“Your Mother and Mine” is the 13th episode of the fifth season of Steven Universe and the 141st episode overall.
Official synopsis
Steven takes Garnet to meet some of his new friends.[4]
Conspiracy
In space, Lars contemplates and talks about his situation, expecting the crew to write it down as an entry in the captain’s log. Steven comes through the dimensional portal in Lars’ head and announces a hoagie celebration for the Off Colors’ latest accomplishments: escaping the Emerald, rescuing him and Connie from the Jungle Moon, and leaving the Sun Incinerator on the way back. Earth in no time. Lars replies that the latter is only a success if it works. Fluorite tries to divert energy from the gravity engine to the thrusters, but when Lars turns on the thrusters, they use too much power and shut down the ship. Since the group will be stuck for a while, Steven pulls Garnet (in Steven’s form) through his hair.
Steven introduces Garnet to Off Colors as the leader of the Crystal Gems back on Earth, and Garnet stares at the flawed, fused, and unique gems, complimenting each one. However, this makes Off Colors uncomfortable and Steven asks if they’ve ever heard a compliment before. Having been led to believe that they are flawed by the Homeworld group, Rhodonite believes that they do not deserve the compliments of being “completely inappropriate”. Garnet mentions that he felt the same way before meeting Rose Quartz, which instills fear in the Off Colors as they have heard insulting stories of Rose Quartz being “anti-Gem”, “hyper-defective”, and not even “real”. Garnet starts telling everyone the story of “the real Rose Quartz”.
The story begins in Era 1, when Pink Diamond chose Earth as her first colony. Gems were created to serve their form and not deviate until Rose Quartz was created. Rose Quartz grew more attached to the life and beauty of Earth over time, often leaving her place to explore and even participate in the life that teemed around her. However, Rose couldn’t keep her findings a secret forever and eventually asked her classmates if they knew about life on Earth and what they made of it, which worried Pink Diamond, who summoned Rose to her. Rose begged her Diamond to stop the colonization and leave the planet, but Pink Diamond prioritized her benefit over Earth lifeforms and sent Rose back to Kindergarten.
Rose, unable to stand up for the continued destruction of Earth, then started a rebellion and convinced parts of the Pink Diamond colony to side with her. As a result, Pink Diamond called on Yellow and Blue Diamond for help in putting down the rebellion. In contrast, Rose was able to gain gem allies who were exiled for being mistaken for Pink Diamond, and they could eventually gather to become crystal gems. However, Homeworld’s forces proved too strong, so Rose, left with no choice, shattered the Pink Diamond to end the war. However, there was an unintended consequence in the form of furious retaliation from the yellow, blue, and white diamond: The other diamonds went berserk. In a last ditch effort to destroy the rebellion, the Diamonds launched a direct attack against Earth and in their fury used their powers to end the fighting once and for all.
The Off Colors are upset at the unfortunate ending, knowing now that Rose is a good gem, and lament her defeat. Garnet reaffirms that the battle will eventually be won because the Great Diamond Authority has created fabrications that have continued to be proven false and will continue to, and because allies are everywhere, bolstered by Steven’s encounter with the Off Colors after only being on Homeworld for an hour. because love and freedom are universal and not just something acquired by being on earth. This motivates the group as they work to restart the ship’s core and get the ship operational.
Steven tells Garnet about the vision of Pink Diamond he and Connie saw when they were on the Jungle Moon, and recalls his experience with Blue Diamond shedding tears when she came to Earth and wonders if Pink Diamond might still be alive. Garnet tells Steven that Rose made sure Pink Diamond was gone and that his empathic powers give him these unique abilities and experiences. The group restarts the ship after getting Lars to stop pressing the wrong button, but the nova thrusters still need repair, so Lars, Steven and Garnet set a course for one of Yellow Diamond’s asteroid mines to look for parts to repair the ship and eventually return to earth.
Details
This episode marks White Diamond’s first on-screen appearance, although she is not directly mentioned and only her hand and silhouette are shown.
In “A Single Pale Rose”, Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz are revealed to be one and the same, making almost all of Garnet’s story incorrect. Interestingly, the silhouette drawing style used in Garnet’s story isn’t used at the very end when the Diamonds attack Earth (then the normal animation is used). That said, that was the only fully correct part of the story, and the rest is exactly what Garnet says happened.
Pink Diamond’s hair strongly resembles Rose’s shield on her Rebellion flag.
Despite Padparadsch’s ability to foresee events that had already happened in the recent past, pointing out Garnet’s compliments of Off Colors’ discomfort was something Garnet was unaware of.
Cultural references
The title of this episode is a reference to the Disney Peter Pan song of the same name.
Lars’ opening monologue is a reference to the Star Trek franchise, as captains from the series are known for monologuing the progress of their ships in the captain’s log in almost every episode.
The silhouette art style used in this episode is most similar to the same art style used in flashbacks in the Revolutionary Girl Utena anime.
It is also reminiscent of Lotte Reiniger’s art, which Rebecca Sugar has cited several times as a source of inspiration, such as during the Steven Universe Panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2018.
At the end of the episode, Rhodonite declares that the mission they were about to embark on is “incredibly dangerous”, to which Lars pulls his cloak in front of him, dramatically revealing himself again as he says, “So are we. Let’s show them off! ” – Taken together, this is a reference to Darkwing Duck’s similarly iconic pose and the phrase “Let’s be dangerous!”.
Continuity
This is the first physical appearance of Steven since “Lars of the Stars”.
This is also the first appearance of a grenade from “Gemcation”.
The events of how the rebellion began are detailed in Garnet’s story.
Steven mentions the events of “Steven’s Dream”, “Off Colors”, and “Jungle Moon”.
