrases, his suggestions coming across as corny and a little forced. She actually does use one of them by the end though.Bismuth: Did you...Bismuth me?
- Malaproper: Ruby mixes up two sayings ("Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" and "If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it.") to give us this line:Ruby: If you want to drink the cow, you got to put a ring on it.
Sapphire: But, sweetums, who says that? - Mirthless Laughter: After the reveal of Rose as Pink Diamond, Bismuth briefly attempts to joke about how her excitement over the Breaking Point felt to her: "I was so excited when I was about to show Rose the Breaking Point. Can you imagine? "Hey Rose, check out this cool weapon I made! I'm gonna shatter you with it!"" following it with a prolonged laugh that gradually loses steam until eventually turning into a heavy sigh.
- Mundane Utility: Peridot uses her powers to make her soda float.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Seeing the Corrupted Gems in response to Pink's apparent shattering, Bismuth has second thoughts about her plans to shatter the Diamonds, and even wonders if she inspired Pink to fake her death. She also regrets trying to kill Steven, especially after he freed her and she sees that he kept the Crystal Gems together despite Rose's deception.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Bismuth is back, apparently for good this time!
- Not What It Looks Like: Bismuth assumes all of the bubbled Gems in the temple are others who refused to follow Rose. It's not until after she frees one of them that she learns what they are.
- Percussive Therapy: Bismuth tries to deal with her guilt by hammering out weapons in the forge.
- The Power of Trust: Bismuth doesn't expect the other Crystal Gems to ever take her back after she tried to kill Steven. Steven counters that he's the one advocating for her, and they have enough faith in him to give her another chance.
- Pun: Aside from the title of the episode, Steven suggests Bismuth use a punny catchphrase when she appears at the wedding. The subtitles even helpfully point out what word is being punned.
- Pun-Based Title: From "Maid of Honor", along with Garnet declaring herself to be "made of love" when fighting Jasper in "Jail Break".
- Real Men Wear Pink: Apparently Steven has been compiling a Dream Wedding journal that took "his entire life" to make. Considering this is Steven we're talking about, this should not be a surprise.
- Rebuilt Pedestal: Downplayed. After Steven tells Bismuth the truth about Rose and Pink, Bismuth certainly still doesn't approve of what Rose did, but admits to a better understanding of why. In the end, it's Steven who gets a place on the pedestal, with Bismuth calling him the Crystal Gems' leader and the one who's been giving them hope.
- Reformed, but Rejected: Discussed. Bismuth accepts her actions were wrong, but worries the Crystal Gems won't accept her back since she tried to kill Steven. Ultimately, they accept anyway, subverting her fears.
- Regretful Traitor: After Bismuth learns the truth about Rose Quartz and the Gem corruption the "shattering" of Pink Diamond caused, she regrets betraying the Crystal Gems for her own personal goals, as it turned out that her plan to destroy the Diamonds was doomed to fail whoever attempted it anyway.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons:
- Steven tells Bismuth that she was right about Rose's war strategy making no sense — just not for the reason she had assumed.
- When Bismuth sees a Corrupted Gem herself for the first time, she immediately recognizes that only a Diamond could do this sort of thing to a Gem. However, she incorrectly assumes it was Pink who did it, when in reality she was the only Diamond not responsible for it. Steven tells her the truth immediately afterwards when he explains how Rose and Pink were the same person.
- Rule of Cool: Ruby wants a fire-theme, Sapphire wants a dolphin-theme, so they go with a "Dolphins with Flames"-theme.
- Self-Imposed Exile: Bismuth briefly undergoes a self-imposed exile, going to her forge without greeting the others, because she feels they won't want her on the team after what she did to Steven.
- Stepping Out to React: When Ruby and Sapphire decide to formally get married, Steven has the wild idea to bring back Bismuth from her imprisonment/stasis to invite her to the wedding, despite Bismuth having a strong disagreement last time, about the Gem Homeworld, that nearly ended in Steven's demise. When Bismuth misunderstands the purpose of the stasis bubbles, she assumes that Rose imprisoned everyone who went against her supposed Principles Zealot ideals. After Steven saves Bismuth from making a grave mistake, he explains the entire tangle of internal politics to her. (namely that Rose was Pink Diamond, but was playing both sides of the war in an an attempt to drive away the Diamonds and their forces, to spare Earth) She seems to take it well...Steven: ...Aaaand that's the whole story.
Bismuth: Hmm...
Steven: Uh... Are you... okay?
Bismuth: Hmm? Yeah! Hang on a sec...
[She walks over to the lava pool...]
Steven: Uh...Bismuth?!
[...And dunks her head in, screaming in frustration and relief under the molten lava]
Bismuth: [She pulls her head out] OH MY GOSH! It all makes sense now! - Suddenly Shouting:
- When Bismuth discovers the bubbled Gems in the Burning Room are corrupted:Bismuth: Only a Diamond could do something like this. It was Pink, wasn't it? And why didn't Rose STOP HER?!
- And after Steven explains that Rose was actually Pink, she seems to keep calm... Until she starts dunking her head in a pit of molten lava, screaming all the while, evetually popping out and realizing the logic behind Rose's rejecting the Breaking Point.Bismuth: OH MY GOSH! IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!
- When Bismuth discovers the bubbled Gems in the Burning Room are corrupted:
- Survivor's Guilt:
- Sapphire feels a bit of this when she's saddened by all the old friends that are shattered or corrupted and can't be there for the wedding. This prompts Steven to free Bismuth.
- Bismuth feels this way after seeing the corrupted Biggs, and realizing what the Diamonds did, initially thinking Pink was specifically responsible for it.
- Taking It Well: Subverted. While at first Bismuth seems to be quick to adjust to it like Ruby... cue Cathartic Scream and "Eureka!" Moment.Bismuth: OH MY GOSH! IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!
- Tears of Joy:
- Steven as he shows Ruby and Sapphire the wedding book he made.Steven: Ruby said she wanted your reunion as Garnet to be special. And there's nothing more special [wipes away tears] and romantic than a beautiful wedding!
- Ruby and Sapphire tear up when Bismuth reveals the wedding rings she made for them.
- Steven as he shows Ruby and Sapphire the wedding book he made.
- Tears of Remorse: Bismuth tears up when telling Steven how she doesn't feel she deserves to reunite with the Crystal Gems after trying to shatter him.
- Theme Song Reveal: While Steven writes on the table setting card, before Bismuth's name is revealed, her motif plays.
- This Explains So Much: When Steven fills in Bismuth on everything that has happened, and about the Corrupted Gems, Bismuth comes to realize how much sense everything that happened between her and Rose makes. What's more, she handles the reveal that Rose was Pink Diamond relatively better than Sapphire or Amethyst, because it fills in the logical holes in accordance as to why Rose rejected the Breaking Point and what she did after that.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Bismuth sadly thinks that her friends would have a lot of reason to keep her bubbled and off the team, since she tried to murder Steven. Steven then tells her that he forgives her, and if he trusts her, then the Gems will. And sure enough, the Crystal Gems happily welcome her back upon seeing her.
- Title Drop: Steven tells Bismuth that Ruby and Sapphire would want her to be maid of honor at Garnet's wedding. As Bismuth barely knows what a wedding is, she assumes he said "made of honor". She then uses this to explain why she doesn't want to rejoin the Crystal Gems, saying that she's honorable enough to accept the Crystal Gems don't want her back.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Bismuth is much more reasonable this time around than she was in her debut. It helps that she finally learns about the Corrupted Gems and Pink Diamond, as well as the fact that Steven freed her to be with her friends again.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Bismuth realizes that she might have given Pink Diamond the idea to fake her death, which in turn led to the Diamonds unleashing the Corruption attack, hurting all of Bismuth's friends. She doesn't react well to this realization.
- Welcome Back, Traitor: After her betrayal in her debut episode, Bismuth returns this episode and accepted back into the Crystal Gems after realizing she was wrong.
- Wham Episode: Bismuth is back and reunited with the Crystal Gems for good, after having solidified her friendship with Steven.
- Wham Shot: The camera focuses on Steven writing something down on an empty place card for the wedding. He gets out of his chair, and the camera then pans to show Steven wrote Bismuth's name on the card.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: When Bismuth first sees all the bubbled Gems, she initially thinks they are all bubbled because they disagreed with Rose like she did. Once she frees the corrupted Biggs, she realizes she was wrong.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Bismuth tells Steven that he is the leader of the Crystal Gems now that Garnet is MIA because he has kept them together.
