Keeping It Together

"Keeping it Together" is the 11th episode of Season 2 in Steven Universe, and the 60th episode overall.

Synopsis
Steven and the Gems find a dark secret when they revisit the Kindergarten.

Plot
The episode begins with Steven and the Crystal Gems folding Steven's laundry, discussing Peridot's presence on Earth and the possibility of Peridot most likely reactivating Kindergarten despite crash landing on Earth. During this discussion, the gems note that they also gathered to fold Steven's laundry. Pearl then admits that she enjoys doing housework. Steven asks Garnet to unfuse to help fold his shirts faster, but Garnet refuses to unfuse for laundry. The gems continue discussing the Peridot problem. Garnet says that Peridot isn't interested in the Crystal Gems, but rather Kindergarten to reactivate the injectors. Steven asks what the injectors are, and Pearl explains that the injectors are machines that plant gems in the crust of the Earth for them to incubate and suck the life out of the ground.

Steven and the Crystal Gems warp to Kindergarten to investigate any differences and find Peridot. Nothing seems to be activated or even moved in Kindergarten at the moment. Peridot is not found anywhere yet, so the gems split up and patrol the perimeter to find her. Steven goes about his way and accidentally stumbles into Peridot, who just used the elevator from the Kindergarten Control Room. Peridot is recording a log about her experiments, mentioning that some have developed early. Peridot is frightened after noticing Steven staring at her. She asks whether or not the Crystal Gems are with Steven, and he hesitantly nods yes. The gems find Peridot with Steven and they all give chase. Peridot is apparently able to escape by running up a wall, but Pearl throws her spear over Peridot that strikes an overhead injector, falling and hitting Peridot. Peridot survives the fall and runs away again, but Amethyst wraps her up with her whip. Amethyst is forced to release Peridot after her whip is electrocuted. Peridot then uses her fingers as helicopter blades and flies away with Amethyst and Pearl chasing her.

Steven stays with Garnet. Garnet notes that if Peridot came to Kindergarten to reactivate it, then the injectors would have started working by now. Steven and Garnet begin to investigate to find out what Peridot's job actually was. They find the elevator shaft to the control room and slide into it. While they are descending, Garnet explains more about gem fusion to Steven. When they reach the control room, Steven says that the room somehow seems creepier than before and that the power is still cut off, and Garnet senses that something is wrong there. She says that something is strange after seeing that Peridot apparently pulled some pillars out of the walls. Garnet touches one of the pillars, and they begin to move. Strange creatures resembling the combination of hands and feet begin falling from the ceiling. Garnet punches one of them and it poofs into a gem. It is apparently two different gems stuck together, which disgusts Garnet, leaving Steven confused and worried. A much larger and grotesque version of these fusions rise from one of the pillars as though it is still fusing with difficulty.

As the large fusion approaches Garnet, she becomes terrified and stands still. Garnet begins to cry and understands what these fusions really are: they were previous Crystal Gems that were shattered, buried, and were forced to fuse together. Garnet begins to unfuse slowly while Steven defends her. After Steven says that this isn't like Garnet, she regains composure and knocks out the large fusion, poofing the gems, which is a combination of multiple different gems. Garnet bubbles the gem, realizing that this is what Homeworld thinks of gem fusion. These were the gems that the Crystal Gems couldn't find after the war, and no one would have known where they were. The forced fusions were the Crystal Gems' punishment for rebelling against Homeworld. Amethyst and Pearl return to Garnet and Steven, and notice the smaller gems' fusion mutants. Garnet orders the gems to put them down and bubble them all.

Back at the Crystal Temple's hand, Steven warps to do his laundry and finds Garnet. They discuss what they saw in Kindergarten, and Garnet expresses disgust over the forced fusions. Fusion is a choice between gems. Fusion is a right, and the forced fusions they saw in Kindergarten were not fusions. Steven asks Garnet what it feels like to be a fusion all the time, like Garnet herself. She explains that the gems forget that they were ever alone in the first place. When gems fuse, they do not feel like two people, but rather one, and the gems' old names might as well be named the left arm and the right arm. When Steven asks if Garnet disappears when Ruby and Sapphire unfuse, she says that Garnet is the embodiment of Ruby and Sapphire's love. Even if they split apart, Garnet will always exist in them. The strength of the two gems' love keeps the fusion alive for a very long time, explaining Garnet's long existence. After one of Steven's socks flies away with the wind, Garnet catches it and gives it to him, saying that "you don't want to break up a pair."

Characters

 * Pearl
 * Garnet
 * Amethyst
 * Steven
 * Peridot
 * Ruby (mentioned, talking as Garnet)
 * Sapphire (mentioned, talking as Garnet)
 * Cluster

Objects

 * Warp Pad
 * Injectors

Locations

 * Kindergarten
 * Facet Five
 * Beach City
 * Beach House

Music

 * Reunion
 * Peridot

Trivia

 * This is Peridot's 5th appearance.
 * This is also the first time Peridot smiles and laughs.
 * It is revealed that Peridot can walk on walls, as well as use her fingers to fly like a helicopter.
 * It is revealed that shattered gem shards from the rebellion were forced to fuse together by Homeworld.
 * In Facet Five, Ruby and Sapphire seem to be talking to each other through Garnet. This is made clear by the contrasting point of view angles for each character.
 * This also marks the fourth time multiple gems have a conversation while fused. The first time being in Fusion Cuisine, and the second in Jail Break with Jasper and Lapis Lazuli as Malachite. This also has been done with Stevonnie in Alone Together.
 * This is the third episode to air in the second StevenBomb.
 * It was hinted in the promotional artwork with Garnet's head.
 * This is the 6th time Steven summoned his shield.
 * It seems like Steven can summon his shield on command now.
 * Apparently, it seems that the gems see the term 'janked' as profane, as Amethyst says to Garnet "Garnet! That mouth!" after she says it.
 * A Warp Pad is shown to exist on the Crystal Temple's laundry hand.
 * This Warp Pad was already there in "Sworn to the Sword".
 * The two socks seen at the very end were red and blue, possibly a reference to Ruby and Sapphire.
 * Keep Beach City Weird was updated with a post referencing Sneeple and the unrelated "Snail People" meme.
 * This marks the third time Garnet broke out of her usual stoic and calm character, shown with her clear emotions of utter disbelief when discovering the forced-fused gem shards.
 * The first being in "Alone Together" and second in "Jail Break", where in both she was obviously overjoyed.

Cultural References

 * The fact that the shatter gems were being forced to fused together is a homage to the movie Human Centipede, where a crazy doctor captures many human victims and sews their body parts together.

Continuity

 * This episode marks Kindergarten's third appearance.
 * Its first appearance was in "On the Run", and its second appearance was in "Marble Madness".
 * It's also mark Facet Five second appearance, the first being "Marble Madness".
 * The Cluster mentioned in Jail Break appears in this episode.

Errors
View the episode's transcript here.
 * When the gems are folding clothes, and the viewpoint switches to an overhead view, stacks of shirts are seen. After that, nearly every viewpoint shows that the shirts are gone.
 * When the Crystal Gems are first running after Peridot, Amethyst is mouthing what Pearl is saying.
 * When Steven is trying to run after Peridot, there are no hands visible on his torso. But when it zooms out, there are visible hands.
 * When Peridot fell because of the Injector, as she was falling, there was no sight of her while the Injector was falling.
 * While the Shattered Gem Fusion seems to be pulling Garnet apart, in one scene, Steven seems to be smiling instead of a confused face.