“Together Alone” opens with a beautiful shot of the open vista of Homeworld, taken up by the four parts of what is, essentially, the Gem Voltron: White’s head and torso, Yellow’s and Blue’s arms, and Pink’s legs. The image echoed in a later shot of the same space just before Steven’s ball, albeit this time without the arms. (Also, everything is a bit brighter this time, and the landing pad zone is framed by Hollywood-style searchlights announcing Steven’s party.) The two images are almost identical, but different in one important way: The first is actually from many, many years in the past, a nightmare from Pink’s life that ends with the image of Steven spitting up his mom’s hair.
The two ways of organizing Homeworld, and Steven’s barely-subconscious crisis about whether he is, in fact, his mom, highlight his big problem at this point in his trip to Homeworld: the other Diamonds think of him as being Pink, which is why they stopped their attacks on Earth and are willing to listen to him. But that means they treat him like Pink, and hold him to the same childish expectations. If he convinces them that he isn’t his mother… why would they listen?
Mostly, this is to say that “Together Alone” is necessary, but a bit slow. It’s a more transitional episode of Steven Universe, one that largely serves to bring the subtext of the rest of the arc to the forefront while setting up for White Diamond action. The central thematic tissue of the episode—Steven attempting to go along with the rigid practices and hierarchies of Gem society in order to get White Diamond’s attention before eventually giving in to his human impulses and offending everyone—is pretty standard stuff for the show, and feels like a beat we’ve seen a couple of times. This does, however, give the ball the feeling of a slow-moving crash. We all know it’s going to go belly-up.
At first though, it seems like the ball might actually be a success. Blue and Yellow are both on board, and declare that Pink’s reappearance marks the beginning of Gem Era Three. (Pearl excitedly tells Steven that he’s already changed the course of Gem history, which feels like a bit of a given by now.) But that excitement comes with some conditions: Steven learns that the only acceptable behavior at Gem balls is sitting on his throne watching dispassionately while the members of his court present themselves for approval or disapproval. As Yellow Pearl puts it, “Everyone stays where they belong.” Steven hesitantly goes along with this in order to maximize his chances of healing the corrupted Gems, even at the cost of hiding his friends.
Steven does have a small a positive influence on Gem culture, and just might continue to do so if he sticks around long enough. Exerting the same sort of charismatic force as his mother, Steven gets Blue Pearl to talk about her drawing habit, including displaying a courtroom sketch of Yellow Diamond zapping an unrelated Gem (or maybe Steven) and a portrait of Yellow Pearl. (Yellow Pearl reveals herself to be an incipient model, posing while muttering, “Not bad. Try a different angle.”) If given enough time, Steven can get anyone to open up about their individual identity, simply because he cares.
Eventually, the early portion of the ball goes off without a hitch, including some striking moments of Yellow and Blue Diamond dramatically entering the space by, essentially, doing runway walks. It’s a party! It’s fun! And yet—all of the ways the Crystal Gems are outcasts have begun snap into focus: Pearl needs to function solely as Steven’s property, Connie is an organic pet, Amethyst needs to use limb enhancers, and Garnet needs to split up. Worst of all, White Diamond doesn’t even show up, instead sending her extremely creepy Pearl to observe.
Connie cheers Steven up by getting him to dance, which inevitably leads to them fusing. This, it turns out, is a bridge too far. When the Diamonds angrily demand that Stevonnie unfuse, the ball quickly turns into a standoff with the Crystal Gems (including Opal, which is a nice way of turning the entire team into fusions), as well as two random Jades (voiced by Aparna Nancherla again) who also fuse out of nowhere. Everything falls apart—the rest of the team gets poofed, and Steven and Connie get thrown into some kind of cell like children being put in the scariest form of time out—but the most unsettling part is a single, tense shot of White Pearl’s blank smile dropping into a frown. Intellectually, I know that Steven is going to emerge victorious here. That’s how the show works, and how it will continue to work. But sometimes the tension is built so effectively that it just doesn’t matter. I know it’s all going to be okay, but it sure doesn’t feel like it.
Stray observations:
- This episode is storyboarded and written by Lamar Abrams, Christine Liu, and Tom Herpich. (There are even more weird grinning Gem creatures, this time little gears that present themselves to Steven as part of his court.) They have a blast with the crowd at the ball.
- Dee Dee Magno Hall continues to be just delightful as all of the Pearls, and after that portrait scene I am very excited to see (or at least acknowledge the existence of) everyone’s Yellow Pearl-Blue Pearl fic.
- Yellow Diamond tells Steven it’s “not a bad turnout” for the ball. Wouldn’t a party hosted by the ruling dictators of Gem society be like, kind of a big deal regardless? Maybe?
- See you next week, when we get a little “Escapism.”
33 Comments
Let’s point out something that tiptoed past us: The episode opens with a dream sequence of Pink Diamond Steven entertaining what looks like a pink-tinged version of White Pearl…who still has both eyes. Considering the type of Diamond dreams he’s been having throughout the season, what did we just see? I have a strong suspicion, to say the very least…
Yell0w and Blue Pearl have the same gem placement as their Diamonds, but
White Pearl’s is on her stomach like Pink Diamond. And Our Pearl’s is on her head like……..
our pear? OUR pearl?She didn’t fight a 1000 year war to be called OUR pearl.
That’s very interesting. I was starting to think White Pearl was a kind of drone for White Diamond, acting as a surrogate, but that’s given me a lot to think about.
Yeah. That was pretty big opening dream sequence to the episode and it was just “hand waved” like it was nothing.
Pretty much every dream Steven has had in a Homeworld facility has been him accessing his mother’s memories, even though they haven’t quite had him realize that specifically yet. But yeah, it does seem like White Pearl may have been the original Pink Pearl. Though there’s still the mystery of why she’s voiced by White Diamond’s voice actress and not Pearl’s, like Blue and Yellow.
The understanding I have is that “our” Pearl was originally White Diamond’s, and was given to Pink as a gift to cheer her up (because of the pearl placement on her head, a la White Diamond. As someone else pointed out, that meant that Pink Pearl needed to be, uh, “reeducated”. So, White Pearl in current time is actually the thing that Pink Pearl was made into, which is why she looks/acts so different and also is voiced by Christine Ebersole instead of Deedee Magno-Hall.
Hi there! Miss disqus? Wish to discuss the latest episode with some ol’ av club commentors before kinja? Then come on down to the-avocado.org! We got blackjack! And other Futurama references!
See you next week, when we get a little “Escapism.”Lars and the Off-Colors to the rescue?
Episode description aludes to psychic help
If we bring in Lars, we can also bring in Peridot, Lapis, and Bismuth, via Lars/Lion tunnel. (Like how Pearl snuck in the other crystal gems and Connie) heck, if we are talking about things that can help, bring back Jasper and maybe the real Rose Quartz soldiers.
Dee Dee Mango Hall must be having so much fun voicing these diamonds.I gotta love Garnet’s ‘I dunno’ expression when the two jades fuse lol
Guess I can expect snake-necked Yellow Diamond haunting my dreams tonight… and the rest of 2019.
I wonder if anything had happened in the past regarding different Gem fusions, since it seems to REALLY get under their skin for some reason.
It always reminds me of Transformers Animated, and Cybertron’s aversion to organic beings.
I think when a society is basically practising all encompassing eugenics any deviation from the norm is bound to cause outrage.
At first I came away feeling largely the same about the episode, though maybe a bit more charitable. But thinking back on it a few hours later, I had a gut-punch realization that snapped this whole arc into focus for me. The family angle for the Diamonds has always been obvious, but tonight really showcased how it’s specifically echoing the struggles of a trans person whose family who doesn’t accept them.The fact that Steven looks different and goes by a different name than what they used to know. The fact that he has a new chosen family that they treat like dirt. The deadnaming. The “did you get it all out of your system?” The constant denial of and/or disinterest in his new identity. He goes along with it until it’s too much to bear, all those microaggressions culminating in a dramatic public coming out at a family party, with his new family supporting him…only for the old family to brutally, cruelly punish him for their embarrassment.Not being trans myself, it didn’t click until fusion first entered the picture tonight, though I’m sure others have already noticed it. It’s ingenious of Sugar to take advantage of the societal infantilization of trans kids as a smokescreen to hide the metaphor in plain sight from those who might otherwise object. If you don’t see the queer angles of the show, the broader strokes of the story (dealing with an abusively overbearing family) still work perfectly. But if you know anyone who’s gone through family hell because of their queerness, the express of that specific situation are clear.(It also makes the show’s airing schedule more baffling than ever before: wouldn’t an arc like this have been perfect before the holidays rather than during/after?)
Thank you for this. As the queer parent of a trans kid, the themes were painfully obvious to me, to the point where they were almost triggering (I felt physically nauseous when Garnet was referred to as “that,” and was in tears at the end), and was really curious as to how they resonate with others.
I loved seeing the two jades(?) fuse after seeing the crystal gems fuse- Representation is important!
Homeworld is full of a miserable class, or multiples of them, not just the Off-Colors. Steven may have to break the culture before it fixes itself.
So, I’m guessing next week is the return of Space Lars
WOW Thank you for making that explicit. I was trying to figure out what the ending meant (The Off-Colors? Bismuth? The Pebbles?) and was just not putting two and two together.
I know fans have been bristling about the Diamonds being portrayed as too sympathetic, so I for one was happy to see that they are most definitely STILL VILLAINS. They’re still oppressors, and everything bad that happened in this episode was because of them. I also thought it was smart to have Blue deliver the disparaging comments. She’s so weepy that it’s always super-effective when we see her more ruthless side.
Also, Connie and Steven are so adorable I almost can’t stand it.
This show just seems to be stuck on a ‘how gay can we get away with’ kick.
So?
What was gay about it?
Thank gods, right? Not like the schmaltzy 24-7 heterosexuality pageant that is, like, every other show on TV.
Stuck?
It’s just like Steven told Yellow Diamond – if you want to get noticed, do something wrong!
My favourite little bit is Pearl just running down the stairs and picking up Amethyst to form Opal. It’s great physical comedy and a real testament to how their relationship has grown.Also, part of the running gag of Opal appearing only for a few seconds and never saying anything.
How do you even know when these episodes get released? I only know because of avclub writing about them and thank you by the way
You want an insane theory? There is no white Diamond…it’s all White Pearl.
Was I the only one hoping that Stevonnie would use the shield to block Yellow from poofing all the Crystal Gems?