Steven Universe Future: Pink State Analysis (I Am My Monster)
This episode is simulataneously the first and last time we see Steven in his monster form.
This episode begins where Everything's Fine left off, with Steven having transformed into a monster, Peridot, Lapis, and Bismuth, upon noticing this and mistaking the monster for a threat immediately warp over to Steven's house to fight it. However, they are told to stand down by Garnet, who has been trying along with the others to settle Steven down.
Garnet, eventually goes onto to say that as long as Steven believes he's a monster (i.e. a bad person), he'll stay a monster (as in literally remain in the form of a monster). In this form, Steven behaves almost exactly as the corrupted gems seen throughout the series, acting more or less like wild animals, and is incapable of even speaking at all.
After Peridot and Bismuth are able to get Steven's attention and lure him into the ocean, Lapis restrains him with water chains, which is what he spends a good majority of this episode trying to break out of.
After the Diamonds and Spinel arrive on Earth (likely using giving Steven's flip flop back to him as an excuse for another surprise visit), and fail to return him back to his human form, Steven, generating the strength to finally break out of Lapis's chains, roars with enough power to blast everyone back.
While re-approaching Beach City, The Cluster appears to restrain Steven even further, giving Steven something else to break out of while buying everyone else some time.
After Peridot remarks that Steven is even stronger than The Cluster, nearly everyone else begins to cry and blame themselves over how they failed him in the past and how it led to his transformation. That is, until Connie returns to tell them to not only stop focusing on themselves and think about Steven, but also remember all the good things he did for them in order to help him in his time of need.
Garnet (who had unfused after being blown to the beach) re-fuses and comes up with an idea to help him.
It's also around this time that Steven manages to break free of the Cluster's grasp and begins re-approaching Beach City, as well as the group.
Garnet comes up with plan in which everyone could contribute in helping Steven, by having Yellow increase Garnet's size with her powers, Blue lifting everyone with her cloud powers and having Lapis distract Steven while everyone makes their way to him.
Garnet tackles Steven, trying to settle him down by talking to him in a calming voice, relating her own experiences to falling apart to what Steven's doing now, which settles him enough to be receptive to what she's saying.
After this, the others, expect for Connie, reach Steven and hug him as well.
Greg tells Steven that he'll be willing to give him anything he needs, Peridot says how Steven never gave up on her, and how she'll do the same for him. Amethyst and Pearl, like Garnet, relate their own experiences and struggles to what Steven is going through now. This shows how their idea of getting through to Steven was to use own individual experiences with Steven and themselves to make him realize how reality goes beyond his own perceptions since each character talks about their experiences, and not anyone else's (for example Amethyst doesn't talk Greg's experiences, but her own), and how it's done without them assuming they would know exactly how to fix things, much like Steven had been wanting.
The Cluster also decides to get in on the hug by holding Steven's hand.
Finally, Connie comes on Steven's nose and tells him how he must've have afraid to show everyone the side of himself that is imperfect and vunerable, thinking everyone would hate and abandon him if he couldn't be the one who has things together for them. However, they'll accept no matter how they see him, kissing him on the nose as a sign of affection.
Steven both moved by this and finally realizing everyone won't abandon him since they didn't even after seeing him as a monster, begins to cry, which appears to return him to his human form. This could also be due to his healing tears combined with the essence of the other Diamonds as his tears glow as he cries.
As soon as he returns to human form, Steven appears to be trying to apologize (presumably for either pushing everyone away all this time or for any damage he might have caused as a monster).
However, Lion, obscures his face from having to face everyone else, and he begins to cry intensly, even as the episode ends. This is due to not only Steven finally prioritizing his own feelings, without worrying about making a scene in front of everyone, but also him realizing he was wrong about everything he'd percieved, not only of everyone else around him, but also himself. This also provides a sense of relief for Steven since he doesn't have to guard himself emotionally anymore.
This also means he's finally willing to accept the help of others since he doesn't care about whether or not they're flawed or don't have all the answers as well since he doesn't have to worry about that for himself.
In the epilogue (to the epilogue), he and the gems still have trouble talking to each other about their concerns, however he's still willing to find a purpose outside of Beach City and thinking of himself as a hero since he's free to do so.
