This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the group. |
“ |
New Crystal Gems, congregate! ...That means come over here and do a cool pose. |
” |
—Peridot |
"The New Crystal Gems" is the 16th episode of the fourth season of Steven Universe and the 119th episode overall.
Official Synopsis[]
Connie helps look after Beach City while Steven is busy.[3]
Plot[]
The Roaming Eye approaches the beach house where Connie watches it land. The Crystal Gems and Greg exit the Roaming Eye, and Connie embraces their return and well-being. Steven explains his adventures through the cosmos but apologizes for leaving Connie behind who does not mind at all and is happier for their safety. Steven asks how Beach City has been under Connie's watch. Connie has done some basic spring-cleaning but had other troubles bother her in the process.
She explains as the episode transitions into a flashback that the call from Steven earlier had him telling her to protect Beach City, which is much work for one person. She felt enthusiastic about the challenge, however, so she went to the beach house only to be shown she was not alone in the house. Lapis Lazuli and Peridot (for the first time) meet Connie in the bathroom, Peridot reasoning that she was showing Lapis her "old room".
The three introduce themselves along with Pumpkin. Connie explains why she is here, and Peridot says that it is the same reason they are in the beach house. Peridot thinks Connie would let the mission down, though, Lapis also doubting her. Peridot devises a plan, though, on how the trio and Pumpkin can form a team together that mimics the Crystal Gems and their members' roles. They begin to assign each other their roles, Peridot being Garnet, Connie being Steven, Lapis being Amethyst, and Pumpkin being Pearl.
Connie begins watching Beach City through binoculars and sees everything is all right. Peridot awaits the others' praise on her imitation of Garnet before being shot down by Lapis for asking "so many questions". They hear a vehicle beep constantly, concluding it is coming from It's a Wash. They run over to see Buck Dewey with Bill Dewey's van, which is a mess. Buck asks if they can wash it off, which the trio does. Peridot lifts it with her ferrokinesis, and Lapis uses the hoses to generate and manipulate water with hydrokinesis. It was a cool sight to behold to Buck.
Connie believed this event had strengthened the bond between the group overall. On the next day, however, they are needed at a packed carwash and are pressured to do the cool trick from yesterday. Peridot is confident, believing everyone is there to see her performance. Lapis is not as enthusiastic which Peridot criticizes. Lapis takes it into mind and attempts to crack a joke as requested, which would be spraying the citizens without their express consent. The situation slowly turns more chaotic as their roles become more criticized and behaviors more erratic, eventually leading to Lapis and Peridot fighting over control of the truck with Yellowtail on top, panicking, and actually falling off and the truck being thrown onto the It's a Wash sign.
Connie attempts to "Steven" the situation by putting forward a speech on what they did wrong and what they should be doing. Lapis and Peridot criticize it because Steven would have given a much better speech. They return to the beach house and revise the group to root out the problem. Peridot, of course, blames the issue on all of the members which eventually leads to another childish fight that Connie had to break up. Connie then does not "Steven" the situation and gives a persuasive speech that comes from the heart and is understood thanks to the given context. Connie concludes that the group right now should not imitate but be themselves and use their own skills.
With this new understanding, the group head to It's a Wash and clean it up. It cuts back to the present day where the integrity of the area is questioned by Steven if it has actually been damaged. Everything is cool before Connie points out they could not fix the sign. They have built a new one instead to compensate. Greg loves it because it has personality. The group is victorious, so they celebrate with a victory pose as the Crystal Temps.
Features[]
Characters[]
- Steven Universe
- Connie Maheswaran
- Peridot
- Lapis Lazuli
- Pumpkin
- Greg Universe
- Buck Dewey (flashback)
- Yellowtail (flashback)
- Garnet (non-speaking)
- Amethyst (non-speaking)
- Pearl (non-speaking)
- Jenny Pizza (non-speaking)
- Sour Cream (non-speaking)
- Harold Smiley (flashback, non-speaking)
- Lars Barriga (flashback, non-speaking)
- Sadie Miller (flashback, non-speaking)
- Ronaldo Fryman (flashback, non-speaking)
- Lion (mentioned)
- Bill Dewey (mentioned)
Objects[]
- Roaming Eye
- Rose's Sword (flashback)
- Rose's Scabbard (flashback)
- Mayor Dewey's Van (flashback)
- Jenny's Car (flashback)
Locations[]
- Beach City
- Beach House
- Steven's Bathroom (flashback)
- It's a Wash
- Funland Arcade (flashback)
- Beach House
- Maheswaran Residence (flashback)
- Pink Diamond's Zoo (mentioned)
Music[]
Instrumental Songs[]
- "Little Peridot"
- "Connie"
Trivia[]
- To promote the new episode, Cartoon Network's Twitter account sent out a series of tweets as Peridot which is a similar parody to their promotion for "Too Short to Ride".
- When Connie, Lapis, and Peridot head down to It's A Wash, they run in a similar fashion to the way Steven and the Crystal Gems do in the extended theme song.
- Peridot acting as Garnet and Lapis acting as Amethyst could be a possible reference to the fact that their voice actors, Shelby Rabara and Jennifer Paz, initially did auditions for Garnet and Amethyst respectively.
- A similar plot from this episode would later be used in the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode, "OK Dendy! Let's be K.O.!".
Cultural References[]
- Lapis says "There is no Amethyst. Only Garnet." This is a reference to the Ghostbusters line, "There is no Dana. Only Zuul."
- Peridot insists that the "Crystal Temps" should strike heroic poses as the main Crystal Gems do in the opening credits. This is itself a homage to the heroic poses that characters often strike in cartoons, particularly in anime such as Sailor Moon and others which heavily inspired Steven Universe.
- One example of that is Peridot shouting "New Crystal Gems...congregate!", which bears resemblance to the "Avengers...Assemble!" heroic shout of the Avengers.
- Yellowtail's pick-up truck resembles a 1994 Toyota Hilux, only that it is a 2-door configuration utility truck rather than the 4-door configuration.
- The episode title is a reference to the New Avengers, where a lesser-known group of heroes becomes Avengers when the more popular team is busy or incapacitated.
Continuity[]
- The flashback in the episode takes place during the events of "Adventures in Light Distortion", "Gem Heist", "The Zoo", and "That Will Be All".
- Peridot says that she was showing Lapis her "old room", the bathroom she was locked in after Steven un-bubbled her in "Catch and Release". She is also trying to flush herself again as she did then (or perhaps, showing Lapis that it is impossible).
- Connie asks Lapis if she remembers her from the events of "Ocean Gem", where the latter almost drowned her.
- Peridot's skill with her ferrokinesis powers appears to have improved with time and practice: when she faced Jasper in the Beta Kindergarten, she had to strain and focus on lifting a single metal rod. In this episode, she can levitate an entire car several feet in the air with relative ease (though then she pushes it too far showing off).
- Peridot mimics Garnet's thumbs up from "Log Date 7 15 2", something she previously despised.
- While Peridot asks if she is doing a good mimic of Garnet, Lapis retorts by saying that she was doing well until she made "so many questions". This is the second callback of one of Garnet's characteristics of not asking questions, the first being in the episode "Know Your Fusion".
- When Connie says that Lapis and Peridot are acting like children, Lapis remarks that they are both thousands of years old. Lapis was indeed present during the Rebellion 5,000 years ago when she got trapped in a mirror, but it is unclear if Peridot is actually that old.
- Peridot's insistence that they actually behave like the main Crystal Gems when trying to perform their roles seems to be an indication of just how deeply ingrained the caste system is on Gem Homeworld. As seen in previous episodes, each caste is designed to do exactly one thing and that is their only purpose (to the point that Peridot and Lapis feel that the reverse is true). e.g. if they want to build structures like a Bismuth, they would have to behave like a Bismuth. Similarly, it is as if Peridot sees each member of the Crystal Gems as a caste-role unto itself, trying to exactly copy Garnet and Amethyst's mannerisms to fit their "role".
- Seemingly no attempt has been made by Steven and the Crystal Gems to retrieve the Rubies stranded in Earth's orbit, despite the fact that he specifically said they would try to pick them up on their way back.
- When Connie is seen sleeping in Steven's bed, the picture of her from previous episodes is still there.
- Connie is wearing the same outfit from "Crack the Whip".
Errors[]
- The middle finger part of Garnet's right glove was not colored in when Connie was saying how Lion behaved himself.
- Connie's cellphone is still a flip phone, even though she was shown using a smartphone previously in "Mindful Education" and later again in "Storm in the Room".
- When Peridot lets Mayor Dewey's Van down, it has doors whereas it does not have them in other scenes.
- While Connie is watching Beach City on the side of the Beach House, there is no way that she could have any view of anything there.
- When Connie is looking at Sadie and Lars through her binoculars, Sadie's left hand seems to be missing (or covered over by Lars's hand).
- When Lapis uses her powers to wash Mayor Dewey's van, one of her fingers on her right hand is not colored in.
- When Peridot, Lapis, Connie, and Pumpkin pose at the end of the episode, Lapis left foot sole is not colored for a split second.
Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.