Nightmare Hospital

"Do you know how many children I see everyday in the hospital who've cut their faces off playing with swords?! None! Because they all have parents who love them, and who don't let them play around with deadly weapons like some kind of gang member! No playing with swords! Under any circumstances."

"Nightmare Hospital" is the 16th episode of Season 2 in Steven Universe, and is the 68th episode overall.

Synopsis
Steven and Connie sneak into a hospital to recover Rose's Sword.

Plot
The episode begins with Lion carrying Steven and Connie to the Maheswaran Residence right after the events of "Sworn to the Sword". Connie then "assumes her secret identity" in order to not get in trouble with her parents. Steven asks if Connie will sword train the following week at the same time as she did in their present week. Connie agrees, and says that it's a shame that she can't practice more at home. In response, Steven grabs his mom's sword from Lion and offers it to Connie, starting a medieval-take "-eth" joke. While she opens the door to her house, Connie tries to decline his offer, stating that the sword is too important. As they walk inside, Steven counters her statement by saying that the sword's importance is the reason she should "have-eth" it, and that she could have all week to practice with it. They both laugh at the "-eth" joke, and Connie finally accepts the sword.

Connie hears the garage door open and realizes that her mother is home. She exclaims that she needs to hide the sword from her mother or she will end up taking it away. Steven tries to find Lion, but finds out that he has wandered off. Connie and Steven come up with a plan and enter the residence. As Mrs. Maheswaran enters the living room, she finds Connie calmly practicing the violin with a nervous Steven by her side on the couch. Connie greets her mother, and she sternly greets her and Steven. As she walks up to the upright sword which is disguised as a coat hanger, Mrs. Maheswaran says that she had a rough day at the hospital and doesn't want any more surprises. She explains that there was a very strange case, terrifying Connie and Steven, but assures that she can't share the details because of the rules of doctor-patient confidentiality. She finally realizes that they don't actually own a coat hanger and finds out that it is, in fact, Rose's sword. She becomes extremely shocked, and asks Connie where she got it. She lies and says that she found it outside and wanted to show it to Steven. After scolding Connie, she reminds her that she cannot play with swords. She gets a phone call from the hospital telling that she is needed. She tells Connie that after her work is done, she will discuss her punishment with her father, and departs. She brings the sword with her. Connie apologizes to Steven for letting her mother take away his sword. Steven suggests that they reason with her, but Connie explains that she never backs off from a rule or punishment, so they need to get the sword back themselves. They teleport to the hospital on Lion's back. Connie says that they should leave Lion behind, and Steven gives Lion some Lion Lickers to keep him in place. After teasing Lion's behavior, they enter the hospital. The lights are all down, and after hearing a faint growl, they hold each others' hands and quickly run through the hall undetected. They spot Dr. Maheswaran from across the hall and they hide as she passes by them. She enters her patient's room, and after a phone call for information on the patient, begins to monitor their heart rate. After a quick conversation about the hospital and her mother's job, Connie spots Rose's sword laying in the corner of the room. Dr. Maheswaran determines that, despite being able to move and make faint noises, the patient has no heartbeat, but attributes it to cheap hospital equipment, throwing away the stethoscope and leaving the room to get a new one. Steven and Connie quietly enter the patient's room and, while stopping several times to watch the patient's erratic movement, finally grab the sword and get to the door. Dr. Maheswaran enters the room and is shocked to see Connie trying to reclaim Rose's sword, taking it back.

They hear a crashing noise outside the hallway, and they run out to see what's going on. Dr. Maheswaran spots a humanoid figure and assumes it is one of the other doctors, but after shining a flashlight, determines that it is one of her patients and tries to get it back to its room. Steven identifies the strange humanoid as a gem mutant, and as it charges at them, they rush back into the room. The patient in the room suddenly begins to make very aggressive movements in bed, and Dr. Maheswaran tries to cover them up. Steven explains to Connie that the being banging the door to the room is a gem mutant. Connie tries to convince her mother to give her back the sword, but she refuses. The patient bursts out of the curtains, revealing itself to be another gem mutant, and grabs Connie. Steven rushes in with his shield and saves Connie while holding back the mutant, exclaiming, "Keep your hands off my Connie!". Dr. Maheswaran observes that the patients are beyond reason, and Connie keeps trying to convince her to give her back the sword, but she still refuses.

They rush out of the room and distract the outside mutant while running down the hall. They are chased down by the mutant from the room, and the distracted mutant arrives on the other side, surrounding them. As the mutants advance towards them, Steven summons his bubble shield. Connie keeps trying to tell her mother that she knows how to use the sword, but her mother simply says that she doesn't. Steven steps in and says that she does know how to use it. He explains that Connie has been training to be a sword fighter for some time, and she wasn't going to use Rose's sword to play around with, but rather to train by herself in her spare time. Connie's mom denies Steven's explanations, saying that she knows exactly what Connie does all day, and controls her schedule and activities. Connie yells that her mother doesn't know her at all, and points out that she still didn't notice anything unusual about Connie's glasses. After her mother asks her, Connie says that they don't have lenses, and they were that way for almost a year. Still in disbelief, Connie's mother sarcastically asks if her eyesight "magically" got better, and Connie yells that it did. She explains that she has been dealing with gems and magic ever since she met Steven. Tired of arguing, Connie simply grabs and unsheathes Rose's sword from her mother, and tells Steven to stop using his bubble shield. The shield explodes, sending the mutants back, and as one leaps towards them, Connie effortlessly cuts through it, poofing the mutant. Steven pushes the other mutant back with his shield and lets Connie jump off of it. She leaps over the other gem and slashes it, which poofs it as well. Steven bubbles the gems, and shares a look of victory with Connie. Dr. Maheswaran stares at them in shock. Outside the hospital, Steven explains to Connie's mother what the mutants were, and she realizes that's why they had no pulse. She stumbles upon Lion, which scares her. Connie apologizes to her mother for lying, saying that it started as a small secret, but as more things happened, she wouldn't believe Connie and would not let her see Steven again. Dr. Maheswaran slowly comes to a realization, and asks Connie if she and her father are too controlling, to which she agrees. She tells Connie that she only wants to protect her and be a good mother, but Connie says that she can protect herself. She tells Connie that she will be more relaxed as far as rules and regulations, and try to keep an open mind about everything magic-related. She wants more feedback from Connie in the future, and wants her to stop lying. Connie agrees not to lie anymore. They hug each other, and Steven looks at them happily with Lion while also looking at Rose's emblem on the scabbard.

Major Characters

 * Steven
 * Connie
 * Lion
 * Dr. Maheswaran
 * Cluster Gems (antagonists)

Minor Characters

 * Rose Quartz (mentioned)
 * Peridot (mentioned)
 * Malachite (mentioned)
 * Mr. Maheswaran (pictured and mentioned)
 * Dr. Stromberg (mentioned)
 * Dr. West (mentioned)

Objects

 * Rose's Sword
 * Rose's Scabbard
 * Lion Lickers
 * Connie's Violin

Locations

 * Maheswaran Residence
 * Hospital (debut)

Music

 * Gem Shards
 * Nothing Like You (ending theme/credits)

Trivia

 * This is the first episode where Dr. Maheswaran and Lion are in the same place as each other.
 * This is the first episode where one of Connie's parents touches one of the Crystal Gems' objects.
 * It turns out Gem experiments were able to be found by humans, as two Gem experiments were found on the side of a road.
 * The possibility that some of the fusion experiments may have escaped was previously hinted at in "Keeping it Together".
 * This is the third episode that Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl don't appear in, the first being "Horror Club" and the second being "Open Book". However, despite this, their names are, as always, shown in the credits.
 * "An Indirect Kiss", "Story for Steven", and "We Need to Talk" may or may not count, due to every scene a Crystal Gem appeared was in a flashback.
 * This is the first episode not confirmed to be located in Beach City.
 * Dr. Maheswaran seems to grasp a basic understanding of gem biology, stating "that's why the patient didn't have a pulse" when referring to the mutant gem.
 * This episode reveals that Steven has never been to a hospital before. This fact may be hinting at Steven having some kind of regenerative abilities from his Gem, but it's likely that the Crystal Gems healed him from any injuries and/or sicknesses he had in the past.
 * The mutant gems in this episode are the first cluster gems to not be mere limbs (such as many fusions seen in "Keeping it Together"). However, they still lack any other discernible body parts.
 * This is the second episode in which Steven uses both Rose Quartz's Shield, and his bubble force field at the same time. The first was "Sworn to the Sword".
 * In this episode, a new song or lyrics for the Ending Theme played during the credits, entitled "Nothing Like You".
 * In honor of the episode, Lion Lickers were prepared by Christy Cohen for the show staff.

Cultural References

 * Connie's "secret identity" in wearing glasses but not needing them is similar to the Clark Kent secret identity for Superman.
 * One room's placard reads "Dr. Gero, Patient 20". This is a direct reference to the character Dr. Gero, also known as Android 20, from Dragon Ball Z.
 * A Dr. West is mentioned twice in the episode. This is a reference to the character Herbert West from the 1985 cult film Re-Animator.
 * When Steven shouts "Keep... your hands... off my Connie!", it may be a reference to Dragon Ball Z:Battle of Gods, when Vegeta yells, "THAT'S MY BULMA!"
 * When Dr. Maheswaran says "Mother knows best!", it is probably a reference to Tangled.
 * When Connie says "Drop the bubble" could be a reference to the music Drop The Bass.Poster_experience_2_1024x1024.0.png
 * When the group is walking down the hospital's hallway, there is a painting that depicts mountains and a forest. The painting resembles one of the posters for the Firewatch video game, and the shape of the rocks and shadows make a blue pine tree outline in the middle of the painting similar to the emblem on the hat worn by Dipper Pines, the main protagonist of the Disney Channel series Gravity Falls.
 * Additionally, the series is set in a forested mountain town, similar to the scene depicted in the painting.

Continuity

 * Connie has a "secret identity" because she doesn't need her glasses anymore, since Steven healed her eyes in "An Indirect Kiss", although she still wears them because her parents (and her optometrist) are not aware of that.
 * Connie is still practicing sword training with Pearl, as of "Sworn to the Sword".
 * This episode reveals that it has been almost a year since "An Indirect Kiss".
 * Coincidentally, it has also been almost a year since "An Indirect Kiss" in real life; "An Indirect Kiss" aired in September 18, 2014 and "Nightmare Hospital" aired in September 10, 2015.
 * This would also mean Steven Universe is taking place in real time.
 * While the Crystal Gems believed that they captured all of the fusion experiments in Keeping it Together, Peridot mentioned in her log that some of them had emerged early.
 * Connie is the second human to poof a gem, after Sadie in "Island Adventure".
 * Connie has poofed the most gem out of any human character, for now.

Errors

 * When Connie and Steven enter the hospital, the lady at the desk that they sneak past can't be seen until the next shot.
 * When Connie and Steven enter the hospital while holding hands, Connie's hand color becomes white for a brief moment.
 * The door to the patient's room in one shot swings outwards, then when Dr.Maheswaran walks in it swings inwards.