History Recap / StevenUniverseS5E19NowWereOnlyFallingApart

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** In "Jungle Moon" Pink demands to Yellow that she be given her own colony so she can be "important" like the other Diamonds. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor She quickly bores of it because she's not allowed to intermingle with anyone but her only servant, and then she's outright horrified by it once she learns how harmful Kindergartening is to planets like Earth]].
** Rose and Pearl attempt to scare away the Homeworld Gems by ambushing an entire army, without any plan or military strategy. Even though it's a CurbStompBattle initially in Rose's favor since she's a Diamond against a bunch of Rubies and her "Renegade Pearl" has more combat training than she's supposed to, she and Pearl end up surrounded and would have been poofed if not for Garnet's formation distracting them.
** Pearl holding Rose up in her hands like a formation ends badly because despite having SuperStrength, Rose is ''much'' larger than she is, causing her to lose balance.
** Fusing is depicted as somewhat difficult, especially for beginners, to initiate and maintain. When Rose Quartz and Pearl fuse for the first time, the fusion comes undone before it has time to stabilize.
** Sapphire hitting on an insecurity of Ruby's (that she couldn't have known about Rose because she never ''has'' to know anything) and calling their relationship a "lie" leaves Ruby incredibly hurt. By the time she realizes her mistake, Ruby has left behind a goodbye note.

Immediately after the reveal that [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E18ASinglePaleRose 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.

* LiteralMinded: Pearl interprets Pink Diamond's rhetorical "Can 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.

* ComicallyCrossEyed: Pearl [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/steven-universe/images/9/93/Now_We%27re_Only_Falling_Apart_%28130%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20180712205324 briefly goes cross-eyed]] when she snaps out of her holographic state.
* ConflictingLoyalty: Pearl was originally meant to make Pink Diamond happy, but since Pink was a RebelliousPrincess, 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.

* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Sapphire angrily asks why Pink didn't save the Earth and avoid the Rose Quartz ruse entirely, but Pearl reveals that Pink ''[[WhamLine 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 kept resisting, they would seize the colony from her and finish it themselves while keeping her as a leader in-name-only.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Once given her own colony, Pink Diamond realizes running it alone in the [[SpaceBase moon base]] is boring ''and'' [[LonelyAtTheTop lonely]]. Her new wish was to be able to see the Earth for herself, but ''then'' she discovered that she was destroying life on Earth to make new gems, hurting all the organic species there.

** Sapphire is ''not'' happy upon learning that Rose [[TwoAliasesOneCharacter is]] [[BenevolentBoss Pink]] [[TokenGoodTeammate Diamond]], fleeing upon learning it and believing that she was the [[BadBoss cruel]] [[DirtyCoward and cowardly]] [[EvilOverlord 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.

** In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E27ItCouldveBeenGreat "It Could've Been Great"]], it was noted the Diamond base on the moon was only open to the most elite Gems. Here we see Pink Diamond working in the base, disappointed that her only company is Pearl (who she finds depressingly sycophantic).

* ConflictingLoyalty: Pearl was originally meant to make Pink Diamond happy, but since Pink was a RebelliousPrincess, 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 started seeing herself as a corrupting influence and claimed she needed to be replaced, but Pink/Rose insisted otherwise.

* CurseEscapeClause: Now that Steven has finally seen what Pearl was literally unable to speak about and have nobody know about, the latter is free from Pink's last order to her as a Diamond.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Rose Quartz and her Renegade Pearl's initial attempts to rebel were not very well thought out. As we see, when they attacked Blue Diamond's palanquin, if not for Ruby then the two would have been caught and the rebellion ended before it begun. After Garnet joined their team, Rose's battle efforts improved since Ruby ''did'' know war combat, and Sapphire has Future Vision.

** 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 [[EvilMatriarch cruel, cold, and cowardly tyrants of Homeworld]] and believes that the Crystal Gems' ultimate goal was to shatter them all. As Steven had already figured out and goes with Pearl to help Sapphire realize, however, 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.

* EasilyForgiven: In contrast to Sapphire, Ruby and Amethyst forgive Rose rather easily upon learning the truth. Or at least they handle the revelation better.

** Sapphire is so upset that her powers makes the weather at Rose's fountain snowy. Once Pearl's stories turn her around, everything begins to thaw.

* EquivalentExchange: Pink eventually realized that they weren't creating life/Gems from nothing, they were taking life from Earth.
* EvilAllAlong: Sapphire seems to have this belief about Rose upon finding out that she is actually Pink Diamond, who she still believes to be an EvilOverlord like the rest of the Diamonds, until Steven and Pearl helped her realize Pink/Rose's true motives.

** When Pink tried to talk to Blue about not creating the colony, she said that she wanted to spare the native Earth life. [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint So Blue Diamond decided to create]] [[PeopleZoo the Human Zoo]].
** In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E28MessageReceived "Message Received"]], Steven asked Pearl who Yellow Pearl was, and she responses 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.

** Notice how the camera angles in this episode obscures Rose's painting, [[RuleOfSymbolism or at least her entire face.]]

* FromACertainPointOfView: 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 became Rose Quartz to fight against them when reasoning with them didn't work.

* GoneHorriblyRight: 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.
* GoodAllAlong: In contrast to Sapphire still holding on to her belief that Rose Quartz turned out to be the cruel, cowardly, evil tryant 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.
* HeelRealization: After exploring Earth in person, Pink saw its natural beauty and humanity, and realized that none of it would survive her invasion, amending her comment about making life from nothing to taking life and leaving nothing behind.

* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Type B. Pink Diamond's position makes her rather lonely. The other Diamonds see her as an AnnoyingYoungerSibling and every other gem falls under the category of SycophanticServant 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.

** It only took Pearl ''doing what she was made to do'' that inevitably led Pink Diamond to start the rebellion in the first place.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: 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. It ends up leading to their genuine bond, when Pink thanks Pearl for the idea, because it gives them a new purpose: to save the Earth.
* JerkassRealization: Sapphire realizes that she was cruel to blame Ruby for not knowing of Rose's history and to denounce 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.
* KickTheDog: In expressing her outrage over being lied to for thousands of years, Sapphire blames Ruby for not knowing about Rose even though Rose made sure no one knew about her, then shuts down Ruby's attempts to calm her by denouncing their relationship as a complete lie and storming out of the house. She [[JerkassRealization eventually realizes how cruel her words were]], but Ruby was so hurt that she ends up leaving, too, making it too late to apologize.
* KickTheMoralityPet: Blue and Yellow Diamond callously rebuffing Pink's request to spare the Earth, thinking she is being ungrateful. [[TheDogBitesBack It causes Pink to snap and stage her rebellion]].
* KingIncognito: Pink Diamond disguised herself as a Quartz soldier 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.

* LastSecondWordSwap: 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".

* LetsGetDangerous: Before she decided to save the Earth, Pink was an immortal, bored teenager who wanted friends and not servants. The Diamonds could pick her up, and she doesn't seem to pose a threat. After begging to spare the Earth did no good in persuading her family, however, Pink Diamond changes into Rose Quartz, white dress and all, with a threatening DeathGlare. After that, she and Pearl began to sabotage the colony.

* LiteralMinded: Pearl interprets Pink Diamond's rhetorical "Can 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 conceived of the disguise as a way to mingle with the Quartz soldiers without the Diamonds learning of it.
* LonelyAtTheTop: 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 [[KingIncognito 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.

-->'''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!\\

* MonsterProgenitor: 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 fusion that came after was inspired by Garnet's example.

** Pink Diamond had this reaction to seeing she was 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 finds her and Pearl.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: 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.
* NightmareFace: 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 DeathGlare. It's rather frightening considering how cheerful Pink usually is.
* ObliviouslyEvil: It turns out Pink genuinely had no idea the damage she was doing to the Earth with her colonization at first, until she actually went down there.

** Many scenes reflect Garnet's version of Rose's origin in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E13YourMotherAndMine "Your Mother and Mine"]], but accounting for her actual past as Pink Diamond — most notably a 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 [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E25TheAnswer "The Answer"]] without the ArtShift, 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 know ''why'' the early Crystal Gems seemed to consist [[OddlySmallOrganization solely of Rose Quartz and Pearl]]-- Garnet was actually the first gem she 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.

--->'''Sapphire:''' SHE '''''LIED''''' TO US!! SHE LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING!!
* OriginsEpisode: This episode shows ''exactly'' how Pink became "Rose".

* PuppetKing: Gender-inverted. 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.
* RageBreakingPoint: 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 give a chilling DeathGlare, which was the point she decided to scare the Gems off the planet, not just leave peacefully as intended.

* TheReveal: Pearl reveals a number of important truths in this episode:
** ''Pearl'' was the one who 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 was 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 seize control of the colony from her and destroy the planet.

** Garnet's fusion was the first fusion Rose and Pearl had ever seen between different kinds of gems. It inspires Pearl to declare she wants 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''.

* RuleOfThree: Pink asks Pearl to imagine something three times. First, Pink asks if Pearl could imagine overseeing a colony being 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 tells Pearl to 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 could feel like. 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.
* ScareEmStraight: Pink's original plan was to scare Gemkind off of Earth entirely. Garnet's ostracizing for being the first different-Gem fusion gave her a more solid reason to stage her rebellion and defend Earth.

* ShelteredAristocrat: As a Diamond, Pink was expected to stay on the Moon Base instead of mingling with her subjects. As such she had no idea that Earth was already sustaining life. She assumed that Kindergartens were creating life out of nothing. When she learned the truth, she didn't take it well.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Two benevolent examples.
** Thanks to her Pearl making the suggestion, Pink visited Earth in disguise, which in turn led to her newfound love for organic life, and her desire to protect it.
** Pink's original plan was to scare all the Gems off of Earth with her "Rose" persona, but seeing Garnet and the feelings Pearl expressed afterward caused her to decide to form the Crystal Gems.
* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Sapphire angrily asks why Pink didn't save the Earth and avoid the Rose Quartz ruse entirely. Pearl revealed that Pink ''[[WhamLine tried]]'', but the other Diamonds wouldn't let her. Note that it wasn't that they were just verbally telling her "no"; if she kept resisting, they would seize the colony from her and finish it themselves while keeping her as a leader in name only.
* StopWorshippingMe: 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 moments.

** In "Jungle Moon" Pink demands to Yellow that she be given her own colony so she could feel "important" like the other Diamonds. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor She quickly bores of it because she's not allowed to intermingle with anyone but her only servant, and then learns how harmful Kindergartening is to planets like Earth]].
** Rose and Pearl attempt to scare away the Homeworld Gems by ambushing an entire army, without any plan or military strategy. Even though it's a CurbStompBattle initially in Rose's favor since she's a Diamond against a bunch of Rubies, she and her "Renegade Pearl" end up surrounded and would have been poofed if not for Garnet's formation distracting them.
** Pearl holding Rose up in her hands like a formation ends badly because despite having SuperStrength, the latter is ''much'' larger than the former, causing her to lose balance.
** Fusing is depicted as somewhat difficult, especially for beginners, to initiate and maintain. When Rose Quartz and Pearl fuse for the first time, the fusion comes undone before it even has time to stabilize.
** Sapphire harshly criticizing Ruby for something that isn't even her fault (not knowing that Rose is actually Pink Diamond) and calling their relationship a "lie" leaves Ruby incredibly hurt. By the time she realizes her mistake, Ruby has left behind a goodbye note.

'''Pearl:''' I ''could'' imagine it if you would like me to, my Diamond. ''[Pink Diamond gives her an exasperated look]''

* TragicIntangibility: In a flashback from "Now We're Only Falling Apart", Pink Diamond enters her 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.

* UrExample: InUniverse, it appears that Garnet was the first cross-Gem fusion that Pink had ever heard about, stating that she'd only "heard that it was unheard of". It's also the reason why Pink decided that Earth should be a sanctuary for the outcast gems.

* WasTooHardOnHer: 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.

* WingdingEyes: Pink Diamond/Rose at various points of the flashbacks, such as when she first expresses her joy at being in the Kindergarten with the Quartzes.
* YourLittleDismissiveDiminutive: Sapphire angrily refers to the Gem War as Pink Diamond's little war.