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kittyprincessofcats · 6 years ago

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Thoughts on SU - Change Your Mind (4/4)

- That entire part with the screen being split in two because we’re seeing things from the perspective of both Stevens is amazing.

- “SHE’S GONE!” This was the best part of the episode, hands down. This entire scene and its message were absolute perfection. Steven is not his mother, he’s truly his own person, his gem belongs him and no one else, he needs both his gem-side and his human-side to survive, and Rose/Pink is not secretly alive inside his gem - she’s dead and gone and never coming back. 10/10.

- Connie carrying Human!Steven, White yelling “I only want you to be yourself!” (did someone call for a trans metaphor?), Gem!Steven being able to withstand White’s power beam because no power in the world can stop someone from being themselves (at least that’s how I understood it), the two Stevens hugging and reuiniting, Steven saying “I’ve always been me”, White throwing a temper tantrum and Steven and Connie just laughing about it... GOD, this whole scene is PERFECT. This really is the only part of the episode that I can wholeheartedly say I loved.

- “I am a child. What’s your excuse?” Okay, on the one hand that was a savage burn and I love it. But how does White Diamond even know what a child is? Gems don’t age, so why would “acting like a child” be the first insult she goes to?

- Did you see Peridot climbing on top of Amethyst right away? Because I sure did. #AmedotLives. And Pearl jumping into Bismuth’s arms? Yeah, that was nice.

- “Welcome back.” I mean, this line in itself is sweet, but I hate how we never see Pink Pearl again after this. I mean, what happened to her after this? Does she even remember anything? Does she know who Steven is? And why didn’t Steven and the Crystal Gems take her to Earth with them? She’s not in the ending scenes, so I’m assuming they didn’t. Did they just leave her there with White, who mind-controlled and abused her for thousands of years? Did they just leave her there as White’s property, as a slave to her abuser? This is my main problem with this episode: In “Together Alone” Steven promised his friends he’d fix everything about homeworld, but now he’s not fixing anything! It looks like he’s just saying “Welcome back, now have fun being a slave again, bye.” Which is probably not how the writers intended it, but by not giving us any resolution on what happens to Pink Pearl after this, it’s the impression we’re left with. It wouldn’t have been hard to give Steven a line where he tells White she won’t get to hurt Pink Pearl anymore and that he’s taking her to Earth with him. They could have included her in the healing fountain montage, with the fountain healing her eye. Instead we got no resolution and are left with the impression that she’s traumatised and alone on homeworld, while still being White Diamond’s slave. But hey, at least the Diamonds are a happy family now, yay.

- Wait, so blusing counts as being “off-color”? In that case, wouldn’t every gem we’ve ever met be considered off-color? Every single one?

- “I’m supposed to be flawless.” SAYS WHO? WHO TOLD YOU THAT? WHO CREATED YOU? First Yellow and Blue say they’re under so much pressure from White and they’re only killing people for White. Now White’s saying she’s “supposed to be flawless”... but WHO told her that? I feel like this show’s trying so hard to shift the blame away from everyone that we’re left with a void of “but who did that?”. A message about how everyone is good and no one is truly evil doesn’t work in a universe that has introduced so many evil concepts to us. It makes it look like evil things just happen for no reason. But the Pearls didn’t enslave themselves. The Cluster didn’t create itself. The Off-Colors didn’t start persecuting themselves. Thousands of plantets didn’t conquer themselves. The Diamonds did those things and they should be held accountable. And no, this is not about me wanting Steven to “solve things with violence”. I just want him to actually address these injustices. It’s possible to be a pacifist without turning a blind eye to things that are morally wrong.

- Needless to say, White’s redemption makes even less sense that Blue’s or Yellow’s. She was set up as the big bad of this show, this very episode did such a good job at portaying her as evil and twisted, only to backpeddal into “She just wanted everything to be perfect” at the last minute. Are people really not seeing why I’m unhappy with this? It’s like taking Voldemort from Harry Potter and redeeming him in the last book because “He only wanted the wizarding world to be perfect”. It’s a disservice to White as a villain, and considering all the themes of oppression in this show it sends a really disturbing message.

- Steven and Greg’s reunion was sweet.

- Lars’ and his crew showing up in the end feels lame. I wish they’d served more of a purpose in this story than just “showing up in the end”.

- “We finally made it! No more running, no more hiding, no more Diamond Authority!” ... “Well, we’re cracked.” This line was played for laughs, but I just really didn’t find it funny, I found it awful. These gems have been hiding from the Diamonds their entire lives. They don’t know any other life than running and living in fear. They don’t know homeworld as anything but caves underground where you have to hide because you’re wrong and will be killed for exisiting if you’re discovered. The Diamonds are the reason their lives were like that and the reason they felt so much shame and self-hatred that they didn’t even know what a compliment was. And then they finally get away from that life, finally manage to make the long and hard journey to a planet where they’re promised a life in safety and freedom, Lars sweetly says “Welcome home” when they arrive... only for them to suddenly be face to face with three Diamonds. There’s nothing even remotely funny about that. And if he didn’t still need the Diamonds to heal the corrupted gems, I would have wanted Steven to turn to the Diamonds right then and there, and tell them to leave and never come back to this planet again. Because the Off-Colors deserve a safe home where they’ll never have to face the Diamonds or be scared ever again. And I still wish he’d have told them just that after they healed the corrupted gems.

- “Off-Colors, meet the Diamonds. Diamonds, meet the Off-Colors.” Steven honey, I know you’re trying, but NO. Believe me, the Off-Colors know who the Diamonds are and they shouldn’t have to get to know them or give them a chance. They ran away from them for a reason and it’s not your place to tell them otherwise. And the Diamonds know who the Off-Colors are, too. Well, not this specific group, but you know. And I strongly disagree with the idea that the Diamonds “just need time to get to know the Off-Colors”. They’ve had time. They’ve had 5750 years (and 8 months) since Garnet first formed. And they spent that time murdering off-color gems. The idea that bigoted people just need to get to know someone from an oppressed minority and they’ll change their mind isn’t bad, but it doesn’t work when these characters are the reason that minority is oppressed in the first place. These aren’t some random homeworld gems who’ve never had to question their beliefs before. These are the Diamonds - they’ve been shattering these gems for thousands of years. (And now they actually have the nerve to look offended when Padparadscha is scared of them? REALLY?)

- “Padparadscha, it’s okay.” SHUT UP LARS, YOU DON’T KNOW THAT! You’ve only been on homeworld for a few hours! Who are you to know if it’s okay?

- I like the new version of “We are the Crystal Gems”, but I hate how during the line “Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl and Steven” it’s showing the Diamonds with Steven instead. That’s kind of the theme for the whole episode. I wanted Steven and the Crystal Gems, and got “Steven and the Diamonds” instead.

- That moment of Pearl and Garnet crying as the corrupted gems are being healed and then hugging each other? #blessed

- How’s Jasper the only one that almost starts to fight after being uncorrupted? These gems were all on opposite sides of a war? I mean, okay, maybe at first they’re just happy about being healed, but isn’t this going to lead to conflicts later? And since many of the were former Crystal Gems, why aren’t they a bit freaked out about the Diamonds being there?

- So the Diamonds leave, but what does that mean? This leaves so many questions unanswered! 1) Are they just going back to conquering worlds and commiting genocides? 2) Are they going to change homeworld society now? Will they set their Pearls free? Will they stop shattering gems? (I kinda doubt it, since Steven never told them to do any of that. Also, I don’t want change to come from the Diamonds. In real life, change never comes from the oppressor. It comes from the oppressed fighting for their rights. I don’t want the Diamonds to just see the error of their ways and let gems be themselves. I wanted to see the gems of homeworld standing up for their rights and fighting for them. And the only homeworld gem we’ve seen do that was Jade. What happened to her, by the way? Another question this episode just leaves unanswered.) 3) Are the Diamonds going to be regular visitors on earth now? Should the Off-Colors look for another planet to live peacefully on? Does Steven care more about his new happy dictator-family coming to visit than the trauma of the gems they’ve hurt? 4) Are the Diamonds ever going to face any consequences for what they’ve done? Are they at least going to spend time in prison for every gem they shattered and tortured or nah?

- And that’s my main problem with this episode. It painted the Diamonds as nothing more than an abusive family, and ignored all the other WAY WORSE things they’ve done. It’s a good message about families, but it feels out of place in this setting. If this was where they were going to go with the Diamonds, they should never have made them this evil in the first place.

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