Original airdate: July 2nd, 2018

Production code: 1053-149

Immediately after The Reveal that Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond all along, Steven and Pearl sit Garnet and Amethyst down to further explain things. While Amethyst is shocked, she keeps her cool and manages to make light jokes about it. On the other hand, Garnet is unable to maintain her stoic composure for long. She starts to shake and suddenly unfuse with Sapphire raging in anger and betrayal while a shocked Ruby tries to calm her down. Sapphire had never questioned Rose because she trusted her and never saw the possibility of Rose ever lying to her or the other Crystal Gems. Sapphire yells at Ruby and says that everything they had worked for, including their relationship, was all a lie, and that they were all made to be fools. In the heat of the argument, Sapphire warps out of the house leaving a devastated Ruby behind.

Steven and Pearl follow Sapphire to Rose's fountain, where she laments being used for Rose's plans and torturing her and all of her fallen Crystal Gem comrades all this time. Pearl helps Sapphire get over her anger at Rose for deceiving the Crystal Gems by explaining exactly how they came to be.

Way back when Pink Diamond had just got her wish for a colony of her own, she fairly quickly found out that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Diamonds spend the entirety of the invasion in their moonbase, overseeing other gems with only their pearls for company. Pink found this incredibly boring, and Pearl's sycophantic nature frustrating (and certainly not helpful), even though Pearl was made to make Pink Diamond happy despite her never knowing how. When Earth's first Quartz soldiers began to emerge, Pink wanted to go down from her base and greet them, but was unable since a Diamond intermingling with lower gems was frowned upon. Pearl got an idea about how to solve the problem. Since Gems can shapeshift, and if Pink Diamond were to disguise herself as a Quartz, she could freely greet and play with the Quartz gems being born down on the colony. Pink thought this was a great idea, and quickly created a Gemsona to cosplay- Rose Quartz.

Pink was happy to experience her colony firsthand, but this quickly faded as she began to explore the rest of Earth and its natural beauties. Pink soon realized that after Earth was colonized, all of its natural life would be destroyed. Sapphire wonders why Pink didn't end the colony on her own. Pearl explains that she tried, but failed. She desperately tried to stop the colony from being completed using her authority as a Diamond... but it turned out, she didn't have any. The instant she decided to stop doing things the traditional way, Blue and Yellow came down on her like a ton of bricks. No amount of wheedling, excuse-making, or outright begging would move them to grant her anything more than saving just a bit of Earth's life, in a zoo.

So Pink decided that if she wasn't going to be able to make any headway as herself, she'd start objecting as someone else, who the Diamonds would have to listen to. She embraced her Rose Quartz persona as a fearsome renegade gem and she and Pearl formed the 'Crystal Gems', a rebellion group who wished to drive the Diamonds, and every other gem, away from Earth forever. But that objective changed completely after she witnessed Ruby and Sapphire's first fusion into Garnet during an early rebellion attack. Garnet's creation distracted Blue Diamond's court and gave her an opportunity to escape, but it also gave her something more to ponder.

Rose found herself completely amazed something like a fusion between two different gems was even possible. She was even further surprised when Pearl tried to fuse with her. Pearl admits that she started having non-traditional thoughts of her own, about living with Rose and making her happy even if she wasn't her Pearl. In that moment, Rose and Pearl nearly fuse themselves before being startled by Garnet falling down from the cliff. With Garnet, Pink Diamond found a new purpose for the Crystal Gems; aiding the various Off-Colors who otherwise would be shattered just for being what they were and giving them a home on Earth. With Garnet as the first real member, the Crystal Gems became a true revolutionary army, and Rose Quartz's rebellion grew into a war.

Back in the present, Sapphire realized Rose Quartz, Pink Diamond, was following her and Ruby the whole time as Garnet, and their fusion made her the figure they grew to respect and trust through all the millennia. She then suddenly realized that she had left Ruby devastated back at the beach house and quickly warps back to apologize, only to find a handwritten note to her written by Ruby.

Tropes:

• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: In one shot of the montage where Pink Diamond tries to convince the other Diamonds to spare Earth, she is shown on her knees before Blue. When she's still rebuffed, Pink resorts to violence instead.
• Arc Words: "Could you imagine?" Initially meant as an off-handed phrase by Pink Diamond that Pearl misinterprets as an order, it eventually propels the fact that much of Pink Diamond's Character Development was spurred by others, Pearl most of all.
• Armor-Piercing Response: Sapphire asks Pearl if Pink cared so much about the Earth, why didn't she use her authority to stop the Homeworld invasion without involving other Gems? Pearl responds that she tried. Pink did everything she could, but Yellow and Blue refused to listen to her (or misinterpreted her requests ^note  The reason why the Human Zoo was created is because Blue thought that’s what Pink meant when she wanted to spare human life ) to the point of usurping control from her. At that point, Pink got angry and decided if they wouldn't listen to Pink, then Blue and Yellow would have to listen to Rose Quartz.
• Audience Surrogate: Sapphire is a stand-in for those who are questioning if Rose/Pink genuinely cared about Earth and the Crystal Gems. Pearl's story help both her and the audience realize that while Rose may have been foolish and maybe even selfish, she still truly cared about the Earth and the Crystal Gems.
• Bait-and-Switch: Rose and Pearl seemingly Fuse for the first time... only for them to fall apart before the Fusion can fully stabilize.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Once given her own colony, Pink Diamond realizes running it alone in the moon base is boring and lonely. Her new wish is to be able to see the Earth for herself, but then she discovers that she has to destroy life on Earth to make new gems, hurting all the organic species there. Played with in that while Pearl is upset at her diamond's distress, Pink herself is glad to know the truth so she can try to do something to fix it.
• Beware the Nice Ones: After Pink's last attempt to spare the Earth fails, she changes into Rose Quartz in a fury and decides to stop the colonization by force.
• Bittersweet Ending: At the end of the episode, Steven and Pearl have managed to calm Sapphire down and get her to understand Rose/Pink's intentions for starting the Gem War, only to return to find the Temple empty and a note addressed to Sapphire, presumably from Ruby, on the floor.
• Break the Cutie: Pink Diamond suffers this when Blue and Yellow refuse to let her spare the Earth.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Sapphire is not happy upon learning that Rose is Pink Diamond, fleeing upon learning it and believing that she was the cruel and cowardly tyrant that the Crystal Gems were supposed to shatter along with the rest of the Diamonds. This is represented by the promo image above, where a tearful Sapphire kneels on frozen ground as shards containing "Rose"'s image fall around her. It's subverted near the end when Sapphire realizes just how much she and Ruby made an impact on Rose/Pink when they first fused into Garnet, and that Rose/Pink was in a difficult position where she did what she could with what she had.
  • Averted with Ruby, who definitely no longer sees Pink Diamond as a cruel, cowardly tyrant.
  • Rose/Pink Diamond went through this in her backstory for Blue and Yellow Diamond after they completely disregarded her pleas for them to spare Earth, to the point of leading a rebellion against them.
• Call-Back:
  • Sapphire flees to Rose's fountain.
  • In "It Could've Been Great", it's noted the Diamond base on the moon is only supposed to be open to the most elite Gems. Here we see Pink Diamond working in the base, sitting "where an elite would sit", disappointed that her only company is Pearl (whom she finds depressingly sycophantic).
• Call-Forward:
  • The Amethysts in the flashback mention that 8XM was late, but the unit moves on and mentions that she will just have to "catch up". We learned back in "That Will Be All" that 8XM is our Amethyst's designation.
  • Rose's Heel Realization has her acknowledging the Kindergartens' true nature in almost the same words Peridot would in "Back to the Kindergarten".
• Calling Your Attacks: Pearl says "Fusion activate!" when she tries to fuse with Pink Diamond by lifting Pink above her head. All that happens is Pearl losing her balance, and both falling over.
• Character Development:
  • Pearl verbally acknowledges Rose's flaws in this episode, a stunning contrast to her putting Rose on such a high pedestal beforehand.
  • Pink Diamond wanted a colony thinking it was cool and would make her as important as the other Diamonds. Once she goes down to Earth, she starts appreciating organic life more, and is horrified by the consequences of Homeworld colonization.
  • In flashbacks, Pearl goes from being a completely sycophantic servant to Pink Diamond's close friend, co-founder of the Crystal Gem rebellion, and eventually her lover.
• Comically Cross-Eyed: Pearl briefly goes cross-eyed when she snaps out of her holographic state.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Pearl was originally meant to make Pink Diamond happy, but since Pink was a Rebellious Princess, this meant advising her on how to skirt the rules of Homeworld's order (and Pearl rapidly growing infatuated with Pink). After Pearl suddenly tries to fuse with Rose, she starts seeing herself as a corrupting influence and claims she needs to be replaced, but Pink/Rose insists otherwise.
• Curse Escape Clause: Now that Steven has finally seen what Pearl was literally unable to speak about, Pearl is free from Pink's last order to her as a Diamond.
• Death Glare: After Pink's attempts to spare the Earth are pushed aside by Yellow and Blue too many times, she develops one when she turns into Rose.
• Didn't Think This Through: Rose Quartz and her Renegade Pearl's initial attempts to rebel were not very well thought out. As we see when they attack Blue Diamond's palanquin, if not for Ruby then the two would have been caught and the rebellion ended before it began. After Garnet joined their team, Rose's battle efforts improved since Ruby does know about combat and Sapphire has Future Vision.
• Did Not See That Coming: Sapphire had no idea that Rose was Pink Diamond. Despite being a Seer, she trusted Rose and never once questioned her or used her Future Vision to look into Rose's actions at all. The feeling of betrayal makes this fully Played for Drama.
• The Dog Bites Back: Yellow and Blue ignoring her and wresting control over the Earth colony from her causes Pink to assume the "Rose Quartz" identity and stage her Crystal Gem rebellion for Earth.
• "Down Here!" Shot: After Pearl suggests that Pink Diamond shapeshift into a Quartz to go to Earth, when she looks back at Pink, she is shocked to find that she has disappeared. Then Pink's arms enter the frame, and the camera tilts to show her transformed into Rose.
• Dramatically Missing the Point:
  • Sapphire curses herself for ever deciding to trust Rose/Pink, thinking she manipulated her, Ruby, Pearl, and countless Gems into a fake rebellion to indulge in some grander, sadistic plot, as she still downright hates the Diamonds for being the cruel, cold, and cowardly tyrants of Homeworld and believes that the Crystal Gems' ultimate goal was to shatter them all. But as Steven had already figured out and goes with Pearl to help Sapphire realize, Rose's desires to protect the planet were just as genuine as always—it was simply the identities of their leader (Pink instead of Rose) and enemies (Yellow and Blue instead of Pink) that were different.
  • Blue Diamond created the Human Zoo because she misinterpreted what Pink wanted when she said she wanted to preserve the native life on Earth.
• Easily Forgiven: In contrast to Sapphire, Ruby and Amethyst forgive Rose rather easily upon learning the truth, or at least handle the revelation better.
• Empathic Environment:
  • Sapphire is so upset that her ice powers make the weather at Rose's fountain snowy. Once Pearl's stories turn her around, everything begins to thaw.
  • The weather turns overcast and stormy when Pink returns to the Kindergarten after seeing Earth and coming to the realization that Homeworld's invasion will destroy all of the planet's native life.
• Equivalent Exchange: Pink eventually realizes that they don't create Gem life from nothing; they have to take life from Earth.
• Evil All Along: Sapphire seems to have this belief about Rose upon finding out that she is actually Pink Diamond, who she still believes to be an Evil Overlord like the rest of the Diamonds, until Steven and Pearl help her realize Pink/Rose's true motives.
• Exact Words:
  • When Pink tries to talk to Blue about not creating the colony, she says that she wants to spare the native Earth life. So Blue Diamond decides to create the Zoo.
  • In "Message Received", Steven asks Pearl who Yellow Pearl is, and she responds that "not all Pearls know each other". This episode shows Pearl had met Yellow Diamond's Pearl before, making her statement only accurate in the literal sense.
• First Love: Pearl was Pink Diamond's.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: After being told the truth about Rose and being distraught, Garnet looks down at her gems, foreshadowing that she's about to unfuse.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • The moment right before Garnet falls apart, tears already start to stream from Sapphire's eye.
  • Notice how the camera angles in this episode obscure Rose's painting, or at least her entire face.
  • When Pearl and Rose are in the Kindergarten, if you brighten the image at one point, you can notice that the latter's pupils are actually drawn; they look like they're still diamond shaped.
  • When Pink is pleading with the other Diamonds, notice how Blue doesn't have baggy eyes like she does now.
  • Right before Rose and Pearl fall to the ground after their failed attempt at fusing, you can see that the former has starry eyes.
• From a Certain Point of View: It turns out that the story Rose told Garnet about pleading with Pink Diamond to spare the Earth was half-true; Rose did come to Earth and come to appreciate its beauty and organic life. The difference is that she didn't plead with Pink Diamond, it was actually Pink who pleaded with Yellow and Blue Diamond, and who became Rose Quartz to fight against them when reasoning with them didn't work.
• Funny Background Event: When the Amethysts and Topazes of Blue Diamond's court surround Rose and Pearl, the two quickly flee. The Topaz on the left whose face is visible goes from an angry expression to one of, seemingly, indifference.
• Fusion Dance: Pearl reminisces about how Garnet, a fusion of two different Gems, inspired Rose to fight for Gems, not just Earth. In the flashback, Pearl unsuccessfully attempts to fuse with Rose by doing something similar to the Ruby guards. A few moments later they start to accidentally fuse into Rainbow Quartz without any actual attempt at a dance, only for it to fall apart at the last second, right before their form would change from pure light to something solid.
• Gone Horribly Right: Pearl's purpose was to serve her Diamond and make her happy. Pink wanted a friend, however, and not a slave. Pearl, in an attempt to help her Diamond, suggested that she visit the Earth in disguise, so that she could find the companionship she sought. After that, Pearl certainly made Pink happy—because their newfound purpose became saving the Earth and defying the Diamond Authority.
• Good All Along: In contrast to Sapphire still holding on to her belief that Rose Quartz turned out to be the cruel, cowardly, evil tyrant known as Pink Diamond, Steven, Ruby, and Amethyst realize that Pink Diamond was everything that she was proven to be as Rose Quartz and that she had her reasons for starting the Rebellion. At the end of the episode, Sapphire comes to realize this just the same.
• Heel Realization: After exploring Earth in person, Pink sees its natural beauty and humanity and realizes that none of it will survive her invasion, amending her comment about making life from nothing to taking life and leaving nothing behind.
• Hourglass Plot: To "Keystone Motel". In the former episode, Ruby was livid at a team member lying to her and forced Garnet to defuse while Sapphire remained calm. In this episode, Sapphire is the one who’s livid over a team member lying to her and forces Garnet to defuse while Ruby remains calm.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Type B. Pink Diamond's position makes her rather lonely; the other Diamonds see her as an Annoying Younger Sibling and every other gem falls under the category of Sycophantic Servant in one form or another. It is not until she takes on her Rose Quartz identity for the first time that she can actually socialize with people.
• Irony:
  • It says a lot that Ruby, normally the hotheaded one about lies and betrayal, is the one who has to point out to Sapphire that no one could have known that Rose was Pink Diamond, because Rose made sure to cover all her tracks and tie up any loose ends.
  • It only takes Pearl doing what she was made to do that inevitably leads Pink Diamond to start the rebellion in the first place.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Pearl's purpose involved making her Diamond happy, even if the latter was uncomfortable with any orders and such. The problem was that Pink wanted Pearl to think for herself, and to be free and her friend, not her slave. So Pearl, on realizing her company isn't enough for her Diamond, suggests that Pink visit the Earth to mingle among the Quartzes, and it ends up leading to their genuine bond over a new purpose: to save the Earth.
• Jerkass Realization: Sapphire realizes that she was cruel to Ruby in her anger over not investigating Rose's history, and that she shouldn't have denounced their loving relationship as a "lie". But by the time she comes back to apologize, Ruby has left behind a goodbye note, too upset to face her again.
• Kick the Dog: In expressing her outrage over being lied to for thousands of years, Sapphire snaps that of course Ruby wouldn't have known about Rose because it's not her purpose to know things, then shuts down Ruby's attempts to calm her by denouncing their relationship as a complete lie and storming out of the house. She eventually realizes how cruel her words were, but Ruby was so hurt that she ends up leaving, too, making it too late to apologize.
• Kick the Morality Pet: Blue and Yellow Diamond callously rebuff Pink's request to spare the Earth, thinking she is being ungrateful. It causes Pink to snap and stage her rebellion.
• King Incognito: Pink Diamond disguises herself as a Quartz soldier for the first time not to form the Crystal Gems, but just to mingle with her subjects without getting flack from the other Diamonds and so the other Gems wouldn't treat her differently.
  Steven: So it was all so she could get out and have some fun?
  Pearl: Well, that's how it started...
• Last-Second Word Swap: While Pink is disguised as Rose in the Kindergarten, Pearl unconsciously calls her "my Diamond", prompting Pink to give her a warning shush. When Pearl apologizes, she says, "Sorry, my—Quartz?".
• Let Me Get This Straight...: Amethyst opens this episode, which picks up right after "A Single Pale Rose", with one of these.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Pink starts out as an immortal, bored teenager who wants friends and not servants. The other Diamonds are massive by comparison, and she doesn't seem to pose a threat. After begging to spare the Earth does no good in persuading her family, however, Pink Diamond changes into Rose Quartz, white dress and all, with a threatening Death Glare. After that, she and Pearl begin to sabotage the colony and wage open war on the Diamond Authority.
• Literal Metaphor: Sapphire's outrage at Rose's apparent betrayal makes her literally frosty towards her intent and motives. When she begins to warm up to her again, she literally thaws.
• Literal-Minded: Pearl interprets Pink Diamond's rhetorical "Could you imagine?" questions as literal questions and offers to imagine them for her. This is what leads to Pink getting the idea to become Rose Quartz, as Pearl conceives of the disguise as a way to mingle with the Quartz soldiers without the Diamonds learning of it.
• Lonely at the Top: Pink Diamond wants to interact with her subjects but knows the other Diamonds will give her grief for it, since she's essentially royalty intermingling with the peasantry. She originally created her "Rose Quartz" persona at Pearl's suggestion simply to have fun with the Quartzes emerging from the Prime Kindergarten in secret. Pearl even notes that before that, she had tried for millennia to make her happy to no real success.
• Love Confession: Pearl apparently has one to Pink Diamond after the attempted "fusion" between her and Pink:
  Pearl: Oh—I thought—if a Ruby and a Sapphire—but you're a Diamond—forgive me! What am I doing? I...I need to be replaced immediately!
  Rose: No!
  Pearl: [blushing madly] But I've been imagining things. Even when you haven't asked me to, I imagine that I ran away and met you here on Earth, a Rose Quartz. And I'm not yours, but I make you so happy anyway! Isn't that ridiculous? Tell me to stop!
  Rose: [grabs Pearl while blushing madly herself] Please don't ever stop!
• Monster Progenitor: Heroic example. Garnet is the first fusion of different Gem types that Pink has ever seen, and before then, she thought it was unheard of. Every inter-gem fusion that comes after, particularly Rainbow Quartz, is inspired by Garnet's example.
• Ms. Exposition: Thanks to the Curse Escape Clause from last episode, Pearl is now free to reveal everything about Pink Diamond, including her history, her motives to protect Earth, and why she became Rose Quartz, as well as the actions that led to the Gem War and Pink's Fake Assassination.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Pink Diamond has this reaction to seeing she is killing all life on Earth, rather than making life from nothing as she originally believed.
  • Rose has a moment of this when it hits her that leaving Garnet with Blue could result in something horrible happening to her and seems ready to go back and save her when Garnet stumbles on her and Pearl.
  • Once she's finally calmed down, Sapphire remembers the way she lashed out at Ruby and desperately tries to apologize, only to realize Ruby has already left.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Blue and Yellow had just let Pink spare the Earth and listened to her, it wouldn't have given her the incentive to mature, form the Crystal Gems, humiliate their armies, fake her shattering, and cause them to grieve for millennia.
• Nightmare Face: When Yellow and Blue rebuff one of Pink's (many) attempts to get them to leave the Earth alone, Pink transforms into Rose Quartz, looking furious as she stares down the viewers (and presumably, the spots where Yellow and Blue's communication channels used to be) with a chilling Death Glare. It's rather unsettling considering how cheerful and warm Pink usually is.
• Obliviously Evil: It turns out Pink genuinely has no idea the damage she's doing to the Earth with her colonization until she actually goes down there.
• Once More, with Clarity:
  • Many scenes reflect Garnet's version of Rose's origin in "Your Mother and Mine", but accounting for her actual past as Pink Diamond—most notably, the scene of Rose begging Pink Diamond to spare Earth is actually Pink Diamond doing the same to Blue Diamond.
  • In a more literal sense, we're shown some parts of "The Answer" without the Art Shift, letting us see several recognizable gem types at the Sky Arena and showing that the flowers surrounding Garnet, Pearl, and Rose when they meet the second time are roses. We also discover why the early Crystal Gems seemed to consist solely of Rose Quartz and Pearl—Garnet was actually the first gem Rose recruited and the one who gave her the idea to make the Crystal Gems a movement instead of just her and her Pearl causing trouble.
  • The "Diamond Dream" from "Can't Go Back" is also given more context, as we're shown Pink's side of things and what she was actually trying to tell her fellow Diamonds.
• Only Friend: Pearl used to be Pink Diamond's, since other Gems weren't allowed to accompany their Diamond on colonization.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Amethyst looks genuinely frazzled on realizing that the Gem she saw as a mother figure was Pink Diamond, the one who would have conquered Earth.
  • The calm, cool, and collected Sapphire just explodes when she finds out that the truth about Rose and Pink Diamond.
    Sapphire: SHE LIED TO US!! SHE LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING!
• Origins Episode: This episode shows exactly how Pink became Rose.
• P.O.V. Sequel: Part of the episode is "The Answer" from Pearl and Rose's point of view.
• Puppet King: This episode confirms that, despite Pink's status, Yellow and Blue were the ones calling the shots with the colony when she got cold feet, as she had to gain approval from both of them to shut it down.
• Rage Breaking Point: After many attempts to convince her fellow Diamonds, instead of actually responding to her arguments, they simply turn and end the transmission. This results in Pink looking absolutely furious and giving a chilling Death Glare, and it's the point where she decides to scare the Gems off the planet, not just leave peacefully as intended.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: At the end of the episode, Sapphire has managed to better understand Pink/Rose's motivations.
• The Reveal: The flashbacks courtesy of Pearl reveal a number of important truths:
  • Pearl was the one who initially suggested that Pink change into a Rose Quartz to visit Earth without being put on a pedestal, and to make friends among the Quartzes. Pink truly appreciating the Earth and its beauty is what motivated her to fight for it, which was obviously not Pearl's intent but a byproduct.
  • Pink tried her hardest to convince her fellow Diamonds to let her spare the Earth. She became the rebel Rose Quartz, "someone they couldn't ignore", because they wouldn't listen to Pink Diamond's sincere pleas, and if she kept pleading, they would outright seize control of the colony from her and destroy the planet.
  • Blue Diamond created the Human Zoo to placate Pink's concerns about wiping out the "organic life" on Earth. Pink wasn't able to free the inhabitants because it technically wasn't her zoo, it was her fellow Diamond's.
  • "The Answer" actually took place at the beginning of the rebellion, when it was just Pink and her Pearl in disguise. Pink had not yet faked her death, and she had no military strategy yet.
  • Garnet's fusion was the first fusion Rose and Pearl had ever seen between different kinds of gems. It inspired Pearl to declare she wanted to fuse with Rose, and Rose in turn decided she would fight to make the Earth a new home for outcast gems like them. Sapphire realizes that Garnet wasn't following Rose; Rose was following her.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: Pink Diamond rhetorically asks if Pearl could imagine her going down to Earth to greet the Quartz soldiers. Pearl takes this as a command and creates a simulation of that scenario, adjusting it as Pink points out that the other Diamonds would be furious if they learned of her doing so.
• Rule of Three: Pink asks Pearl to imagine something three times. First, Pink asks if Pearl could imagine the oversight of a colony being so boring, and Pearl gives a sycophantic answer ("I could imagine it, if you would like me to, my Diamond") that makes Pink frown. When monitoring the Kindergarten from the Moon Base, Pink asks Pearl if she could imagine her in the Kindergarten playing with the Quartz Gems, and Pearl obliges and imagines Pink being happy with them. Finally, after meeting Garnet, Rose offhandedly asks if Pearl could imagine what fusing with a different gem could feel like, and Pearl's response is to lift Rose over her head and try to fuse with her. Afterward, an embarrassed Pearl admits that she has been imagining scenarios with Rose without being asked to.
• Scare 'Em Straight: Pink's original plan is to scare Gemkind off of Earth entirely; it's only Garnet being ostracized for being the first inter-Gem fusion that motivates her to fight not just for Earth, but for the potential of what Gems could be if they're freed of the hierarchical Homeworld control.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Sapphire runs away via the warp pad after finding out the truth about Rose.
  • By the time Sapphire comes back, only a note for her from Ruby remains.
• Shared Family Quirks: Pink Diamond acts a lot like Steven when she first becomes Rose Quartz. She has his laugh, his smile, his poofy hair, a similar tone of voice when talking to the Amethysts, and a high empathy level.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: As a Diamond, Pink knows she's expected to stay on the Moon Base instead of mingling with her subjects. As such she has no idea that Earth is already sustaining life; she assumed that Kindergartens were creating life out of nothing. When she learns the truth, she doesn't take it well.
• Space Base: Pearl's flashback begins with her and Pink Diamond on the Moon Base, checking various locations on Earth.
• Spanner in the Works: Two benevolent examples:
  • Thanks to her Pearl making the suggestion, Pink visits Earth in disguise, which in turn leads to her newfound love for organic life and her desire to protect it.
  • Pink's original plan is to scare all the Gems off of Earth with her "Rose" persona, but seeing Garnet—and the feelings Pearl expresses afterward—cause her to decide to form the Crystal Gems.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Sapphire angrily asks why Pink didn't save the Earth and avoid the Rose Quartz ruse entirely, but Pearl reveals that Pink tried—but the other Diamonds wouldn't let her. Note that the issue is not merely that they were just verbally telling her "no"; if she had kept resisting, they would've seized the colony from her and finished it themselves while keeping her as a leader in-name-only.
• Stop Worshipping Me: Pearl notes that she never managed to make Pink really happy before they came to Earth, and Pink expresses visible frustration with Pearl's more servile behavior.
• Sycophantic Servant: Pearl was just as obsessively subservient to Pink Diamond as any other Gem, much to Pink Diamond's disappointment. It is not until Pearl started developing beyond her assigned role as a maid with no will of her own does she become the friend Pink Diamond wanted.
  Pink Diamond: Could you imagine that running a colony would be this dull?
  Pearl: I could imagine it if you would like me to, my Diamond! [Pink Diamond gives her an exasperated look]
• Titled After the Song: The title of this episode is based off a line from the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler.
• Tragic Intangibility: Pink enters the moon base's observation room and turns on a surrounding projection of Amethyst soldiers emerging from the Prime Kindergarten on Earth. She tries to greet one of them by extending her arms and saying "Welcome to Earth", but the Amethyst runs right through her, which painfully reminds Pink of her standing in the Gem hierarchy and how alone she is there.
  Pink I wish I could just be there.
• Tranquil Fury: After numerous times to convince the Diamonds to call off the invasion of Earth fail, Pink Diamond decides to take matters into her own hands and shape-shifts into Rose Quartz in silent anger.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As it turns out, it was Pearl's idea, not Pink Diamond's, to create the latter's "Rose Quartz" persona and have them explore Earth in the first place. The rebellion that followed, however, was NOT.
• Ur-Example: In-Universe, it appears that Garnet is the first cross-Gem fusion that Pink has ever heard about, stating that she's "only heard that it's unheard of". It's also the reason why Pink decided that Earth should be a sanctuary for the outcast gems.
• Visual Pun: Pink starts realizing the harmful consequences of the Diamonds' rule after visiting Earth in person, and tried everything to protect the planet she was supposed to colonize. She became closer to Earth.
• Was It All a Lie?: Sapphire is so distraught by the fact that Rose was actually their (supposed) mortal enemy that she starts questioning all the "lies" Rose spoon-fed her, even thinking her relationship with Ruby itself might be a lie.
• Was Too Hard on Her: After learning more about the truth and calming down, Sapphire remembers the harsh things she said to Ruby and goes back to apologize, but by the time they come back, Ruby has already gone.
• Wham Line: Sapphire asks why Pink didn't just try to spare the Earth herself. Pearl's response is chilling: "She tried."
• Wingding Eyes: Pink/Rose at various points of the flashbacks, such as when she first expresses her joy at being in the Kindergarten with the Quartzes or when she's overjoyed at Pearl admitting she's starting to act outside of her purpose.
• Your Little Dismissive Diminutive: Sapphire angrily refers to the Gem War as Pink Diamond's "little war".