Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26462356-20150621040500

Everybody is all "Pearl was soooo jealous of Greg".

But, that is not the only way the events in the episode can be interpreted. Remember that Gems ARE NOT HUMAN. Their emotions, motivations, and reactions are going to be quite, if not COMPLETELY, different than humans. This is clearly shown in the episode by how poorly Rose understands Greg's feelings.

Let us look at the situation from Pearl's point of view, as a Gem, not a human.

1) Rose, Pearl, and Garnet are at least 6000 years old. Maybe much older. We don't have any good information on Amethyst's age.

2) Rose has apparantly had several 'pet' humans. Human life span being what it is these relationships would at most last 60 years.

3) For a Gem having a pet for only 60 years at most is the same as for a human having a pet that only lives 6 months at most.

4) With as long a relationship with Rose as Pearl has (what ever kind of relationship it might be), any relation Rose has with her pets will not seem a threat. Humans do not become jealous of their mates pet gold fish (6 month life span).

5) Rose's relationships with humans was always an owner/pet type relationship. Pearl would not see this as a threat to her relationship with Rose no matter how long the pet lived.

6) Rose really loves her pets. When they die she is heartbroken. Pearl has to deal with Rose's sadness each time this happens.

Pearl does not want to see Rose being heart broken over and over again. What can she do about it? The only thing she can do is try to discourage the humans, make them go away, anyway she can. The fence was probably her idea. She probably made Rose promise not to go over the fence. But Rose did anyway.

So Pearl acted in a protective way, not in a jealous way. It just seems like that due to our narrow human perspective.

But then Greg broke all the rules (with Garnet's encouragement) and completely changed the game. He demanded to be treated like an equal, not a pet.

So, only AFTER "We Need To Talk" would it make sense to claim Pearl is acting out of jealousy if she tries to get between Rose and Greg. 