#su0208

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Where it started: Pearl hogs the chore chart

Where it’s ended: Peridot breaks the Geneva Convention

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"Hey, you know what I think would be a great influence that our kid’s show has been missing? Well, you know when the sirens go off in Silent Hill...’

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This is what homeworld thinks of fusion is interesting because we’ve seen Garnet shrug Jasper’s overt aggression off. She’s used to that level of phobia, but it seems that she’s never considered that her enemies might leverage this much abuse against them. It’s a completely new level of horror and violation she’s encountering, even after fighting a whole war to be free to fuse.

I assume it’s Ruby who is justifiably furious at the situation in front of her. She speaks to a history of trying to find their dead friends - which first of all is a horrible piece of backstory, but also raises the question who put the shards here? And how did Peridot know they were here? And why are they doing these experiments now? Maybe these gems just died in a battle at the kindergarten and debris naturally covered them over time, but Garnet makes it sound like they were deliberately relocated here, but why?

And Sapphire’s justifications just underscore how much guilt and blame Garnet levels at herself and at Rose, which makes so much sense of what we’ve seen already. Pearl romanticises the war and only wants to focus on how much good it did for Earth, while Garnet can’t move beyond the incredibly heavy weight of so many lives destroyed by their actions and needing to do something, anything to set that right.

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Garnet evades the question and I guess Steven is learning that some things aren’t a Steven-sized problem. They aren’t even a Garnet-sized problem. This episode is definitely an analogue to super heavy topics, and works as a vehicle to talk to a young audience about consent, and I’ll admit I’m kinda surprised by how explicit they’re getting. A frank discussion about choice is good, but what interests me more is that there’s no easy solution. They can’t reverse what happened or change how their homeworld thinks of fusion. This morning Steven believed Garnet could do anything, but Garnet gave everything she had to try and change her world, and now she’s faced with the monumental failure of her efforts. It’s horrifying, but sometimes that’s how life is. You have to go on even when you can’t change the situation, and you have to find a way to live decently within it. 

Another thing that struck me in the time since first watching the episode is that this violation happens after “death”. Even after their life has been taken from them, the forced fusions must continue to exist in this agonising state. I’m really interested in what the show ultimately does with the forced fusions - I’m imagining the gems will find a way to separate the shards so they can rest again. 

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I a lot of screencaps before I realised you obviously can’t convey Steven is shaking his head and then nodding through still images. But also what is this relationship.

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Last time on Steben’s Uniberse: Everything was awful and I am not okay.

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It takes Steven reminding her of who she is (a gem who takes action) to get her moving, and it’s when she decides her purpose is going to be destroying this physical form that she comes totally back to herself. 

And the fusion just waits for her to do it. 

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Our gremlin baby is all grown up and ready to be traumatised as one of the team. Really brings a real tear to your eye.