Consider the Following - “Historical Friction”

WARNING!

THIS IS A SPOILER FOR THE NEW STEVEN UNIVERSE EPISODE “HISTORICAL FRICTION”!

Once again special thanks to a friend of mine, Kerriadango!

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SPOILERY SPOILERS! You were warned!

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That episode was exactly what our fandom needed!

Please sit back, relax and take time to consider the following.

So first off and most importantly, this episode’s overarching theme is about good vs bad writing of story and character.

Stories are full of crazy things sometimes, like magical rock people who can make holograms, punch through steel, and spin dash like Sonic the Hedgehog, but they still have to be somewhat mortal in their actions…





“To be human is to be flawed”, it is to fail which is also to struggle, better oneself and succeed… Or at the least to fail trying your hardest with no regrets when you have to walk away.

Flawed characters like the ones from THIS VERY SHOW are the BEST characters! Pearl, Lapis, Amethyst, Garnet, even Peridot from what we’ve seen of her! So even when I lord over their mistakes I take into consideration that they MUST make them. They MUST be flawed to be good characters otherwise this show would go nowhere.

As we watch these characters struggle we learn about them. We watch them grow and fall in love with them, want them to see a day come when they are forgiven and redeemed!

We watched Amethyst find someone to help her through her struggle.

Before that we watched two people who love each other so very much fight. Then we watched as they realized their internal turmoil became external and hurt the ones they loved.

And before that we watched Pearl make a mistake out of desperate need for something she couldn’t obtain otherwise. We watcher her realization that she to had, as well, hurt her loved ones. We watched her become distressed and ashamed of herself. Some of us (me as well) thought she risked becoming more self-destructive in the process…

She screwed up before then and felt she could do nothing but continue to screw up and hurt those around her more. She was afraid of what she’d done to Garnet, but even more so afraid that she’d either make it worse or never make it better.



She needed help. just like Amethyst did until yesterday’s episode. Pearl might have already found a confidant…

…in Amethyst, but what she needed was someone to believe in her, to be that rock to stand on, that river to flow down.

Someone who could find understanding in her faults. Someone who would be there for her. Someone who could show her that it was alright to make mistakes. That, while wrong, they are a normal part of life and can still be fixed.



Someone that could give her encouragement and love and make her see that everything was going to be alright.

Someone who believed in her so thoroughly that his words could even comfort her without knowing he’d done it.



Now I know what you’re all saying “Steven has always faithfully believed in her”. This is true, yet she has to continuously make this connection to understand it like in “Coach Steven” and “Space Race”. This is akin to a mother so busy worrying about her child…



she doesn’t realize he’s just as worried about her, that he is more than her baby…

…he is also a person with feelings, and he feels for Pearl. He hates to see her sad and fusses over her well being in his own way, just the same as she fusses over his. They NEED one another, they make each other strong and they’re family!

What greater bond could there be between them than that?



And maybe in some small way this episode has made Pearl realize that Steven has as much if not more faith in Pearl than Rose did. That he cares just as much and loves her just as much. Who knows, this might just be a key factor to help Pearl…

…in letting Rose go.

