It’s been a rough hiatus for Steven Universe fans, but the Crystal Gems are back for one special new Stevenbomb: Steven’s Birthday Bomb . Monday’s Steven Universe episode “ The Answer ” helped get things going with the revolutionary ballad of Ruby and Sapphire. Tuesday’s episode “ Steven’s Birthday ” revealed the secret behind Steven’s age and gave us another notch on the tally of Steven’s psychologically distressing birthdays.
Today’s Steven Universe episode, “It Could’ve Been Great,” is summarized as follows: “The Gems take a trip to the moon.” Tomorrow’s episode is titled “ Message Received” (gulp), and the Stevenbomb ends with “ Log Date 7 15 2 ” on Jan. 8. And after that, who knows whether we’ll get another long hiatus or a return to regularly scheduled programming? So let’s go to the Moon.
“It Could’ve Been Great” starts off with a welcome return to the main plot: Peridot is annoyed that Steven and the Gems are taking a break from their work on the Cluster-killing Drill and brandishes a handheld drill in frustration. Steven, who has been plunking prettily on the ukelele, picks out the musical note emitted by the drill. While music isn’t something Peridot comprehends well, she does her best to understand the pleasure Steven derives from it.
Steven then encourages her to sing along to the words and melody of a song he’s been working on. Ultimately she even writes her own little song and performs it for the Gems, who receive it with quizzical delight. “I think you’re all insane but I am too… anyone would be if they were stuck on earth with you,” she sings.
A for effort, Peri.
As for Steven’s sweet song, it has even Peridot singing, “Is there anything that’s worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth?” But the episode’s nowhere close to over and is titled “It Could’ve Been Great,” so I’m afraid it’ll have to go downhill from here.
Once the Crystal Gems and Peridot complete the Drill, Peridot appears to be more a part of the group than she’s ever been. It’s all laughter and smiles and congratulations. The last thing they need to complete their mission is the exact location of the Cluster. Pearl recalls the existence of a special Diamond base that may have that information, but access will be tricky: not only is it not accessible by warp pad, it’s on the Moon.
After some persuasion, Lion is able to warp them through to the Moon base. Steven bounces around in the low gravity, but Amethyst is unable to bounce with him. In her usual condescending manner, Peridot explains that as a spacefaring race of conquerors, the Gems’ bodies automatically adjust to the gravity on any planetoid.
Steven bounces straight into a majestic mural of Blue Diamond, Sapphire’s liege lady whom we so memorably saw in “ The Answer .” Peridot gasps hugely with excitement, then bounds to another wall to point out a huge mural of her own liege lady, Yellow Diamond. She eagerly explains that the Diamonds are the Gem matriarchs who make up the great Diamond Authority that governs Homeworld and its colonies. (I’m not sure what all here is supposed to be capitalized, actually.) “We live to serve them,” Peridot gushes.
Garnet marches over with a disapproving glare at Peridot's effusiveness. “We were all made to serve them even though some of us don’t anymore,” Peridot corrects herself awkwardly. She bounds over to what seems like a control surface, causing a miraculous spiral staircase to rise from the ground, then hops in excitement. Well, you can’t say Peridot ever fibbed about where her loyalty lies.
As they ascend the staircase and Peridot giggles with giddiness over walking where Diamonds have walked, they pass a huge, strange room.
The only thing in the room is an orb suspended in a column of rippling liquid. “It’s not what we came here,” Garnet says sternly, leading them forward, but the camera lingers on it significantly before moving to the next scene.
Peridot’s raptures over the elegance and perfection of all the Diamond stuff around them mean little to Steven, who clambers onto a Diamond throne with zero reverence. He invites Peridot to sit next to him; Peridot, initially wary over such a desecration, is easily convinced to trespass where a Gem of her status would never be permitted. After a moment of thrilled cackling, she gets to business investigating the files.
It turns out the Diamond base is a treasure trove of information. Not only do we get a look at how wonky the Earth of Steven Universe is:
Peridot quickly discovers the exact insertion point of the Cluster. With that confirmed, the Crystal Gems are happy to leave, but Peridot and Steven linger. Steven wants to know if the computer has any games on it, but it turns out that this computer was used to plan the Earth colony. Peridot pulls up a screen that shows all the structures built on Earth, which only account for 5% of what was originally planned, apparently. She delves deeper into the files, pulling up the original plan for Earth.
Zoinks, Scoob! The Crystal Gems stare in horror. Unaware of her audience’s reaction, Peridot burbles in excitement: 89 kindergartens, 67 spies, a galaxy warp in each facet, efficient use of materials…. “What were you thinking shutting this down? It could have been great!” she cries.
But the Crystal Gems have had enough of Peridot’s unabashed, unrestrained partisanship. “No! You’re wrong!” Garnet shouts. Peridot responds with sincere bafflement: the plans for a Gem colony look perfect to her. She urges them to look at it, but even Steven is overcome with pain and horror by this point. Peridot continues to push the point, citing the Gems that might have been made on such a colony and the glorious expansion of the Homeworld empire. She’s speaking to deaf ears: Pearl furiously states that Rose Quartz believed all life precious and worth protecting.
Then Peridot crosses the uncrossable line and criticizes Rose Quartz, who means everything to these Gems. There would have been no Cluster if Homeworld had been a colony, Peridot says, but now there’s a Cluster that will destroy the Earth, so really, it’s Rose Quartz who has doomed the planet.
Garnet lifts Peridot bodily, summons her gauntlet, and snarls that Peridot is speaking about things she doesn’t understand. Only Steven’s immediate intervention on Peridot’s behalf saves Peridot, but Garnet vents her rage by smashing her gauntlet through the Diamond control panel.
The Crystal Gems walk away, but Peridot is confused and flippant about what just happened. As far as she sees it, she’s just stating the facts: the rebellion didn’t save Earth, merely delayed the inevitable. Steven sighs deeply and explains that the Crystal Gems have spent thousands of years protecting Earth. “I thought maybe you finally understood why,” he says in disappointment, bouncing down from the control panel area.
Before leaving, Peridot sneakily grabs a small crystal in secret from the Diamond chair. But what she doesn’t realize is that Steven has seen her take it. What with the next episode title being “Messaged Received,” however, I’m not sure how Steven’s knowledge of her action will matter. We’re back to the main plot, hip deep in Homeworld Gems and I’m ecstatic. This episode felt like two different episodes in one and ended on a jarringly sharp note, without so much as a star fade-out, but I live. Let's keep it moving.
Hey, just as a side note, throwing this out there: Malachite is still in the ocean. Lapis is still holding her erstwhile jailer Jasper captive in a monstrous fusion under the sea. Just pointing that out for everyone. #gonebutnotforgotten
Here’s the episode preview for “Message Received,” which airs tomorrow at 5:30 PM EST on Cartoon Network:
While Steven Universe is on hiatus, you can watch HD quality episodes of Steven Universe on Cartoon Network ’s web site. Otherwise, episodes will be airing from Jan. 4 to Jan. 8 at 5:30 PM EST on Cartoon Network. 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.
