Steven Universe S03E20, "Bismuth"

[kate_nepveu]

Fun fact: I have a bismuth crystal sitting on my desk in front of me.

Less fun fact: I really hate that Cartoon Network's ads contained spoilers for this episode.

Neutral fact: this was a double-length episode. Boo commercials in the middle, yay cute transition images.

Logistical fact: no episode tomorrow.

This was . . . good but not amazing? Nothing about it surprised me: obviously Rose and Bismuth had had some conflict, since Rose bubbled her and left her inside Lion, but told the rest that she'd lost her in a battle. And the militaristic emphasis that was making Steven so uncomfortable was a clear signal where the conflict had been.

There were nice character bits: the different relationships Bismuth had with Garnet and Pearl, which suggested so much history so efficiently; Amethyst's initial (understandable) insecurity and mistrust, turning into enthusiasm. And another war-era Gem refusing to believe that Steven is different from Rose . . . at first, but the ray of hope for Bismuth, and Steven, is that she eventually accepts that they are different and that Steven can and has grown beyond Rose in some aspects.

This episode confirms that bubbling is stasis, that time isn't subjectively experienced for those in a bubble, which means the solution to the Cluster is, alas, nonsensical.

And now what are they going to do about Bismuth? They shouldn't keep her in there forever; can they defeat Homeworld in a way that she'll accept as sufficient short of perma-killing?

Worldbuilding/backstory: Bismuth says Rose was made here, which I would think would be too easily-disproved a lie to bother with? Which puts a stake through the Pink Diamond theory (as does Bismuth's attitude toward upper-class gems; if Rose was originally a Diamond, I'm sure Bismuth would've mentioned it). Other gems mentioned were Snowflake, presumably an obsidian; Crazy Lace, which would be an agate; and Biggs, which has been identified elsewhere as a jasper.

Minor silly notes: the LOOK on Lion's face when Steven was pulling Bismuth out. Amethyst's pizza eating: so amazingly, hilariously gross.

Comments

[avram]

Maybe there are different intensities of bubbling?

[kate_nepveu]

where are my comment notificiation emails, DW?

see the comment below for more discussion!

[kiezh]

I think bubbling has different forms, with the stasis-bubble and Steven's protective bubble and the separation-but-not-stasis bubbles used on the Cluster all being different examples of the same basic bubble technique. Every gem may be able to do some basic bubbling, as the Cluster shards bubbling each other and the Crystal Gems bubbling corrupted gems show, but Rose and Steven have unusual mastery of protective energy and can therefore put special force into their shield-bubbles. (The Cluster's bubbling strikes me as much more akin to the shield-bubbles than the stasis bubbles - maybe they couldn't have done that at all if Steven hadn't projected the "how" to them while inside their collective mind? It doesn't seem to be part of the usual gem repertoire.)

I agree that this episode had a lot of direct exposition we'd gotten through hints before, about Rose and the war and her secrets, and how much the rebellion was class-related. Not surprising, but interesting to see directly, and useful to watchers who hadn't been collecting every scrap of implied worldbuilding along the way. :D

My theory re: Pink Diamond is that she was Rose's master and Rose killed her, and that this was the first major action of the war, at least as far as Homeworld is concerned. (A subterranean* workers' movement was presumably already in progress.) Proof that Diamonds aren't infallible or unbreakable, and that they CAN be cast down, which would have been a spark to ignite gemkind's simmering class/caste issues.

*Possibly literally.

[kate_nepveu]

That's a super-good point about maybe the Cluster being shield-bubbled instead of stasis-bubbled, and I just wish the episode had bothered to convey that distinction at ALL because it absolutely did not occur to me when I was watching or thereafter!

Possibly literally indeed! Note that the Diamond Authority symbol in the fighting arena has the pink bottom diamond crumbled, not missing. If Rose shattered Pink Diamond then that could account for her guilt and her insistence to do things differently (though if Bismuth knew that Rose had, I wonder if Bismuth wouldn't have thrown it in Steven's face?).

[kiezh]

Yeah, I have fan-spackled the bubble thing, but it's not in the episode at all, you're right. Hopefully that will come up at some point? I'm pretty sure we'll see the Cluster again, possibly as Earth's defender instead of destroyer. Though I'm wondering how far they're willing to go with reigniting the Gem Civil War on a kid's show - they've put a lot of violence and horror into the backstory, but a war onscreen? Maybe Steven will manage to defuse it somehow? Or spark another rebellion that happens back on Homeworld where we won't see the worst of it?

Fascinating point about the crumbled pink diamond. The different forms of the Diamond Authority symbol and where they show up (and what we can deduce about when they were made) are fodder for a lot of theorizing.

[kate_nepveu]

I have absolutely given up predicting what they will think is too far for a kids' show after this summer.

But I also don't know what kind of endgame we're going for; I thought the Cluster was going to be this season's endgame and, uh, not so much. Something has to be done about Homeworld, eventually, absolutely, but I just don't theorize in the kind of way that would let me guess what. (And I'm ok with that, but don't let me stop you if you enjoy it!)

[avram]

This episode has me thinking a lot about Connie.

There's a theme running through it about fighting and death and immortality: The Gems spar with each other for fun and to get to know each other, and the reason they can do that is that the stakes are low --- if their bodies get disrupted, they regenerate in a few minutes. (Also, they come into being pretty much fully capable, so they're not used to having to take things easy around kids.) The horror of a weapon that actually kills them, that's the horror of human war, the danger Connie faces in every fight. Gem war, Gem fighting, that's all a big game.

I feel like maybe the show is commenting on fight-related adventure stories in general. Yeah, it's fun to see actors wave lightsabers around and dodge blaster bolts, but they're actors. Real people get killed.

[kate_nepveu]

We also don't know what happens to _Steven_: his body isn't a projection!

[avram]

But he's still got a gem? And he can shape-change? So maybe? We really don't know.

But we're pretty sure what'd happen to Connie.

I wonder what it was like for Rose to learn that there's such a thing as mortality. I wonder if some Gem killed a human, and then sat around waiting for it to regenerate.

[kiezh]

Gems are mortal, though. The way Ruby talked about being shattered in The Answer suggested it was routinely in use as a punishment; I doubt any gem alive during the civil war was unaware that they could be permanently killed and very likely would be if they displeased the Diamonds (Homeworld side) or were caught at all (Crystal Gems). I don't think war was a game to them at all.

It does make me wonder what, if anything, Rose and the Crystal Gems considered a sufficient offense for shattering. It wasn't something they did casually, certainly. I suspect the Diamonds' willingness to shatter their own servants was a major factor in Rose being able to assemble an army. "The people who control your entire life might kill you at any time if you make a mistake, and have killed people you know" is likely to move more people to rebellion than "the people in charge want to slaughter this other species you know nothing about and which is nothing like you."

[kate_nepveu]

Oh, absolutely, and I agree with you about the importance of the Diamonds' being willing to use it; but mortality as the default state is I think a pretty different mindset, you know?

[kate_nepveu]

Or, possibly, went looking for its Gem and couldn't find it.