Some observations on ‘Familiar’ I haven’t heard people talk about yet

pisoprano:

I’ve watched the most recent episode of Steven Universe and while I’m–like everyone else–excited about the new bits of lore we learned, there were a few things I thought were also interesting to think about.

1. One of the pebbles comments that Pink is “Always playing her games, pretending she doesn’t know us pebbles.”  While it could just mean that they enjoy this new game Pink seems to be playing, to me it read as that Pink Diamond used to pretend that she didn’t know the pebbles.  What situation would this be most likely to turn up?  If Pink was in her Rose guise while in the pebbles’ presence and had to ignore them to preserve her cover.

2. Steven’s reaction to Pearl saying that she’s “considered one of [his] things” is a simple “Yeesh.”  Not a cry of outrage, not dropping everything to try to fix this one thing–he’s mature enough about the situation to realize that Pearl’s treatment isn’t something that he can do much about until he fixes the bigger problem, but he’s also giving validation to Pearl’s discomfort at being objectified again.

3. The Diamond Chime is something that occurs in-universe instead of just part of the soundtrack.

4. Yellow Pearl refers to Steven as “Just Steven” instead of “Pink Just Steven.”  You’ve got to wonder if she’s trolling him intentionally.

5. Steven’s ability to jump super high never gets old.  He’s even almost gotten the hang of jumping to exactly how high he needs to.

6. You’d think the 2.5-word record would have been surpassed by now–I guess no one ever tries to talk over White Diamond.

7. Yellow Diamond acquired hundreds of colonies since her mural on the Moon was made.  Sounds like she buried herself in work after losing Pink.

8. Yellow Diamond cannot even consider the possibility of failure–it is literally not an option for her.  I really hope that she can learn to make sacrifices for the sake of the big picture sometime in the future.

9. Yellow Diamond says that Pink is “almost worth the trouble.”  So soon after getting Pink back and Yellow is reminded of what it’s actually like to have Pink around all the time, she falls back into the pattern of dismissing Pink’s presence as if she didn’t really care–no wonder Pink thought that Yellow wouldn’t bat an eye if she died.

10. Did the diamonds absorb fluids off one another when they were in the bath?  Could Pink’s absence have deprived them of the joy she used to give them in a literal sense as well?

11. Blue Diamond calls the time without Pink “Era 2″.  I thought that would just be something that the creators would call the timeframe to keep things straight, so I was surprised that the term would be used in-universe.  I also find it interesting that there aren’t separate eras for when each diamond came into power–which could mean that they all came into existence (or at least, into power) at roughly the same time.

12. Pearl leaves after thinking about what happened to Pink’s court.  When she comes back, she brings Steven’s ‘court’–his friends.

13. Pink’s vanity has a flower that has miraculously not died yet

14. Pink’s vanity has gem shards next to some rocks that have varying levels of gem shards.  Was Pink extracting shards?  Why?  For that matter, are the pebbles/environmental gems/creatures that Steven brought to life different on a fundamental level to normal gem people that are almost entirely light-constructs?

15. In Pink’s old drawing of her and the diamonds, Yellow is a grumpy-pants (no surprise there) but Blue and White were both depicted as happy, with Pink being the happiest of all.

16. How do the pebbles know how to make clothes for Steven?  Gems can shapeshift into whatever they want–do the pebbles all have to make their own?  Where does Homeworld even get cloth?

17. How much do you want to bet Amethyst spent her whole time in Pearl’s pearl just messing with Surface!Pearl?

18. Connie just stares at the Crystal Gems when Steven talks about how they used to leave him behind all the time.