History Recap / StevenUniverseS1E40OnTheRun

* BrokenBird: This episode reveals that for millennia Amethyst has been hiding feelings that she didn't belong with the other gems because she was a "mistake". These feelings have been fueled by the fact that Rose, the only person in her existence she felt actually liked her along with Greg, is gone forever. And this all may be due to the fact that [[spoiler: She grew up in a abandoned canyon for millennia with no one to hang out with but Rocks she talked to]]. Poor Gem cant have a break.

* BrokenBird: This episode reveals that for millenia Amethyst has been hiding feelings that she didn't belong with the other gems because she was a "mistake". These feelings have been fueled by the fact that Rose, the only person in her existence she felt actually liked her along with Greg, is gone forever. And this all may be due to the fact that [[spoiler: She grew up in a abandoned canyon for millenia with no one to hang out with but Rocks she talked to]]. Poor Gem cant have a break.

->'''Amethyst:''' I'm not gonna stand here while you remind me of everything I ''hate'' about myself!

* ThisInUnforgivable: Pearl describes what the other gems from the homeworld wanted to do, despite the harm it would cause the Earth, as the reason the Crystal Gems fought against them even though it meant never going home.

* AllAnimalsAreDomesticated: Subverted. Steven and Amethyst meet a raccoon along the way. At first Steven thinks that he's met a new friend, but then it steals his food, attacks him, and follows him around looking for more food to steal. Amethyst thinks this is pretty funny.
* AllThereInTheManual: Ronaldo provides details about the "No Home Boys" series on his blog.
* AmplifiedAnimalAptitude: As the racoon eats the food it stole from Steven, it stands on its back legs and holds food in each front paw in a strangely human way before shoving it all into its mouth.
* AuthorExistenceFailure: In universe, the author of the "No Home Boys'' was run over by a train.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: ''The No Home Boys'' author, Dustylegs Jefferson.

* BilingualBonus[=/=]MeaningfulName: "Kindergarten" is a loan word from German, which literally translates as "children garden". The Kindergarten is where new Gems are [[LiteralMetaphor literally]] ''grown'' like plants.

* DeathByIrony: The author of the "No Home Boys" series, which is about two train-riding VagabondBuddies, was run over by a train during a book signing [[TooDumbToLive in an active train yard]].

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The book series, "The No Home Boys". It's about runaway boys that have no home.

* GenreShift: In-universe with the "No Home Boys" graphic novel, which introduced fantasy elements.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Pearl vaguely refers to the Kindergarten as "something... very bad" that she, Rose, and Garnet came to earth to stop. This ends up deeply hurting Amethyst's feelings and kicks up her inferiority complex. Even when she's trying to apologize to Amethyst she does this, though this time she realizes it as she is saying it.

* IronicEcho: During "On The Run" montage, Amethyst picks Steven up and throws him bodily into the boxcar, then jumps in after him. But during her fight with Pearl, Amethyst picks Steven up and throws him bodily again. It's an indication how upset she is that she wasn't as careful and gentle. Steven lands much less easily this time.
* MeaningfulName: The Kindergarten is a site from which children are grown out of the ground.

* MoralEventHorizon: In-universe, the way Pearl describes what the other gems from the homeworld wanted to do, despite the harm it would cause the Earth, sounds like this.

* VagabondBuddies: The No Home Boys appear to be these. Steven and Amethyst briefly become this as well.

* FastballSpecial: Amethyst gets Steven on board a moving train by throwing him into it, then jumping in herself.

* MoodWhiplash: Starts off as a comical romp with Steven and Amethyst. Then Amethyst takes Steven to Kindergarten, an area devoid of life and strewn with sinister virus-shaped machines and person-shaped holes in the cliffs that many gems, including Amethyst, were born from. It is implied that this process would have destroyed much more or even all life in Earth if the Crystal Gems had not defected and stopped it. To top it off, the second half of the episode unexpectedly reveals HiddenDepths to Amethyst, namely that her carefree personality is in part a facade used to conceal her self-hatred about her origins and insecurity about how she thinks the other Crystal Gems feel about her. Feelings that she'd apparently been suppressing for a while, but now finally came to a head resulting in Amethyst [[FreakOut freaking out and attacking Pearl]]. And all this dark, heavy stuff came with little warning from Steven's lovably silly and childish attempt to imitate something he read in a children's adventure book.

* FreakOut: Pearl's [[InnocentlyInsensitive comments]] at the beginning of the episode remind Amethyst of her long-suppressed feelings about her origins, making her eager to get out of the house. When Pearl chastises her for taking Steven to the Kindergarten, these feelings finally come to a head and explode, causing Amethyst to display symptoms such as [[BrokenSmile insane smiling]], [[referring to herself as a parasite IAmAMonster]], flying into a rage and attacking Pearl, and finally climbing into a hole to sulk.

* CerebusSyndrome: Starts off as a comical romp with Steven and Amethyst. Then Amethyst takes Steven to Kindergarten, and the seriousness settles in.

* MoodWhiplash: The episode starts out with Steven and Amethyst shenanigans, then ends with the reveal that Amethyst came from an area called The Kindergarten that is devoid of life and strewn with sinister virus-shaped machines and person-shaped holes in the cliffs that gems were born from. It is implied that this process would have destroyed much more or even all life in Earth if the Crystal Gems had not defected.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Amethyst's attitude at being created in the Kindergarten is eerily similar to the one an unplanned child might have, even believing that Pearl views her a "big mistake". It can also be similar to a person with a disability.

* ContinuityNod: In "Steven's Lion," when Steven asks to keep the lion, Garnet jokes, "We kept Amethyst." This turns out to be much more than a joke as it's revealed that Rose found Amethyst in the Kindergarden, likely after at least [[WildChild 1,000 years on her own]], and took her in.
* ContrivedCoincidence: The Kindergarden just so happens to be within walking distance of the random train Steven and Amethyst were riding, and their little adventure has been less than a day long.

* EvilIsVisceral: The potentially ecosystem-destroying machines which grow gems in the Kindergarten are full of what looks like [[OrganicTechnology a human heart, arteries, veins, and other viscera]]. One even bleeds when it's damaged, although the way it's broken suggest the "tissue" is actually made of some brittle mineral. The machines are also essential gigantic Bacteriophage virii.

* MeaningfulName: The Kindergarden is a site from which children are grown out of the ground.

* MoralEventHorizon: In universe, the way Pearl describes what the other gems from the homeworld wanted to do, despite the harm it would cause the Earth, sounds like this.

* SymbolicBlood: A gem machines in the Kindergarten breaks, spilling the red organic substance contained inside of it. A borderline example, because it looks almost ''exactly'' like actual blood.

* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Pearl asserts Amethyst as the only good that came out of the Kindergarden, a place where Homeworld Gems used to make [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre "bad" Gems.]]

* OneDimensionalThinking: As the tall machine falls over onto Amethyst, she runs straight forward all the way to her birth hole. This could also be because she didn't want to be stuck in Steven's bubble with him and Pearl.

* OneDimensionalThinking: As the tall machine falls over onto Amethyst, she runs straight forward all the way to her birth hole.

* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Pearl asserts Amethyst as the only good that came out of the Kindergarden, a place where Homeworld Gems used to make "bad" Gems.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Pearl vaguely refers to the Kindergarten as "something... very bad" that she, Rose, and Garnet came to earth to stop. This ends up deeply hurting Amethyst's feelings and kicks up her inferiority complex.

Steven has become engrossed in a book, but drops it to greet the Gems as they return via warp. They have collected all the deactivated Robonoids that Peridot left behind, and Amethyst playfully smashes one, splattering it everywhere. Pearl scolds her and begins explaining that the Homeworld warp cannot be allowed to become operational again. Garnet assures her that Earth is safe, prompting Steven to ask "safe from what?"

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Amethyst's attitude at being created in the Kindergarten is eerily similar to the one an unplanned child might have, even believing that Pearl views her a "big mistake".

** The imagery of the Gem birthing holes in the Kindergarden brings to mind Ronaldo's conspiracy theory from "Keep Beach City Weird," where he theorizes that [[ExpospeakGag Polymorphic Sentient Rocks]] have been attempting to hollow out the Earth.

* MoodWhiplash: The light-heartedness of the first act vanishes once "Kindergarten" is introduced.

* SmashToBlack: Instead of the usual IrisOut, the episodes smashes to black after a view of the decaying Kindergarten, [[LastNoteNightmare ending]] with [[ScareChord ominous percussion notes]], as if the machines [[TheEndOrIsIt were being reactivated]].

* SmashToBlack: Instead of the usual IrisOut, the episodes smashes to black after a view of the decaying Kindergarten, [[LastNoteNightmare ending]] with [[ScareChord ominous percussion notes]], as if the machines were being reactivated.

Steven has become engrossed in a book, but drops it to greet the Gems as they return via warp. They have collected all the deactivated Robonoids that Peridot left behind. Amethyst playfully smashes one, splattering it everywhere. Pearl scolds her and begins explaining that the Homeworld warp cannot be allowed to become operational again. Garnet assures her that Earth is safe, prompting Steven to ask "safe from what?"

Pearl awkwardly tries to explain, in a too-careful way, that the Gems from the Homeworld had plans for Earth that some gems, like Rose, Garnet, and Pearl, disagreed with; so vehemently that they chose to protect Earth at the cost of never going home. As Pearl stumbles over saying what the Gems from the Homeworld were doing, Amethyst catches and smashes another Robonoid underfoot, expression sulky, or worse.

Steven declares the Crystal Gems are just like The No Home Boys, the heroes of his books. Pearl points out that they're literally standing in Steven's home. Steven wonders what life on the road would be like. Amethyst urges him to find out. The pair pack up two [[BindleStick Bindle Sticks]], catch a ride with the cool kids, and hop a freight train, all to the tune of a song. Amethyst's verses seem to be a bit more somber.

After losing the only food he packed to a vicious raccoon, Steven asks Amethyst for some of hers, but she has eaten it all already. After a minute of trying to sleep in itchy hay, Steven declares himself done pretending. Amethyst says she's not. As the two leave the train behind, Amethyst reveals she's not from the Gem Homeworld. She shows Steven "The Kindergarten" and explains she was created here, showing Steven the hole she came out of. She giddily describes living here, essentially alone, until Rose, Garnet and Pearl found her.

Pearl arrives via warp pad, scolding Amethyst for running off and for having taken Steven to such a bad place. When she asks Amethyst how much she told Steven, the purple Gem explodes, revealing that the Gems from Homeworld made more gems here...and that the Crystal Gems protect earth from parasites like her.

Steven jumps between them again. Amethyst is so upset she's in tears. Steven is in tears as well, because he hates seeing the Gems fight. Before they can try to make up, one of the structures damaged in the fight falls. Steven conjures his force field, but Amethyst jumps out of its boundaries and runs away.

Once the threat has passed, Steven finds Amethyst huddled with her face to the wall in the hole she described coming from. He tries to talk to her, but she brushes him off, saying she's bad and he shouldn't want anything to do with her. Steven insists Pearl talk to Amethyst. After a rough start that threatens to make things worse, Pearl gets through to Amethyst. Pearl also ends up with tears in her eyes after realizing how much pain Amethyst was in.

The trio return home, Steven looking forward to sleeping in a bed. After they warp away, ominous shadows fall on the now-deserted Kindergarten...

* DeathByIrony: The author of the "No Home Boys" series, which is about two train-riding VagabondBuddies, dies by being run over by a train.