Review: Steven Universe “Legs From Here to Homeworld”

An early gift from SDCC 2018

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

Long after the intense & epic events of Reunited, Steven catches Blue and Yellow Diamond up on what happened to Pink Diamond and the presumed “obliterated” gems during the war. He even explains to both Blue & Yellow Diamond that he doesn’t have Pink’s or Rose Quartz’s memories, But Yellow then remarks that his memories might “be in there somewhere”. When they do attempt to uncorrupt Centipeetle with Blue and Yellow’s help (which reveals Centipeetle was originally named Nephrite), It doesn’t exactly work out which motivates Steven to seek the help of another Diamond that’s rarely mentioned within the Steven Universe Mythos but barely been talked about… White Diamond.

Deciding to come to her as a solution to fix the “Corrupt Gem” mess, the challenge of actually getting her to earth could be a bigger problem than it sounds as they’d have to come to homeworld and back, but due to never leaving the planet for thousands of years, White might not be on board in regards to this idea. Since the the previous battle consequently destroyed both Hand-shaped spaceships that belonged to blue & yellow, Steven decides to seek out Rose/Pink Diamond’s old spaceship which hilariously turns out to be a pair of robot-legs/lower torso (Hence the episodes title) and while Bismuth stays to look after Lapis & Peridot who are still recovering, The rest of the Gems and Connie tag along with Steven and the diamonds to homeworld.

Upon arrival to Homeworld, the group is surprised to be greeted by crowds of Homeworld Gems who have gathered to celebrate Pink Diamond’s return, But just when Yellow Diamond tries to tell Steven to let her talk first, White Diamond’s Pearl servant suddenly appears before them, and assures the group that White Diamond wishes only to see “Pink Diamond” but when Yellow and Blue prepare to follow, White’s Pearl clarifies that only Pink Diamond’s (Steven’s) presence is needed. White Pearl then transports Steven directly to White Diamond’s chamber, but when we finally see her, it goes without saying that both White Diamond & Pearl in appearance alone know how to leave quite a lasting impression in terms of appearance, but given White Diamond comes off as a condescending emotionless cunt who doesn’t even give Steven a chance to speak for himself, the episode ends on an unsettling cliffhanger when the talk with White goes about as well as you’d expect…

Our Take

Damn! I would’ve expected them to build up White Diamond for the next few episodes before introducing her so damn quickly, but this was a surprise even for me that they’d go that far. I guess the Diamond ships despite how oddly-shaped like body parts can travel faster than the standard Gem-ship. We do see White Diamond’s ship, but you’re left to assume that in combination with Yellow & Blue Diamond’s ships, they all form into a giant Voltron-like Robot which isn’t very subtle when you notice how each Diamond ship is designed like a specific body-part.

As for White Diamond, while she doesn’t come across as monstrous or evil in some exaggerated way, the belittling disrespectful approach to Steven like he was a child says so much about her character. It’s clear that White has no understanding of what’s going on outside her planet, and the fact her white Pearl appears to be damaged, gives the disturbingly subtle implication that she doesn’t always behave this way, and now that Steven is trapped in Pink Diamond’s old room, the challenge of persuading White Diamond to do anything productive is going to be harder than it sounds.