Log Date 7 15 2
It’s time for the final episode of this Steven Bomb. Awwwww, Peridot isn’t in the opening song. We start off with Peridot entering in a new audio log, and echoing the manic “I can’t believe I just did that” she repeated several times last episode. She succinctly summarizes her revolt of the previous episode mortified by her actions and wishing never to relive those moments… so of course she rewinds the tape to listen to it again, only to cheer in jubilation. Huh? Something seems rather PERSONALLY familiar about that. Steven is revealed to be right next to Peridot, who feels triumphant for insulting Yellow Diamond, then she feels despondent for doing the exact same thing. There’s that personal twinge again. Steven looks concerned.
Steven asks Perry if she’ll be okay and she gleefully responds “No”. She further reflects on where her actions lead her, and when she arrives at identifying as a Crystal Gem, we witness her psyche retreat, and she becomes frozen in panic, adrenaline, fear and happiness. It’s an odd sensation but I know it all too well.
I (and likely many of you) can identify with Peridot all too well. That feeling of unyielding triumph and possibility, combined with a sense of dread and fear. Peridot just came out of the closet. These anachronistic emotions flowing in rapid succession where one’s actions are both a source of triumph and pride, and fear and shame. I felt those exact things once. I was able to drop the fear and shame, I only hope Peridot can too. Kudos to the Steven Universe crew for capturing this internal struggle so succinctly.
Peridot hurls her tape recorder away but Garnet catches it… with her face. Peridot relinquishes the device to Steven, deeming him the source of her newfound madness. Garnet, quite maternally, encourages Peridot to cool down.
Peridot asks if she has to wear a star now, which I believe is the first in-universe mention that all crystal gems supplant their diamond emblems with stars when they defect. Steven is quizzical over when Garnet and Peridot began getting along, seeing as they were so often antagonistic. So he delves into Peridot’s audio logs.
We see back to when Peridot first gets her cassette recorder, and starts calling Steven Steven, instead of THE Steven. Peridot didn’t want to, but Steven informed her that was rude. Fast forward and Peridot is studying a ladybug taking flight and wondering if all Earth life can fly. Oh hi Greg!
No, not all Earth life can fly, and luckily Garnet was around to catch Mr. Universe from his fall off the barn. Garnet is firm but understanding in telling Peridot that humans are more fragile than gems and can be injured more easily than a gem. Garnet asks for Greg’s understanding as Peridot acclimates to a new world, and he’s surprisingly chill.
Peridot storms off and asserts that she loathes Garnet. fast forward again and we see Peridot attempt her first chore of cleaning, like she were the Pearl. Gotta work on those micro-aggressions Per-Per. She stumbles upon some old boxer shorts and is curious about the nature of “appearance modifiers” that aren’t melded to one’s body. While we know gems manifest their own clothing upon generation, we now know that they are fused to the rest of the body, and are not merely an outer layer. Peridot experiments with the garments a bit.
Garnet catches her with an approving thumbs up and Peridot slinks off embarrassed. You know we had a “Peridot and Pearl” episode, and a “Peridot and Amethyst” episode; this must be the long overdue “Peridot and Garnet” episode. Fast forward again, and Steven is giving Peridot a gift of stilts to make up a little bit for her lost limb enhancers. Peridot learns what “gifts” are and immediately dismisses is, so of course the first moment she thinks she’s alone she tries the stilts on. She almost had the hang of it but inertia makes fools of us all sometimes.
Fast forward and Peridot is practicing her jokes, but it’s difficult to know why the chicken crossed the road if you don’t know what a chicken is. Fast forward again and Steven is trying to keep Peridot out of trouble by giving her some old teen romance show to watch. It’s poor acting and scenery-chewing schlock worthy of a CW show, but it does the trick, keeping Peridot at bay. Though when two characters seem to be doing the nasty, Peridot interprets it as them attempting fusion. Steven returns a few days later to find that Peridot has analyzed the one episode in so much crazy detail that she has determined which characters would truly be the most perfect combination for a couple on the show due to balancing each other and combining their best traits, Pierre and Percy; implied heavily to both be boys. Garnet approves, thumbs up.
Fast forward, and Amethyst is goofing off a bit with Peridot. The subtle flirting does not go unnoticed. What? Peridot isn’t the only one who can ship characters. Peridot remarks on Amethyst’s shape shifting aptitude and has her turn into a chicken, making the joke from earlier a bit clearer for her. Pearl tries to join in on the fun, but I think Peridot only has eyes for Amethyst. Sorry Pearl. Garnet appreciates that Peridot is enjoying the others’ company and gives, you guessed it, a thumbs up.
Fast forward and Peridot gets a tad freaked watching Amethyst and Pearl form Opal to better accomplish building the drill. I love how much Pearl and Amethyst have grown that they can fuse without making too much of a fuss about it. Also, it sounds like it’s Opal’s voice proper, but I hope they resampled old footage because she literally only sighs, otherwise Opal’s voice actress Aimee Mann had the easiest day of work ever.
Peridot’s curiosity gets the better of her and she confronts Garnet as to why she is always fused. Rather than be irked by Peridot’s judgmental questioning, Garnet asks her to sit with her. Garnet suggests that maybe Peridot should try to understand fusion better, and to do that, they should fuse. Peridot is a little scandalized.
Garnet is fine with Peridot not being ready but Peridot agrees to try. Are we really getting a new fusion? Garnet sets some mood music, Peridot dons her swanky new stilts, and the dancing begins. Garnet starts putting on the moves, but Peridot decides that she just cannot go through with it.
GIGANTIC PSA - This is a FANTASTIC analogy for sexual consent, and it’s quite clearly deliberate on the writers’ parts. Garnet and Peridot were already doing the act, but Peridot decided that she didn’t in fact want to continue. Garnet didn’t push the subject and felt no ill will towards Peridot. This is important, consent can be given and revoked at any time.
PSA over. Garnet appreciates that Peridot took the time to get to understand her a bit more. Peridot is still baffled by Garnet but Big Red clears it up for her.
This is a language Peridot understands and it finally clicks that Garnet is the combination of all the best traits of Ruby and Sapphire, and a balance of their flaws. Fast forward, and Garnet is giving a log entry with Peridot. Although Peridot didn’t get to understand fusion much more, she did get to understand Garnet. Garnet continues the log, admonishing Steven for listening to Peridot’s private recordings (thanks future vision). Steven returns the device to Peridot, who we now know is well on her way to integrating herself with the other Crystal Gems.
Final Score Time
Additions to the Lore: We’ve officially been beaten over the head with the notion that fusion is the gem version of sex. We know that gems manifest clothing fused to themselves. It has been acknowledged that all Crystal Gems wear stars on their person.
Geek References:Camp Pining Hearts is a cute parody of teen romantic dramas a la The CW, and Peridot accidentally becomes a slash fiction writer as a result.
Queer References: Peridot's early manic state displaying opposite emotions in tandem is a very true representation of the emotional whirlwind associated with coming out. Peridot ships two male characters in the in-universe show Camp Pining Hearts. Amethyst and Peridot flirt a teensy bit. Garnet offers to fuse with Peridot which is big enough, but Peridot decides part way through that she no longer wants to, and Garnet respects her wishes; a HUGELY important lesson on sexual consent.
Final thought: This was a really nice episode played out in a style we haven’t really seen before. It showed a lot of growth and hope for Peridot. There were laughs, sight gags and subtle jokes. There was even a very important lesson on consent. Also, it was the long overdue episode of Peridot finding common ground with Garnet. For showing us more depths to our manic little gem, this episode receives 4 gems out of 5.
Next Episode: ???
We are back on hiatus. There are more episodes coming, but for now we just have to sit tight.
