It Could’ve Been Great

We’re back yet again. The gems are enjoying a nice relaxing chill session as a reward for their hard work. This irks Peridot to no end. Steven tries to impart the ability to stop and smell the roses, with little success. Instead he jumps into an impromptu spoken word song with Peridot, teaching her the basics of music. It actually goes okay and evolves into a full blown musical number. She’s no Adele but Peridot picks it up somewhat haphazardly.

After this musical montage, the drill is finally done! It’s a totally zen moment. Peridot really seems like a part of the group. However the new McGuffin is getting the exact coordinates for the cluster. Pearl reveals there’s a diamond base that would likely have it… on the moon. Awwwww Yeeeaah, Steven Universe is going Apollo 13! Except why take a rocket when you have a super teleporting pink lion.

They arrive in the lunar base after some successive jumps. Lion is positively pooped and takes a much deserved break. The base is plastered with ancient gem iconography, specifically lore of the Diamonds. Steven is enjoying the lesser gravity on the moon. Amethyst tries to jump in on the festivities, with little success.

Here we learn that gem physiology makes them automatically adjust to their current planetoid’s gravity; a benefit for an interstellar conquering species. Steven bounces off a mural and Peridot begins fan-girling like a One Directioner finding Harry Styles at a Starbucks. Being a sanctum of the Diamonds, all four of them are plastered on the walls, and Peridot is losing her shit.

Peridot informs us that the four Diamonds are the Gem matriarchs of gem kind, known as the Diamond Authority. Peridot gets so caught up that she says she lives to serve them, Garnet clears her throat and Peridot corrects, but insincerely. Based on the episode’s title and this lapse by Peridot, I’m guessing she is going to be backtracking on her redemption, and that makes me so sad. The gems make their way to the control room and on the way we catch a glimpse of what appears to be White Diamond’s mural.

They bypass an odd floating orb and make it to the control panel. Peridot is still squeeing hardcore. Steven sits on the Diamonds’ throne and Peridot is mortified at his breach of social etiquette. However Steven convinces the little green meanie to join him, in that snide way a child might jump on the bed after their parent has told them not too.

Steven pulls out some sort of stone from the chair but Peridot makes him return it. Peridot gets down to brass tacks and starts searching through the base’s database. Whilst doing so we learn a few tidbits, like how many gem outposts are on earth, and we get our very first clear view of Steven Universe’s version of the Earth World Map.

A lot is revealed by this map. North America and Europe are mostly the same as ours. Asia has a gaping hole in it that suggest an ancient and massive impact crater. Also it seems that several continents simply drifted differently. Australia is tilted with a secondary continent off it’s western shore. Also, when South America and Africa broke apart in Steven’s world, South America took what would have been our Africa’s western peninsula, with it; leaving a trail of large islands too. Antarctica is MIA but that could just be a limited scope. Hurray for literal world building!

It appears the cluster is located at the beta kindergarten, located at Facet 9, aka Nevada-ish. Peridot continues to laud gem kind's accomplishments and power at subjugating planets, again forgetting her audience. They retrieve the necessary data but Peridot can’t leave well enough alone, and the Crystal Gems’ patience are wearing thin. We get a short montage of the gem structures on Earth and a visual of the proposed finished earth colony; a gutted, barren planet. The Crystal gems are mortified and disgusted. Peridot is positively gushing. The others try to impart that she is approaching a line, but Peridot is overstimulated and crosses it. She admits the colony should have been finished, and says Rose’s life and sacrifices were all in vain. Poor Steven tries to diffuse the situation but it’s too late.

Garnet materializes her gauntlet with Peridot in a vice grip. Steven begs Garnet not to push further, and thankfully she doesn’t. Instead of breaking Peridot’s face, she breaks the control panel. Peridot once again seems oblivious to her error, and incapable of seeing another viewpoint. Even Steven is exasperated but tries to show her her mistake, but it doesn’t sink in. It also seems that much if not all of Peridot’s emotional progress today was a bit of a fluke. Man I hope this fluke is just a red herring.

As the group abandons the base, Peridot gets shifty, and Steven notices she’s sneaking out the odd crystal from the throne, breaking his heart, and mine.

Final Score Time

Additions to the Lore: The Four Diamond theory is now confirmed, and they are called the Diamond Authority. Gems can auto attune to gravity fields. Gem’s can use their stones as flashlights. We got our first glimpse of White Diamond in mural form. We caught glimpses of several earth outposts. We know what a completed gem colony looks like. We know the location of the cluster. Finally, we know what Steven’s planet Earth’s topography looks like.

Geek References: General space travel scenario, not even too trope-ey

Queer References: Nothing really, though from a feminist standpoint, Peridot is hella proud to be fighting for the Matriarchy.

Final thought: Solid episode. There was so much world building I could barely keep up. There was a charming little diddy in the intro, and Amethyst being Amethyst. Unfortunately it seems Peridot is not nearly as far along her redemption arc as previous episodes suggested. Clearly there will be a battle of conscience for her later on, but if she goes bad then the previous character building was for naught. If she stays good, then this episode is justified which kind of makes the ultimate outcome a little clearer. However Rebecca Sugar has eschewed expectations before. For all the lore bombs we got on this lunar romp, this episode gets 4 gems out of 5.

Next Episode: “Message Received”, Jan. 7 @ 5:30pm EST

Please feel free to add things I missed, your reactions, theories, and whatever else you’d like in the comments!