Earthlings

"Earth… is a prison. And I got out because I’m better than this place. I only came back to finish you off. You can’t manipulate me, Rose Quartz!... I’ve been fighting from the second I broke free from the Earth’s crust! Because of what you did to my colony, because of what you did to my planet, because of what you did to my Diamond! My Diamond... Your Diamond... Pink Diamond!"

"Earthlings" is the 23rd episode of the third season of Steven Universe and the 101st episode overall.

Official Synopsis
Amethyst tries to exact revenge with a showdown in the Kindergarten.

Plot
Steven, Amethyst, and Peridot hide behind a rock face while observing Jasper interacting with a corrupted Gem. Peridot suggests they head back to the temple and get reinforcements, to which Steven agrees. They realize that while they were talking, Amethyst was sneaking up to attack Jasper. Jasper is bullying the caged corrupted Gem, telling her that "we all only get what we deserve," before turning around and saying, "right, Amethyst?" Amethyst is shocked and falls off the ledge before jumping up for a rematch. Jasper disparages her, telling Amethyst that she was "fated to lose the moment she came out wrong."

Steven runs to Amethyst's side and summons his shield while Jasper equips her weapon. Peridot attempts to show off her metal powers by moving a metal rod, but fails to do so. Amethyst picks up Steven and throws him to the side, telling him to not interfere with her rematch. She attacks Jasper, who is seemingly pushed back by Amethyst's new upgraded whips. The more Amethyst attacks, the more she realizes that Jasper is unaffected. Amethyst uses her spin dash technique while on fire to attack Jasper to no avail. Jasper easily kicks Amethyst away, who lands near Steven. As Jasper advances, Steven knocks down an Kindergarten injector by throwing his shield, which separates Jasper from him and Amethyst.

Amethyst claims she can't win, feeling that what Jasper said was true. Steven gives her a pep talk by saying they are both unique and that they have each other. Amethyst is reassured by Steven's words and they hug, fusing together for the first time. Jasper angrily questions who the fusion is supposed to be, to which they respond by saying that a Rose Quartz and an Amethyst make a Smoky Quartz, while also fusing Steven's shield and Amethyst's whip to form their yo-yo. Jasper is quickly irritated, thinking that fusion is the only tactic the Crystal Gems have. Smokey Quartz casually counters that they has a lot of tricks then attacks Jasper with their yo-yo, pushing her back. Jasper uses her spin dash, but Smoky Quartz dodges. Jasper's attack breaks the cliff face where her corrupted Gem army was held captive, which results in the corrupted Gems fleeing.

Jasper sees the Snow Monster still trapped in its cell and attempts to run over to it while Smoky Quartz tries to stop her. Jasper eventually reaches the corrupted Gem and fuses with her, forming a corrupted fusion. As Jasper's new fusion advances, Smoky Quartz spins their yo-yo to create a wind blast. The corrupted fusion is pushed back momentarily, but holds her ground and slowly advances forward. Smoky pulls out two more yo-yo's and creates a tornado. The corrupted fusion is lifted into the air where Jasper unfuses from the corrupted Gem. She tries to fuse with the Gem monster again, telling it they can beat the Crystal Gems if they stay together. The tornado subsides and the pair fall to the ground, unfused.

The corrupted Gem runs away, which prompts Jasper to lament that no one she fuses with ever wants to stay with her, followed by her laughing bitterly and then noticing the change in her arm. Smoky Quartz sees that Jasper's arm is starting to corrupt, so they unfuse and Steven offers to help Jasper, who declines. Jasper states that Rose would only take Gems who are at their lowest point, so that they can be made to feel like they mean something. She even points out Peridot, who she thinks was stripped of her status and her limb enhancers. She asks why she would side with Rose, and Peridot says while on Earth, she has learned things about herself, and Earth can set you free. Jasper still doesn't accept any of this and yells at Steven that he can't manipulate her. Steven, on the other hand, tells her he just wants to help.

As Jasper gets more furious and becomes more corrupted, she yells about how she's been fighting because of what Rose did to her colony, her planet, and her Diamond. Steven assumes Jasper is talking about Yellow Diamond, but the latter corrects him before becoming fully corrupted, screaming that it was Pink Diamond. Jasper becomes fully corrupted and advances quickly on the Crystal Gems. However, Peridot pierces Jasper with a metal rod that was used to cage the corrupted Gems, poofing her. Amethyst then bubbles Jasper and the trio head home. Amethyst says she doesn't want to do anything for a month, before groaning at the sight of Lapis, Garnet, and Pearl who have trapped the newly returned Ruby squad from "Hit the Diamond".

Characters

 * Steven
 * Amethyst
 * Peridot
 * Smoky Quartz (debut)
 * Jasper (antagonist)
 * Snow Monster
 * Corrupted Jasper Fusion (debut)
 * Rose Quartz (mentioned)
 * Pink Diamond (mentioned)
 * Yellow Diamond (mentioned)
 * Blue Diamond (indirectly mentioned)
 * Unknown White Diamond (indirectly mentioned)
 * Corrupted Gems
 * Cluster Gem (cameo)
 * Garnet (non speaking, cameo)
 * Pearl (non speaking, cameo)
 * Lapis Lazuli (non speaking, cameo)
 * Ruby (Doc) (non speaking, cameo)
 * Ruby (Eyeball) (non speaking, cameo)
 * Ruby (Army) (non speaking, cameo)
 * Ruby (Navy) (non speaking, cameo)
 * Ruby (Leggy) (non speaking, cameo)
 * Malachite (indirectly mentioned)

Objects

 * Smoky Quartz's Yo-Yo (debut)
 * Injectors
 * Limb Enhancers (mentioned)
 * Roaming Eye

Locations

 * Beta Kindergarten
 * The Barn
 * Crystal Temple (mentioned)

Instrumental Songs

 * "Jasper"
 * "Smoky Quartz"
 * "Duel of the Quartz Soldiers"

Trivia

 * This episode's name was first revealed in the episode listing on the Cartoon Network website. The episode was originally named "Earthlings Part 2".
 * This episode reveals that Steven can fuse with Full-Gems, and is the first time he has done so.
 * It is also implied that if a normal Gem fuses with a Corrupted Gem, that Gem will also become corrupted.
 * This episode is the first one so far to have the title screen with the Beta Kindergarten as background.
 * This episode shows Amethyst bubbling a Gem on-screen for the first time.
 * This episode shows Peridot poofing a Gem on-screen for the first time.
 * This episode confirms that the North Monsters were Quartz Gems and to a greater extent, different varieties of Jaspers.
 * Most of the Gems that Jasper captured were Quartz Gems that looked similar to the Great North Monsters. However she did also capture at least one artificial fusion and one water bear.
 * This is the first onscreen transformation from a non-corrupted Gem to a corrupted Gem.
 * Whether or not all Gems become corrupted like Jasper did is yet to be seen.
 * Before bubbling Jasper, Amethyst called her "sis" (short term for 'sister'), referring to the fact that both of them are Quartz type Gems that were made on Earth.
 * This episode shows that although Jasper wears the Yellow Diamond insignia, she still owes allegiance to Pink Diamond for whom she was made.
 * This episode also shows that Jasper was made on Earth and only returned to avenge what Rose Quartz did to Pink Diamond.
 * This episode reveals that Rose Quartz and Jasper both formerly served Pink Diamond.
 * A Cluster Gem, similar to one from "Nightmare Hospital", appears, fleeing from the Beta Kindergarten after most of the cages break.

Cultural References

 * Smoky Quartz's yo-yo attack may be a reference to one of Ness's attacks in Earthbound. It may also be a reference to Killua from Hunter x Hunter, who also uses yo-yos as weapons.
 * Jasper's fusion with the Snow Monster resembles the Deathclaw from the Fallout series.
 * Jasper's corruption may be a reference to Tetsuo Shima's mutation from the 1988 film, Akira.

Continuity

 * This episode continues from where "Beta" left off.
 * Jasper doesn't want to get beaten by yet another fusion, referring back to the events of "Jail Break", "Super Watermelon Island", and "Crack the Whip".
 * Jasper remarks about how her fusion partners never wanted to stay together, referring to Malachite.

Errors

 * When Smoky Quartz announces their name, the whip was studded with amethysts instead of smoky quartzes.
 * While Smoky Quartz defuses, Steven has seven fingers.
 * During Jasper's corruption, one frame had her lips missing.
 * When Jasper and the Snow Monster fuse, the Monster's gemstone appears round, despite it regularly having a hexagonal shape.
 * When Jasper and the Snow Monster were falling from the sky, Jasper's right arm turns yellow for a few frames, and then returns back to the red color.
 * When Steven, Amethyst, and Peridot first see the Rubies, Lapis' waist gap between her top and her skirt is miscolored.
 * When Jasper spin dashes into the cliff wall and the cages break, the Gem that looked like the one from "Nightmare Hospital" had one of it's head lumps disappear while the cages collapsed.
 * In that same moment, when all the cages collapsed, there were seven corrupted gems being free, but only three manage to escape.
 * When Amethyst attacks Jasper with two whips for the first time, the whips duplicate for a frame.
 * When Jasper spin dashes toward Smoky Quartz, she goes through the injector that Steven had knocked over despite having moved it behind her.
 * When Smoky Quartz was celebrating, Peridot stays absolutely frozen, until in the next scene.
 * When Steven tries to heal Jasper and attack him before the attempt, Steven's sandles flies off and just disappears, until in the end of the episode.
 * (But it's never seen again on the next two episodes afterwards.)

Videos
Earthlings Earthlings, Part 2 Earthlings pt-br:Earthlings Earthlings