Steven Universe Episode 'Chille Tid' Recap: Sweet Dreams Aren't Made Of Malachite

By Nathalie Medina Published 06/19/15 EDT

Steven Universe has officially come off of hiatus, and today’s Steven Universe episode, “Chille Tid,” is the last of a planned #StevenBomb with five new episodes in a row.

We started off with the exceptional “Sworn to the Sword,” which focused on Pearl’s trauma from the Gem war and Connie’s exceptional development as a fighter. Then we had “Rising Tides/Crashing Skies”: a major lull in the action that served as a reminder of the wild and wacky humans the Crystal Gems have charged themselves with protecting. Wednesday’s “Keeping It Together” gave us one of the darkest and most memorable episodes of Steven Universe yet. And yesterday’s “We Need To Talk” gave us some Greg and Rose Quartz backstory, by which I mean, the story of how Pearl turned into a pillar of salt.

The last episode of the #StevenBomb, “Chille Tid,” is about Steven and the Crystal Gems having a sleepover, at least on the surface. But it’s another forward-moving plot episode that gives us more info about Lapis Lazuli and Jasper, fused into a ticking time bomb called Malachite somewhere at the bottom of the sea.

“Chille Tid” starts off with Pearl and Amethyst on a raft in the middle of the ocean. It’s late in the night and they’re both exhausted. “I don’t get tired. I get results,” Pearl snaps wearily. Steven is being dangled upside down over the edge of the raft by Amethyst, searching for Lapiz Lazuli. The Gems really have a unique view on raising children.

Garnet launches up out of the sea and lands on the raft. Pearl fusses over her life jacket in irritation, but Steven chides, “Safety is no punchline” and hands Garnet a life jacket, which Garnet immediately throws overboard. She does change her top into a life jacket to appease Steven, in her signature colors, of course. Hah.

But when the conversation turns to how dangerous it is for Lapis and Jasper to stay fused, Steven asks worriedly, “Is Lapiz gonna be okay?” He asked the same for Peridot after she got crushed under an injector this week. I’m sure the only reason he’s not asking after Jasper is because Jasper is so aggressively robust she’s practically a protein shake.

The Gems are exhausted, and Steven is so sleepy he almost ambles off of the raft. So Garnet calls the search mission and they all head home. Steven takes a look at the Gems and comments on how tired they all look. “We look awesome,” retorts Garnet flatly, in a hilarious shot of all of them covered in deep wrinkles. But Steven suggests a slumber party to help them all get some rest. “It’ll be like there isn’t a vengeful fusion boiling the sea with hatred!” Heh.

Garnet orders Pearl and Amethyst to stay home and goes off on her own to continue searching for Malachite. Amethyst immediately knocks out, but Pearl can’t quite get the hang of sleeping, even as Steven walks her through it: “Okay. All right. I’m sleeping now. I’m sleeping,” Pearl says. I really love Deedee Magno-Hall’s voice work as Pearl, because her delivery is indescribably funny.

Steven shows Pearl how it’s done by drifting off to dreamland himself. His dream begins calmly and happily enough: he dreams about an upcoming school dance with Connie, sitcom-style, as Pearl fusses over his outfit beforehand. Amethyst skateboards down the stairs and off stage, chased by Pearl. Then Garnet swings by to rousing cheers from the audience. Fan favorite Garnet!

Everything’s fine and everything’s happy… until Steven opens the door once more to see Lapis standing there, gushing water from her eyes and mouth, the oceans rising around her. It is unbelievably jarring and creepy. Steven awakes with a frightened jolt and starts gasping his dream out to Pearl. Pearl tries to soothe him by saying that it is impossible for Lapis to be at their door when she is currently at the bottom of the sea, but Steven explains the mixed-up “weird movie” nature of a dream. He begins explaining his dream in more detail to Pearl, which is what finally puts Pearl to sleep, and Steven nods off too.

His next dream stars Dogcopter, Pearl’s giant head swallowing him whole and spitting him out, and Amethyst riding a whale out of the ocean. Ocean -- and suddenly Steven floats in nothingness. He sees Lapis Lazuli and runs towards her. Lapis panics, trying to keep her concentration, but Steven asks if she’s all right. Suddenly a giant mouth destroys the dream.

This time when Steven awakes, it’s to Amethyst avidly watching Pearl’s holograph, which is displaying her dream for everyone’s enjoyment. Pearl dreams of her and Rose cuddled on a pizza surfboard. “Forget about Greg, let’s go travel the galaxy,” Pearl cries theatrically. But when Rose’s head turns, it’s Greg instead of Rose. True horror for Pearl, who jolts awake.

Steven tells Pearl about his Lapis dream once more, and Pearl takes it seriously this time. He tries to go back to sleep so he can communicate with Lapis again, so it’s suggested that Pearl explain her dream. Amethyst cackles: “It’s for the greater good!” But two words into Pearl’s explanation, Steven immediately knocks out. “Wow. He been sleep,” Amethyst snorts. Thank you, Michaela Dietz.

This time, Steven is lucid dreaming. He knows he’s not awake, and ignores the weird stream-of-consciousness images that fly by him as he swims through the void. He’s stopped by a wall of thick hair that he mistakes for Lion’s, but it’s a familiar pale, brilliant color…

It’s Malachite’s platinum mop. Steven drops straight through into a place of watery goo. Lapis is shackled to the floor. “I’ve got to hold us down with the weight of your planet’s ocean!” she spits out through gritted teeth, shaking with effort. Even the effort of that explanation is too much distraction. Lapis gets pulled through the floor. In turn, Jasper emerges, drenched and dripping in ocean goo. She’s shackled also, and can only crawl. This does nothing to diminish how terrifying she is as she stares wildly at Steven and starts crawling forward rapidly, growling: “You, you, you, you, YOU!”

Then Lapis bursts free with her liquid wings, and Jasper is gone. “I can’t stop even for a second,” she gasps. “Don’t look for me, I don’t want your help. I’m not helpless anymore. I’m Malachite now.” There’s a frightening note of determination in her voice as she sinks into the goopy floor, only for massive Malachite to emerge.

Steven wakes in a panic and throws himself into Pearl’s arms, babbling. Then Garnet returns, so he throws himself at her, babbling some more “Lapis. She’s still out there!” he cries. But Garnet’s of the mind that there’s nothing they can do right now, so they might as well take it easy. She proceeds to put her money where her mouth is by falling face first onto their slumber party blanket, straight as a plank. End of episode.

All I can think of is the increasingly frightening trajectory towards which Lapis Lazuli is headed. Garnet warns of it at the beginning of the episode, when she explains that a fusion borne of hatred and mistrust is dangerously unstable and cannot last. Nor can it be healthy for its participants, especially when it finally unravels. We see it visually, with Lapis and Jasper fighting each other for control, both of them shackled to the other via the dark ocean.

But most worryingly, we see it with Lapis’s sinister line, “I’m Malachite now.” Malachite is something she shouldn’t want to be, a creature made as much of hate and spite and vengeance as Garnet is made of love and friendship and devotion. But Lapis has been a prisoner for so long, first of the magic mirror she was kept in, then of Jasper, that she has chosen to reach for the biggest power at hand. After so much helplessness, after so much time spent trapped, imprisoned with her knees tucked into her chest, Lapis has power at hand. Can she even conceive of a better existence, or does she no longer care? Or has she convinced herself that she no longer cares?

The fact that Lapis doesn’t dismiss Steven outright -- that she speaks to him, even as little as she does -- may be her only hope for coming out of the dangerous place she finds herself both physically and emotionally. In the inevitable showdown with Malachite, I hope Lapis remembers the little boy that helped put her back together and did everything in his power to help her find her wings. I feel like the memory of that kindness and affection, a brief break of sunshine in eons of loneliness and imprisonment, will save Lapis from Malachite and from herself.

But who knows what, if anything, will save the monstrous Jasper?

To check out past recaps, just click here for all of our previous Steven Universe coverage. Unfortunately, this is the last of Stevenbomb 2.0: The Second One. When are we getting new Steven Universe?