Mindful Education

"You have to be honest about how bad it feels so you can move on."

"Mindful Education" is the 4th episode of the fourth season of Steven Universe and the 107th episode overall.

Synopsis
Steven and Connie learn to focus better.

Plot
The episode begins as Connie is walking up the stairs of the Beach house, and knocks on the door. Answering the door is Steven, who appears bald, asking what a lovely day it is. Connie, unaware that Steven is bald, agrees with Steven, although with a calm demeanor, and proceeds to walk into the house. Steven is shocked that Connie didn’t notice his baldness, and tries to get Connie’s attention until he finally has to yell it out to her that he is bald. When Connie finally sees, she continues to appear calm and uncaring of the situation, but asks what happened, as Steven reveals that it was just a joke, but disappointed, and puts the bald cap in his pocket. Connie dully replies with “Oh… ok", and continues to dig through a bag with Rose’s sword in it. Steven asks Connie if she is ok, when Garnet and Pearl warp in, reminding the two of their fusion training, and that Garnet is excited to see them fight as Stevonnie. Garnet reveals a sign with Steven and Connie’s names on one side, and then Stevonnie’s on the other, and Steven takes this as a “fusion joke”.

The scene changes to the Sky Arena, where Steven and Connie are facing Holo-Pearls, after being asked if they are ready to fight by Pearl. Connie still seems depressed, and Garnet cheers them on as they compete while using the sign she made for them. The Holo-Pearls are shown fusing together, and Steven and Connie perform a brief fusion dance before fusing into Stevonnie. Stevonnie unlocks their floating abilities while fighting the Holo-Pearl fusion, and takes pride in it, but they are stopped by a vision of a boy. Stevonnie hits the ground at a hard pace and separates into Steven and Connie. Garnet and Pearl run over to the two, asking them is they are ok, and Steven gets up, asking what happened, and Connie runs out of the Sky Arena, and Steven follows her. Steven finds Connie on the steps behind the area, near the warp pad, and decides to talk to her about the way she’s been acting. Connie admits that she beat up a kid at school, and Steven is shocked, asking her to explain more about the situation. Connie claims that her training instinct just “kicked in”, and she did it on accident. Steven tells Connie not to think about it, but Garnet interrupts and takes the kids to the beach to meditate with her as Stevonnie.

Garnet meditates with Stevonnie and sings the song "Here Comes a Thought". The visuals are of Sapphire and Ruby and have butterflies for metaphors of issues they have to deal with. Eventually Ruby and Sapphire resolve their problems. Stevonnie looks the other direction and sees Steven and Connie dealing with their problems. Connie finally accepts to confront them.

The next day, Connie comes back to the house to train again, feeling better. Connie comes in with a picture of the kid she beat up and how she made up with him. Steven is impressed while Connie talks about how nice it was to be able to release and do something about her problem. While Connie goes to change, Steven suddenly sees a butterfly from Stevonnie and Garnet's meditation on his mother's sword. Later at the Sky Arena, Stevonnie is fighting better and things go well. When Stevonnie goes to stab a Holo-Pearl another vision suddenly comes, but this time of Bismuth, the exact moment where she was impaled by Steven. Stevonnie is confused about who that was but at the same time not, since they're made out of two people. They say "Oh no, it's coming from me now" as the visions have switched from being from Connie to Steven. They go back into reality, and Garnet tells them to breathe. While Pearl is confused, Garnet assures her they've got this. Stevonnie goes back into another vision, this time of a corrupted Jasper while saying they tried to help her. Another vision comes of Eyeball Ruby and Stevonnie continuously explains they couldn't do anything. Stevonnie assures themself that it's okay to think about it, but they then say "I thought I could, but it's so much, I can't do it". The three visions of Eyeball Ruby, Bismuth, and Jasper explode into butterflies and combine to form the shape of Rose's head, looking down on Stevonnie in a disappointed manner. Stevonnie, sobbing, steps backward off the edge of the Sky Arena and wake up from their visions. Pearl and Garnet exclaim "Stevonnie!" as they fall.

Stevonnie unfuses in mid-air. Connie suggests they refuse as to be able to hover and prevent themselves from falling. Steven is still sobbing while saying he didn't mean to hurt anyone. Connie assures him that it's okay to feel bad, and he had to be honest about how bad it feels because that's what she did. Steven understands, and they reform Stevonnie, who manages to hover safely to the ground. They then laugh, sigh, and stare at the sky saying "I'm here", referencing their song from earlier.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Connie
 * Stevonnie
 * Garnet
 * Pearl
 * Holo-Pearl
 * Ruby (imagined)
 * Sapphire (imagined)
 * Bismuth (imagined, mentioned)
 * Jasper (imagined, mentioned)
 * Ruby (Eyeball) (imagined, mentioned)
 * Rose Quartz (imagined)
 * Jeff (pictured, mentioned)
 * Greg (mentioned)

Objects

 * Rose's Sword
 * Rose's Scabbard
 * Warp Pad

Locations

 * Beach City
 * Beach House
 * Ancient Sky Arena

Songs

 * "Here Comes a Thought"

Instrumental Songs

 * TBA

Trivia

 * This episode revealed that a Holo-Pearl can fuse with another Holo-Pearl to form a larger Holo-Pearl.
 * White butterflies are a heavy piece of symbolism in the episode. In many cultures, the butterfly represents the soul, with the color white representing the soul's purity. It also has many associations with good luck and moving on the right path of life.
 * This could also be a reference to the expression "butterflies in the stomach", which relates to anxiety.
 * The butterflies are also very similar to the ones that "attacked" Steven in Serious Steven.
 * The episode features some sequences made by Japanese animator Takafumi Hori.
 * This is the first episode to be animated by a guest animator.
 * "Here Comes a Thought" is the first song sung by Stevonnie, the first duet by Garnet, and the first song of Season 4.
 * Stevonnie is shown to be ambidextrous in this episode, as they use the sword and shield interchangeably.
 * This episode's name was revealed in the episode listing on the ToonZone website.
 * This episode ends without an iris close.

Cultural References

 * Stevonnie kicking their legs to hover in the air is a possible reference to Yoshi from Super Mario Bros..
 * Connie and Steven holding their hands together as they fell is a possible reference to the 2001 Japanese anime fantasy film Spirited Away.
 * Garnet's method of mindfulness meditation, especially the lines "it's just a thought, we can watch them go by," closely mirrors the principles and strategies of Mindfulness Cognitive Behavior Therapy (MCBT) or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), of accepting the presence of negative feelings without dwelling on those thoughts. Both therapies have been shown to have a high success rate in treating anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
 * The scenes of Stevonnie facing Steven's shameful thoughts are filtered through yellow, presumably symbolizing Steven's Solar Plexus Chakra, the third yellow Chakra of willpower and taking action, being blocked by shame. Avatar: The Last Airbender did the same thing with that particular Chakra and all the others.
 * The hand symbol made by Stevonnie and Garnet during the song is the Mudra for the Vishuddha Chakra, or Throat Chakra. This fifth blue Chakra is the Chakra of truth/communication, being blocked by lies/confusion.

Continuity

 * Steven and Connie are still training with Pearl since "Sworn to the Sword".
 * Steven confronts his demons from the episodes "Bismuth", "Earthlings", and "Bubbled".
 * The "Ancient Sky Arena" shows damage from the events of "Steven vs. Amethyst".
 * Garnet uses Steven's line ("Hold the phone, now give the phone to me") from "The Message".
 * The odd visions Stevonnie sees when under stress in "Alone Together" and "Beach City Drift" are revealed to be a normal side effect when a fusion is in disharmony.

Errors

 * Ruby gem error.png Stevonnie sees Holo-Pearl as Jeff, and they fail to attack, it is shown both Pearl and Garnet with a shocked face. However, the sign is "GO Steven+Connie" even though they were still fused as Stevonnie.
 * In multiple shots, Ruby's gem is missing.
 * As Ruby yells about the butterfly during "Here Comes a Thought", her gemstone is not colored in.

Videos
Mindful Education