The ocean disappears on the first day of summer, and Beach City is in a panic.[2]
Plot[]
Following the events of Mirror Gem, Steven and the Crystal Gems have returned to the Crystal Temple. The Gems angrily assert that Steven is grounded following his previous act of defiance; Amethyst, taking the term literally, threatens to bury Steven until he learns his lesson. Just then, Greg rushes into the house, out of breath. He informs them of a growing commotion taking place just outside.
Outside, the townspeople of Beach City are in awe of the mysterious absence of the ocean. When Steven and the Gems inspect the scene, Mayor Dewey, nervous and sweating heavily, runs over to them. He interrogates the “Magical Ladies” about the ocean’s disappearance, to which Garnet ascertains that Lapis Lazuli is the one responsible. Dewey then begins to cry, claiming that no one will want to visit “Desert City” and that they will lose their summer business. The rest of the crowd chimes in, including Lars, who frets over the loss of all the “beach babes”, much to Sadie’s annoyance.
Back at the Temple, Steven prepares his backpack while the other Gems talk about the ongoing situation. Just as he leaves the house, Connie asks where he is going, to which he replies that he will either get the ocean to return or “get really thirsty trying”. Greg insists that he wants to go with Steven, as well as Connie and Lion; the Gems also pitch in, much to Amethyst's excitement. Garnet, pleased with Steven’s determination, rescinds his punishment.
As the cavalcade leaves, a despondent Dewey starts a garden hose in a futile effort to replenish the ocean. The team drives along the ocean floor, through dehydrated coral reefs and volcanic vents. Greg is at the wheel of his van, which also carries the Gems, while Steven and Connie ride aboard Lion. Greg plays one of Rose Quartz’s favorite music tracks to pass the time. Garnet, unamused by this, bails from the moving vehicle before settling atop its roof.
The drive resumes well into the night, with Pearl taking the wheel of the van while Greg sleeps in the back with Amethyst. Steven wonders why Lapis would do such a deed, to which Pearl replies that not all gems have good intentions. She proceeds to explain that the monsters they fight were once gems who have become corrupted and broken, and that they must be properly contained. Just then, the team encounters a large spire of water reaching into the sky. Garnet confirms Lapis’ presence as the others gaze in amazement.
Suddenly, a booming voice angrily questions why the Gems are here. Recognizing that it is Lapis, Steven offers his help, to which she refuses before ordering them to leave her alone. In response, Steven demands that she give back the ocean. Suddenly, a fist emerges from the spire and grabs him by the neck. A Water Clone of Steven forms and knocks him back with a jet of water. Clones of the Gems also form, prompting the real Gems to prepare for a fight.
A massive battle ignites between the Gems and their Clone counterparts. Their attacks prove unsuccessful, as the clones either morph or reform in order to dodge the attacks; in Pearl’s case, after splitting the Clone with her spear, said entity simply multiplies into two separate clones. When Water Steven attempts to drown Steven and Connie, Greg runs it over with the van, only for it to reform and launch the van high into the air. It crashes down nearby, breaking Greg’s leg.
Steven, enraged from the attack, orders Lapis to cease her fighting. When the Steven Clone refuses and attacks, Steven blocks it with his shield. This creates a shockwave that causes all of the clones to dissipate into puddles. He then walks to the spire and announces his intention to see Lapis personally. A hand swoops down and picks him up before carrying him up through the water.
At the spire’s apex, located at the edge of outer space, Steven arises from the water. He finds an incensed Lapis, who questions why he is here. He deflects said inquiry and instead says that they should be friends. Lapis responds that the Crystal Gems do not care about other gems, only the Earth, and that she never believed such a planet to be true. Her expression then softens as she gazes up at the stars, saying that she wants to return to Homeworld. Steven relates to this in that the ocean is a part of his home, but continues that she has taken that away from him. In response, Lapis pleads that she is only using the ocean as means to get home, as her gem is cracked. Hopeless, she despairs that her plan will never work.
Just then, Steven reveals his ability to heal others. He applies his healing saliva to Lapis’ gem. It glows bright as two wings made of water sprout from it. Lapis, shown to have her eyes and gem restored, thanks Steven for his help. She then departs, flying off into space as water trails behind her, as Steven observes in awe. Suddenly, the spire begins to lose its form and collapse. As Steven plummets toward Earth, Connie and Lion teleport beside him. The two friends grasp each other's hand as Lion alights at the spire’s base, just as a wave of water splashes over them.
The scene cuts to a still waterless Beach City. Dewey, still running the hose, continues to cry. The ocean abruptly returns and splashes over him. Lars, also watching the water coming back, rejoices that “Babe City” is back, only to be shoved into the water by Sadie. The Gems and van emerge from the waves, encased in a giant bubble cast by Steven. It recedes once on shore, dropping the van and causing it to break down. Pearl, still grasping a severed steering wheel, makes a porkchop reference to a sobered Greg. As the team exits the van, the people of Beach City embrace Steven in a giant hug as the others watch happily. Garnet tells Pearl that Lapis has managed to leave Earth. Steven also looks up into the morning sky, bidding farewell to Lapis; in response, a star twinkles.
This episode shows that all of the Gems are able to use dual weapons, except Garnet, due to her already using two gauntlets.
This was previously hinted in "Together Breakfast" when Amethyst was shown to summon two whips.
A variation of the ending theme is played at the end of the episode when Steven and the Gems return.
This is the only time the variation plays its introduction before playing it.
The title card shows the ocean and Steven's clothes on the clothesline missing, referencing the events of the episode.
According to Ian Jones-Quartey, this episode was believed to be the last episode of the whole series due to the show not being renewed at the time.[3]
Cultural References[]
When Steven says "I'm going to bring the ocean back, or get really thirsty trying." it could be a reference to rapper 50 Cent movie and album entitled Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
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 from Steven Universe and The Tower from Adventure Time
Corrupted Gems are similar to the Kishin from the anime and manga Soul Eater, in that they were both driven to madness causing them to become more monstrous and later imprisoned in a temple.
Lapis' tower is an allusion to the mythic Tower of Babel, as both were created to reach the heavens/space and ultimately fail.
Lapis' water clones are a popular trope, particularly in sci-fi, where an antagonist creates perfect duplicates of the protagonists to the point where neither fighter can get ahead.
The reveal that all the monsters were previously Gems who became corrupted is a possible reference to the anime and manga series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, in which magical girls whose Soul Gems have become corrupted turn into Witches, similarly mindless monsters.
Pearl mentioned Greg's saying "If every porkchop was perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs.". by asking him about "That thing [Greg] always said.", which was in the episode "Laser Light Cannon".
Before the fight with Lapis, she makes a construct of Steven's face from the tower while he screams "NOOOO!", which is a line he says in the previous episode "Mirror Gem", that is also replayed several times by the mirror.
Amethyst shapeshifts into 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 Sword Fighter".
The Stevens from "Steven and The Stevens" went too far into the future and accidentally visited a scene from "Ocean Gem".
"House Guest" is a continuation of this episode, because Greg injures his leg in this episode, and his van/home was destroyed.
Greg mentions that he had a great idea for an album cover when they approached the ocean. The album is later shown in “The Message”.
After healing Lapis' gem, Steven responds to her by saying "No prob, Bob.". Later in the series, Lapis uses the nickname Bob as her undercover human name during the episode "Hit the Diamond".
Errors[]
In the first scene inside the van, Pearl was wearing a seat belt, which disappears in the next scene.
In the scene where Connie and Steven are riding Lion while Pearl is driving Greg's van, Connie's eyes are missing.
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 lifts Steven, other characters who were seen from far away disappear.
When Pearl was talking to Garnet, Garnet's left shoulder-pad was colored black.
When Garnet was fighting her water counterpart, she was making grunts, although her mouth was not shown to be open or moving. The same thing happened at the beginning of Amethyst's scene.
Lapis' 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 would not be anywhere near far enough to reach another star system as Lapis wanted.
The design of Amethyst's clone was inverted during the weapon summoning scene, even though before and after it was not.
When Pearl slices one of Lapis' Water Clones in half it reforms into two more water clones, however, both of these are the same size as the original, which should not be possible considering that each individual clone is made up of less water than the original.
When Steven dispels his shield, neither Greg nor his van is behind him. In previous scenes, he was very close to Steven and Connie.
When the camera shows Lapis from behind, there is an animation error where her forearms were not colored.
When Garnet catches Steven after he is thrown back by his water counterpart, her mouth goes missing for a few frames.
At the end of the episode, Steven is seen sitting on Mayor Dewey's shoulders. But a couple of scenes later, he is on Lars' shoulders.
At the end of the episode, Greg is standing up, even though his leg is broken.
↑The Steven Universe Podcast - Ian Jones-Quartey - "When we were writing that first season, we thought that Ocean Gem was going to be the last episode ever made because we didn't know there was gonna be more, we only has 26 episodes, so we were just gonna cram everything we can into these episodes, the reveal that the Corrupted Gems used to be Gems just like everybody else and that Gems were actually aliens, that was gonna be the end of the show."
