In the forty-fifth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe<\/i>, Pearl reminisces about Rose with Steven. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Good lord, this was A LOT. This show continues to juggle silliness with heaviness, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an incredible thing to watch unfold. There are some delightful gags in the midst of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Scabbard,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t detract from how meaningful this exploration of Pearl and Rose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relationship was. I felt like this was a version of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Maximum Capacity,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but for Pearl. Yet even saying that feels like a betrayal of the story. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not repetitious, even if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten insight into how Rose (and her disappearance) affected another one of the Crystal Gems.<\/p>\n
If Amethyst saw her as a mother figure, then she was the fearless leader to Pearl, the person she could look up to and emulate. But throughout \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Scabbard,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Pearl shows us a side of her that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d not really seen before. She\u00c2\u00a0idolized<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Rose, and as far as I can tell, she had every reason to. (Though now I completely understand why she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always reluctant to tell Steven the truth. She learned that from Rose, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t she???) When the Crystal Gems fought the other Gems five thousand years ago to protect Earth \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and won! \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it was Rose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leadership that helped them all achieve victory. So, watching Pearl speak of this part of their history was mesmerizing for me because she was so intense about it.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Pearl convinced herself that she was a confidant of sorts for Rose, that out of everyone\u00c2\u00a0ever<\/i>, she alone knew everything. It is, in hindsight, an irrational thing to believe. I believe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rare, if not downright impossible, to know\u00c2\u00a0everything<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0about a person. We all keep secrets from people, even our best friends! But Pearl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relationship with Rose seemed to have been rather intense, and she enjoyed the idea that she had something the others did not. And maybe she did. Again, all we have to go on are what these Gems tell us. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re privy to what actually happened all those years ago.<\/p>\n
However, once Pearl learns that Lion \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Rose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s connection to her son \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has been helping Steven get close to her, she loses it. Her breakdown reminded me of Amethyst\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a couple episodes ago, but even then, Pearl was SO MUCH MORE MESSED UP. Why, though? Well, I think the scene in that battle ground place is key to understanding this all. After Pearl spent years believing that her loyalty to Rose meant she was the most important friend to her, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that she initially felt betrayed by her. Why wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t she have told her about Lion? Why would she have kept secrets from her? Was she just another Gem to protect?<\/p>\n
Of course, none of this is Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fault, and he shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be blamed for wanting to be close to his mother. Pearl is\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0mean here, both when she tells Steven he never knew Rose and when she lets Steven fall without trying to save him. Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 COME ON, PEARL, HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S JUST A KID. Steven, in his eternal goodness and kindness, realizes that Pearl\u00c2\u00a0needed<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to be reminded of all the good times she had with Rose, to realize how dedicated she was and how much she appreciated Pearl. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to lose someone you love, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even harder to realize after the fact that they may not have been the person you know them to be. But Steven shows Pearl that this new \u00e2\u20ac\u0153secret\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she had didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t change who she fundamentally was. She cared a lot for her friends, and Pearl shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forget that.<\/p>\n
I would also like to make this a call-out post for whomever on the\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0team decided that the end sequence should unfold with only images and music, because you are an evil person, and I know this will not be the only time this fucking show makes me cry.<\/p>\n
Goddamn it.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Scabbard\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b> In the forty-fifth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe, Pearl reminisces about Rose with Steven. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Steven Universe.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[665],"tags":[666],"class_list":["post-6004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-steven-universe","tag-mark-watches-steven-universe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"