Ocean Gem

"Ocean Gem" is the 26th episode of the first season of Steven Universe, and the 26th overall episode of the series.

Official Synopsis
The ocean disappears on the first day of summer, and Beach City is in a panic.

Plot
Ocean Gem starts with the Gems angrily telling Steven that he is grounded for disobeying orders, but before the Gems try to bury him and can take away his privileges, Greg shows up and tells them the ocean is missing. Mayor Dewey, angry and shouting loudly, starts to blame the Crystal Gems. He cries that no one will come to "Desert" City. Garnet tells it was Lapis Lazuli, and Pearl explains the current situation. Still upset, Mayor Dewey angrily tells them to fix it. Steven, while inside, prepares to find Lapis, as he acknowledges that the whole situation was his fault. Not wanting him to be alone, Connie, Greg, and Lion all want to join him on his quest, with the Gems adding in that they obviously have to go. Garnet also adds that Steven is ungrounded. As the Gems, Steven, Connie, Lion, and Greg are leaving, Mayor Dewey sadly starts a hose, and starts to pour the water into what used to be the ocean.

While driving, Greg plays some music that Rose liked, and Garnet, greatly disliking it, rolls out of the car. She spends the rest of the trip riding on top of the van. Before they arrive Steven questions why Lapis is fighting them. Pearl admits that not all Gems are good, and explains that the monsters they fight were gems that became corrupted and broken. When they arrived, they see a large tower of water that leads into the sky. Lapis, sensing them, yells that they shouldn't be there and should leave her alone, and Steven responds that they're not leaving unless they get the ocean back. Lapis then makes water doubles of Steven, then the Gems to fight them. During the battle, Greg gets his leg broken by the water double of Steven. Steven, telling Lapis to stop fighting them, activates his shield as his double attacks him, Greg, and Connie. The resulting vibration from the attack deflecting off of Steven's shield force the water doubles to dissipate. Then Steven, telling Lapis that he is coming up to see her, is led to the top of the tower to talk to Lapis.

Lapis explains that she does not believe in protecting earth and wants to go back home, but her gem is cracked, so she was commanding the ocean to make a tower that could take her to her home. Steven, remembering his healing powers, fixes her gem in return for the ocean. When her gem is fixed,  Lapis' eyes are healed, and she gains wings in the form of water. Thanking him, Lapis flies off into space. Suddenly, the tower falls and Steven plunges back to earth. Teaming up, Lion and Connie are able to catch him before he lands. As the Gems, Steven, Connie, and Greg return, the residents of Beach City congratulate him as their hero. Garnet acknowledges that Lapis made it off the planet, and Pearl to ask what does it mean for them. Garnet just says to wait and see. Steven says goodbye to Lapis Lazuli wherever she may be, as it stars out on a glimmering sparkle far away as the residents of Beach City are proud of Steven for saving the town and bringing back the water.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Pearl
 * Garnet
 * Amethyst
 * Lion
 * Greg Universe
 * Connie
 * Lapis Lazuli

Minor Characters

 * Jamie
 * Jenny
 * Sour Cream
 * Buck Dewey
 * Mayor Bill Dewey
 * Kofi
 * Kiki
 * Lars
 * Sadie
 * Fryman
 * The Purple Puma
 * Ronaldo
 * Peedee Fryman
 * Nanafua
 * Mr. Smiley
 * Onion
 * Centipeetle Mother (Flashback)
 * Worm Monster (Flashback)
 * Drill Parasites (Flashback)
 * Gem Cave Creature (Flashback)
 * Giant Pufferfish (Flashback)
 * Ice Monster (Flashback)
 * Rose Quartz (mentioned)

Songs

 * Mirror Match
 * Q U A D R I N O M E T R Y - THE SECRET OF THE WAVE LIES IN C R E A T I O N
 * Night Drive
 * Lapis' Tower
 * Take My Hand
 * Love Like You (The Ocean Returns)

Trivia

 * This episode was mistaken to be the season 1 finale.
 * This episode marks the second appearance of Steven's shield, the first being from "Gem Glow". However, this is the first time he's had control over summoning it.
 * This episode revealed that all monsters were once Gems that had become corrupted by some currently unknown source.
 * This episode reveals that it is likely that the Gems are from another planet.
 * This was later confirmed in "Space Race".
 * This episode also shows that all of the Gems are able to use dual weapons, except Garnet, due to her already using two gauntlets.
 * The ending theme is played at the end of the episode when Steven returns.
 * Steven is shown to be able to use his bubble shield on large things, as he bubbled Greg's van to shield him and his team-mates from drowning in the ocean.
 * It is shown that Amethyst's whip can stretch far distances and even lift heavy objects such as boulders.
 * It is once again shown that Pearl can drive a car/van. She was previously shown to be able to drive in "Arcade Mania".
 * In the title card for this episode you can see there are none of Steven's clothes being dried and the ocean has also disappeared, referencing the events in the episode.
 * Amethyst has a very warped grasp on the definition of grounding (and possibly other terms), as she was prepared to literally bury Steven in the sand.
 * This marks the first time Steven heals a gem with his spit.

Cultural references

 * When Garnet punches through the head of her water double it reforms around her fist; a reference to Terminator 2: Judgement Day where the T-800 similarly punches through the head of the liquid metal T-1000.
 * When Garnet jumps out of the van, she uses a roll similar to the "stop, drop, and roll" technique and a roll seen in many action films.
 * The Water Tower is a reference to The Tower in the episode The Tower of Adventure Time.
 * When the Water Gems summon their weapons, Amethyst says "Ruh-Oh," a reference to Scooby-Doo.

Continuity

 * Pearl said about pork chops and hot dogs that referring to the Greg's quote, "If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs" in the episode "Laser Light Cannon".
 * When Steven gets ready to find Lapis he has on his Cheeseburger Backpack from "Cheeseburger Backpack".
 * Amethyst shapeshifts into The Purple Puma from "Tiger Millionaire", again in order to fight her water duplicate.
 * When fighting her water clone, Pearl says "I hate fighting me," a reference to when she fought Holo-Pearl in "Steven the Swordfighter".
 * "House Guest" is a continuation of this episode, because Greg injures his leg in this episode, and his van/home is destroyed.
 * A bunch of monsters from the series where shown in flashbacks. These include: the Centipeetle Mother from "Gem Glow", the Worm Monster from "Bubble Buddies", the Gem Cave Creatures and the Baby Cave Creature from "Arcade Mania", the Giant Pufferfish from "Beach Party", and the Ice Monster from "Monster Buddies".
 * The Stevens from "Steven and The Stevens" went too far into the future and accidentally visited a scene from Ocean Gem.

Errors

 * In the first scene inside the van, part of Pearl's outfit is black.
 * Near the end of the episode when Amethyst tells Steven "that's how you do it", Garnet and Lion disappear when they are supposed to be in the background.
 * When the population of Beach City lift Steven, other characters who were seen from far away disappear.
 * When Pearl was talking to Garnet, Garnet's left shoulderpad was colored black.
 * When Beach City's population celebrates with Steven, Mayor Bill Dewey lifts Steven on his shoulders, but in another scene Steven is on Lars shoulder.
 * When the episode first aired, Cartoon Network accidentally messed up the colors so that Lapis' water head wasn't very visible.
 * Lapis's water pillar is able to reach out into space, but not even as far as the moon. If she really focused all the ocean's water into a pillar of that size (judging from the scenes showing the Earth from above, she did), it should be much taller than that (Earth's ocean is about 1.3 billion cubic kilometers in volume. Even a width of 50 meters, a high estimate for what we saw, would require it to be about 660 billion kilometers tall; about 4400 times the Earth's distance from the sun). —so much that creating it in a day would require most of the water to have traveled faster than the speed of light. Although even that wouldn't be anywhere near far enough to reach another solar system as Lapis wanted.

Transcript
Click here for the transcript.