Cry for Help

"It's you and me, Pearl. Let's fuse."

"Cry for Help" is the 11th episode in season 2 of Steven Universe, and the 63rd episode overall.

Synopsis
Steven's favorite TV show gets interrupted by a magical disturbance.

Plot
The episode begins with Steven and Amethyst watching Crying Breakfast Friends!. Steven seems to be enjoying the show, but Amethyst is confused at the cartoon's story decisions. The television stops working and receive a sudden bout of static, after which the screen displays Peridot demanding help and extraction to Yellow Diamond in a message on all frequencies. Garnet and Pearl catch the broadcast as well, and Steven confirms with Connie over the phone that he is not the only one receiving Peridot's transmission. Pearl wonders how it is possible to broadcast such a powerful message, and they deduce that it's only possible via the Communication Hub.

The Crystal Gems travel to the Communication Hub on Lion's back (and Steven in Lion's mane), as the warp pad was destroyed when Sugilite damaged it in a psychotic episode. They find that the hub had been rebuilt with what was left of the hub the last time it was destroyed, and seems highly energetic. Steven understands that they must destroy the hub, and suggests to Amethyst that she and Garnet form Sugilite again. Amethyst seems happy about the idea, but states that it is Garnet's decision whether or not to form Sugilite. Garnet refuses to do so, stating that the previous time Sugilite was formed, she went berserk, taking over their personalities and consequently destroying the warp pad while smashing the hub. She then states the reason for it being a disaster is because Garnet can be brash and Amethyst can be reckless. Garnet states that this time, they must be careful, and suggests fusing with Pearl. Pearl seems ecstatic at the idea and happily accepts the proposal to fuse into Sardonyx.

Garnet and Pearl perform the fusion dance in order to form Sardonyx, while Steven excitedly watches the process. After Sardonyx is formed, she appears to debut herself in a talkshow host style, to Amethyst's chagrin. Sardonyx is happy to finally see Steven as herself, and plays with him for a bit before summoning Pearl and Garnet's respective weapons (spear and gauntlets) and putting Garnet's gauntlets at the end of Pearl's spear to create a huge warhammer. Steven asks if Sardonyx will use her warhammer to smash the Communication Hub with it, and Sardonyx suggests different alternatives to how she operates that are antonymous with Amethyst's behavior. She then proceeds to take out pillars by hitting them, listing her characteristics in words with sophisticated connotations; "The proper words to describe yours truly are: specific, intelligent, accurate, faultless, elegant, controlled, surgical, graceful, and powerful! But yes, occasionally, I am known to smash." She cites these qualities as she carefully disassembles the key components of the rebuilt Communication Hub. Sardonyx then unfuses.

Garnet and Pearl dance together in excitement and happiness after unfusing, and Steven joins them. They are happy to express their victory, and share congratulatory words. Pearl wonders why they don't do that more often, as Amethyst sulks from a distance. Back at the Crystal Temple, Steven and Garnet are watching Crying Breakfast Friends! again. Steven is invested into the show, but Garnet quitely shows apathy. Amethyst arrives from the temple gate and walks to the refrigerator, visibly annoyed, as Steven implores her to watch Crying Breakfast Friends! with him. As Pearl enters the house, the television receives static again and they all leave for the Communication Hub yet again.

Garnet and Pearl fuse again to form Sardonyx. She gloats about how her existence is demanded due to her personality (perhaps intentionally towards Amethyst), and proceeds to disassemble the Communication Hub again exactly like last time. As she does so, Amethyst sings Tower of Mistakes, expressing her sadness that she can't be with Garnet anymore and maybe she is truly better off with Pearl. Later, Steven and Amethyst, along with Lion, arrive at the Communication Hub for surveillance. They know that Peridot had come back to repair the hub twice, and they can only assume that she will return to repair the hub again. Their plan is to keep watch and capture Peridot as soon as she is spotted. They take position, hidden from sight, and survey their surroundings. Steven tries to pass time, and teaches Amethyst the floating finger illusion, which was his method of passing time.

As Steven is about to leave, saying that even though they didn't catch Peridot, Amethyst now knows a neat trick, a green flash suddenly appears. Both of them spot Peridot's escape pod approaching the hub at a high velocity, and are confused as to how Peridot has access to her escape pod, since they had taken it into the temple since "Joy Ride", therefore rendering Peridot helpless to retrieve her damaged escape pod.

The pod lifts and puts the displaced pillars in position to rebuild the Communication Hub, and flies to the top, where its rider exits the pod, seemingly to inspect its structural integrity. After zooming in using his telescope, Steven makes the discovery that it was actually Pearl who rebuilt the hub while she (Pearl) gets the hub to function again. The next day, Steven and Amethyst analyze why Pearl would rebuild the hub while watching television. Steven suggests that she might be studying how it works, but Amethyst eliminates the idea. Steven then believes that it might get them more channels and turns on the television, only to see static again as Pearl comes in and notices the static. As Steven and Amethyst's nervousness increases, Pearl exclaims that Peridot had repaired the Communication Hub, urging Garnet to destroy it. Garnet says that Peridot is somehow evading her future vision, and she can't see them catching Peridot under any instance of the next events. The Crystal Gems depart for the hub again.

The hub seems fixed and operational, and Pearl tells Garnet that Peridot is giving them too much trouble. She is happy to keep fusing with Garnet to make Sardonyx and to keep disabling the tower over and over again. Pearl is ready to fuse, and Amethyst realizes her motives for rebuilding the hub. She stops Pearl and Garnet from fusing, and Steven hesitantly states that they saw Pearl repairing the hub. He suggests that she confess to Garnet and, realizing her plan is revealed, Pearl apologizes to Garnet and tells her that it's just fun to be Sardonyx with her. Garnet throws Pearl to the ground, realizing why she could not see the Crystal Gems apprehending Peridot in her future vision. Pearl tries to talk to Garnet and explain herself, but Garnet is angry and denies Pearl's claims that she only wanted to share a few victories, scolding Pearl and telling her that the past instances were under false pretenses. Amethyst attempts to defend Pearl and says that fusing with Garnet is their only chance of feeling powerful. Garnet furiously yells that Peridot is out there somewhere and Pearl is distracting the Crystal Gems with trivial matters for her own selfish needs. Garnet orders Amethyst to fuse with her; once they form Sugilite, she takes out the Communication Hub while Pearl stares, mortified.

Later, Steven and Amethyst are back home, watching Crying Breakfast Friends!. Pearl enters the house and walks towards the temple gate, and Garnet warps back from the pad and walks towards the door. They silently walk past each other, and Pearl is visibly saddened; Garnet's anger drives her to sever interaction with Pearl. Amethyst and Steven notice them, and Amethyst says, "Man, it sure would be nice if things worked out the way they do in cartoons", to which Steven agrees as he turns off the television.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Pearl (semi-antagonist)
 * Garnet
 * Amethyst
 * Lion
 * Sardonyx (debut)
 * Peridot (on the TV)
 * Yellow Diamond (mentioned)
 * Sugilite (non-speaking cameo)
 * Connie Maheswaran (mentioned)
 * Jasper (mentioned)
 * Lapis Lazuli (mentioned)
 * Crying Breakfast Friends!
 * Sad Spoon
 * Crying Pear
 * Sad Bacon

Objects

 * Steven's Phone
 * Warp Pad
 * Escape Pod
 * Damaged Warp Pad

Locations

 * Communication Hub
 * Beach House

Music

 * "Tower of Mistakes"


 * "Enticement"
 * "Sardonyx"
 * "Peridot"
 * "Synchronize/Sugilite" (remix)

Trivia

 * This is the first episode of the 3rd Steven Bomb.
 * This is the third episode in which a Crystal Gem acts as an antagonist.
 * The first being Sugilite in "Coach Steven".
 * The second being Amethyst in "On the Run"
 * This is the second episode to have a deliberate separation of a gem fusion, the first being the un-fusion of Rainbow Quartz in "We Need to Talk".
 * This episode is symbolized in the promo art for the third StevenBomb by a picture of Crying Pear from Crying Breakfast Friends!.
 * When the TV set was vibrating, it made the same sound the Wailing Stone did when Greg was trying to adjust its audio and video properties.
 * Steven's Latin American voice actress, Leisha Medina, had previously confirmed that Sardonyx would debut in this episode.
 * Sugilite appears in this episode, but with no dialogue.
 * Amethyst's first solo-song is introduced in this episode.
 * This episode was the first time we see the Crying Breakfast Friends! speak words, before this episode the characters would only talk in inaudible sobbing.
 * In this episode, Garnet displays a reluctance to forgive, apparent by her disagreement to the idea of forgiving Pearl and forgiving Crying Pear (when Steven asks if Garnet would forgive her), and later not letting Pearl off the hook.
 * Yellow Diamond's name is mentioned for the second time in the series.
 * Ronaldo saw Peridot's signal and made a blog post on Keep Beach City Weird.
 * To celebrate this episode, Christy Cohen made sad pears to symbolize Pearl's guilt.
 * The Crying Breakfast Friends! episode that is on when Steven watches is foreshadowing the whole episode and Pearl and Garnet making up in "Friend Ship".
 * This is the second episode including more than two fusions, the first being "We Need to Talk".
 * This episode does not end with a star-sharped iris closing in on a specific object.
 * The scene with the "weird cactus" that Steven mistakes for Peridot was devised by Jeff Liu.
 * This is the second time Amethyst sings, the first was in "On the Run" singing a duet with Steven.
 * The episode title is both a reference to Peridot asking for help from homeworld, and the Crying Breakfast Friends! TV show with-in the world of Steven Universe.
 * Sugilite forms out of anger and mistrust in this episode, just as Garnet stated about Malachite earlier.

Cultural References

 * Sugilite's tower-smashing punch was inspired by the "Twister-Sock Punch" from Popeye and Donkey Kong's "Giant Punch" from Super Smash Bros.
 * When Amethyst opens the refrigerator while Steven and Garnet were watching Crying Breakfast Friends, one of the products inside the refrigerator was labeled "MooMoo Milk" which is the same name of the drink from the Pokémon franchise.
 * Sardonyx laughed like a villain from anime shows in the 90s in one point.
 * This type of laugh is also known by anime fans as "the ojoou-sama laugh" (rough translation: "noblewoman's laugh"), as most of the characters who do it seem to be high born feminine figures (very rich girls, princesses, etc.)
 * Steven does the "floating sausage" optical illusion.

Continuity

 * Peridot assembled a functioning signal tower out of the ruins of the Communication Hub.
 * The Crystal Gems reached the hub with Lion's portal ability because the warp pad was broken in "Coach Steven".
 * Peridot's Escape Pod has been repaired by Pearl since the events of "Joy Ride".
 * Garnet says "What we need now is to be careful" when proposing fusion to Pearl, referencing when she said "We don't need to be careful, we just need to be huge" before fusing with Amethyst in "Coach Steven".

Errors

 * When Sardonyx summons her weapon, the cable holding the star is yellow, after it zooms out, it's black.
 * Sardonyx's upper gloves are drawn inconsistently. In some scenes, Sardonyx's gloves (Garnet's gloves) appear to cover the middle fingers at the back of the hands. In other scenes, they do not cover the backs of her hands, leaving the finger parts detached. It is currently unknown which of these is an error.
 * When Pearl is seen through the reflection on Garnet's glasses, her glove is missing.


 * When Sardonyx is about to hit the last pillar, her hammer changes color.
 * In some scenes, the back of Sardonyx's split coat is orange, while it's supposed to be black with only the inner part being orange. Also, when Sardonyx is about to hit the last pillar, her hammer's position has changed.


 * When Sardonyx was about to squish Steven, Ruby's square on her gemstone was a sky blue.
 * When Sugilite was destroying the Communication Hub, her armbands disappeared for a few seconds.
 * When Sardonyx summons Garnet's gauntlets, her gloves are briefly colored like Garnet's gloves.
 * When Garnet is watching Crying Breakfast Friends! with Steven, her glove covers her thumb in addition to her middle finger.
 * When Pearl is beginning the fusion dance, her neck is uncolored for a single frame.