Consider the Following - “Keystone Motel”

WARNING!

THIS IS A SPOILER FOR THE NEW STEVEN UNIVERSE EPISODE “KEYSTONE MOTEL”!

Special thanks to a friend of mine, Kerriadango over at http://kerriadango.tumblr.com/

She actually sparks a lot of the conversations that lead to my writing on Steven Universe and other nerdly things and I would like to thank her for that! :D

———————–

———————–

———————–

———————–

SPOILERS! You were warned!

———————–

———————–

———————–

———————–

Alright, so lets get back to digging in these Gem’s heads and see how they think. Please take time to consider the following.

Firstly, lets take a look at Pearl. She’s dealing with some serious issues at this point and while the Salt and Thirst jokes are great, they sometimes make us miss the real problem. Something is extremely wrong with Pearl, like mental instability level wrong.

She has many problems with social issues, general anxiety, and depression which seems to be getting worse (as reflected in her relationship between her and Amethyst in the flashbacks compared to now) when added to the post traumatic stress damage from losing Rose, which she may in some part blame herself for.

As these cracks start to show in Pearl, unneeded pressure is starting to build from Garnet being angry with her (rightly so) and maybe the self realization that she can’t trust HERSELF to do the right thing anymore. This might be Pearl beginning to roll down a steepening slope into MADNESS.

Now she’s chasing Peridot without rest, like some goal to focus on in the hopes it would make what she’s done wrong, right again. As well as using it as another distraction to focus on.

“Pearl! Where have you been?

Looking for Peridot… for a few days straight.”



She seems to torment herself with her failings, trying to find a solution at the cost of her own self worth with every mistake. And she has made some HUGE mistakes. Pearl’s actions and Amethyst’s words probably cut Garnet deeply…

“We’re so much WEAKER than you, fusing with you is like one chance to feel… STRONGER”



Sound familiar? No?

“Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make WEAK gems STRONGER!”



How about now?

Now all of this being said, Pearl is not exempt from her actions, regardless of the state she’s in. I preached this same philosophy with Lapis not being a pure snowflake-cinnabon-whatever… I don’t care how afraid, or angry, or skewed your vision of right and wrong is. She made a super horrible mistake, as far as we know that signal wouldn’t have been found by homeworld without those extra days YOU JUST PROVIDED IT to be found.

She needs to work on herself and make sure it never happens again. Pearl has done this, promised to make it all better, learned from her failings and moved on.



Garnet walked on and said those two words. “I’m sorry” which seemed to take Garnet by surprise actually stopping her dead in her tracks.

This could be a tell, either that Pearl is beginning to recover, or that the cracks are getting so bad they’re affecting the way she normally acts. Either way this will be coming to a head for her and SOON.







EDIT:

I have been corrected here by

slovak-folk-costumes

(Thank you kind sir/madam)

I was incorrect in saying that she had “…NEVER ONCE before directly apologized to anyone for her brash and harmful actions".



In ‘On The Run’ Pearl apologized to Amethyst, even adding “I hope you can forgive me”. And in 'Space Race’ she says to Steven “I’m so sorry, I almost got us killed!”



My mistake. I think I’d just forgotten about those and posted this before fact checking myself (it was late for me). Though I do still stand by that this could have still been a tell for Pearl, if not her confiding in Amethyst at the end of the episode. As well as the apology setting off the fight with Sapphire and Ruby.

~Now back to a regularly scheduled programming!~









Now onto Garnet.

It may be a theory, but I feel it was this out of nowhere comment from Pearl that may have been what kicked this fight between Ruby and Sapphire into high gear.

Sapphire recognized that this might be Pearl FINALLY trying to be a better friend and say sorry, but Ruby wouldn’t let it go that easily. She didn’t seem the type to let Pearl give them two words and everything would be hunky dory.

And how nice it was learning about Ruby and Sapphire… Firstly, the confirmed theories, Sapphire is a cyclops (her weakness is definitely depth perception) and has the future vision. Ruby having the temper.., and what a temper indeed! Like a furious volcano burning like the sun.

While Sapphire quietly feels, concealing her pain while lost in the future and losing hold on the present.







And Steven… poor Steven caught in the middle…



All he wanted to was to help them feel better.



He’s was confused and afraid. He’s afraid that this might drive Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl apart for a long time. A great divide in his family…



…afraid of what he might have done to cause it and afraid that he would never be able to fix it. Like his mother he feels everything they feel and like another of his moms, Pearl…

He blames himself…

And because of that we finally see Sapphire and Ruby express their flaws and come to terms with one another.

“I keep looking into the future when all of this has already been solved as if it doesn’t matter how you feel in the present. No wonder you think I don’t care.”

“I didn’t want to look for a solution, I just wanted to be mad!”

And this is why their thinking as a whole makes them better TOGETHER. They cover each other’s weaknesses and improve each other’s strengths. They have rough edges but are perfect for one another in every way… and make amazingly dorky nicknames for one another like…

(つ°ヮ°)つ☆ Amazing!

And just as a quick side note, Greg was an AMAZING mediator in this episode. “Son, there will come a time in your life when you learn to accept all pizza.” was an underrated quote I will probably use forever.