“The Trial” is the 2nd episode of the fifth season of Steven Universe and the 130th episode overall.
Official synopsis
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Steven stands in an empty room on the gems’ homeworld, awaiting his punishment for “breaking the pink diamond”. Enter a charged blue Zirkon, who rushes to come up with a defense as Steven’s defense attorney for the upcoming court case, to no avail. The trial begins shortly thereafter. Steven waits for the trial to begin in the exam room with Zircon. Yellow Zircon teleports as an accuser. The yellow and blue pearl represent the yellow and blue diamond.
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The Zircons make their pleasantries and then proceed to the case. Yellow Diamond seems very apathetic and Blue Diamond looks attentive and melancholy. While Blue Pearl illustrates the scene and Yellow Pearl transcribes their speech, Yellow Zirkon presents it and brings Lars as proof of human incompetence. Then she buzzes his head violently to quiet him down. He then brings in an “eyewitness”, Eyeball. She testifies against Steven, angrily calling him a “war criminal” and saying that she is Rose Quartz, bringing her healing and shield, just before she was blasted into space, much to blue Zircon’s dismay. Yellow Zircon ends her case and Blue Zircon begins.
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She gets off to a bumpy start until Steven interrupts her and pleads guilty. Blue Diamond raises the platform to her eye level and then asks Steven how she did “that” (breaking Pink Diamond); Steven stumbles, obviously not knowing what happened since he’s not Rose Quartz. After mentioning the Breaking Point, Blue loses her cool and exclaims that Rose used the sword. After unleashing an energy wave that causes everyone to tear apart (except for a partially bubbled up Lars), Yellow Diamond comforts Blue Diamond and the trial is adjourned. Blue Zircon confronts Steven, who admits he had no idea what actually happened. Zircon eventually realizes that Blue Diamond wants Steven to explain how he broke Pink Diamond, as the official records describe a scenario that makes no sense.
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Steven and his lawyer return to court. Blue Zircon starts out shaky and gradually picks up speed until it finally captures Steven and both Diamonds. First, he repeats the details in the official records: The pink diamond was shattered from the front of Rose after she got off the stretcher. After requesting a demonstration of Blue Diamond’s Palanquin, Zircon questions how Rose could have gotten so close given that she was a known threat at the time, adding that there were no other Roses accompanying Pink Diamond. Zirkon goes on to question why none of Pink’s agates, sapphires, or even her Pearl saw Rose coming. Zircon argues that her Agates would try to capture Rose, her Sapphires would predict the attack, and her Pearl would shout the alarm. Blue Zircon then states that the killer must have been someone close to Pink, whose presence wouldn’t have alarmed those around her, and who had the authority to cover up the crime.
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Blue Zircon ends up accusing one of the diamonds of breaking Pink Diamond, shocking Blue Diamond and angering Yellow. Facing Yellow’s displeasure, Zircon hastily asks the Diamonds to ignore her accusations, but Yellow sinks both Zircons before Blue Diamond stops her. Steven and Lars manage to slip aside as Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond start arguing while their pearls remain silent. The two enter Blue Diamond’s Palanquin and attempt to escape; after a brief struggle with the controls, Steven manages to get the stretcher out of the building. The yellow diamond blasts a diamond-shaped hole in the wall near them, threatening Steven as he and Lars rush into the depths of Homeworld. The episode ends with the screen going black and their whereabouts unknown.
Details
It is likely that the Navy brought the Eyeball back after retrieving their squad ship.
Contrary to Blue Diamond’s claim that Pink was shattered by the sword, in “Bismuth”, Bismuth claimed that she forged the sword so that it could not shatter the gems.
This episode marks the first time a gem is stamped on screen with a diamond. This is also the first time Diamond is shown to have combat abilities.
This episode is the first time a gem on Homeworld is seen producing a bubble; in this case it was a yellow fighter Zirkon bubbling through Lars’ head.
Continuity
This episode marks the very first appearance of Homeworld.
This episode takes place shortly after “Stuck Together”.
Eyeball mentions that Steven treated her and threw her into space in “Bubbled”.
Steven assumes that the Breaking Point, an invention of bismuth, was used to break Pink Diamond, but according to Blue Diamond, he seems to be wrong.
Steven and the defending Zircon mention Pink Diamond’s Palanquin from “Steven’s Dream”.
The chasing Zircon calls the Diamonds lots of positive adjectives before saying “My Diamond”, something Holly Blue Agate did in “That’ll Be It”.
Blue Diamond’s Palanquin, which first appeared in “The Answer” and later in “Steven’s Dream”, reappears in this episode.
Flashbacks from this episode are featured in “A Single Pale Rose”.
