The New Crystal Gems

"New Crystal Gems, congregate! ...That means come over here and do a cool pose."

"The New Crystal Gems" is the 16th episode of the fourth season of Steven Universe and the 119th episode overall.

Synopsis
Connie helps look after Beach City while Steven is busy.

Plot
When Steven, Greg, and the Crystal Gems return to Earth, they ask Connie how things went. She says that there were no major incidents, but then recounts the rest in flashback:

Steven hurriedly calls Connie to tell her that they were rushing to space to try to save his father, and she should look after Beach City while he's gone. Armed with Rose's sword she heads to the temple, but then realizes she's "not alone" - finding Peridot and Lapis in the bathroom. Peridot explains that she was giving Lapis a tour of her "old room". Lapis doesn't recognize Connie: she points out to Lapis that they (briefly) met once before when Lapis stole all of the water in Earth's oceans in "Ocean Gem" and Lapis nearly drowned her, but Lapis brushes this off with a shrug by pointing out "I've almost drowned a lot of people".

Steven didn't have time to contact Peridot and Lapis to explain the situation, so after hearing it from Connie, Peridot decides that they have to step up and fill in as the new Crystal Gems until the team returns from space. Their task will be to defend Beach City and the Earth, all four of them - as they brought Pumpkin with them from the farm.

Peridot believes that in order for them to substitute for the Crystal Gems, they have to actually fill the specific roles of the four main team members: Garnet is the leader, Amethyst is the funny one, Pearl worries about things, and Steven gives hope-inspiring speeches about how they all need to work together. Moreover, Steven is "the human" of the team (even if he is half-Gem) and gives a human perspective, so obviously Connie should be "the Steven" of their team. Connie says that this theory actually sort of makes sense. The rest of the team doesn't really match up very well, however: Peridot decides that she is obviously the "Garnet" of the team because this makes her the leader (despite protests that as a frustrated technological genius she's actually more like Pearl), Peridot declares that Lapis is "the Amethyst" (utterly unlike her dour personality, which is a little more like Garnet if anything), and by default they let Pumpkin be "the Pearl" (by tying a party hat cone around his head to give him a long nose.

Thankfully they don't have to face any Gem Monster attacks and overall it seems like a slow day. One problem, however, does come up: with Greg gone, a line of confused customers forms at his car wash. Deciding that this is the problem they need to heroically address, they set off. Peridot uses her ferrokinesis powers to levitate cars while Lapis uses her hydrokineses powers to hose them down with water.

Before long, unfortunately, Peridot keeps insisting on doing flashy Garnet-like moves to impress people, while insisting that Lapis make Amethyst-like wise-cracks (which she isn't very good at). They grow increasingly frustrated with their allotted roles and start arguing; Lapis now wanting to be Garnet and insisting that Peridot makes a much better Pearl. This makes them lost concentration and smash Yellowtail's car into the building's sign.

They then expect Connie to fall into the "Steven" role of giving a rousing speech about how their love and friendship should bring them all back together, but she gives such a generic and lackluster one that they are left dissatisfied (and feeling that she doesn't really fit the "Steven" role very well).

Growing more upset, Connie points out that they're acting like children. Lapis responds that they're both thousands of years old (ignoring their childish behavior), and Connie says that then they should try to be the Gems they have been for those thousands of years, be themselves instead of trying to fit into pre-allotted roles. Peridot realizes that they're not "The New Crystal Gems" so much as the "Crystal Temps" (temporarily filling in for them), but after lamenting this realizes that they can still take pride in being the best temporary replacements they can be.

Connie finishes recounting this to Steven and Greg, then Peridot and Lapis wheel out a new sign for Greg's car wash that they made out of car parts. The "Crystal Temps" then strike a triumphant pose at their mission's successful completion.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Connie Maheswaran
 * Peridot
 * Lapis Lazuli
 * Pumpkin
 * Greg Universe
 * Garnet (non-speaking)
 * Amethyst (non-speaking)
 * Pearl (non-speaking)
 * Buck Dewey (flashback)
 * Yellowtail (flashback)
 * Jenny Pizza (non-speaking)
 * Sour Cream (non-speaking)
 * Harold Smiley (flashback, non-speaking)
 * Lars (flashback, non-speaking)
 * Sadie Miller (flashback, non-speaking)
 * Ronaldo Fryman (flashback, non-speaking)
 * Lion (mentioned)
 * Bill Dewey (mentioned)

Objects

 * Roaming Eye
 * Rose's Sword (flashback)
 * Rose's Scabbard (flashback)
 * Mayor Dewey's Van (flashback)
 * Jenny's Car (flashback)

Locations

 * Beach City
 * Beach House
 * Steven's Bathroom (flashback)
 * It's a Wash
 * Funland Arcade (flashback)
 * Maheswaran Residence (flashback)
 * Pink Diamond's Zoo (mentioned)

Instrumental Songs

 * "Little Peridot"
 * "Connie"

Trivia

 * To promote the new episode, Cartoon Network's twitter account sent out a series of tweets as Peridot, similar to their promotion for "Too Short to Ride".
 * When Connie, Lapis, and Peridot head down to It's A Wash, they run in a similar fashion to the way Steven and the Crystal Gems do in the the extended theme song.
 * Peridot doing Garnet and Lapis acting as Amethyst could be a potential reference to the fact that their voice actors, Shelby Rabara and Jennifer Paz, initially did auditions for Garnet and Amethyst respectively.

Cultural References

 * Lapis says "There is no Amethyst. Only Garnet." This is a reference to Ghostbusters: "There is no Dana. Only Zuul."
 * Peridot insists that the "Crystal Temps" should strike heroic poses, like the main Crystal Gems do in the opening credits - itself an homage to the heroic poses that characters often strike in cartoons, particularly in anime such as Sailor Moon and others which heavily inspired Steven Universe.
 * One example of that is Peridot shouting "New Crystal Gems...congregate!", which bears resemblance to the "Avengers...Assemble!" heroic shout of the Marvel's Avengers.
 * Yellowtail's pick-up truck resembles a 1994 Toyota Hilux, only that it is a 2-door configuration utility truck rather than the 4-door configuration.
 * The Title The New Crystal Gems is a reference to the New Avengers, where a lesser known group of heroes become Avengers when the better known team is busy or incapacitated.

Continuity

 * The flashback in the episode takes place during the events of "Adventures in Light Distortion", "Gem Heist", "The Zoo", and "That Will Be All".
 * Peridot says that she was showing Lapis her "old room", the bathroom she was locked in after Steven un-bubbled her. She is also trying to flush herself again as she did then (or perhaps, showing Lapis that it is impossible).
 * Connie asks Lapis if she remembers her from the events of "Ocean Gem" where the latter almost drowned her.
 * Peridot's skill with her ferrokinesis powers appears to have improved with time and practice: when she faced Jasper in the Beta-Kindergarten she had to strain and focus to lift a single metal rod. In this episode, she is able to levitate an entire car dozens of feet in the air with relative ease (though then she pushes it too far showing off).
 * Peridot mimics Garnet's thumbs up from "Log Date 7 15 2", something she previously despised.
 * When Connie says that Lapis and Peridot are acting like children, Lapis remarks that they are both thousands of years old - Lapis was indeed present during the Rebellion 5,000 years ago when she got trapped in a mirror. It is unclear if Peridot is actually that old, however: she said that she was made after the war during "Era 2". Of course, Lapis could just be generalizing based on herself, and didn't ask Peridot how old she is.
 * Peridot's insistence that they actually behave like the main Crystal Gems when trying to perform their roles seems to be an indication of just how deeply ingrained the caste system is on the Gem Homeworld. As seen in previous episodes, each caste is designed to do exactly one thing and that is their only purpose - apparently to the point that Peridot and Lapis feel that the reverse is true, i.e. if they want to build structures like a Bismuth, they would have to behave like a Bismuth. Similarly, it's as if Peridot sees each member of the Crystal Gems as a caste-role unto itself, trying to exactly copy Garnet and Amethyst's mannerisms to fit their "role".
 * Seemingly no attempt has been made by Steven and the Crystal Gems to retrieve the Rubies stranded in Earth orbit, despite the fact that he specifically said they would try to pick them up on their way back. They've been floating helplessly in outer space since the Season 3 finale "Bubbled", 15 episodes ago.

Errors

 * TBA

Videos
The New Crystal Gems