An Indirect Kiss

"An Indirect Kiss" is the 24th episode of the first season of Steven Universe, and the 24th overall episode of the series.

Synopsis
When Amethyst cracks her gem, Steven and the Crystal Gems go on a mission to heal her.

Plot
Steven is being carried by Lion to go to the top of the temple and meet Connie for a picnic. Steven is depressed and since Connie wants to know why, Steven tells a story. Amethyst was goofing around the cliff and Steven kept telling Amethyst not to fall off. Amethyst kept messing with Steven, who kept getting scared for her safety everytime she did that. She suddenly falls off the cliff and then onto a rock. Steven ran down the cliff as fast as he could and Amethyst showed him her eye hidden behind her bangs that was big and googly. Garnet and Pearl ran to them and tried to get Amethyst to show her gem. Garnet finally revealed Amethyst's gem and discovered it was cracked. Thus, Amethyst got embarrassed and Pearl suggested that they put a fence on the top of the temple.

Steven ended the story but Connie wanted to know what happened to Amethyst. Steven didn't want to tell her then finally agreed to continue, but only if she let him try on Connie's glasses and Connie replied only if he gave her his juice. Steven then continued the story, and it cuts to the gems talking about Amethyst, and according to Pearl and Garnet, Rose Quartz had healing tears and she felt real sorrow when someone was hurt. Steven has the rose quartz gem and said he has the healing powers now. Steven tried to heal Amethyst's gem with tears, but he couldn't cry. Garnet insisted that they go to Rose Quartz's healing spring to heal Amethyst. Amethyst starts to make a weird shriveled face and her face went back to normal (except for the eyeball) but started to speak backwards.

They went to the Spring, but almost everything was covered with brambles of thorns and spikes. Steven tried to cry out some healing tears again but it still wouldn't work. Amethyst said something again backwards but slapped herself, and instead used crying motions.

After realizing Amethyst means to use pain to cry healing tears, Steven attempts to poke himself on nearby thorns. However, the thorns come to life and attempt to attack Steven. Amethyst tackled him out of the way, but this results in her cracking her gem more, causing her head to be swapped with her right foot and for her to be scolded by Pearl for roughhousing. Garnet and Pearl, being oblivious to the thorns being alive, make a path through the wall of thorns. Finding the spring, they see it too has become overgrown, and is no longer flowing healing magic water. Garnet and Pearl leave to find out what stopped the spring, with Amethyst growing worse, being that all her limbs have grown long and thin strings connecting her to her body. Steven, after becoming sad he doesn't know his mother while everyone else does, nearly cries, but doesn't. He and Amethyst are then attacked by the thorns again, so Steven takes the noodle Amethyst into the dry spring.

After growing sad that he can't save Amethyst (and her managing to get out "you, care, about, me") Steven cries, with a tear hitting the broken gem. However, nothing happens immediately, so Steven grows upset.

Then, the spring (which is a statue of Rose Quartz) begins to cry, causing a massive overflow of healing water, causing the thorns to bloom into roses, while Amethyst returns to normal. Steven exclaims to Pearl how his tears caused the spring to be fixed, to which Pearl says Garnet and her did it, and that he will never have any real magic powers, and that they no longer want anything to do with him.

Cutting back to present day, Connie is shocked, and asked if she really said that. Steven says she didn't, but that's how it felt. Connie, telling him he can always come to her, magic or not, leans in for a kiss, only to stop right before, exclaiming she has a headache. After taking her glasses off, she realizes she can see without them. Both being shocked, they realize Steven's juice (which earlier he stated was mostly his spit) healed her. The episode ends with Steven rushing off to the gems to tell them about his new healing saliva ability, while Connie takes the lenses out of her glasses and wears the frames, so that her parents and optometrist would be happy.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Amethyst (flashback)
 * Pearl (flashback)
 * Garnet (flashback)
 * Lion
 * Connie
 * Rose Quartz (Pictured)

Songs

 * Overgrown Brambles


 * Rose's Fountain

Cultural References

 * Amethyst's googly eye is a possible reference to Wilt from Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends and his googly eye in the special "Good Wilt Hunting".
 * The facial expressions Amethyst pulls appear to be a reference to internet memes of similar strained expressions used as reactions to certain situations.
 * When Amethyst loses the shape of her body, it is a reference to Jiggler, character in the episode "The Jigglers" from Adventure Time.

Errors

 * In some scenes, Rose's statue has longer arms than in previous scenes.
 * When Amethyst loses control of her body when her gem becomes more broken, her head is replaced by her left foot. However, in a following scene, the head is now on the right instead.
 * When the statue starts flowing once more, you can see the star in Garnet's uniform is red, when it's supposed to be light pink.
 * Near the end of the episode, Lion disappears in some scenes.

Trivia

 * It is shown that a Crystal Gems' gem can become cracked if their gem receives too much damage.
 * If the gem is cracked for too long, the Crystal Gem starts to "glitch".
 * This is the first episode in which none of the gems besides Steven physically appear, rather, they are merely part of Steven's flashback sequence and seen through Steven's perspective.
 * It is revealed the Rose Quartz has a fountain that can repair damaged gems due to it flowing with her tears.
 * Steven is revealed to have troubled feelings for his mother due to the fact that the other gems know about her and he doesn't.
 * Steven is shown to have healing powers contained in his saliva.
 * Connie can now see without her glasses after being healed by the saliva. To avoid angering her parents and optometrist, she pops off the lens in her glasses and wears them.
 * Connie appears more affectionate towards Steven than in previous episodes.
 * The words Amethyst says backwards are "Hey, what are you guys doing on the beach?", "Hey, you gotta make yourself cry if your body can't.", "The vines are coming to life and are gonna kill Steven just so you know.", "Uh, a little help?", and "Cheer up, will ya?"
 * The title refers to the indirect kiss Steven gives to Connie by sharing his juice box with her that has his backwash.
 * Pearl is shown more upset about Rose's Spring being overgrown.
 * The story was told from Steven's perspective so most of what happened could be how he saw it, such as Pearl being very clingy to Garnet could have been far-fetched.
 * This is the third episode that Steven discovers a power of his, the first being "Gem Glow", and the second being "Cat Fingers".
 * It's revealed that Steven fears snakes due to the fact that they have no arms.

Transcript
Click here for the transcript.