Everything you need to know for 'Steven Universe: The Movie', Part 3!

Whew.

Ok, so far we've covered A LOT of ground to get you caught up for Steven Universe: The Movie.

If you're stumbling upon this post by accident, please know that it is the third in a three part series, and you'll probably feel a lot more caught up if you check out Part One and Part Two first. This article is going to be a (hopefully brief) recap of Season Five, leading right up to where we stand now.

In Part One, we talked about Lars and his journey into space. We covered him becoming a hero and saving the Off-Colors; we discussed his death and revival by Steven's healing tears and his magical hair that leads to Rose's Secret Dimension.

And in Part Two, we briefly mentioned that Steven learned the truth about his identity. We discussed the truth about Pink: that she faked her shattering to live as Rose Quartz, and then gave up being Rose in order to have Steven.

But we never really discussed how Steven came to learn all of this. After all... the only person who knew the truth was Pearl, and she was under a strict gag order from Pink... she literally couldn't tell anyone the truth. So how did Steven come to know?

Let's take a step back and review.

The last we saw Steven, he was trapped on Homeworld with Lars. Yellow and Blue had put Steven on trial for the shattering of Pink, but he and Lars were able to escape; they landed in an abandoned kindergarten, where they found the Off-Colors, who were being hunted by Homeworld Spybots.

Lars learned that he was invisible to the Spybots, who searched for gems only, and used his power to defeat them. In the process, however, he died and was revived by Steven's healing tears. Lars turned pink, came back to life, and has magical hair that allows Steven to enter Rose's Secret Dimension.

Ok. That's where we left off.

Steven convinced the Off-Colors that they would be safe on Earth, allowed to live freely as themselves, and offered them a way to safety through Lars' hair! By taking them into Rose's Secret Dimension, he could then exit with them through Lion's mane... back on Earth. It was a brilliant escape plan with only one major flaw: there was no way to save Lars. He couldn't escape through his own hair.

The Off-Colors agreed that they weren't willing to leave Homeworld without Lars. But they also agreed that Steven needed to get back to Earth, since the Diamonds were looking for him on Homeworld. So Steven went on his way and the Off-Colors began searching for their own way to get off Homeworld and make it to Earth.

Once back on Earth, Steven got busy. He had been having visions... and he knew that Pearl had the answers he needed. But, since she literally couldn't talk about what had happened, she instead had to send Steven on a journey deep into her subconscious.

Steven had to find the Pearl inside Pearl inside Pearl inside Pearl's Pearl. It's hard to explain, so it will be easiest if you watch the clip:

To say that this information was overwhelming would be an understatement. Learning the truth about Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz caused so much turmoil and trauma on Earth that Garnet actually split up!

(Don't worry... they get back together and have the single greatest cartoon wedding of all time. <3 <3 <3 Here's the clip, because it's just too cute not to share...)

Kudos to the writers who added some fun, happy, and lighthearted moments to the end of Season Five. Honestly, the reality of war and trauma and lies and pain was pretty dark, and Ruby and Sapphire's journey back to love was a much, much, much needed break from all of it.

But Steven's looming reality didn't take a break. Before the wedding reception was even finished, Yellow and Blue Diamond came to Earth to activate The Cluster and destroy the planet.

ICYMI, the cluster is a really big deal. When Homeworld launched its final attack during the Gem War... the attack that killed everyone but Rose, Garnet, and Pearl... all of the remaining gems on the planet were corrupted or shattered (or both) and retreated into a cluster in the center of Earth's core.

The corrupted gems' minds were completely destroyed... they couldn't form correctly, speak correctly, or think correctly. They were motivated almost entirely by fear and anger, like wild animals relying completely on instinct. And unlike normal, the shattered gem fragments didn't die... instead, the attack from Homeworld left them alive, in torture, constantly searching for the other pieces of themselves.

We know that Homeworld knew about The Cluster, and that they had plans to turn it into a massive weapon to destroy the planet. Their plan was to eventually convince the cluster to form... to fuse all the shards and corrupted gems together to create a fusion gem so large that it ripped the Earth apart from the inside. The goal was to destroy the entire planet.

And that's exactly what Yellow and Blue return to Earth to do.The problem is, they're missing some information.

To be honest, Yellow and Blue really seemed ignorant about The Cluster. They came to Earth for the specific purpose of activating it, but when Steven explained that The Cluster was comprised of gems and not organic Earth matter, the Diamonds seemed to have had no idea.

They also didn't know that Steven and the Crystal Gems had been working with The Cluster, calming it, repairing it, and protecting it so that it could start the work of healing itself. By the time Yellow and Blue arrived to activate it, The Cluster was autonomous and strong enough to fight back!

A fight ensued, as you can imagine. The Cluster helped dismantle all of Yellow and Blue's technology, but the Diamonds managed to poof Lapis and Peridot in return. After being nearly shattered himself, Steven found a way to reach the inner psyche of Yellow and Blue and showed them who he truly was.

Yellow and Blue, as you can imagine, were absolutely thrilled to have Pink back after over 5,000 years without her. For a brief moment, they lost themselves. Steven even convinced them to try to heal one of the corrupted gems/shards.

Here's a clip of how that went down:

It worked! Well, kinda, anyhow. As soon as the Diamonds and Steven removed their hands from Centipeedle, she returned right back to her corrupted state, unable to communicate. Steven was confused, but the Diamonds seemed to understand... they were missing something. Or someone.

Evidently there's some kind of hierarchy, even inside The Great Diamond Authority, although we still haven't been told exactly what that structure is. We knew that Pink Diamond was considered too childish and immature to have her own colony. But it wasn't until Yellow and Blue learned the truth about Steven that we realized another important piece of the Gem Matriarchal Family: The ultimate Gem Authority is White Diamond!

Heck, if you were watching the show in order of released episodes, you still wouldn't even know that White Diamond exists yet!

So Yellow and Blue take Steven back to Homeworld, along with Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, and Connie, with the hopes of explaining things to White.

Now, this article's point is just to prepare you for The Movie, so I'm not going to walk through every moment that happened next. I do definitely recommend that you watch the final few episodes of Season Five if you haven't before. But for the sake of staying on track, here's what you absolutely need to know:

1. White Diamond was kinda gross. In the beginning, she didn't even really seem to pay enough attention to realize that Steven wasn't Pink Diamond. She called him Starlight, although we're not sure why, and she was manipulative af. She spent her time ignoring everyone's pleas, gaslighting them and blaming them for their own trauma, and generally being a terrible person. The only reason that she finally broke down and gave up is because she was forced to admit her own flaws.
2. Yellow and Blue, however, were absolutely smitten that Pink is back. In their eyes, Steven/Pink's return to Homeworld marked the beginning of a New Era... Era 3, which I assume will represent a break from their history of war, violence, and colonialization... instead focus on embracing individuality, family, and peace. They even help Steven escape Homeworld after admitting it's many flaws.
3. Fusion Mania! In the battle on Homeworld, we get to see a LOT of gem fusions! Some we've seen before and quite a few that we haven't! Here's the list:
1. Stevonnie = Steven/Connie (We've met them before!)
2. Smokey Quartz = Steven/Amethyst (We've met her before, too!)
3. Rainbow 2.0 = Steven/Pearl (We met Rainbow Quartz briefly in a memory of Pearl's, but that was a fusion between Rose and Pearl. We've never met Rainbow as a Steven Fusion.)
4. Sunstone = Steven/Garnet (Totally new fusion!)
5. Obsidian = Steven/Garnet/Pearl/Amethyst (Totally new fusion!)
4. Pink is gone. Rose is gone. They are both gone, forever. We know this because White, who actually has no soul, pulled the gem directly out of Steven's navel; she knew that Steven was mostly organic and would probably die, but she did it anyhow. And when his gem reformed, it reformed not as Pink, and not as Rose... but as Steven!

Steven Universe: The Movie airs on Monday, September 2nd at 6 PM in all time zones on Cartoon Network. Can't wait until then? Check out my Top 10 Favorite SU Moments So Far while you wait for the movie to start! And follow me on Twitter @cylestnichole for more!