“Jungle Moon” is the 12th episode of the fifth season of Steven Universe and the 140th episode overall.[2]
Official synopsis
Stevonnie finds himself on an adventure alone.[3]
Conspiracy
After a space battle against Emerald, Stevonnie crash lands on a nearby jungle world. They try to contact Lars, but the “Star Skipper” is too damaged to do so. Stevonnie adapts to overcome their strange new environment while searching for a way out of the world. They hunt for food, gather fruit and drink water from a pond with another alien life form.
At one point, Stevonnie is conflicted about eating the little bird-like alien because Steven finds it too cute and Connie knows they need protein. An adult alien of the same species (presumably his mother) tries to attack Stevonnie, so they run and find cover. Stevonnie decides to camp there for the night and falls asleep in the hammock they built.
Stevonnie begins to dream and wakes up inside what appears to be Connie’s house. Connie’s mother, Dr. Maheswaran, on the phone talking about an attack and colonization on a nearby planet. Stevonnie quickly moves in to hang out with her. Dr. Maheswaran turns to face Stevonnie and her eyes are yellow with black diamonds as pupils.
He then transforms into a Dr. connection. Maheswaran and Yellow Diamond as the house transforms into a moon base. Stevonnie suddenly tries to get Yellow’s attention and acts like they’re allies. They quickly get into an argument about why she can’t have an army or a fleet, stating that she is just as important as Yellow and therefore entitled to those things. It turns out that the dream is actually a past conversation between a yellow and a pink diamond representing Stevonnie. Annoyed by Pink’s nagging, Yellow snaps at her to act like she’s important. This eventually angers Pink, causing her to run away from Yellow’s control desk.
Pink Diamond stops to look at herself in the reflection of the glass, and enraged by their argument, Yellow Diamond punches the window glass, breaking the glass in anger. Stevonnie wakes up and realizes that their dreams were actually a memory of the Diamonds and their location is the same building that was in the dream.
Stevonnie heads to the abandoned control room and realizes that the Diamonds console could be a potential way to get to Lars. Using the activation sequence of the console from their dreams, Stevonnie manages to get a signal to Lars. Just as he does so, the large bird creature from earlier appears above the dome and tries to break in. Luckily, Lars arrives just in time to save Stevonnie. Stevonnie takes a quick look at the window that Pink broke and then goes to be picked up by Lars.
Details
This is the only episode where Steven does not physically appear.
However, he is mentioned and a fusion that includes him appears.
Since this episode, every character on the show has been absent for at least one episode.
This is the first episode to physically show Pink Diamond, not in mural or silhouette form.
This is the first episode to feature an alien species other than the Gems, in this case sentient fauna and bird-like aliens on Jungle Moon.
This is the first (and only) episode where Steven’s voice actor, Zach Callison, is absent, making every voice actor or actress absent at one point in the series.
This is also the first time Stevonnie has stayed as a fusion for more than a day.
The mother Bird Blob seems to be able to Spin Dash much like Jasper and Amethyst.
The episode was nominated for a 2018 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program. Other nominations were “Ring of Fire” (Adventure Time), “Freshly Baked: The Robot Chicken Santa Clause Pot Cookie Freakout Special: Special Edition” (Robot Chicken), “The Self-Indulgent 200th Episode Spectacular! (Teen Titans Go!) and “Hurricane Hal” (We Bare Bears).
Patrick Bryson was awarded a Jury Emmy Award for background painting in this episode. This is the first Emmy to be announced before the 2018 Creative Arts ceremony.
Cultural references
The bird-like alien crashing into the window and the line “We have company” are references to the 2017 film Alien: Covenant.
It’s also a reference to the much older movie The Graduate; specifically when the titular protagonist bangs on the window to interrupt the wedding. This reference is reinforced by Stevonnie’s reply, “Hello Bird-blob, my old friend”, a paraphrase of the first line of the theme song from Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” (“Hello Darkness, my old friend”).
Continuity
This episode picks up right where “Lars of the Stars” left off.
Steven mentions through Stevonnie that he had dreams about Diamonds again, first in “Steven’s Dream”.
Connie’s survival skills continue from “Gem Hunt”.
As well as some of the items used in said episode, such as her frog mug.
Stevonnie mentions that the Jungle Moon Base is the same as the one orbiting Earth first seen in “It Could’ve Been Great”.
The yellow diamond mural from the Earth orbiting moon base is the same as the one on the jungle moon base.
He also seems to have a mystery orb on the second floor like the one from the Mapped Room on the Moon Base.
Steven makes a reference to the events of this episode in “Your Mother and Mine”.
Flashbacks from this episode are featured in “A Single Pale Rose”.
Mistakes
At the end of Lars of the Stars, Lars sees that the Star Skipper has been hit by a missile and screams in fear, however at the beginning of this episode, Lars is unaware that the ship is shutting down and falling until Stevonnie mentions it to him.
Turns out Stevonnie memorized the pattern on Yellow’s control panel, despite looking away, while Yellow tapped on the last one, though they could have memorized different notes for the buttons.