Also can we talk about the, frankly, haunting display of PTSD in both Lapis and Pearl?
Lapis knows logically that she’s hurting hurself by constantly running away from the home and the family she has, but she’s plagued by the war and the fear that she’s going to be imprisoned again, so she destroys any chance for happiness before it can be taken away. She KNOWS she does this and it frustrates her that she can’t simply get over it like the others seemingly have.
Pearl has literally compartmentalized her own mind and shoved horrific war flashbacks into the depths of her mind so she can deal with responsibilities left to her. She blames HERSELF for the result of the Diamonds’ attack. She rebelled and her friends—THOUSANDS of them—payed the price. She even remarks the battlefield as “where I lost everything.”
I’m consistently blown away by how Steven Universe manages to do so much with the minimal screen time it gets. Nothing’s perfect, but the balance between the very real and tangible heavy moments and the fun and fantastical world-building is just…really nice.
Stuff that makes more sense in hindsight (a nonexhaustive list):
ALL of Rose’s characterization in We Need to Talk. (i.e. her emphasis on how ‘fun’ humans are and how she cares about Greg not cause he’s a person but because he’s a human, her condescension, her selfishness and yet her willingness to try and understand)
“I’m… NOT a real person!”
All the shrines/wall art dedicated to Rose (almost as if she were a deity of sorts)
Pearl being determined to guard Rose at all costs during the war (and afterwards, too!) so that she wouldn’t poof and reveal her gem as Pink Diamond’s.
The uh… human zoo thing
“You know Rose… she always did what she wanted!”
That one wall art of Rose fighting Pink that everyone’s been bringing up forever. Obviously in-universe it was meant to be literal depiction but meta-wise it’s pretty damn symbolic!
The weirdly sinister way Rose is drawn on occasion by the artists
The fact that she has not just healing powers but actual life-restoring powers. She’s a very powerful gem. More powerful than a common quartz soldier should realistically be.
Rose bubbling Bismuth. If Bismuth’s plan had gone through and she had shattered Pink Diamond, the rebellion would have fallen apart. For obvious reasons.
so we got Pink Diamond, right? Her initials? PD. What do those letters sound like? Peedee. Remember when Peedee was first introduced? It was a whole episode about how, despite originally being excited to join his family business, he ended up hating the job that was assigned to him by his father who expected him to do it just because he was a Fryman and failed to notice that his son was unhappy and wanted something better.
and uh, say…. doesn’t what Peedee went through…. sound a little familiar…. to what PD went through
Marshmellowmilktea 