Keep Beach City Weird (episode)

"Don't get hung up on these minor facts. Truth is about more than that, truth is a feeling in your gut that you know is true! Truth is searching for anything that proves you're right no matter how small, and holding on to that, no matter what."

"Keep Beach City Weird" is the 31st episode of the first season of Steven Universe and the 31st episode overall.

Official Synopsis
Steven gets caught up in Ronaldo's paranormal theories about the strange occurrences in Beach City.

Plot
Pearl rushes out one morning in response to Steven's cries only to find out that Steven was playing Steven Tag with Garnet and Amethyst. Garnet wins this round by hurling Amethyst up in the air and knocking her down to the sand meteorically.

Steven, while walking along the beach, is stopped by Ronaldo investigating "paranormal" activity (which is really just the holes from the drill parasites from Arcade Mania). Steven, intrigued by Ronaldo's activities, joins him on his quest. When they find rocks from the red eye and flowers from Rose's moss, Ronaldo points to paranormal explanations. Ronaldo reveals that Peedee isn't into paranormal events, which is why Ronaldo puts his trust in Steven, taking him at the top of the lighthouse and telling him his theories are about snake people (or "Sneople") taking over the world.

Steven rushes back home to tell the Gems about Ronaldo's theories. Pearl and Amethyst point out that all of the strange occurrences are actually the fault of the Crystal Gems. Steven, cognizant of the real origins of the "paranormal" events, tells Ronaldo the truth: Steven and the Gems are the source of all of Ronaldo's theories. Ronaldo stubbornly rejects Steven's explanation, saying one should not let any "minor facts" get in the way of what they want to be true. But when Ronaldo finishes making a cast from the crater on the beach, only to find it was Steven (again), his heart is crushed. He dejectedly shuffles off, consumed with existential gloom. Steven, upon searching Ronaldo's blog, finds that he has completely given up on it and is shutting it down permanently. Steven seeks Pearl's counsel, who bluntly tells Steven that humans create conspiracy theories because they live boring, insignificant lives and want to blame their lack of control on something they can fight.

Steven attempts to revitalize Ronaldo by pretending to be a snake person to scare Peedee and Ronaldo, but Ronaldo knocks Steven out with a potato. Steven wakes up in the lighthouse tied up by a maniacal Ronaldo with an unnerved Peedee at his side. When the incensed Gems come to rescue Steven, Ronaldo accuses them all of being snake people, attacks them in a golden suit of armor, and is promptly crushed effortlessly by the Gem Warriors. Steven frees himself from the rope and stops the fight admitting to Ronaldo that the "snake person" he captured was him in a costume. He tells the Gems that he was trying to inspire Ronaldo. Ronaldo begins having a nervous breakdown until Peedee, in an attempt to mollify his brother, offers him a new theory where Steven is just a "small piece of the puzzle." Ronaldo takes the bait and begins brainstorming excitedly, finally deciding the true faces of the conspiracy are "polymorphic sentient rocks" (interestingly enough, this is a pretty accurate description of what the Gems really are). Steven and Peedee are hesitant to "fix" Ronaldo just by giving him a new delusion, but ultimately decide maybe it's for the best if it makes him happy. The two kids and the Crystal Gems leave the lighthouse together while from the balcony Ronaldo can be seen gleefully shouting about how they're "Here to hollow out the Earth! It's part of the great Diamond Authority! They’ll take on any form! You can read all about it... ON MY BLOG!"

Characters

 * Steven
 * Ronaldo (antagonist in the fight until the end)
 * Peedee Fryman
 * Garnet
 * Amethyst
 * Pearl
 * Jenny Pizza (non-Speaking Cameo)
 * Mr. Fryman (mentioned)
 * Drill Parasites (mentioned)
 * Red Eye (mentioned)
 * Magic Moss (mentioned)

Objects

 * Ronaldo's Phone
 * Dollar Bill
 * Steven's Phone
 * Magic Moss's Flowers
 * Red Eye Remnants
 * Newspapers regarding events that happened in "Ocean Gem", "So Many Birthdays", "Arcade Mania", etc.

Locations

 * Beach City
 * Crystal Temple
 * Beach House
 * The Lighthouse
 * Beach Citywalk Fries
 * The Big Donut
 * Funland Arcade

Songs

 * "Steven Tag Song"

Instrumental Songs

 * "Snerson Interrogation"
 * "Paronaldo Activity"
 * "Peedee's Blues"

Trivia

 * This episode has been largely credited for creating the "sneople/sneeple" meme which grew fairly popular on the blogging website tumblr.
 * Ronaldo's blog, Keep Beach City Weird, actually exists and is run by the Steven Universe producers and is updated fairly consistently. It can be found here.
 * Ronaldo experienced pain after punching the palm on Pearl's hand, suggesting that Gems have a rocklike physical form.
 * It may also be due to the fact that the Gems are capable of shape-shifting, and that the power can extend to density changes, making her hand literally harder than stone when he punched it. 

Cultural References

 * Garnet saying "Garnet wins" is most likely a reference to numerous fighting games such as Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, where the winner of the match is stated in such a fashion.
 * "Sneople" is a play on the term "sheeple", a term used by conspiracy theorists when regarding the public whom they view as ignorant and sheep-like in obedience to higher powers.
 * The snake people conspiracy is an actual conspiracy in the real world. In 2013, the Public Policy Polling conducted a survey on 1,247 registered Americans to see what conspiracy theories they believed in. Four percent of them believed the earth was run by shape-shifting reptilian people.
 * When Ronaldo tells Steven about the Sneople controlling the people through elections, wars, and anime message boards, he says we need to stop worrying about "dubs and subs". In real life, dubs are foreign shows or series (most notably Japanese anime) that have their dialogue translated to English while subs keep the original audio and have only been subtitled in English. There are many discussions about which one is better.
 * The dollar sneople theory is a reference to the conspiracy theories of the eye in the pyramid (known as the Eye of Providence) on the dollar bill being a hint to a secret society (the Illuminati) manipulating the government, or being its basis.


 * Posters scattered throughout the interior of the lighthouse are referencing various paranormal sightings and creatures.
 * Photos of:
 * Snake people.pngot (the famous frame from the Patterson–Gimlin film)
 * A Mermaid
 * Crop circles
 * The Loch Ness Monster
 * StonehengeKbcwBG (5).jpg
 * The Kraken
 * An alien
 * A psychic duck (a reference to the Pokémon Psyduck)
 * Spock (Leonard Nimoy) of Star Trek
 * A photo of Steven from "Cat Fingers"
 * An X-Files Poster.
 * Various newspaper articles.

Continuity

 * Ronaldo's new conspiracy theory regarding the "Diamond Authority" is foreshadowing and is later proven to be true. He was correct in that Gems are essentially "polymorphic sentient rocks." As seen in "Jail Break", a gem named Yellow Diamond seemed to be a very high ranking Homeworld Gem. In "On the Run", it was revealed that Homeworld Gems planned to use Earth for something sinister, which could comply with his conjecture of the Diamond Authority being "here to hollow out the Earth."
 * In the events of the episode "When it Rains" it is revealed that The Cluster is a massive artificial gem-fusion, which confirms Ronaldo's theory about the Gems hollowing the earth. - "They're here to hollow out the Earth! It's part of the great Diamond Authority! They’ll take on any form!" 
 * There are also photos that reference various Gem Battles in Beach City from various episodes:
 * "So Many Birthdays" (Unknown man impersonates local boy)
 * "Ocean Gem" (Baffling Ocean drain)
 * "Lion 2: The Movie" (Strange creature near movie theater)
 * Remnants of past gem battles are seen strewn across Beach City. These include:
 * Holes made by the Drill Parasites ("Arcade Mania").
 * Fragments of the Red Eye ("Laser Light Cannon").
 * Flowers from Rose's Moss ("Lars and the Cool Kids").
 * Inside the lighthouse is a photo of Steven's cat fingers that Ronaldo took in the episode "Cat Fingers".
 * Watermelon Stevens Ronalado tries to make a video of (drilling) one of the melons.
 * The Cheese Balls Steven used in "Lion 2: The Movie" reappears as Peedee is seen sitting on it.

Errors

 * When Amethyst and Garnet (both shape-shifted as Steven) were circling around Pearl during the game of Steven Tag, Ruby and Sapphire's gemstones were in reverse position.
 * One of the newspaper clippings reads 'Unkown' instead of 'unknown'.
 * When Ronaldo was making a cast of the crater where Amethyst crashed earlier in the episode, the cast shows that her right hand is by her side even though it was shown that she crashed with both hands above her head.
 * Before Amethyst and Garnet (both shape-shifted as Steven) were circling around Pearl during the game of Steven tag, Garnet had no eyebrows. They are back to normal when Amethyst (as Steven) is talking to Pearl.
 * While Amethyst was lying on the couch when Steven entered the house to ask to snake-proof the house, the table only had 3 coins, but when Amethyst stood next to Pearl, the table has 3 coins, a mug and some magazines.
 * When Peedee blushes, one of his tanktop straps is down, but on the next scene, both are in place.

Videos
Cosas Locas de Ciudad Playa pt-br:O Mundo Estranho de Beach City Beach City i Jego Dziwadła Keep Beach City Weird