“ I'm going to bring the ocean back, or get really thirsty trying. ” —Steven





"Ocean Gem" is the 26th episode of the first season of Steven Universe, and the 26th episode overall.

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Official Synopsis

The ocean disappears on the first day of summer, and Beach City is in a panic.[2]

Plot

The Gems angrily tell Steven that he is grounded for disobeying orders. Amethyst is unfamiliar with the term and takes it literally, threatening to bury Steven until he has learned his lesson. Before the Gems try to take away his privileges, Greg arrives and brings everyone outside to see that the ocean has disappeared. Mayor Dewey, nervous and shouting loudly, blames the Crystal Gems. He cries, claiming that no one will come to "Desert" City. Garnet tells him that it was Lapis Lazuli, and Pearl explains the current situation. Still upset, Mayor Dewey frantically begs them to fix it. Steven, while inside the Beach House, prepares to find Lapis, as he acknowledges that the whole situation was his fault. Not wanting him to be alone, Connie, Greg, and Lion all want to join him on his quest, with the Gems adding in that they obviously have to go. Garnet also adds that Steven is ungrounded. As the Gems, Steven, Connie, Lion, and Greg are leaving, Mayor Dewey sadly starts a garden hose in a futile effort to refill the ocean.

While driving, Greg plays some of his music that Rose liked. Garnet dislikes it so much that she jumps out of the van and spends the rest of the trip riding on the roof. Before they arrive Steven questions why Lapis is fighting them. Pearl admits that not all Gems are good, and explains that the monsters they fight were Gems that became corrupted and broken. When they arrive, they see a large tower of water that reaches into the sky. Lapis, sensing them, yells that they should not be there and should leave her alone, and Steven responds that they are not leaving unless they get the ocean back. Lapis then makes Water Clones of the Crystal Gems, and the Gems fight them. During the battle, Greg's leg is broken when the water clone of Steven lifts and drops the van from a height. Steven, telling Lapis that he does not want to fight anymore, activates his shield due to his anger towards Lapis for attacking Greg and Connie, and his fierce protective feelings toward his father and friend. The shield deflects a water attack causing a vibration that forces the water clones to dissipate. Steven tells Lapis that he is coming up to see her, pleads not to be drowned, and walks into the tower. The water gently carries him to the top, at the edge of space.

Lapis explains that she does not believe in protecting Earth and wants to go back home, but her gem is cracked, so she is attempting to stretch the entire ocean into a pillar of water that will reach all the way to Homeworld. Steven, remembering his healing powers, licks his hand and applies the saliva to Lapis' gem on her back. The crack heals, Lapis' eyes are restored, and she sprouts wings made of water. Thanking him, Lapis flies off into space. Suddenly, the tower collapses and Steven falls with it. Teaming up, Lion and Connie are able to teleport and catch him before he lands. As the Gems, Steven, Connie, and Greg return, the residents of Beach City congratulate him as their hero. Garnet acknowledges that Lapis made it off-planet, and Pearl asks what it means for them. Garnet says to wait and see. Steven says goodbye to Lapis Lazuli wherever she may be, as the star iris closes on a glimmering sparkle far away.

Features

Characters

Objects

Locations

Music

Instrumental Songs

Trivia

This episode also shows that all of the Gems are able to use dual weapons, except Garnet, due to her already using two gauntlets. This was previously hinted in "Together Breakfast" when Amethyst was shown to summon two whips.

A variation of the ending theme is played at the end of the episode when Steven and the Gems return. This is the only time the variation plays its introduction before playing it.

The title card shows the ocean and Steven's clothes on the clothesline missing, referencing the events of the episode.

Amethyst has a very warped grasp on the definition of grounding (and possibly other terms), as she was prepared to literally bury Steven in the sand.

According to Ian Jones-Quartey, this episode was believed to be the last episode of the whole series due to the show not being renewed at the time.[3]

Cultural References

When Steven says "I'm going to bring the ocean back, or get really thirsty trying." it could be a reference to rapper 50 Cent movie and album entitled Get Rich or Die Tryin' .

it could be a reference to rapper 50 Cent movie and album entitled . When Garnet punches through the head of her water double it reforms around her fist; a reference to Terminator 2: Judgement Day where the T-800 similarly punches through the head of the liquid metal T-1000.

where the T-800 similarly punches through the head of the liquid metal T-1000. When Garnet jumps out of the van, she uses a roll similar to the "stop, drop, and roll" technique and a roll seen in many action films.

The Water Tower is a reference to The Tower in the episode "The Tower" of Adventure Time .

. When the Water Clones summon their weapons, Amethyst says "Ruh-Oh." ; a reference to Scooby-Doo.

; a reference to Scooby-Doo. Garnet's battle with her Clone strongly resembles the famous Star Platinum vs The World fight from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders .

. Corrupted Gems are similar to the Kishin from the anime and manga Soul Eater , in that they were both driven to madness causing them to become more monstrous and later imprisoned in a temple.

, in that they were both driven to madness causing them to become more monstrous and later imprisoned in a temple. Lapis' tower is an allusion to the mythic Tower of Babel, as both were created to reach the heavens/space and ultimately fail.

Lapis' water clones are a popular trope, particularly in sci-fi, where an antagonist creates perfect duplicates of the protagonists to the point where neither fighter can get ahead.

The reveal that all the monsters were previously Gems who became corrupted is a possible reference to the anime and manga series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, in which magical girls whose Soul Gems have become corrupted turn into Witches, similarly mindless monsters.

Continuity

Errors

In the first scene inside the van, Pearl was wearing a seat belt, which disappears in the next scene.

In the scene where Connie and Steven are riding Lion while Pearl is driving Greg's van, Connie's eyes are missing.

Near the end of the episode when Amethyst tells Steven "That's how you do it." , Garnet and Lion disappear when they are supposed to be in the background.

, Garnet and Lion disappear when they are supposed to be in the background. When the population of Beach City lifts Steven, other characters who were seen from far away disappear.

When Pearl was talking to Garnet, Garnet's left shoulder-pad was colored black.

When Garnet was fighting her water counterpart, she was making grunts, although her mouth was not shown to be open or moving. The same thing happened at the beginning of Amethyst's scene.

Lapis' water pillar is able to reach out into space, but not even as far as the moon. If she really focused all the ocean's water into a pillar of that size (judging from the scenes showing the Earth from above, she did), it should be much taller than that (Earth's ocean is about 1.3 billion cubic kilometers in volume. Even a width of 50 meters, a high estimate for what we saw, would require it to be about 660 billion kilometers tall; about 4400 times the Earth's distance from the sun). —so much that creating it in a day would require most of the water to have traveled faster than the speed of light. Although even that would not be anywhere near far enough to reach another star system as Lapis wanted.

The design of Amethyst's clone was inverted during the weapon summoning scene, even though before and after it was not.

When Pearl slices one of Lapis' Water Clones in half it reforms into two more water clones, however, both of these are the same size as the original, which should not be possible considering that each individual clone is made up of less water than the original.

When Steven dispels his shield, neither Greg nor his van is behind him. In previous scenes, he was very close to Steven and Connie.

When the camera shows Lapis from behind, there is an animation error where her forearms were not colored.

When the camera shows Lapis from behind, there is an animation error where her forearms were not colored. When Garnet catches Steven after he is thrown back by his water counterpart, her mouth goes missing for a few frames.

At the end of the episode, Steven is seen sitting on Mayor Dewey's shoulders. But a couple of scenes later, he is on Lars' shoulders.

At the end of the episode, Greg is standing up, even though his leg is broken.

Transcript

View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

Click to view the gallery for Ocean Gem.

Videos

Steven Universe - Mirror Gem & Ocean Gem (Extended Promo) Promo 1 Steven Universe Fighting Lapis To Get The Ocean Back Ocean Gem Cartoon Network Steven Universe Steven Heals Lapis - Ocean Gem Cartoon Network

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References