“Can’t Go Back” is the 17th episode of the fifth season of Steven Universe and the 145th episode overall.
Official synopsis
Ronaldo notices something mysterious on the moon and Steven goes to investigate.[2]
Conspiracy
Steven is in the bathroom and bids Peridot goodnight as she lies blissfully in the tub with Pumpkin, then heads to bed. Before he could close his eyes, Ronaldo suddenly knocked on his door and announced that he had spotted unnatural activity on the moon. Steven refuses because Ronaldo has been reporting strange sightings ever since he was assigned to watch the skies in “Letters to Lars”. Steven informs him that it is merely the Diamonds moon base that was placed there thousands of years ago, and as Ronaldo rambles on about its significance, Ronaldo asks Steven why it looks like a barn, which intrigues Steven. To his surprise, he finds the barn that Lapis Lazuli took with her into space when she left Earth in “Raising the Barn”. Steven then decides to go investigate.
Steven then hops on the Lion and they teleport to the Diamonds moon base. Steven then uses his bubble to go into the barn looking for Lapis. He begins to wonder why she brought the barn to Earth’s moon when she wanted to get as far away from Earth as possible. He searches the barn but doesn’t see her.
Steven then returns to the base where he hears a familiar voice humming from a distance. He follows the sound to the second level and finds Lapis humming in front of the Diamond Observation Orb that he and the Crystal Gems first encountered in “It Could’ve Been Great”. Diamonds use these orbs to observe their colonies from afar, and Lapis uses one to project Earth’s cloudy sky around her. Overjoyed to be reunited with her, Steven scares Lapis by revealing his presence. When he asks why she decided to take refuge on the Moon base when she made it clear that she had to leave the planet, she admits that it disturbed her. Most of the time she was gone, she used it to project what Peridot and the Crystal Gems were planning.
Lapis admits that she is still scared of the diamonds coming to Earth, but also says that she felt so alone when she left the Milky Way. Steven asks why she doesn’t just go back to Earth, and Lapis says she wants to, but after the way she left, how could she? Lapis is afraid of what Peridot would say for leaving her, and that the Diamonds will come to Earth and something terrible will happen. Steven mentions that maybe something good will happen, which gives Lapis mixed emotions. She then begins to sing about all the beauty and wonder she has experienced since she first met Steven and started living on Earth, and how despite all her past conflicts and inner struggles, it has helped her to stop feeling alone.
Lapis believes she may have overreacted to the Diamonds and regrets the rash decision she made out of fear. She never wanted them to destroy her home and she believes she did it herself, almost like she went back to the mirror. With nothing on the moon, Lapis realizes that she is tired of running away and believes that she would be happier being in danger with her friends than being safe and alone. Although she worries that even if she came back, things would never be the same, Steven explains to her that if things were different, that it wouldn’t be so bad, and that maybe she, Peridot, and Pumpkin could move the barn to the beach, so they could all be closer together. This possibility makes Lapis consider returning home to Earth.
Due to Steven’s lack of sleep, he nods and starts having another vision of the Diamonds. Disturbingly, she notices the silhouettes of Blue, Yellow, and Pink Diamond, where Blue advises Pink about the importance of running the colony and how all the gems under her court will look up to her. He then sees the silhouette of Pearl approaching Pink from behind, drawing a sword. Steven then wakes up in shock and explains to Lapis that he had a dream about Diamonds. Lapis then wonders if his dream means something, like if the Diamonds are heading for Earth even as they speak. Unable to understand, Lapis then flees to leave the Moonbase. Steven tries to stop her, but Lion stops him.
Lapis informs Steven that she is not like him and his friends and that she cannot go through what she suffered for thousands of years again. He then leaves the base and flies back into space, leaving Steven completely devastated. The episode ends with Steven looking at the Pink Diamond mural, turning to Lion and asking him to take him to Pearl to “get some answers”.
Details
This episode debuts Lapis Lazuli’s first song, “This Distant Shore”.
A portion of the tune “Do It for Her” is heard as Pearl holds Rose’s Sword.
This is Ronaldo’s last appearance.
Continuity
This episode takes place long after the events of “Raising the Barn”.
Lapis uses a projection ball, which was first revealed in “It Could’ve Been Great”.
Ronaldo still uses the binoculars that Greg gave him in “Letters to Lars”.
Steven tells Lapis that she can drop The Barn on the beach. He does it in “Reunited”.
Lapis tells Steven as she runs off that he should be used to her leaving. It could refer to events from the episodes “Mirror Gem”, “Ocean Gem”, “Same Old World” and “Raising the Barn”.
Mistakes
The outlines of the land seen on the Moon Orb are different from the outlines on the world map in “It Could Be Great”. For example, South America is the same size as it actually is, whereas it was much larger in an earlier episode.
Even though the crystal gems are also just projections of the moon orb, they are not affected by Lapis’s shadow.
While singing “This Distant Shore”, the Lapis Gem will completely disappear for a single frame.
When Lapis escapes from the Moonbase after hearing Steven’s dream, one close-up shows her right leg, but the next shot shows her left leg.