Guidance

“	I feel like I finally figured out what I'm supposed to do. I spent so long not knowing who I was or what I was made for. I-I had to figure that out for myself, and now, I think I'm good at helping other Gems figure that out for themselves, too.	”
—Amethyst

Guidance
Season	Future
Episode	2
Overall	2
Broadcast Information
Airdate	December 7, 2019
Viewers	0.799
Credits
Written and Storyboarded by	Amish Kumar Aaron Austin
Directed by	Ki-Yong Bae & Jin-Hee Park (animation) Liz Artinian & Patrick Bryson (art) Kat Morris & Alonso Ramirez Ramos (director)
Episode Guide
Previous	"Little Homeschool"
Next	"Rose Buds"

"Guidance" is the 2^nd episode of Steven Universe Future and the 2^nd episode overall.

Official Synopsis

Amethyst has been helping Little Homeschool Gems find jobs on the boardwalk, but Steven isn't sure about her approach.

Plot

The episode begins with Amethyst and Steven at Fish Stew Pizza. Steven notices Bixbite working behind the counter by chopping toppings and cutting a pizza into equal slices. Amethyst reveals that she has been pairing Gems from Little Homeschool with Beach City jobs, including some Rubies that enter with Mayor Nanefua acting as her bodyguards.

Steven and Amethyst go to Beach City Funland, where he sees that many of the Quartzes are now working there. Amethyst shows him that Nephrite is skywriting with Andy's plane and that Larimar and Snowflake Obsidian have found ice-related jobs on the boardwalk. Steven gets concerned because many of the jobs now held by the Gems are very similar to the jobs they originally held on Homeworld. Amethyst reassures him that this is not the case, only for Nanefua's Ruby guards to walk by and exclaim happily that their jobs are just like what they used to do on Homeworld. Despite Amethyst explaining that these are the jobs the Gems wanted, Steven says that the Gems only think they want to do the jobs and that he must get them out of their comfort zones. He speaks with Larimar and Snowflake Obsidian, who are running a snow-cone stand together. When asked, Snowflake and Larimar both reveal they had ice-related jobs on Homeworld. To "fix" this, Steven tries to get Snowflake to fly with Andy in his airplane, though she is clearly unsure. He then places Larimar in charge of The Appalachian, which she is excited about, as she claims that human screams are her "favorite of the Earth's delights".

After randomly pairing up Gems with different jobs, Steven goes to relax at Fish Stew Pizza. The star iris begins to close in on Steven as he exclaims that he's excited to see how everyone is going to learn and grow outside of their comfort zones, only for it to stop and reverse once Steven gets hit in the face with pizza thrown by Zebra Jasper. More pizzas are delivered violently, knocking over bystanders. Steven goes outside to find Beach City in chaos. After seeing the disaster caused by Gems with unfitting jobs, he finds Amethyst at the Funland Arcade and apologizes to her for not trusting her Gem-mentorship program, asking for her help to "unhelp" everyone he "helped". She accepts his apology and leaves the arcade to assist him.

They fuse into Smoky Quartz to stop Snowflake Obsidian, who is about to crash the airplane she is flying. They are able to set her and Andy down on the ground, apologizing and asking if they are okay. The two nod their heads, still traumatized. Smoky then heads to Funland, where Larimar has lost control of the Appalachian. Steven and Amethyst argue through Smoky Quartz, distressed that they won't make it in time, until Smoky turns pink, giving them the ability of super speed while also slowing down time. With this, they easily save the roller coaster passengers. Just as they prepare to stop the roller coaster from crashing, their powers go back to normal and it flies off the track and into the ocean. Smoky then accepts that while saving people from crashing on a roller coaster, the roller coaster's still gonna crash in the end.

Later on, they are talking at the beach, and Amethyst says she feels like she has finally found her place in the world in helping other Gems do the same for themselves. She then asks Steven what he wants to do for his future. Steven explains he still desires to help others but feels he's losing his touch. Larimar then walks up, holding a stuffed bear behind her back, and gives it to Steven as thanks for giving her a job at Funland. She tells him that she discovered she is not great at operating a roller coaster, but that she is good at handing out prizes to children. She states that she loves their laughter, which is "just like screaming" (to which Steven is visibly disturbed). They then see the crashed roller coaster floating by, with Onion still in one of the cars. Steven is at first worried but then calms down, knowing that Onion will be fine.

Features

Characters

• Steven Universe
• Amethyst
• Smoky Quartz
• Larimar
• Onion
• Ruby Bodyguards
• Snowflake Obsidian
• Ocean Jasper
• Zebra Jasper
• Blue Lace Agate
• Bixbite (non-speaking)
• Kofi Pizza (non-speaking)
• Nanefua Pizza (non-speaking)
• Biggs Jasper (non-speaking)
• Crazy Lace Agate (non-speaking)
• Harold Smiley (non-speaking)
• Nephrite (non-speaking)
• Andy DeMayo (non-speaking)
• Bill Dewey (non-speaking)
• Sour Cream (non-speaking)
• Kiki Pizza (cameo)
• Cherry Quartz (cameo)
• Lace Amethyst (cameo)

Objects

• Steven's Phone

Locations

• Beach City
  • Beach City Funland
  • Fish Stew Pizza
  • Funland Arcade

Music

Instrumental

• "Smoky Quartz"

Trivia

Nicole and Leiana.

• Storyboard revisionists Nicole Rodriguez and Leiana Nitura made cameos in this episode as two people on the Ferris Wheel at Funland.

Cultural References

• The scene where Smoky Quartz travels at a high speed to stop the malfunctioning roller coaster, causing the surrounding environment to slow down, may be a reference to the "Clock-Up" ability from the 2006 Japanese Tokusatsu series, Kamen Rider Kabuto, where the main characters of the series exhibit the same ability which enables them to travel at the speed of light while nearby objects in motion slow down to an extent.
  • Alternatively, it could also be a reference to DC Comics' Flash, whose speed has been depicted multiple times over the years in this manner, a phenomenon called Flashtime.
  • It may also be a reference to Za Warudo's time stop ability, from the series Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
  • It also resembles the "Speed Gear" ability from Mega Man 11.
• Larimar's obsession with screaming and laughter may be a reference to the Pixar movie Monsters, Inc.. In the movie, a society of monsters collects the screams of children they scare to convert into power. After they discover that laughter is a more potent energy source, they instead entertain children. Similarly, Larimar finds the laughter of children to be much more joyous than their screams.

Continuity

• A crater on the hill is visible near the lighthouse. This is likely due to Spinel's injector from the events of Steven Universe: The Movie.

Videos

Amethyst's Idea Guidance Steven Universe Future Cartoon Network

Transcript

View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

Click to view the gallery for Guidance.