The Crystal Gems are back after Steven Universe’s latest major revelation — but this time, it looks like they’re falling apart instead of fusing together.
[Warning: Major spoilers for Season 5 of Steven Universe ahead.]
A recently released trailer for Steven Universe’s “Heart of the Crystal Gems” arc, due out early next month, details the aftermath of the series’ dark turn. After seasons of speculation and hinting at the dramatic twist, Steven discovered (via a trip through Pearl’s gem into her deepest memories) that his mother, Rose Quartz, didn’t shatter Pink Diamond — she was Pink Diamond.
This wasn’t only news to Steven. Pearl, ordered into silence by Rose before Pink Diamond’s supposed death, was the only one out of all the Crystal Gems who knew the truth. The upcoming trailer picks up right after the announcement, and focuses particularly on Garnet’s — and eventually, Ruby and Sapphire’s — reaction.
Being kept out of the loop of Rose’s plans seems to exacerbate insecurities in Ruby and Sapphire’s relationship. Sapphire responds to Ruby’s reassurances by exclaiming, “You couldn’t have known! You never know what’s going on!” before leaving the house suddenly via the warp pad.
We’ve seen our favorite perma-fusion split up before, most notably in Season 1’s “Jailbreak” and Season 2’s “Keystone Motel.” When Garnet splits, things generally aren’t good — whether the Crystal Gems are trying to escape capture by Homeworld gems or Garnet herself is angry enough to break the fusion, Ruby and Sapphire’s separation almost always disrupts the balance of the Crystal Gems. Luckily, they’re never apart for long — until, it seems, now.
It’s up to Steven to bring the Crystal Gems back together in the upcoming arc, which will air on Cartoon Network as a five-night event beginning on Monday, July 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT with new episodes airing all week through Friday, July 6. The arc will feature two new singles which will air on Wednesday, July 4 and Friday, July 6. Both singles will be available on iTunes and other streaming platforms the day after their respective debuts.
We’re worrying along with Steven — what if Ruby and Sapphire never form Garnet again? However, all of us (including Garnet) would do well to remember a piece of Garnet’s sage advice: “Take a moment to think of just flexibility, love and trust.”
Comments
My next question, if I was a crystal gem, what if Steven has been lying this whole time? What if he’s been Pink, pretending to be Rose, pretending to be Steven, and just not letting anyone in on his sentience of the situation.
Sure, we may be aware of his surprise when he found out the truth, but how could Garnet/Amethyst/Peridot be so sure?
By QuakerOatmeal on 06.18.18 5:20pm
Best show on TV, no joke.
By Carlos Faro on 06.18.18 5:58pm
It really is.
By Brill on 06.18.18 8:43pm
Atlanta wants a word.
By Assmar on 06.18.18 9:43pm
as long as you can work through the first half of season one because good lord that aged like a rotting carcass (I have been trying to get friends to go through it because it builds into an amazing show but damn those early episodes!)
By Bigburito on 06.19.18 1:19pm
Yeah I feel a lot of shows have that problem, but especially kids ones. Last Airbender is even more annoying as it lays a lot of important groundwork while also being pretty hard to sit through for most of the first season.
By Cropplycrab on 06.19.18 3:06pm
oh shit
By Jigabachi on 06.18.18 6:38pm
Umm I think we have a very different definition as to what a dark turn would be. In fact I would say only if it was the other way around would it be considered dark, i.e. everyone thought pink became rose but really she just shattered her. Hell, this means Earth converted a diamond!
By darthchewee on 06.18.18 7:42pm
Very different. I thought the ‘twist’ (which a lot of us have been pretty sure of since the first season…) was good news. Hard for me to understand the folks that think this was a bad turn for Rose and the show.
By Brill on 06.18.18 8:41pm
I feel like Rose is the biggest villain in the show now for starting a massive war that imprissoned/sacrificed/mutated tons of gems and left Pearl with PTSD. That isn’t to say Rose is a bad "person" because i’m assume the idea is she did it for the greater good but how do you redeem someone for that?
By Fight Me Nerd on 06.19.18 12:24pm
I mean Pink did to it for partly selfish reasons but I think she genuinely believed the other diamonds wouldn’t react as they did. Which saying that now makes me think it might be sort of like teenager-angst/"no one will miss me when I’m gone" mentality. The aftermath might have forced her to grow up and maybe even pushed her to give birth to Steven, sacrificing herself in hopes of creating something better than she was.
By darthchewee on 06.19.18 1:16pm
What exactly was the alternative to the ‘war’ though? An even larger one against the other Diamonds (which she would have lost)? Letting them colonize/destroy Earth (which would have killed everyone and everything here)? Asking them nicely to stop colonizing worlds- something that seems pretty central to their culture and biology (wishful thinking)?
Also, we thought Rose started that ‘war’ before it was confirmed that she was Pink Diamond. So the twist shouldn’t be changing your opinion there.
By Brill on 06.19.18 3:20pm
Also, more importantly…this means Steven is a diamond.
By darthchewee on 06.18.18 7:44pm
This can’t come soon enough. I need this resolution. This show is some of the best short form story telling on television.
By thecommonperson on 06.19.18 10:04am
Aside from Ruby and Sapphire having a fight over a well-kept secret along with the other Gems, I wonder how Greg will feel about his wife not being who she claimed to be?
By Darkarcheos on 06.19.18 4:27pm
He might already know.
The show has been very carefully playing its cards close to the chest on the subject of how much Greg knows. In one episode, Steven asks him about Pink Diamond, and if I recall Greg says something along the lines of "your mother had a lot of things she didn’t like talking about. I told her it doesn’t matter who you were in the past, what matters is who you are now."
^not exact quote, but the gist of what was said
By OccamsTireIron on 06.20.18 9:24am
Also, I think this means Greg is the only one to have vanquished a diamond
By darthchewee on 06.20.18 2:20pm