Headscratchers / Steven Universe Season 5

All spoilers unmarked.

---

The Trial

"The Trial"

• This episode revealed that it's possible that Rose Quartz may not have been the one to shatter Pink Diamond. This is apparently because at the time Pink Diamond was shattered, she wasn't with her court, which would include Agates to protect her, Sapphires to warn her of Rose approaching, and her Pearl to let out a distress cry at the sight of her. Plus, apparently all Rose Quartzes were removed from the Diamonds' courts, so Rose couldn't blend in with them to get close enough to do the deed. All that makes it seem like something that would legitimately shine some doubt on Rose Quartz. Except for one thing. In "Back to the Moon", Eyeball said she was there to see Rose Quartz shatter Pink Diamond. So, doesn't that kind of invalidate Defense Zircon's entire claim?
  • First, nobody ever said she was away from her guards and attendants. They said that whoever did it was someone they'd trust enough to allow access to her, which Rose wasn't. Second, she could be lying, she could be delusional, she could believe the claim that Rose shattered Pink and think she was there to witness it when she wasn't.
  • It's also possible that another Gem shapeshifted to look like Rose, or it was another Rose Quartz. Eyeball undoubtedly has some greater connection to this entire thing. It is worthy of note, however, that the Rose Quartzes were only removed AFTER the shattering of Pink Diamond as this was taken as evidence of the whole lines fault. This Troper also finds it highly suspicious that we have heard nothing of the other diamond, White Diamond, who would also be a suspect (but I digress).
    • Actually its heavily implied that the other Rose Quartzes were bubbled after CG Rose became a recognized threat for several hundred years, as Blue Zircon says that there were no Rose Quartz solders in Pink Diamond's entourage or guard, making it unlikely that a Rose Quartz could've possibly have gotten close enough to shatter Pink Diamond without anyone seeing her approach.
  • And now we know, it's because Rose is Pink Diamond and the "Rose" that "shattered" her (actually just poofed) was actually her Pearl, CG Pearl. They faked the whole "shattering", which is what Eyeball saw.
• Why was Blue Zircon so certain she would be shattered if she failed to defend Steven? Yellow Diamond considered the trial's outcome a forgone conclusion, and even Blue Diamond just wanted some closure; shattering her for failing to defend Steven when Steven confessed to the crime would just be pointlessly wasteful, especially since it was the outcome at least one Diamond clearly wanted.
  • One possibility is that Blue Diamond, knowing most gems couldn't be trusted to reliably defend Rose Quartz and worried that they would fear retaliation from Yellow Diamond if they gave a proper defense, chose her most competent and obsessive defense Zircon and then (falsely) put the fear of shattering into her to ensure that the Zircon would fear being shattered by her more than by Yellow Diamond, making sure Steven would get enough of a genuine defense to uncover the truth. We know that Blue Zircon wasn't shattered despite directly accusing the Diamonds, so it seems unlikely that she was ever actually in any danger.

Lars' Head

"Lars' Head"

• Now that Lars' hair and Lion's mane pocket dimension are inter-connected, due to physical limitations they obviously cannot enter their own respective portals, but what would happen if Lars entered Lion's mane? Or vice versa, if Lion entered Lars' hair?
  • Maybe they'd only see each others' dimensions? Or they'd see both dimensional islands but only be able to exit the one that isn't theirs.
  • What if Lars goes into Lion's mane with Steven, and then Steven goes into Lars' hair while they're both inside Lion?
  • Pretty sure that'd be the same as dividing by zero.
  • Actually... there are no problems with entering. If Lars enters Lion's mane, Lars ends up in the Pink Dimension. His hair is still a portal to the Pink Dimension. If Steven is also in the Pink Dimension and enters Lars' hair, Steven just pops up in the pink grass a few yards away. He can keep repeating this as many times as he wants, and he can leave the Pink Dimension at any time by leaving via Lion's grass. The one and only paradox is if Lars enters through Lion's mane and tries to leave through his own grass. It would mean that Lars exits through his own head, which is impossible. There is no problem with a portal going through another portal. There is only an issue when a portal goes through itself.
    • This troper isn't a science buff, and it hurts their head less if they think of doors. Like if you took your front door off, and walled it over, you could bring it through your back door, but you couldn't then go through the wall.
• How could Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl not know about Rose Quartz's ability to resurrect organic life? Given how compassionate she was, surely Rose would have brought many animals, including humans, back to life over the millennia spent on Earth in front of them, especially during the war.
  • You'll notice that Rose's healing powers came from her tears while Steven's healing comes from his spit. Steven resurrects Lars with his tears so if the pattern persists then Rose would resurrect with her spit. It's unlikely she was aware she had that power since she probably didn't go around licking corpses, at least not until she used it on Lion whom she likely gave a goodbye kiss too. As for why she didn't say anything about resurrecting Lion, she seems to have been keeping everything she did in that desert a secret, I'm sure we'll learn why eventually.

Gemcation

"Gemcation"

• Garnet is still going with the Rose killed Pink Diamond line and trying to rationalize it to Steven. Ignoring for the moment that Steven may not have told the Gems about the trial, is there a reason the Gems are holding onto this story... or is this another example of Rose not telling them everything?
  • Because Rose really did it? Nothing that was brought up in "The Trial" proved she didn't, only that there was more to the story than the Diamonds or Steven was aware of. While there's almost certainly going to be a few twists to the story odds are Rose is still the one who shattered Pink, Garnet and Pearl have never had a reason to lie about it and Eyeball Ruby and Pink's entire entourage saw it happen first hand.
• So, do the Gems not even know what exactly happened to Steven on Homeworld? Their questioning seemed a bit... vague compared to Lapis' more visceral reaction in "Raising the Barn".
  • They probably know the vague details, it's likely Steven focussed more on what happened to Lars and they were probably trying to give him space to recover.
  • But, they're the Crystal Gems. Their love of Steven and fear of Homeworld are 2 of their most defining traits. Being career soldiers during the rebellion, shouldn't they have a good opinion on Steven's Heroic Sacrifice? Haven't they been in relationship with each other and with him long enough for something deeper like, "Don't ever do that again, it had us so worried!" or something like that? Don't you think it's weird at all that Steven told his friend gems before his parent gems what exactly happened?
    • You have to keep in mind what happened right after he got back: he had his fallout with Connie. It was already the middle of the night so he probably just gave them a quick outline of events and went to bed (after what he'd been through letting him have a good night's sleep in his own bed isn't much to ask) and next we see he's letting Lars' loved ones in his status, gets sidetracked trying to help Dewey and figures out why Connie's so upset. Now, as we saw in this very episode, the Gems and Greg want to know more but Steven's very clearly upset and not giving them details. The Connie thing has consumed him completely, the only reason Peridot and Lapis got information about the Diamonds and the trial is because they happened to ask while Steven was finally starting to ease up on the Connie thing.
    • "Don't you think it's weird at all that Steven told his friend Gems before his parent Gems what exactly happened?" Not at his age.

Back to the Kindergarten

"Back to the Kindergarten"

• SUNFLOWERS!??? You gotta be kidding me! Why in the world would they use Sunflowers in a shaded canyon!?? I can get Amethyst and Peridot not knowing better, but surely Steven wouldn't be so stupid as to not recognize that with the word SUN in the name, they'd plant a different kind of flower for this.
  • What makes you think Steven knows anything about plants? The kid hadn't even heard about school until the previous year. And even if it was a bad idea they still shouldn't have withered that bad in a day.

Kevin Party

"Kevin Party"

• When you think about it, Connie had plenty of chances to talk things out to Steven up until the moment of their reconciliation, or at least leave him some kind of sign to know she still cared about him even though she was angry with him, until she felt ready to talk. So why didn't she?
  • When Steven was blowing up her phone trying to make amends, we didn't she just text Steven and let him know straight up that she wanted some time apart from him?
    • She likely wanted to, but didn't know how to do so without actually talking to him, or at the very least, without potentially initiating a conversation with him.
  • When she went to Steven's house to talk and found that he had left on vacation, why didn't she leave some kind of note or sign that showed that she had been there, so that Steven would know that she wanted to talk to him? And why didn't she ever try to visit him again afterwards?
    • For the first one, she probably simply overlooked that idea in trying to figure everything out. Connie does have a tendency to overthink things from time to time. As for the second one, she probably always intended to try again, most likely after waiting a few days for Steven to return, but real-life issues (school, family matters, etc.) forced her to have to put off doing so over and over again.
  • When she and Steven saw each other at the party, why didn't she just go straight over to and talk him, and continued socializing with the other guests instead?
    • She most likely freaked out just like Steven did, and didn't know what to say to him or what his opinion of her was after being unintentionally left in the dark by her for so long, but unlike him, was able to keep her freak out to herself, and continued socializing in order to clear her head and calm her nerves enough so that she could talk to him without the risk of messing up. Unfortunately, by the time she was calm enough and ready to talk to Steven, he, out of desperation, had already taken Kevin's advice to give her the cold shoulder to bait her into coming to him.
• What would've happened had Steven stuck to his first decision to leave the party without talking to Connie?
• What would've happened had Kevin not stopped Steven when he tried to go over to talk to Connie while bursting into tears and dripping snot out of his nose? How would Connie have reacted?
  • Possibly, she would've been slightly embarrassed, but not enough to freak out and completely reject Steven as Kevin speculated, since she knows how much of an emotional butterball Steven is. Likely, she would've taken him someplace private, calmed him down, and then talked things out with him.

Lars of the Stars

"Lars of the Stars"

• Lars says that he stole his cape. From whom? Gem clothing is holographic.
  • Maybe the Gem was one from Earth who escaped. Maybe she liked it and took it for a souvenir, as a high-level Gem she might have been allowed an exception or maybe Gems were too scared to tell the Diamonds that she was wearing human clothes. Or maybe she says that the clothes are part of her hologram and no-one cares to check. That is, if the cape was from the gem who owned the ship.
  • Hell, maybe some influential Gems get clothes made for them, maybe illegally.
    • It could be possible. In Save the Light, Hessoniteis a high-ranking Homeworld Gem who wears a large cape. While it's not stated if her cape is holographic or not, it's possible that non-holographic capes are a status symbol among high-ranking Homeworld commanders.
  • Another possibility is that the cape is actually a piece of technology like Peridot's limb enhancers or the Zircons' hologram-projector monocles. Since Lars doesn't have a gem, he can't operate it and so it's just turned off all the time, rendering it just a simple cape.

Jungle Moon

"Jungle Moon"

• How is Stevonnie accessing Pink's memories? The last time Steven had "Diamond Dreams" it was Blue Diamond, who was very much alive and on Earth. Considering Steven can't even tap into Rose Quartz's memories, even though he has access to her Gem, does getting memory playbacks from Pink put another question mark next to the current state of Pink Diamond?
  • Yes, another indication Pink could still be alive.
  • How I see it, either Rose is Pink Diamond after all, or Stevonnie has some kind of ramped up version of Steven's empath abilities (much like how Garnet's future vision is better than Sapphire's) allowing them to access those memories somehow.
  • While the dream power enhancement idea is the most likely there's also the chance that Stevonnie was picking up YELLOW's memories. Yellow is the other person in the dream, she's still alive and they were sleeping in her moon base and it's possible she was relatively nearby.
    • Why would they be experiencing Yellow's memories from Pink's point of view?
    • Steven's dream powers are weird, as long as he's not possessing them he seems to be able to maintain a separate perspective (such as when he was in Kiki's mind). Plus Connie's mind is in there to scramble things further.
  • Now explained. Stevonnie could access Pink's memories because they had her Gem.
• As devastating and horrific the sight of the shattered planet is, shouldn't a finished world look more like the schematics Peridot showed the Crystal Gems in "It Could've Been Great"? What happened that forced Yellow Diamond to leave a colony unfinished (or shattered in another fit of pique). Would it be the same reason the Diamond Tower is abandoned in the first place?
  • This is more something for WMG.
  • Honestly, I think it was finished. Not every colony is going to look like Earth was, Earth was Pink's first colony and likely was planned to be the seat of her power away from Homeworld, not a typical colony. Most likely Yellow had this colony stripped of recourses and then left when she was done.

Pool Hopping

"Pool Hopping"

• This one could be addressed in a future episode, why was the possibility that Steven could use his powers to fix Cat Steven's missing eye never suggested?
  • You can't fix something that isn't there to be fixed. While you might have a point if she still had a physical eye that was just clearly damaged, re-growing a body part completely is a taller order.
    • The Watermelon Stevens and the cat fingers both prove that Steven can grow new organic matter. He's not limited to what's already present. Growing a new eye might not technically qualify as "fixing" something, granted, but he should still be capable of it.
    • The Watermelon Stevens were watermelons. They grew because they were made from seeds, not because Steven made matter from nothing. The cat fingers are an iffy thought, as he is capable of shapeshifting and that's a whole different issue. All of their matter is connected to him as a part of a magical being. Cat Steven is not a magical being, and the wound that led to the loss of the eyeball had already healed. The eye is gone, yes, but the wound is healed as much as a scar on your arm is and we've seen no indication that Steven can clear scars.

Letters to Lars

"Letters to Lars"

• Why didn't Steven just bring Peridot to help fix warp drive engine? Steven even acknowledges Peridot and Lars never met, so not only would it fixed the Off Colors' and Lars' problems, it also would have set up a good end joke
  • Listen to the opening narration, they're looking for materials to finish repairs, they already know what they're doing they just need new parts. Peridot wouldn't have made a difference at this point.

A Single Pale Rose

"A Single Pale Rose"

• Does this mean that Rose was shapeshifting this whole time? How can she hold it for that. long. To where she can be identified as a Quartz to live and die as a Quartz. Did Greg have any idea? Obviously, Garnet and Amethyst had no idea. So how could she had stayed in a Quartz form if she was originally a Diamond?! Please can someone explain?
  • It's made abundantly clear Gems assume the form they see as being themselves. If Pink Diamond legitimately saw herself as Rose Quartz then she's just forming a construct she's pleased with as business. Also she's a Diamond, she's incredibly strong-willed and normal rules don't apply to her.
  • Redistribution of mass? Pink Diamond is tall and thin, but Rose Quartz is shorter and stouter. It's likely that Pink was able to use her poofing to assume the Rose Quartz form as her new default appearance upon regenerating. Amethyst's issues with retaining a larger size for extended periods of time stem from her gem producing more mass than her default form when she does so.
    • Yes, default form after "shattering". But the question still applies when Rose was leading the Crystal Gems. So consider that Amethyst is Deep Cut (considered best for her gem type) and Pink is Round Cut (best for hers) and we know Amethyst can hold her shapeshifting for a long time even without having to poof.
    • Yes, but even before her "shattering" she was actively Rose Quartz making a rebellion and making herself a threat. How was she in two places at once? And this is before she "reformed".
    • The episode provides a good explanation: Pearl likely assumed Rose's form sometimes to masquerade at her, letting her be in two places at once.
    • It's entirely possible that a Diamond may be able to hold up transformation for much longer than regular Gems, perhaps indefinitely even.
    • And the only times we've seen a Gem struggling to hold a form were when that form was larger than their baseline form. Given that "Rose Quartz" and "Pink Diamond" were about the same mass (one was shorter and plumper, the other taller and more slender), she could probably have held the shapeshift indefinitely.
    • There are several comments here about shapeshifting, but there's also evidence that the Rose Quartz form is permanent for her. When a gem is poofed and then reforms, we see white flashes of previous forms they took before settling into their new one. When Steven's gem is removed by White Diamond, we see a flash of Pink Diamond and then one of Rose Quartz before it settles into Steven. It's likely that when Pink Diamond was poofed, she chose to reform permanently as Rose Quartz.
• How did Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz place that silence effect on Pearl? Can she ever take it off? Heck, after the war (like after the final blow or maybe when she met Greg or something) doesn't her friends deserve to know the truth? Whether or not she wants to talk about it/hide it? She was willing to take this secret with her to the grave!
  • Magic. Or heavy psychological conditioning.
  • Most likely, Pearls are hardcoded to keep their owners' secrets, given that the Diamonds seem to take theirs everywhere. So when Pink Diamond ordered her Pearl to keep the secret, the programming kicked in.
  • Pink herself made it quite clear what she did. She ordered Pearl to never tell anyone, and now Pearl literally CAN'T say anything about it, no matter how much she wants to. Her entire purpose, her reason for being, is to take Pink's orders. She can't control that any more than you can control your own heartbeat.
• How come Steven's gem wasn't born with the diamond position? If that's the original position?
  • Pink was still in control of herself while Steven was growing inside her. Presumably, she made sure it was embedded into him the way she wanted.
  • The mechanics of the position of a Gem aren't fully explored yet, but it can be assumed that, like with their physical forms. It's in accordance with how they see themselves/feel comfortable. Its also possible that Steven's guts are literally obstructing it.
• Why didn't the other Diamonds recognize Rose's shield? Shouldn't they know their own sister's Gem weapon?
  • It's possible that Pink Diamond's shield looked different from Rose's. We know Gem weapons can be modified (as Bismuth did to the Crystal Gem's gear), so perhaps Pink Diamond's shield didn't have that rose motif unless she was playing Rose Quartz.
  • You are assuming the shield was Pink Diamond's, to begin with. But we've never seen a Diamond form a Gem weapon. In Garnet's admittedly unreliable flashback, Pink is shown using destabilizers when fighting. For all we know, Pink first conjured the shield when she assumed the Rose Quartz identity for the first time.
    • Since Garnet (who was in the flashback) was unfamiliar with destabilizers in "The Return", Pink using destabilizers was probably just a product of Steven's imagination. It's unlikely they were even invented in Era I. The point still stands that Pink probably never used Rose's shield as Pink.
    • Based on a tweet by Ian saying some Quartz soldiers need defensive abilities, I think the shield was common to all Rose Quartzes.
    • And since Pink Diamond created the Rose Quartz Gems, it's perfectly plausible that if one of them manifests a shield it would match Pink Diamond's shield.
    • "Change Your Mind" indicates that Pink's shield changed appearance when she became Rose, as Pink Steven uses a different shield, which White Diamond calls "your shield".
  • I figure Pink rarely had to fight much anyway. Sending your leader into direct combat seems foolish, especially when said leader is supposed to be "invincible" (which is clearly not entirely true, or "Rose" wouldn't have needed any sort of protection).
• Didn't Steven's gem get scanned several times, while he was on Homeworld? While an inverted gem might fool the eye, I don't see how it would fool Homeworld technology.
  • You're assuming that the things were created to scan organics. Don't forget that a scan to a Gem would only detect the light constructs that are their bodies which would pass through but would detect the actual solid part of them which is their gemstone. Steven, though, has his gemstone embedded in his skin and organs which would block the scan from fully taking in the shape of Pink Diamond.
  • There's probably a list of acceptable Gems and since Pink is supposed to be already shattered she was removed from that list so Steven now reads as an invalid gem type. Though there's a good chance this will be how they prove Steven's identity to the Diamonds.
  • By scanning, they locate and destroy Gems, but probably don't recognize them. Remember, it was never stated they were looking specifically for Steven and Lars or the Off-Colors, or if they were sent directly by the Diamonds or just doing their job: Shattering everyone they found (more likely the latter).
  • There's nothing to suggest that the scanner robots can tell one Gem type from another. We have no idea what they are, how they work, or what they're for. All we know for sure is that they attack Gems on sight for some reason.
• Why was Pink Diamond in her Rose Quartz guise to start out with? She'd have to have been in her Diamond form to get into the palanquin, and she obviously had to be in her Diamond form to fake the shattering, so why did she switch to her Quartz form? The only one there was Pearl, who knows her in both identities.
  • She has started to view herself as "really" Rose Quartz, and Pink Diamond as a past identity that she doesn't prefer anymore. So, when she can, she likes to be Rose Quartz. Even if it is incredibly risky, as someone could accidentally see her, but nobody would barge into a Diamond's palanquin anyway. Pink Diamond was the "guise" to her at this point, not Rose Quartz. (Whether or not this is healthy is a different question.)
• If Pearl can store items in her gem, why didn't she do so with the Moon Goddess Statue way back in "Cheeseburger Backpack"? Steven still could have been brought with them to prove his own worth and their mission would have succeeded.
  • Because Steven wanted to do it and they didn't foresee him leaving it behind.
  • The whole story was a test. Note that when they encounter the Crystal Shrimp, Pearl treats them like an obstacle, but in "Buddy's Book" Buddy walks right past them; they are harmless. The Gems aren't actually upset about losing the place either, they certainly don't seem to care about any of the other Gem ruins. They pretended the place was important and hazardous so that Steven would take his one job (carrying the statue) seriously. In the end he failed in that task, but showed his resourcefulness in other ways, so they let him keep coming on missions anyway.
• How does Pearl's phone get reception inside her gem? Inside of multiple layers of her gem, in a pocket dimension made of memories?
  • Presumably because outside, Pearl is physically in an area with cell reception, and the entire pocket dimension thus automatically gets reception.

Now We're Only Falling Apart

"Now We're Only Falling Apart"

• All of the Gems being created in the Kindergarten were Amethysts. Does this mean that the Rose Quartzes bubbled in the human zoo were created by Pink Diamond for cover, or a pre-existing caste who were blamed for Rose's actions?
  • There's no clear answer as of yet. It's possible Rose Quartzes existed before the Earth colony was established — nothing in the series directly disproves it. However, there is an obvious running theme of Pink Diamond and various pink creations, which suggests that Rose Quartzes were unique to the Earth colony, a "signature" Gem cut developed specifically by her.
    • Also, the Rose Quartz gems are always referred to as being Pink Diamond's, and it's implied that there are no Gems of that line beyond the few hundred in the bubble room.
  • The Rose Quartzes were likely already planted and just hadn't finished yet. Pearl does refer to the Amethysts as the first of the quartz soldiers, not all of them. remember, our Amethyst was born about 500 years after any of the others from the Prime Kindergarten and the Gem War lasted about 1000 years and the war hadn't even started yet when Pink visited. That's a lot of time for more gems to emerge.
• We see in this episode that our Amethyst (8XM)'s "sisters" emerged before the Gem War began. However, in "Too Far", Peridot says that Amethyst emerged 500 years after everyone else around her, and the Gem War lasted around 1,000 years. But wasn't the only reason Amethyst wasn't corrupted was that she was still in the ground at the end of the war when the Corrupting Light hit Earth?
  • Earlier, Pearl mentioned "the first Quartz soldiers" would emerge, not all of them. Peridot probably meant all of the holes, not just the other Amethysts. Likely, the other Rose Quartz gems were still incubating, along with her.

The Question

"The Question"

• How much time is this taking? While I know someone shouldn't question a song montage, Beach City takes place in what is Deleware in the real world and the area we see our heroes riding through can't be any farther east than Kansas. Somehow I doubt Greg drove his van through a warp pad. On that note how did Steven get his camping gear without Pearl and Sapphire noticing?
  • I haven't looked into it that deeply, but I assume their outing took a little more than a day. They're on Brooding Hill at night, and some time in the morning, Greg buys Ruby a costume and they arrive to "just the place" later in the day. I doubt they drove all the way to Kansas. There's green grass and trees and mountains in the distance. Ruby does cowboy stuff and sings about it that night, and the gang returns to Beach City early in the morning. Either the gear was already in Greg's van, or Steven is really sneaky and Pearl and Sapphire too distracted by their grief... or his stuff came from the same place he got the marshmallows in "Kindergarten Kid."
  • We know that the show's version of Earth is significantly different geographically from ours. It stands to reason that its climate could be different as well. For all we know, this is just what Southern Jersey looks like.

Reunited

"Reunited"

• We clearly saw Connie was immune to Blue Diamond's first empathy wave, similarly to how Lars was unaffected in the courtroom during The Trial. It's how she was able to charge forward and attempt to attack when everyone else was down, even when she was close to Blue. So why was it that the second empathy wave (after Lapis arrived) had her cry and fall to her knees with everyone else when she was just shown to be unaffected not even minutes before?
  • Probably a combination of Blue’s powers not being that effective on humans from far away and adrenaline making it not as effective as it would be from that distance. From a close distance and being calmed down from the lack of activity, she was more susceptible to the attack. Either that or it’s a sympathetic reflex with Steven around.
  • It could also be on the animation side for better shot composition. Lapis' immunity to Blue's attack is more jarring and badass if it's juxtaposed against everyone else going down.
  • Or Blue noticed that Connie wasn't affected the first time around, so she did a quick retuning to make it hit organics.
• Why didn't Blue and Yellow manifest their Gem weapons? Since Pink had a shield, we know Diamonds have Gem weapons.
  • They haven't needed them. They've been strong enough on their own in the fights we've seen them in.
  • It's quite possible that like her Gems Lapis (her wings are often counted as her weapon, but might be just a function of her hydrokinesis) and Sapphire, Blue doesn't have a Gem weapon. She's certainly not lacking in offensive options. And Yellow's combat time can be measured in seconds, and her gem destabilization is more than enough.
  • Maybe there are some Gems who don't have a "Gem Weapon" so much as a "Signature Move", Yellow Diamond's being destabilizing lightning and Blue Diamond's being her Emotion Bomb. White Diamond's brainwashing eye beams could be in the same category. Pink Diamond's could have been her healing powers before she figured out her shield (how that happened is anyone's guess, but it's not like she wasn't a Black Sheep in other ways). Most Sapphires — if I recall right and this isn't just our Sapphire — have Future Vision as their signature move, Lapis has hydrokinesis, and Peridot has ferrokinesis, so having an attack or ability as opposed to a physical weapon isn't necessarily exclusive to Diamonds, Pink Diamond was just unique in figuring out both.
• So Beach City allows fourteen-year-olds to officiate weddings? Or is it more that the wedding is more symbolic than legal (I mean, they're not human)? Or is Steven officiating not because of his rank as a human, but his rank as a Gem (that is, a Diamond)?
  • Are the Gems even legal persons? Is there anything even slightly official about that wedding, or is it just for fun? (The latter, almost certainly.)
  • Bill Dewey is a guest, and he would certainly know how to get the paperwork to do that kind of thing. The world of Steven Universe has always been a bit weird, and Steven has always been one to do things by the book. If he could work it legally, he would.
• Why exactly did the Diamonds, two incredibly important and seemingly irreplaceable pillars of Gem society, come to the Earth (where, as far as they know, a fellow Diamond was murdered by one of the Crystal Gems — a group of dangerous traitors that are still very active and still mucking up their plans even in Era 2) all alone? Where were their Ruby fusions, Quartz soldiers, elite Topaz fusions, Agates, and Hessonites to back them up just in case something went wrong? As great as the battle was to experience, this troper found it somewhat jarring to see Blue get out of her ship and fight our heroes all by herself. Also why were the Diamonds so close to the Earth’s surface when as far as they knew the cluster could’ve burst from it at any moment and annihilated them along with the planet; they had no idea that it was hibernating in a bubble. Could they somehow control the cluster? The whole situation seemed a tad bit silly and contrived in some ways.
  • Perhaps A) They were on the ship for backup or B) Blue and Yellow just wanted to get the job done. They likely figured that every time they send a Gem to Earth, something happens. After all, Peridot did tell Yellow Diamond to her face that she was going to protect the planet. After 5,000 years, they probably just wanted to get the job done, and savor watching the Crystal Gem's destruction. It wasn't that big of a deal, after all: just get the Cluster and shatter the remaining dozen or so Crystal Gems.
  • They likely wanted to be the ones to deal with "Rose Quartz" personally, especially after "she" escaped them on Homeworld. Besides, considering how the fight actually went down.... they didn't really need any guards.
  • Blue and Yellow weren't afraid of the Crystal Gems when Rose had an entire army at her back, why would they be intimidated by the handful that are left? Between Peridot's reports, the Ruby Squad and Topaz and Aquamarine Blue and Yellow are very much aware of how few Crystal Gems are left and they are very much not impressed. They left their armies behind because they wanted to do it themselves, it was personal for them, revenge for Pink! The Diamonds vastly outpower the Crystal Gems, nothing that happens even leaves a scratch on them. As for their ships being so close to the planet when trying to wake the Cluster, remember it takes time for a gem to form, if the Cluster had formed as it was supposed to the Diamonds would have had plenty of time to get to safe distance.
  • Does not being personally afraid of them really excuse their rather short-sighted decision of not taking any measure of precaution on a planet where (as far as they know) a fellow Diamond was shattered by a Crystal Gem and some of their best soldiers/agents were foiled time and time again by the group’s scant few survivors? The Diamonds always seem to underestimate the Crystal Gems and end up taking a big L every time, you’d think by this point in the series they would've smartened up. Just look at what happened with the cluster and Lapis Lazuli; of course there was no way that the two could have personally predicted that the darn thing would side with ”Rose” and smash their arm ships, or that a traitorous Lapis Lazuli would suddenly come out of the blue — no pun intended — to drop a structure on her ex-Diamond…but wouldn’t one think that that was exactly the kind of contingency these multi-millennia old matriarchs and their vast network of soldier, engineer, and seer gems would prepare for? Also I don’t believe that they needed a whole army to deal with our scrappy heroes; but it’s not unbelievable to imagine that a small mixed squad of Quartz soldiers and elite Topaz fusions along with a spare Gem war (hand) ship hanging around for emergency evacuation would’ve been more than enough to deal with this whole situation without the Diamonds pointlessly endangering themselves or getting stranded on the planet.
    • The Diamonds encountering the Crystal Gems personally is probably their way of making sure things get done, as the situation is quite personal. From the multiple squads they've sent to the planet, only one squad managed to return. As we see in the episodes, the Diamonds are virtual gods, and would've had a better chance of actually making it out, rather than a battalion of Quartz soldiers.
    • As far as we know, there was at no point any time in the war that Blue and Yellow were actually concerned about Rose Quartz and her "little rebellion". They were shown, however, to think of and treat Pink as a younger sister in need of protecting. They, however, were much bigger and stronger. At least, in their eyes they always had been. Further, the only real threat to a Diamond that they knew of was Rose Quartz, who was alone when she shattered Pink and was always with the Gems when their best soldiers/agents were "foiled" (I'll get back to that), and as far as they knew "she" was still on Homeworld at the time. There was no reason for them to think that they needed to take precaution against the Crystal Gems if Rose wasn't there. As for their "best soldiers/agents" consider: They sent a total of three groups to Earth post rebellion. Jasper accompanied by some random Peridot and their informant Lapis, a Ruby squad, and Aquamarine accompanied by a Topaz fusion. Of all of them, only the Rubies (as far as Yellow knows) technically failed. Jasper has, at this point, disappeared and the Ruby squad never found out what happened to her and thus were unable to locate and return with the leader of the Earth mission. Jasper was only sent to watch over Peridot and while she did fail to do that, her disappearance and Peridot's defection making no mention of anything but a separation means that no one on Homeworld actually knows that this has anything to do with the Crystal Gems. Aquamarine and Topaz succeeded not only in bringing a human, but they captured Rose Quartz. So basically the Jasper and Ruby Squad situations were just an annoyance. All of this together shows that Blue and Yellow really didn't have any real reason to take any real precautions.

Legs From Here to Homeworld

"Legs From Here to Homeworld"

• If Pink Diamond is the lowest-ranked Diamond, why is her ship bigger than Yellow and Blue's?
  • It could just be the angle. Also consider Yellow and Blue Diamond's ships are halfway in the ocean, too.
  • Thematic placement. How the pieces of the ship would orient themselves is in the same places as the Homeworld insignia. Since there’s only one gem at the bottom of the insignia, Pink gets the legs.
  • Also, Pink was rather spoiled. She could've just asked for a bigger ship and the other Diamonds indulged her.
  • It's not bigger, just that it is more narrow. The area they were in was likely the entire ship. As of note, her ship is harder to control, as you need to run to make it go, whereas with Blue and Yellow, all they have to do is swing their arms and they're there.
    • "Change Your Mind" conclusively shows that Pink's ship is bigger than Yellow and Blue's.
  • Each leg houses a throne for Yellow and Blue to sit in while Pink did the steering in the middle. It is likely that this was a pragmatic decision designed for Blue and Yellow to act as chaperones, like a teen with a learner's permit requiring a parent to be present with them.
• How is it that the Crystal Gems still haven't shared all they know about Homeworld and the Diamonds with Steven? Based on Steven's reaction in this episode, he didn't know anything about White Diamond, but Pearl at least (probably Garnet and Amethyst too) clearly knows that she's more powerful than the other Diamonds, and that there's something off about her personality. Considering that the Crystal Gems have been at war with Homeworld since the end of first season, does it make any sense that they've kept this rather crucial information on their enemy from Steven? Even if Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst have for some reason been quiet about White (even though Steven's been to Homeworld, has met the other Diamonds, and has for a while known he's actually one of them), surely Peridot at least would've told him all she knows about the Diamonds and Homeworld?
  • It seems that the White Diamond is something of a taboo even to the Homeworld Gems, and the Crystal Gems may simply have assumed her to be too passive and detached to take any interest to the conflict on Earth. With so many other pressing things to worry about, she probably just slipped their minds.
  • If there's any truth to the theories about our Pearl and White Diamond's Pearl, then our Pearl might be unwilling to talk about White Diamond for personal reasons, and the other Crystal Gems were just being respectful of that.
  • A) Plot convenience and B) Steven was about to go to Homeworld. If he had any question, such as "are there other Gems?" or "who's White?" they'd be right in front of them.
  • Well yeah, but it's been over a year since Steven first met one of the Diamonds, and weeks if not months since he faced Blue and Yellow on Homeworld. So, given how curious Steven is, are we really to assume that during all this time he never asked the other Crystal Gems to tell him all they know about the Diamonds? Especially since they're at war with them, so such information would be pretty vital? Or should we assume Steven did ask, but for whatever reason the others didn't bother to tell him there's another Diamond who's even more powerful than Blue or Yellow? Because either one of those alternatives doesn't make much sense.
  • Honestly if Steven couldn't come to the conclusion that White Diamond existed then that's on him. I can almost forgive him not knowing about Pink Diamond, but at this point White Diamond's existence is a freaking given if you pay any attention to anything in the world ever. Though I rather subscribe to the theory that White Diamond seemed to not give a flying fizzle about Earth and therefore wouldn't be someone Steven would likely content with so her abilities were irrelevant compared to the other two. Additionally, there's always the chance that Garnet doesn't know very much about White Diamond other than that she's the head honcho Diamond. What would Blue's Sapphire and a random Ruby guard need to know about her anyway other than that she was to be obeyed? And Amethyst wouldn't really know or care, I'd wager. As for Pearl, she could be unwilling to talk about her out of fear/unpleasantness or due to some command on the level of Pink's final command.

Familiar

"Familiar"

• How can Yellow Diamond be sweating if her body is made of hard light?
  • It's likely a type of steam cleaning and the "sweat" is condensation.
  • We've seen Gems cry and spit, sweat would be no different. The hard part would be finding a temperature that would make them sweat.
    • Considering how heat-resistant rocks are, that would likely be an incredibly high temperature, in which case the Headscratcher becomes "How did Steven not dry out like a raisin?" Sure you can make an argument that he's more heat-resistant than a human since he's half-Gem, but heat that would make a Diamond sweat would probably at least cause Steven some discomfort.
    • Steam cleans diamonds in our universe. As humans, we can withstand steam through saunas. As the above comment states, it's probably condensation from the steam, Yellow heats herself up to evaporate the condensation. It's doubtful that this would affect Steven, as it's so quick. Heating herself up to evaporate the condensation would be a much lower temp than "making rocks sweat".
    • Remember, Steven can get up close to lava (both the bubble room and Bismuth's forge) with only mild discomfort shown. His heat tolerance is pretty high.
• Blue Diamond places her singing comb on her dresser, where a toothbrush is also visible. Why would Blue Diamond need a toothbrush? She doesn't eat or drink, and her teeth are made from hard light which is not subject to decay.
  • Why would you assume it's a toothbrush? The more logical answer is that the brush is for cleaning her gem.

Change Your Mind

"Change Your Mind"

• White Diamond reveals that she knew Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond were one and the same. Why did she attack Earth with the Corruption Light eons before, knowing that Pink Diamond could have been corrupted in the process?
  • I'm not so sure she did know. There's some hints that she's been messing with Steven mentally, trying to pull Pink out so it's possible she gained information that way.
  • White may not have known at the time of the corruption attack, but figured it out later.
  • White may have been playing along with Pink's "game", along with it being a kind of punishment for Pink. If she wanted to be a rebel, she would be treated like one, with all that entails. The rough equivalent of a teenager taking his father's car for a joyride and the father reporting it as stolen to teach his son a lesson about "consequences", as in Rain Man.
  • How do we know the Corrupting Light would have even worked on Pink? She is a Diamond, and we know that she was able to block it with her shield, if only for herself and a couple of friends. Quite possibly, even if she hadn't gotten her shield up, the Light wouldn't have been powerful enough to affect her.
• Why did White Diamond corrupt the rebellious Gems on Earth, if she is so obsessed with "perfection"? It goes against her entire ideology.
  • Corruption was an accident, the rebellion was supposed to be shattered. Something went wrong.
  • It's quite possible it was intentional spite. They rejected the chance to be perfect under her guidance, thus she forcefully stripped that perfection from them. White Diamond doesn't necessarily want to make the universe perfect, more that she is perfect and she views the entire Gem Empire as an extension of herself.
  • You said it yourself, those Gems were rebellious. White wants everything to be perfect, and in order to be perfect, you have to follow her. The corruption was intended to obliterate all the Gems who refused to follow her.
• White Pearl regains sentience and color, becoming Pink Pearl once again. However, her eye is still missing, and her face still sports a crack. What caused these injuries, and why can't she heal them?
  • White caused the injuries and Gems don't heal on their own. Steven might be able to heal her.
    • This was answered later in the show; Pink Diamond actually caused the cracked eye, and Pink Pearl got it even before White mind-controlled her. Pink Diamond used her destructive powers and screamed too loudly next to her, and her eye cracked.
• More out of curiosity: What was with Sunstone's bit about telling an adult if you're being bullied? Even if it was a reference, it seemed very out-of-place. And if they wanted to do that bit, why the Steven/Garnet fusion for it?
  • Its likely that Sunstone has a variant of future vision that allows them to see the fourth wall, similar to what Sardonyx is implied to have. Combine that with Steven's compulsion to be helpful (and childish taste in TV) and Garnet's loving nature and you get a fusion who really wants to be a good role model to the audience.
• Why didn't White Diamond force Garnet to unfuse when she took control of her? Considering Blue and Yellow's reactions to seeing everyone fuse at the Ball, we can probably safely assume that White isn't a fan of cross-gem fusion either.
  • As far as White is concerned, everything that isn't her is flawed. Unfusing Garnet won't make her fit that any better, but as long as Garnet looks and acts like another extension of herself, that's good enough for White.
  • It's actually reasonably possible that White can't unfuse Garnet. By taking her over, she essentially gives her perfect synchronization.
• How does White know what a child is? Gems don't age and are formed looking like fully grown adults.
  • Maybe basic, limited knowledge of humans became commonplace, or at least more accessible, as a result of the Human Zoo.
  • Clearly White knows more about organics than the other diamonds.
  • Nothing stops Gems from understanding that organics "emerge" in an underdeveloped state and mature with time, and that a "child" is just an immature organic being. Most Gems don't know (and don't care) about organic lifecycles because it's not directly related to their job. But White prides herself on knowing everything, the sum total of all the knowledge of the Gem Empire, which absolutely must include basic information about the development of organic beings. They're found on lots of colony planets, after all, even if they're just regarded as pests. As an analogy, humans aren't eusocial (like bees or ants) but we still call people "drones" as an insult.
• When we see the Diamonds and Steven healing the corrupted Gems, why is it that Jasper still shows signs of corruption (green horns and spots)?
  • All of the formerly-corrupted Gems have marks from their corruption, such as the other healed Quartzes having horns. It's just more noticeable with Jasper because, unlike the others, we know what she looked like before her corruption.
• Who was it that messed up White Diamonds psychological state so badly that it lead to her becoming obsessed with perfection over everything? Clearly this is not an independent development as most people who turn full on narcissistic like that in a vacuum consider themselves to be perfection. White however already sees flaws in herself and is violently disturbed by being forced to confront them. Ontop of that given gems are artificial beings who exactly made White Diamond in the first place and are they the same being?
  • White Diamond might be where all of Gemkind including herself started — i.e. much like how life one day just "sprung" on Earth, she might've happened to emerge into existence in a similar manner on a distant planet that would later become Homeworld. And from there she could've developed into a being that always believed perfection was absolute, wanting to spread that perfection everywhere and eliminate all the "flaws" thinking it was for the greater good. This would mean White Diamond wasn't evil or abused or anything of the sort; she simply adopted a perspective where the world only makes sense if it's perfect (or what she believes constitutes a perfect world).

---