Gem Heist opens where Adventures in Light Distortion left us: Steven and the Crystal Gems are hovering in space just outside of Pink Diamond’s Human Zoo, and they need to hatch a plan to get Greg back.
They fly into the Zoo and discover two full-size Amethysts guarding the door. Steven suggests that they don disguises, and he’ll be “Esteban Universidad.” Pearl says that his name won’t matter because they’ll all stand out.
Suddenly, Ruby (Charlyne Yi) and Sapphire (Erica Luttrell) disengage from each other and Sapphire says, “We won’t stand out if we play the roles we were made for.”
Sapphire says they’ll go in as a Sapphire traveling with her Ruby guard and her personal Pearl. She’ll offer Esteban as an offering for the Zoo, and Amethyst (shape shifted up to the size of a normal Amethyst) will be her extra muscle. Despite Steven and Amethyst being new and Ruby, Sapphire and Pearl being rusty, Sapphire wants them to go ahead– although she admits that she’s seen that the plan will fail. Still, she wants them to play it straight and change the future.
The Amethysts at the door are unfriendly to the travelers, which angers their boss, Holly Blue Agate (Christine Pedi), because their station is below a Sapphire’s. She excuses their poor manners, in part, because they’re from Earth. She also apologizes for the fact that the travelers have just missed Blue Diamond and comments on how remarkable it is that after millennia of not having any new humans, they’ve received two in such a short span.
When Holly Blue Agate orders the Amethyst guards to take Esteban away, Sapphire intervenes and says that it would be a shame to have come so far and not have seen the facility. A flattered Holly offers a tour, although Amethyst has to stay behind because of her low station. They enter the facility, Pearl walking a respectful distance behind Sapphire and pulling ahead only to open doors. Ruby is bristling over the way Holly is treating everyone except Sapphire, but soon they’ve reached the service door that leads to the human containment area.
Ruby creates a diversion, saying that she left their gravity engine idling and that their ship will explode soon. Sapphire takes the hint and says that she foresees that this is true, but that it can be avoided if she and Holly return to the ship right away. This gives Steven, Pearl and Amethyst five minutes to get the door open and get to Greg.
Unfortunately, nothing Pearl does will open the door. By the time Sapphire and Holly return, the door is still closed and Greg is still trapped.
The Amethyst guards appear to tell Holly that Blue Diamond has just returned. Holly is delighted and tells the Amethysts to take Esteban away to the assimilation bay.
Pearl, Ruby and Sapphire are left alone with Holly, sweating their imminent reunion with Blue Diamond, while Steven bumps through a Jetsons-style tube that undresses and cleans him while giving him a medical checkup, then dresses him in a loincloth and gives him pierced ears before releasing him under some kind of lagoon.
When he surfaces in the lagoon, Steven discovers that he’s in a tropical paradise and Greg is sitting on the beach being ministered to by smiling natives. Steven is incredulous, calling, “Dad?!”
And THE END!
I love the way we get to see the Crystal Gems filling the roles they were born to in this episode. It feels so unnatural, and they’ve obviously outgrown them. It’s a beautiful illustration of how once freedoms have been won, things can’t go back to the way they were.
Read the rest of my Steven Universe Season 4 recaps HERE.
- WANDAVISION Finale Recap: (S01E09) The Series Finale - March 5, 2021
- WANDAVISION Recap: (S01E08) Previously On - February 28, 2021
- WANDAVISION Recap: (S01E07) Breaking the Fourth Wall - February 19, 2021
