“Yes, excellent.”

Sworn to the Sword owes a lot to Steven the Sword Fighter for obvious reasons, and acts as a direct continuation of Rose’s Scabbard, but it secretly has another big sister, albeit one that makes a point of Pearl’s absence and develops an entirely different character. It’s this third episode that, structurally speaking, is actually Sworn’s closest relative and the most fun to watch side-by-side. I’ll give you a paragraph to guess what it is.

In episodic media like television, a fun plot can often be found by taking two established characters that don’t normally interact and shoving them together to see what happens. But so far in Steven Universe, the most common pairings we see involve Steven and someone else; non-Steven relationships tend to be pre-packaged duos like Lars/Sadie and Amethyst/Pearl, or an introduction to new characters en masse like the Cool Kids (with Lars) in Lars and the Cool Kids and the Pizza family (with the Gems) in Beach Party.

While Horror Club bucked this trend first by bouncing Lars off Ronaldo, Maximum Capacity flies way higher by pairing Greg with Amethyst. Lars/Ronaldo and Greg/Amethyst both bring out the worst in each other in these episodes, but the latter relationship benefits from its use of two main characters with complex flaws and known histories instead of two side characters defined at this point by their grating natures.

Greg and Amethyst are both fun and messy, are both accused of being far more irresponsible than they actually are, and both harbor insecurities about their shortcomings. This human/Gem pair seems like a perfect match, but in practice, their similarities only intensify their flaws until they get caught in a downward spiral that can only be stopped by Steven.

If we sub in Connie and Pearl for the human/Gem pair, that last sentence is literally the plot of Sworn to the Sword. In this case, our subjects are both huge nerds, which we see in their intelligence and intense passion. But while nerdiness is usually portrayed positively on this show, their single-mindedness and bouts with obsession can blind them to the needs of others, as we’ve seen in the likes of Open Book and Rose’s Scabbard.

As a Connie/Pearl episode (but secretly a Pearl/Connie episode), Sworn to the Sword was bound to point out their similarity. But it wasn’t bound to do it quite like this:

Do It For Her is frightening because it works: Connie can hardly be blamed for getting sucked into Pearl’s regimen when we’re just as invested. After all, she’s so happy to be training, right? And when Pearl first lets slip a “her” instead of a “him,” she recognizes it with a smile and a shrug, so it must be a harmless mistake. Grace Rolek’s singing voice, only introduced minutes earlier in The Jam Song, is heartbreakingly earnest as Connie morphs from hesitant to confident (also signified by the old standby of taking off her glasses). And Deedee Magno Hall’s theater-honed musical storytelling chops hold everything together. Really, it’s about the loveliest song about indoctrinating a child soldier that you could hope for.

(But seriously, watch that clip again and only listen to the instruments. Pearl gets her signature piano, but fellow violinist Connie is represented by quiet strings that grow more pronounced as she progresses; the turning point is a droning high-pitched note as Connie gives in to the concept that she’s expendable. Brilliant stuff.)

Anyway, for what it’s worth, Pearl isn’t intentionally cruel. Her attitude says much more about how she sees herself than how she sees Connie: like Amethyst’s final fight with the Slinker in Reformed, Pearl’s self-esteem is so low that she fights without any sense of self-preservation. The difference is that Amethyst actively dislikes herself, while Pearl only (“only”) thinks that she’s worthless, especially compared to the love of her life. We haven’t seen many hints of Pearl’s martyr complex before now, but that makes sense, because it only revs up when she’s in the mindset of protecting a superior.

This is why I say this is a Pearl episode a bit more than it is a Connie one. Connie may learn a whole bunch, but we learn a whole bunch about Pearl. Her feelings for Rose (which are solidly shown to be romantic here if Rose’s Scabbard was too ambiguous for you) don’t just make Pearl sad in the present due to Rose’s death, but led to all sorts of deeper issues due to their inherently toxic dynamic.

Whether Rose returned Pearl’s feelings or not, it didn’t stop her from exerting her power as a Diamond to give her orders. Pearl’s idea of love is self-sacrificial to a ludicrous degree, and while it may seem senseless, considering Rose very famously owned a shield, bear in mind that if Rose had been poofed, Pink Diamond’s secret would have been revealed. Love and obligation to a superior do not blend well into a healthy relationship, and whether she genuinely wanted to or not, Pearl had no choice but to do everything in her power to protect Rose.

As I said in discussing Reformed, this is the beginning of Pearl’s next big arc, and the more we learn about pearls, the more obviously their subservient role shapes Pearl’s attitude even now. Rose’s Scabbard presented a massive problem without insulting us with an easy solution, but Sworn to the Sword reinforces that Pearl will need plenty of time to recover from her emotionally abusive relationship.



However, just like in Rose’s Scabbard, our ability to understand Pearl’s behavior doesn’t make it okay that she’s taking it out on an innocent child. Remember how our introduction to Holo Pearl in Steven the Sword Fighter involved Pearl Classic role-playing a duel, dialogue and all? If any of the Gems are going to recognize a fantasy-prone mindset in a student, it would be Pearl, but she’s either so insensitive to human needs that she doesn’t see how her training might be taking advantage of Connie’s imagination, or she just doesn’t care. And the scary thing is that when it comes to Pearl, either scenario is possible!

Connie has be all in for this episode to work, so it’s great that everything we know about her says that this would be her reaction; no need to exaggerate her character to suit the needs of the episode, Fusion Cuisine style. We know she’s used to strict and regular tennis lessons (and apparently violin lessons), we’ve seen her interest in swordplay in Lion 2 and Open Book, and speaking of the latter, we know how willing she is to lose herself in another world. Her mundane life has always juxtaposed with Steven’s fantasy life, and now someone’s giving her a chance to participate in the magic she’s geeked out over for the whole series? Chugging the Kool-Aid is a given, and even if it’s troubling, it’s the perfect way to end her tenure as Steven’s normal friend. From here on, her role shifts from that girl in the opening credits reading A Wrinkle in Time to that girl in the opening credits with Rose’s massive sword, and the series is all the better for it.



Still, her sword doesn’t put up much of a fight against Steven’s shield, because even more important than all of the qualities listed above is their friendship, and the show knows it. The first song in Sworn to the Sword is nothing to scoff at, and the kids’ adorable interactions once they warp to the sky (particularly Connie’s giggle fit after warping, echoing Steven’s own initial reaction all the way back in Cheeseburger Backpack) makes her attitude shift all the more upsetting.

It’s a smart choice to make Connie initially stick to her guns when Steven interrupts her final challenge, but quickly shift to Steven’s side after he pulls out the shield. Pearl may have done her best to pass along her self-destructive mindset, but it would take more than a few weeks of training to crack the solid bedrock of Connie and Steven’s friendship. Their coordination on the field is a blast; not to take away from Connie, but it’s just awesome to watch Steven getting the hang of combat with his shield and bubble instead of relying on singular, dazzling feats of summoning.

(I also love that Pearl effortlessly dispatches them; they already got the emotional victory, and it’s absurd to think that they stand a chance against a warrior who’s been fighting for thousands of years without, I dunno, fusing or something.)

Just like Steven the Sword Fighter and Rose’s Scabbard, this is secretly an episode about Garnet and Amethyst hanging out. True, we don’t actually hear what the funniest thing Amethyst ever heard is, but I love these two in the background, especially right after Reformed saw them in a tiff. While they provide critical exposition to bring about the third act, their biggest contribution is filling in between two of my favorite gags in the series: an absolutely perfect three-beat book joke, and Steven’s worried but grateful parting words.



I love both of these jokes on their own merits—particularly the book joke, which is up there with “I’m seein’ double here!” as one of my favorite television gags period—but they’re further enhanced by the lack of comedy anywhere else in the episode. There’s plenty of pleasantness to contrast with the drama, but not many laughs outside of these two jokes; it isn’t news at this point, but I still love how confident the crew is with allowing long moments of simple friendship without using humor as a crutch to fill time. These writers can be funny, but they don’t need to be to keep our attention.

It’s a shame that we now have two Pearl-acts-terrible episodes but zero apologies. It does make the Week of Sardonyx all the sweeter when Garnet finally calls Pearl out, but within Sworn to the Sword the lack of explicit remorse feels a little off, especially given how recently she let Steven dangle off that cliff. Pearl clearly sees that she was in the wrong, a “sorry” wouldn’t kill her.

Still, the crew’s willingness to make beloved characters do awful yet realistic things is so refreshing now that the out-of-character misfires are out of the way, and no Crystal Gem does awful quite like Pearl. A big part of that can be chalked up to Deedee Magno Hall’s decidedly non-awful performance, and Sworn to the Sword sees her weaving through a thicket of emotions without a scratch. Even her crying is distinct: she portrays happy-crying after hearing how Connie wants to fight, sad-crying as she shouts at Steven, and that in-between mixture of a sigh and a gasp of laughter after Connie asks how Rose made her feel. And again, most of the actors on this show can sing, but Magno Hall’s ability to tell a story in song is second to none.

Add a low-key depiction of amethysts as an enemy warrior class and multiple shots containing the crest of the Great Diamond Authority (complete with a damaged Pink) to build some low-key lore, and you’ve got a solid episode that pulls few punches and prepares us for a whole new world of storytelling. Pearl has work to do, Connie’s role starts to shift from outsider friend to close ally, and Steven continues to build those conflict resolution skills. Man, an Amethyst episode and a Pearl episode back to back? You know what that means for our next episode!

Garnet! Ronaldo!

Future Vision!

Sworn to the Sword kicks off the second Steven Bomb, but you have to stretch to find much thematic resonance between it and the next four episodes in the same way we get in other Bombs. Still, I enjoy how Lapis mirrors (heh, mirrors) Pearl’s wording as she commits her own act of self-sacrifice in Chille Tid .

kicks off the second Steven Bomb, but you have to stretch to find much thematic resonance between it and the next four episodes in the same way we get in other Bombs. Still, I enjoy how Lapis mirrors (heh, mirrors) Pearl’s wording as she commits her own act of self-sacrifice in . Speaking of self-sacrifice for Steven, how about that other human who shows him loyalty by kneeling?

The Breakup Arc that immediately follows Lars’s bow hinges on the new partnership between Steven and Connie that this episode establishes: he breaks her out of her funk here by saying that he wants to fight alongside her when things get tough, but when things do get tough, he leaves her behind. And this isn’t just thematic: the connection is made concrete by Steven ending his apology with the term “Jam Buds.”



get tough, he leaves her behind. And this isn’t just thematic: the connection is made concrete by Steven ending his apology with the term “Jam Buds.” Breakup Arc opener Dewey Wins additionally manages to pull off another How to Talk to People joke. There’s nothing like a sight gag that wedges its way into the show’s continuity.

If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have inconsistencies…

Pearl’s loyalty to Rose predates the human concept of being a knight by thousands upon thousands of years; technically Pearl could have found out about knights well after the rebellion and liked the idea in retrospect, but that’s not what the scene implies.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

I moved Rose’s Scabbard up a few spots after A Single Pale Rose changed it from great to devastatingly great. I still like Sworn to the Sword is a little more, as Pearl’s toxic response to her grief is even worse here (she’s not great in Rose’s Scabbard, but she’s not poisoning the mindsets of others to match her own) and it has terrific storytelling through song. They’re essentially a tie, but this barely gets the edge if I have to pick, and I do.

Top Fifteen



Love ‘em



Like ‘em

Enh

No Thanks!

4. Horror Club

3. Fusion Cuisine

2. House Guest

1. Island Adventure