A three-month long hiatus is nothing new to Steven Universe fans, but the Crystal Gems are back to start off 2016 with one special new Stevenbomb: Steven’s Birthday Bomb .
Monday’s Steven Universe episode “ The Answer ” gave us the beautiful love story of Ruby and Sapphire. On Tuesday’s episode “ Steven’s Birthday ,” we learned the secret behind Steven’s age. And Wednesday’s Steven Universe episode, “ It Could’ve Been Great ,” took us on a whirlwind trip to the Moon -- and highlighted just how drastic the chasm is between Peridot and the Crystal Gems.
Today’s episode, “ Message Received ,” is summarized on Zap2It as follows: “Steven has doubts about believing in everyone.” Paradoxically, this makes me feel far better about Peridot’s fate than the jarring end to “ It Could’ve Been Great .” Steven Universe is not the kind of show that will permit Steven’s faith in people to go unrewarded.
“Message Received” starts with Steven staring suspiciously at Peridot as she sneaks into the barn with the crystal she retrieved from the moon. Sitting in the van for privacy, Peridot gushes to Steven about how the Diamonds are flawless and superior beings, especially her own liege lady, Yellow Diamond. Upon hearing this, Steven snatches the crystal and locks Peridot in the van, engaging the child-safety lock for extra protection. (Hah!) Peridot dramatically wails and flails, but finally begins to reveal her plan: she has every intention of using the communicator to contact the Diamonds back on Homeworld.
Steven is confused and devastated as Peridot explains that the Gems can’t do anything right, let alone protect the Earth, and while she was carried away by all the laughing and singing and Drill-building, the only thing that really matters is that she and this planet can be of use to Yellow Diamond. Deeply hurt and frightened by Peridot’s betrayal, Steven locks the barn doors behind him as he runs the communicator out to the Crystal Gems.
Amethyst is particularly offended by Peridot’s betrayal: “I’m taking back all my cool nicknames for her!” There are honks in the distance as Garnet comforts Steven, who is distraught at placing his trust in Peridot when doing so could have been so disastrous.
In the background, the honking stops. Uh-oh. Garnet and Pearl comfort Steven briefly before Peridot busts free of the barn in her robot. After a brief scuffle with the Gems, Peridot plucks the communicator out of Pearl’s hands and runs off with a distressing shout of, “Now I’m gonna do this right!”
The Gems follow after her in Amethyst, who shifts into a helicopter drawn with all the goofiness of an old-timey Warner Bros cartoon. Steven, still reeling from Peridot’s betrayal, has to be physically placed inside the helicopter with them. After another fight, the Gems destroy Peridot’s robot, but Peridot escapes. Steven tackles her, wailing: “I trusted you! I spent all that time bonding and hoping and caring about you!”
But Peridot bucks Steven off of him and activates the communicator, opening a direct line to Yellow Diamond. Gulp. The Crystal Gems immediately hide so they’re out of the communicator’s line of sight, and Peridot is greeted by Yellow Diamond’s personal Pearl, who proceeds to scold Peridot for daring to use this channel. (Our Pearl produces my personal favorite line of the episode with a muttered, “Not all Pearls know each other, Steven.” Hah!)
Peridot stares in hungry awe as Yellow Diamond herself takes the line. She has a great voice….
Yellow Diamond is voiced by VERY special guest: star of stage and screen, the one and only Patti Lupone! #StevenUniverse
— ian jq (@ianjq) January 7, 2016Make that a really great voice: smoky, sharp, and authoritative. Perhaps the most notable part of her conversation with Peridot is how quickly she reduces Peridot and her mission to a mere component in a vast machine: she asks which Peridot, prompting Peridot to spill her official and lengthy numeric designation, and asks after “the” Jasper that was assigned to her. (#gonebutnotforgotten)
But at the critical moment, when Yellow Diamond asks who destroyed Peridot’s ship, Peridot comes through for the Crystal Gems (and little scared Steven) and says, “No one.”
Peridot is clearly crushed by Yellow Diamond’s indifferent-to-negative reactions (though her Pearl slides into view just to give an evil little smirk). Yellow Diamond only smiles faintly once: at the news that the Cluster is due to emerge shortly. She dismisses Peridot with a perfunctory thank you, but Peridot interrupts her own dismissal.
The real reason Peridot called? The reason she kept banging on about how the Gems keep messing up their own mission to protect this planet and how she’ll be the one to do it right? Peridot wants to convince Yellow Diamond to terminate the Cluster. Oh, Peri. She never planned to betray the Gems; her heart has indeed been changed, and in her own weird way, she wanted to help them in the manner she thought best.
But Yellow Diamond cuts short her eager speech about Earth’s potential and unique resources. She doesn’t care. “I want my Cluster and I want that planet to die,” she says coldly. “Just make that happen.”
At this, Peridot’s look of horror grows, and she cries, “No!” The Pearl is shocked; Yellow Diamond is taken aback; and even Peridot is horrified by herself. She stammers that she isn’t questioning her Diamond, only her Diamond’s objectivity, but this is no better. The enormous Yellow Diamond rises to her feet, reminding me strongly of Judi Dench’s memorable portrayal of Lady Catherine de Bourg , and delivers the tongue-lashing of a frigging lifetime.
Peridot cowers under the weight of her hero and idol’s rage, but screams that she will not do it: “I can tell you with certainty that there are things on this planet worth protecting!” As the Gems watch in delighted, shocked disbelief, Peridot screams “YOU CLOD!!!” at Yellow Diamond, then, soaked in sweat, terminates the communication.
The Crystal Gems run out to praise Peridot as she stands there frozen, groaning as what she’s done sinks in. Steven couldn’t be more delighted to have been wrong. But it turns out the communicator can be remotely detonated, so their exultations are put on hold while they poof it over the ocean. Peridot, huddled on the ground, moans that she thought she could reason with Yellow Diamond.
“You really made her mad,” Amethyst says helpfully. “And then you insulted her to her face,” adds Pearl in disbelief. But Steven, beaming, scoops Peridot up in a hug and pronounces her a Crystal Gem. Peridot’s moans of horror and dismay echo as the screen pans out. Star shot!
I guess Yellow Diamond took that war on Earth really, really personally. Is Peridot’s new allegiance going to stick in the face of all that Homeworld programming, or will Peridot's redemption arc have a round 2 further along the way? And what about that Jasper that was assigned to Peridot, huh?
This Stevenbomb ends tomorrow with “ Log Date 7 15 2 .” And after that, who knows whether we’ll get another long hiatus or a return to regularly scheduled programming? HD quality episodes of Steven Universe are available for viewing on Cartoon Network ’s web site. To check out past Steven Universe episode recaps, just click here for all of our previous Steven Universe coverage, and make sure to follow us on Twitter to keep posted on more Steven Universe coverage.
