#s1e44

[longdogspottings]

Alright, here’s the 13th and 14th Pineapple Easter Egg I have spotted on the episode called "Mount Mum and Dad" on Bluey. If anyone wants to have a look.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_UdTeYSC2x/

[pokemontvtime]

Charmander and Trauma (S1E11)

As Ash proceeds on his Pokemon journey, he ends up picking up a lot of new Pokemon friends.

Few are as iconic, though, as his Charmander, who will eventually evolve into Ash's disobedient Charizard.

It's that disobedience that I really want to delve into today, though.

Ash acquires Charmander after finding it abandoned on a rock. Charmander's trainer, Damian, has told it that he will return to pick it up later, even though he has no intentions of doing so.

Charmander is shown to be an exceedingly loyal Pokemon, who continues to wait and hope that Damian will return even when its life is endangered by doing so. Ash, Misty, and Brock venture out in the middle of a fierce storm to rescue Charmander, knowing that if its flame were to go out it would die.

While a night in the Pokemon center brings it back to tip top shape, it is shown to still feel obligated to wait on Damian to return, still having faith that the trainer it cares for will show it the same care in return.

After a confrontation with Team Rocket, Charmander saves Pikachu, and seems to begin to accept that Damian may not be coming back. It seems to consider traveling with Ash and his friends instead, who have so far shown it kindness.

But just when Charmander begins to consider its new reality without Damian, Damian himself shows up and tries to convince Charmander to return with him instead.

Charmander is torn between its old loyalty and the kindness it has experienced with Ash.

When questioned, Damian admits to Charmander that he had not intended to return, and is glad that its period of abandonment has 'strengthened it up,' so that he didn't have to go through the trouble of training it himself.

This, as well as the support of its new friends, seems to seal Charmander's decision, and it refuses to rejoin Damian, sending him packing (with the help of Ash's Pikachu), and joins Ash on his continuing journey.

While this makes for a very heartwarming episode, and a wonderful backstory for the little Charmander, the end of the episode seems to suggest that most of that story won't be returned to, as it's treated very much like an "adventure of the week."

While Damian himself won't return in future episodes, nor will overt references tying it all up, I think you can point to a lot of Charmander's experiences here and understand how it leads narratively into Ash's disobedient Charizard.

Charmander went through a pretty intense trauma, with abandonment and a near-death experience. It was also told pretty explicitly by a trainer it had once trusted that its only useful was based in its power.

In the episode "March of the Exeggutor Squad," (S1E43), Charmander evolves after an intense fight to prevent the extermination of a herd of Exeggutor. Ash's other Pokemon all failed to disrupt the herd, who were subjected to a Hypnosis attack and began marching toward a town center.

It's shown that only Charmander's flames are able to snap them out of their trance, and the weight of the entire situation falls on Charmander. If it fails, a bomb that was planted will go off, and kill the Exeggutor.

Charmander is able to pull of the feat, and the experience triggers its evolution into Charmeleon.

However, right away Charmeleon doesn't seem to show the same characteristics of Charmander, who'd been to this point an obedient, loyal, and generally sweet Pokemon.

In the following episode, "The Problem With Paras," (S1E44), Charmeleon is asked to battle Paras, but to "take it easy" and let Paras have a free win in order to gain battling confidence.

Charmeleon disregards all these orders and tries to battle all-out.

This continues to be a problem, as two episodes later in "Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon," (S1E46), Charmeleon again refused to obey orders, taking a snooze rather than attempting to battle the attacking fossil Pokemon.

Only an attack by Aerodactyl caused Charmeleon to take an interest in the battle. It evolved into Charizard, seemingly in pure frustration at being unable to follow the flying Aerodactyl.

But Charizard didn't obey Ash either, with its primary goal being to attack the Aerodactyl.

Interestingly, though, Charizard is shown to still care, at least in some form, about Ash. In the resolution to the plot, Jigglypuff sings all the people and Pokemon to sleep, including Aerodactyl. Charizard stays awake just long enough to catch Ash mid-air, and make a safe landing on the ground. Somewhere under that exterior of disobedience, Charizard still cares!

Ash would continue to try and coax Charizard into obeying in future battles, but it would seldom work out. Charizard only seemed to show interest in fighting other Pokemon it percieved as strong, and rarely followed Ash's orders when it did so.

Charizard's disobedience ultimately cost Ash his spot at the Indigo League, where Charizard's refusal to battle saw Charizard disqualified, and Ash out of the tournament.

It wouldn't be until Ash's journeys in the Orange Islands that this attitude changed. In the episode "Charizard Chills," (S2E25), Ash battled with a trainer named Tad, who used a Poliwrath.

Charizard attempted to brute force its way through the battle, disregarding Ash's commands and only using its fire. This went very badly for Charizard, who took a bad hit and ended up frozen in ice by an ice attack.

The Pokemon Charizard was fighting, Poliwrath, was very significant, though I didn't realize this myself until I was doing my own reading on the topic.

Apparently, in the original Japanese broadcast of Charmander's appearance (S1E11), Damian's reason for abandoning Charmander is specifically that it was unable to beat a Poliwag in a battle. Thus, the choice of Poliwrath here is likely a nod to this original piece of lore.

Tad leaves, scolding Ash that he should train his Pokemon better, and Ash frantically works to free Charizard, and spends the entire night sitting up with it. Ash's friends help him to build a fire and bring him blankets, and Ash stays up, rubbing Charizard to try and help warm it up.

Charizard at one point begins to panic, lashing out at Ash's attempts to help, but is too weak to actually put up a fight. Ash doesn't let these attempts deter him, and he continues all through the night, talking soothingly to Charizard. He admits, at one point, that he hasn't always done a good job as a trainer, but doubles down that he wants to continue trying to get better.

Charizard, though Ash doesn't know, can hear Ash's words, and though there isn't a spoken monologue here, it is implied that Charizard takes Ash's words and earnest care to heart, and re-examines how it has been treating Ash up till now.

After this incident, Charizard obeys Ash (though it is still shown to have a sometimes-rebellious spirit), and becomes one of the strongest members of his team.

It's easy to come away from the character development with a pretty surface-level thinking, that Ash finally earned Charizard's trust, and was able to begin using it in battles. This would not be wrong at all, and is definitely a piece of the story that the show is telling.

It's also easy to write off, only a slightly deeper note, that the show was attempting to incorporate mechanics from the video games. In the Pokemon games, if a Pokemon is too high a level (usually determined by the number of badges you've earned), it will refuse to obey you. Charizard may have been simply a way for the show to demonstrate what that looks like in the universe of the show. And I definitely think that is a piece of it as well!

However, I think that Charizard's disobedience also makes sense through the lens of a Pokemon steeped in trauma, who is trying to cope with both the trauma and the continued expectations placed upon it.

Charmander moved quickly past the abandonment by its previous trainer, possibly without really processing that, and trying to take on faith that the same thing wouldn't happen again. It then was shown to become one of Ash's most powerful battlers, possibly reinforcing that its value came from its battle prowess. It also then possibly had its trust further eroded when asked to "take a dive" against Paras.

It's not until the past trauma crops back up in "Charizard Chills," (S2E25) that Charizard processes a lot of this, and is reassured that Ash won't abandon it just because it loses a battle, and that it doesn't have to rely purely on itself. A crucial part of its growth is learning that it can trust Ash to have its back, no matter what, and it's important that Ash demonstrates that he always will! In this way, you could look at Charizard's refusal to battle as a test of boundaries.

I love the entire character arc that Charizard goes through under Ash's care. When I started my rewatch, I got curious if there were any fan theories, or further explanations for Charizard's behavior, and reading different perspectives, and seeing the episodes for myself, really got me passionate about what the series had to say about Charmander's trauma.

I was honestly shocked at the depth there was to be found! I could talk about Pokemon all day, and I think there's still aspects that I didn't cover here, but this hopefully gives an overview of a lot of the plot, and some of the underlying meanings.

Posts for another day, though!

[whippedcloudsofcream]

Sailor Moon S1E44

[don-dake]

Bluey S1E44: Mount Mumandad

[don-dake]

Yeah…and while we're asking the “really important” questions…😏

Why do these dogs have so many articles of clothing when we hardly see them in any save for the odd underwear 🩲 or shawl and spectacles?

Who are all these clothing articles for? Certainly not Bandit!

Also, do they like, pull their wallet/money💰💵 out of their arses?!

This doggo here just reached behind himself and…“magic-ed” out some money 💰💵…? 😸😸😸

Alright, guys, there's a question about Bluey that needs an answer.

So in the episode " Yoga Ball" we learn that she's 6 years old, and in "Chest" we learn she's still 6, so she hasn't aged at all between the 2 episode.

However, between the 2 episodes, there are 2 Christmas specials, which would imply 2 years have passed since "Yoga Ball."

So how is Bluey still 6?

[badheroescast]

Episode Guide

Masterpost for every Bad Heroes episode and where to find them! This will be updated periodically.

Season/Campaign 1 of Bad Heroes (which is still ongoing) is broken up into Arcs and Interludes. Arcs are the main missions our heroes are sent on, and can be considered mini-seasons in their own right. Interludes take place between arcs and dive deeper into the main characters' personal stories and growth.

Where to start listening

From the very beginning, with Episode 1

For better audio quality, listen to the recap version of Ep. 16 and then jump to Ep. 17 in the main feed to catch the final exciting episodes of Arc One

Another good entry point is the beginning of Arc Two. Read or listen to this recap of Ep. 1-25 and then skip ahead to Ep. 26 for the start of The Wild Hunt

List of episodes

PROLOGUE

[S1E1] The Unholy Empire – Part 1

[S1E2] The Unholy Empire – Part 2

[S1E3] The Unholy Empire – Part 3

[S1E4] The Unholy Empire – Part 4

ARC ONE

[S1E5] The Forgotten Court – Part 1

[S1E6] The Forgotten Court – Part 2

[S1E7] The Forgotten Court – Part 3

[S1E8] The Forgotten Court – Part 4

[S1E9] The Forgotten Court – Part 5

[S1E10] The Forgotten Court – Part 6

[S1E11] The Forgotten Court – Part 7

[S1E12] The Forgotten Court – Part 8

[S1E13] The Forgotten Court – Part 9

[S1E14] The Forgotten Court – Part 10

[S1E15] The Forgotten Court – Part 11

[S1E16] The Forgotten Court – Part 12

[S1E17] The Forgotten Court – Part 13

[S1E18] The Forgotten Court – Part 14

[S1E19] The Forgotten Court – Finale Pt. 1

[S1E20] The Forgotten Court – Finale Pt. 2

FIRST INTERLUDE

[S1E21] The Return To Vyer – Part 1

[S1E22] The Return To Vyer – Part 2

[S1E23] The Return To Vyer – Part 3

[S1E24] The Return To Vyer – Part 4

[S1E25] The Return To Vyer – Part 5

RECAP

Bad Heroes Recap: S1E1-S1E25

ARC TWO

[S1E26] The Wild Hunt – Part 1

[S1E27] The Wild Hunt – Part 2

[S1E28] The Wild Hunt – Part 3

[S1E29] The Wild Hunt – Part 4

[S1E30] The Wild Hunt – Part 5

[S1E31] The Wild Hunt – Part 6

[S1E32] The Wild Hunt – Part 7

[S1E33] The Wild Hunt – Part 8

[S1E34] The Wild Hunt – Part 9

[S1E35] The Wild Hunt – Part 10

[S1E36] The Wild Hunt – Part 11

[S1E37] The Wild Hunt – Part 12

[S1E38] The Wild Hunt – Part 13

[S1E39] The Wild Hunt – Part 14

[S1E40] The Wild Hunt – Part 15

[S1E41] The Wild Hunt – Part 16

[S1E42] The Wild Hunt – Part 17

[S1E43] The Wild Hunt – Part 18

[S1E44] The Wild Hunt – Part 19

[S1E45] The Wild Hunt – Part 20

[S1E46] The Wild Hunt – Finale

SECOND INTERLUDE

[S1E47] The Scattered Pawns – Part 1

[S1E48] The Scattered Pawns – Part 2

[S1E49] The Scattered Pawns – Part 3

[S1E50] The Scattered Pawns – Part 4

[S1E51] The Scattered Pawns – Part 5

[nedsecondline]

Turkish Tuesday, Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e44: Sorry Because…

The episode begins with Dudu looking for a recipe to cook something for Kendal when he visits, and Taci being very angry about this, since in twenty …Turkish Tuesday, Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e44: Sorry Because…

[radioartifact]

This week on Reverberations, airing live Wed 9pm to 11pm EDT. Ways to listen: - On your local HD radio at 91.7 WVXU HD2 - The WVXU app through the Android or Apple store. - WVXU.org/ click All Streams at the top and select Radio Artifact - Radioartifact.com/listen And you can find all episodes of Reverberations here: https://www.radioartifact.com/reverberations Broadcasting from the Village Green Studios Nov 8, 2023 Michael Whalen Anna Miranda John Schmidlin Max Richter Tom Eaton Olafur Arnolds Jeff Pearce Carl Lord Chad Lawson Roof Aftab/Vijay Iyer/Shazad Ismaily Album Leaf Mingo Steve Roach David Helfling

[millilps]

s1e44 Animali in pericolo

che dire, questo episodio è... estinto

I will now go full 'tism*

*translation: I started my full Melevisione rewatch

[nyaapa]

[skruttet]

S1E6, S1E8, S1E9, S1E11, S1E15-19, S1E24, S1E33, S1E44, S2E21-31, S2E33, and S2E35-50 all no longer work on fuzzyfeltmoomins.co.uk :(

[countessofravenclaw]

SL S1E44

07:16 - Mariano is crazy

07:48 - Is intercontinental annual competition, which roller did just not take part in again in the next year even when they were the champions

09:08 - Gaston, I love you, but stay out of Jico, please

12:57 - Mora said it the best. Xavi's purpose was to show that she was ready for finding love, but just not with him

17:57 - Jim is really digging herself a hole

23:22 - Gastteo doing homework

23:53 - Gastteo just casually talking about Luna and Nina without even realizing it

24:29 - Why is Jazmin saying that, his actually looks good this time

28:23 - Simon, Luna does not know what stopping insisting means

33:22 - No wonder Jim and yam never took Gastina so seriously. They have a totally different view of Gaston

34:29 - At this point in time, Nina is as non-experienced as others, but later she will be the one with the most experience

34:48 - Who does this remind you of Luna?

35:19 - Simon letting his real feeling out about that dinner

37:01 - Nina thought that Mora's comment about starting the love story meant Xavi, when it didn't. Her true love is finding her, and losing contact with Xavi is the first step

39:31 - Delfi has a Samsung phone, and is that Yam leaving a comment?

39:37 - they did date, for a week, but still. Delfi is right to call Gaston her ex

40:38 - Why is Ambar keeping a priceless piece of art in her handbag

43:36 - Gaston getting ambushed by girls. But why are they just taking selfies, if they want to go out with him?

43:58 - This is a new came angle for the kitchen

44:12 - Adoring Ambar's outfit

47:51 - He is coughing, he has Covid! Corona alert!

48:11 - This is something really sweet what Matteo is doing

[whippedcloudsofcream]

Sailor Moon S1E44

[pinkysfaultorbrainsfault]

animaniacs - s1e44: the world can wait

episode summary: brain puts off his plan of taking over the world so he can try to pick up a girl mouse he met and instantly fell in love with for some reason.

there’s no plan in this episode, but it’s funny, so it goes here anyway.

the rundown:

we open with pinky bothering brain about how they’re going to take over the world tonight. his initial plan is to “trap them in super sticky chewing gum”, which i’m not entirely convinced by, but as we learn later pinky kind of has a knack for this sort of thing, so i’m willing to go with it if they are.

but no! apparently not. pinky’s next suggestion is “how about we wrestle the president?” before suplexing himself. shame this episode was made in the 90s, huh. keep that energy for the 2020 reboot please, pinky.

zort.

yet another refusal has pinky worried. as he questions “but gee, brain, we are going to take over the world, aren’t we?” brain replies with the unthinkable.

“not tonight, pinky. the world can wait.”

“egad, brain. are you feeling alright?”

turns out that brain is putting off his plans for world conquest for more noble, heterosexual persuits - namely, a girl mouse who lives in a cage on the opposite shelf. pinky finds the prospect of brain being into anyone completely fucking hilarious, apparently, and makes fun of him in the background as brain witters on about his new waifu.

“she is of simple folk, fair and true.” “you mean she’s stupid?” “a bit.” mean. pinky keeps negging brain about it until he gets bonked on the head for his troubles, and then brain puts on a fancy jacket and drags pinky off to be his wingman.

isn’t he cute?

but anyway, here comes billie. apparently she lives in this sparse, empty cage by herself, which you’re really not supposed to do with female mice. they need companions otherwise they get lonely and actually you’re not supposed to keep male mice together either.....

.............................................................................................

everyone in this show is trans.

ok that was half a joke. undeterred, brain goes off to harass his Fair Damsel.

“i, my lady, am the brain,” he says, introducing himself without his fedora, for a change. “we met together in the maze.”

“oh yeah. i remember you. egghead.” what the fuck is her accent?? new york?? i’m genuinely lost. this is not a voice normal people have.

pinky thinks this is hilarious, and agrees enthustically that brain is, in fact, Egg Head, so brain bonks him over the head with a baseball bat he found somewhere. undeterred, he moves onto presenting billie with a “precious, simple gift.”

“it’s an actual working mockup of the betatron particle accelerator.”

that’s... cute, brain. not entirely sure what she’s going to do with a particle accelerator in her otherwise totally empty cage, but he’s trying! and that’s what matters.

“it kinda looks like a--”

“BIG METAL DONUT.”

HAHAHEHEHAHAHA.

“yeah, like a big metal donut. say, egghead? who’s your friend? he’s funny.”

oh dear.

oh dear. this date has been going for like two minutes and already, brain is getting cucked. still, he introduces pinky, out of politeness.

and then he decides “fuck that” and puts him in the particle accelerator and spins him away.

which is just kind of mean, honestly.

“aw, i like him.” “pinky? but he’s barely verbal.”

“well pardon me, mr egghead, but i happen to like that. goodnight.”

ouch. brain tries to change her mind, and has all of two seconds to do that before pinky bonks him off the shelf.

if you love me let me go, etc.

cut to back in the cage, where pinky is bandaging brain’s head. he must have bonked it on his fall, which is very sad. pinky seems otherwise unharmed, and is bullying brain over how the previous three minutes or so of the short went. “i think she likes you!” he chortles, amidst brain’s protests. haha, narf.

“no, pinky, the fact of the matter is, she likes you.” “but brain, i’ve already got a girlfriend.”

“pinky. you are a mouse. that is a horse.”

still, unconventional taste in partners aside (and how cute it is that he has a little picture of fignewton by their bed!) brain eventually figures out that in order to win billie’s heart, he should ask pinky what he would say to woo her. this obviously goes about as well as one would expect.

ok i wasn’t going to talk about this but when he gets there billie is like “who’s there? pinky? is that you pinky?” and brain makes this face.

“no.”

which i thought was very funny.

billie is less enthused by this particular mouse, until he starts saying some completely nonsensical shit, to which she is instantly on board.

“please, call me eggy. n. narf.”

“now, tell her-- poit-- i like your toenails.”

thanks! i got them from the president.

brain goes above and beyond, also mentioning that her head looks like a “really clean carrot”-- yknow what, i really don’t think these were serious suggestions from pinky. i think he was just being a dick. but it works! billie is swayed.

“i guess i got you pegged all wrong. why don’t you come up here? i like you.”

hee hee.

conclusion:

alas, unfortunately, brain never gets the opportunity to get pegged correctly, this time. hoo hoo. at that exact moment a bunch of scientists show up. despite complaining that they’re “going to be late for bowling”, homeboy needs to electrocute a mouse right now, immediately, so he goes ahead and does that.

the boys do their best! unfortunately, they don’t quite get there in time to stop this from happening.

(at this point brain gives off the most unconvincing “oh no, we’re too late” that i have perhaps ever heard, but i don’t blame maurice for that, because i understand it must be hard to make drunk orson welles sound sympathetic. hrrraaarrrgh. french excellence.)

still, he does seem genuinely concerned. “billie, are you alright?”

“eggy?” she asks, on the verge of death. “is that you, eggy?” brain confirms that he is, in fact, Eggy, and she goes in for a hug.

“oh, eggy. i thought the electro-polarity had altered the reticular formation in my medulla oblongata.”

oh no.

“egad, brain,” says pinky, who is bad at helping. “she’s probably even smarter than you.”

oh no indeed.

so.... yeah. turns out she is. she even makes a habit of correcting brain’s formula. as brain has a small breakdown over the fact that he’s been obsessing over that for the past five months... um. actually, that’s like... ~17 years to a mouse, give or take. how old are these guys??? what did acme do to them?

brain makes this face.

and then leaves.

“but brain! oh, so you don’t love her any more just because she’s smarter than you?” you can’t really see it in this screencap, but pinky does look genuinely concerned. good on him for calling out this fuckboy behaviour! absolutely appalling. you’re definitely not getting pegged with that attitude, brain. work on yourself.

“oh, i do love her, pinky. i do. but i must quickly go develop a plan so that we can take over the world.”

“why.”

“because if i don’t, she may beat us to it.”

so, theoretically, the tally stays the same. nothing happened in this episode. there was no plan. it was just brain being straight for seven minutes or so.

brain: 3 pinky: 3 outside influence: 5

but billie also gets a fair few points for not pegging brain while she had the chance, so there’s that.

billie: however many points that is

this has been another

useless review.

[afterpinkdiamond]

Marble Madness S1E44

Homeworld is on the offensive again. This time Peridot just keeps throwing robots at Earth while Steven tries to teach the Gems how to ask when they don’t have the answers. Steven also manages to infuriate book lovers of all kinds. 

Connie and Steven are having a playdate hanging out and Connie is introducing him to her favorite fantasy novel series, The Spirit World Saga. She starts to read aloud from the first book when a giant marble robot, similar to the robonoids from “Warp Tour”, lands in the ocean and rolls up onto the beach in front of them. The Gems rush outside and leap into action, destroying the robot. Steven shields Connie who remarks that she loves hanging out at his place with a look of pure adrenaline-fueled glee. Steven tries to ask what the marble robot wanted and Garnet reassures him that it’s destroyed and that’s what matters. Amethyst chases Pearl down to give her a goop hug and the day goes back to normal.

Another day, Steven calls Connie to talk about the book series. I should note that Dr. Maheswaren is very skeptical of the name “Universe” and she’s right. He’s technically a “Demayo” but also a Diamond. Steven admits to Connie that he’s confused about the story because of a dead character he doesn’t know. She then realizes he reading the books out of order. Steven then says he just picked the one with the coolest cover, book 4 of the series. Interesting that book 4 is the one with the spoiler about the main character’s dad being dead. I wonder if book 5 has him reappear? That would fit well with Season 5 of the show being the main murder mystery of Pink Diamond. But that is Purely Speculation. While Steven and Connie are talking, another robonoid enters the atmosphere. The Gems watch it land on Mask Island from “Island Adventure” and quickly warp there to take it out. Steven again asks what the robot want and Pearl admits they don’t know but Garnet insists it’s not trying to do anything anymore. Steven is not as comforted this time.

Weeks later, Steven and Connie are talking again about the series now that Steven has read the first three books in order. Steven then admits that he doesn’t understand the concept of a familiar in the series. Connie is very frustrated by this but they are again interrupted by a robonoid. The Gems rush out of the temple and Amethyst complains that this is the fifth robonoid this week while Garnet uses Future Vision to determine where they’ll find it. The Gems warp off to the desert and Steven warps by himself to catch up after hanging up on Connie.  

Once in the desert from “Steven’s Lion”, Steven finds the gems furiously beating on a giant robonoid. Pearl is so fed up that her blows are ineffective. Steven asks again what the robots want and how many they’ll have to fight. Pearl admits they don’t know anything. Steven reminds them that he never knows anything so he asks the people in his life to explain stuff to him. He then reasons that the robonoid knows why it's on Earth so they should try to follow it to get some answers. Garnet decides that this is a better option than continually fighting the robots. Honestly, all it would take is for Peridot to shoot five of them off towards different warps at the same time, which she would totally start to try the longer the single bots fail to accomplish her mission. The Gems release the robonoid and climb on top to ride it wherever it's trying to go.  

The robonoid gets to the warp pad and warps into the Kindergarten introduced in “On the Run”. Pearl spouts off that there was already too much damage done 6000 years ago by the gems incubated there and freaks out saying they need to stop the thing now. Steven says they don’t know what it wants to do here and Garnet stops Pearl again. They ride through the Kindergarten, questioning what it could possibly want when it stops. They all hop off and watch as it activates a panel in the ground, reforms into an inverted pyramid and starts sinking into the ground. This is the second time we’ve seen Gem Tech being activated by a pyramid-shaped key, the first being “Serious Steven”. This seems to be an older form of gem tech that the robonoid has been programmed to interface with. Steven is very excited and jumps down after the now sinking platform and the gems quickly follow.  The gems are disturbed by what they are seeing as though they did not know this place existed in the Kindergarten. If anything Pearl should know, but perhaps this was built by Yellow during the rebellion. Seeing Garnet, a permafusion, beating up on quartz warriors and generally being impossible to take down, might have given the diamond or her kindergarten technicians the idea to try fusion experiments to boost the war effort. However, instead of debasing perfectly good gems, why not use shattered rebel gems? Where better to conduct these experiments than an abandoned Kindergarten on a failed colony? Regardless the Gems are surprised by the control center’s existence.  

 The robonoid platform connects with the interface and a screen manifest, showing the face of Peridot. The Gems hide while she starts a systems check and Pearl wonders if they realize what restarting the Kindergarten would do to the Earth. Steven suggests asking Peridot and Garnet puts her foot down. She makes a plan that Steven promptly screws up by talking with Peridot. She thinks he’s a species that has replaced humans and he lists off many of his friends in a list that won’t be relevant until “Are You My Dad?” in season 5. Peridot then tries to smash Steven but the Gems jump up to defend him and confront her. Peridot is wholly confused as both the records state that gems were wiped out and the Red Eye never reported any gems on the planet. Pearl declares themselves the Crystal gems, defenders of Earth and they jump into action to stop Peridot from remotely reactivating the Kindergarten. They manage to shut down the control room but Steven admits he went too far. 

This episode foreshadows the whole conflict of Diamond Days, Homeworld thinks they destroyed every gem on the surface of the earth, but the Crystal Gems survived and countless corrupted gems were left behind, presumed dead. The Diamonds directly caused the corruption of these gems, many of whom must have been rebels but several of whom were still loyal to the Diamonds. They were left for dead and this is probably the only reason the Earth has been ignored by Homeworld for so long. But now Peridot is reporting the existence of the Crystal Gems on the failed disaster colony, causing several missions to Earth and renewed interest in using the planet for something. This episode also foreshadows the Cluster and the forced fusion experiments left on Earth to be investigated after the public outrage over Pink Diamond has died down. And we are introduced to the Spirit World Saga that will spark all the blatant foreshadowing in “Open Book” in just a few episodes! 

I think we all need a hug right now. The next episode is “Rose’s Scabbard”.

[snapbacksteven]

“Steven loses an eye” Theory: An evidence masterpost

Here’s a list of all the evidence so far that has foreshadowed Steven losing an eye. If you find more evidence, or should more evidence come to light in future episodes, please add them to this post!

• S1E5 “Frybo”: Sentient gem shards residing in a sock “punches” Steven in the right eye. Frybo is also speared in the right eye by Pearl later in the episode.

• S1E20 “Coach Steven”: Steven suffers a scratch on his right brow and bandages up the entire right side of his face, specifically over his right eye.

• S1E44 “Marble Madness”: Connie describes the antagonist from ‘Unfamiliar Familiar’ as a “mysterious one-eyed man.” Two episodes later in ‘Open Book’, when Connie’s given the chance to dress up as the protagonist of ‘Unfamiliar Familiar’, she’s dressed with an eyepatch. Cloud Connie is as well.

• S1E52 “Jailbreak”: Jasper headbutts Steven at the end of the previous episode. When he wakes up, his right eye is black.

• S5E15 “Pool Hopping”: Garnet adopts a cat who’s right eye is closed and scarred, and names her “Cat Steven.”

Miscellaneous evidence + speculation:

• Various characters have been injured in the vicinity of their right eye (Sadie, Lars, etc.), or have been shown wearing an eyepatch or having one eye covered (Connie in “Open Book”, Suitcase Sam, etc.) There are also many gem characters who have eye gems or have only one eye.

• The ‘Eyepatch of Power’ is a reoccurring trope in media, and “power gain through the loss of an eye is a repeating motif in literature” even. In mythology, Odin sacrifices his eye in order to gain great wisdom.