“ |
♫ I am made o-o-o-o-of lo-o-o-o-ove lo-o-o-o-ove. And it's stronger than you. ♫ |
” |
—Garnet |
"Jail Break" is the 52nd and last episode of the first season in Steven Universe, the 49th episode aired, the 52nd episode overall, and the fifth episode in the first StevenBomb.
Official Synopsis[]
Steven teams up with a new ally to rescue the Crystal Gems.[2]
Plot[]
Following Jasper's victory over the Crystal Gems, Steven wakes imprisoned in a cell with a black eye, blocked by an electric, yellow force field. Eventually, after discovering that as a half-human, he can walk through it, he sets out to find the others. He finds an irate Gem prisoner named Ruby, who is surprised to see him penetrate the force fields so easily without any harm whatsoever. Momentarily, they then hear the singing of a girl coming from far away, Ruby recognizes it as Sapphire's voice. Steven sets Ruby free from the force field to search for their allies.
They run through the hallways, while Ruby calls for Sapphire after she doesn't hear her singing. Steven discovers that they are in the hand-shaped ship orbiting above Earth. At the end of a hallway, they then find Lapis Lazuli, imprisoned as well. Before Steven tries to free her, Lapis refuses his assistance as Ruby runs off to go and find Sapphire. Lapis begs Steven not to fight their captors and stays in her cell, not wanting his friends to be hurt anymore, but Steven, promising Lapis he will come back for her, continues down the hallway.
As Steven nears Sapphire's cell, he overhears Jasper ordering Sapphire to stop singing, then ordering Peridot to set a course for the Gem Homeworld, despite her original mission to check up on the Cluster, as Steven (mistaken for being Rose Quartz) is the top priority.
After waiting for Jasper and Peridot to leave Steven approaches Sapphire's cell, he tells her that he likes her singing, and frees her. Sapphire thanks Steven for freeing her. Hearing Ruby call her once more, she grabs Steven's hand, pulling him along too fast for him to touch the ground. Finding Ruby in a large hall, Sapphire drops Steven and she and Ruby reunite, embracing. After reassuring each other of their safety, Sapphire kisses Ruby and they fuse. Steven watches in awe, however it is soon replaced with suprise once the fusion is revealed to be Garnet herself.
Now whole again, Garnet excitedly thanks Steven for reuniting her halves before apologizing that he had to meet them in this situation. He asks if he made a good first impression on Sapphire and Ruby, to which Garnet responds that they already love him. The two then hear Jasper approaching, and so Garnet sends Steven to rescue Pearl and Amethyst and head to the control bridge. She kisses his forehead to give him her future vision for this particular event.
Garnet is able to hold her own and overpower Jasper in a rematch, (while singing “Stronger Than You”), while Steven rescues the others and takes over the control bridge, tying up Peridot in the process. By the end of their battle, Garnet throws Jasper into the ship's core, causing it to crash land back on Earth, near the temple. Peridot escapes her captors and falls to Earth in an escape pod, possibly somewhere in North America.
After the crash, it is revealed that Steven saved the Gems using a protective bubble, and Garnet thanks him. Steven says he "can't believe [Garnet is] a fusion all the time!" While Amethyst shows excitement that he met Ruby and Sapphire, Pearl shows dismay at Steven finding out. Garnet explains that she had planned to tell Steven on his birthday.
Suddenly, Jasper breaks out from under part of the destroyed ship and insults the Gems, hypocritically stating that if she had someone to fuse with, she would be able to defeat the Crystal Gems. Lapis Lazuli then breaks out from another part of the ship, revealing herself. After looking about, she attempts to fly away but is restrained by Jasper. As a last resort, Jasper convinces Lapis to fuse with her in an act of revenge for being trapped in Earth for thousands of years, forming the enormous Malachite. However, before she can do harm to the Crystal Gems, Lapis betrays Jasper.
Stating that she and Jasper will "stay on this miserable planet... together," Lapis, using chains of water, drags Malachite's struggling body beneath the waves as Jasper struggles to defuse. The Crystal Gems stare at the ocean in disbelief and Garnet states that "[Jasper and Lapis] are really bad for each other." Steven's phone rings. It is a distressed call from Connie, who he left a message for earlier.
Features[]
Characters[]
- Steven
- Pearl
- Garnet
- Amethyst
- Ruby (debut)
- Sapphire (debut)
- Jasper (antagonist)
- Peridot (antagonist)
- Lapis Lazuli
- Malachite (debut; semi-antagonist)
- The Cluster (mentioned)
- Lion
- Connie Maheswaran (voice)
- Rose Quartz (mentioned)
Locations[]
- Earth
- Space
- Gem Homeworld (mentioned)
Objects[]
- Gem Destabilizer
- Gem Warship
- Escape Pod (first appearance)
- Steven's Phone
Music[]
Songs[]
- "Sapphire's Song"
- "Stronger Than You"
- "Love Like You" (lyrical version)
Instrumental Songs[]
- "Reunion"
- "Lion's Theme"
- "Jasper"
- "Collusion"
- "Malachite"
- "Desert Glass"
Production Notes[]
- This episode was originally the last season one episode; however, in order to air this episode during StevenBomb week March 9–14, 2015, a few season one episodes had to be pushed back, which caused some episodes to air out of order.
Trivia[]
- While this episode is Ruby and Sapphire's official debut, they have been a part of the Crystal Gems as Garnet during the entirety of the series, and the two's silhouettes were seen for a split second in "Fusion Cuisine" when Alexandrite unfused. Therefore, they have been fused as Garnet and never seen before this episode.
- Peridot and Jasper used an object called a Gem Destabilizer. Its function is to cause Gems to retreat to their gems, making them unable to fight.
- In the case of fusion, it immediately destroys their physical form and forces the individual Gems to retreat to their gemstones.
- The same technology is used to create barriers in the jail cells of the Gem Warship, preventing Gems from escaping.
- Steven managed to pass through the barriers unscathed. This is due to him being half human and half Gem, which caused the field to only deliver a slight shock instead of injury.
- During NYCC 2016, Kat Morris listed this episode to personally be one of her favorite episodes to have worked on.[3]
- This episode marks Garnet's first solo song.
Controversy[]
There was some controversy when this episode first aired in France. This is because the song "Stronger Than You" was incorrectly translated at first. The song had been translated to make it a song of Ruby and Sapphire's friendship, rather than their relationship. This caused outrage amongst French fans of the show, believing the change in meaning to be a form of homophobic censorship. However, it actually appeared to be a simple error in translation. The French version of the song was then re-dubbed to retain the original meaning.[4]
Cultural References[]
- In an effort to find Sapphire, Ruby ends up finding Lapis Lazuli instead, which could be a reference to how people have often confused the gemstone lapis lazuli for sapphire throughout history.
- Peridot's line "Go to Earth, they said. It'll be easy, they said..." is a possible reference to a line from the 1995 game Warcraft 2 (1995).
- However, it could also be from the unnamed Roman soldier in the Asterix cartoon film The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976).
- This line is also a popular Internet meme, "Laundry Room Viking".
- Garnet's glass-placing animation at the beginning "Stronger Than You" could be a reference to Mega Man X, wherein the intro cutscene as soon as the game starts, Mega Man X places an incorrect helmet instead of his original but later corrects it, as the animations are very similar. Also, more proof of this was that the intro cutscene was a popular joke during the mid-80s.
- It may also be a reference to Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, as a part of their transformation has a visor attach over their eyes.
- Jasper's grin while fusing with Lapis may be a reference to Regan Macneil's possessed face from the horror movie, The Exorcist.
- Ruby and Sapphire's dance is a reference to Pazu and Sheeta in Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky.[5]
- The Homeworld symbol seen on the floor during Jasper and Garnet's battle is similar to the appearance of the Triforce from the Zelda series.
Continuity[]
- Prior to this episode, Garnet hinted that she was a fusion in "Alone Together", saying it was not hard for her to fuse and how overjoyed she was towards Stevonnie.
- The Cluster's threat is later described in-depth in "When It Rains".
- Jasper alludes to when Lapis was a prisoner on Earth, as seen in "Mirror Gem".
- The change in Garnet's shades is later foreshadowed in "Love Letters".
Errors[]
- Peridot can be seen with a full hand during the song "Stronger Than You". This happens when Steven grabs onto the Gem Destabilizer.
- When Sapphire grabs Steven's hand to run towards Ruby's voice, she holds his right hand. However, while she is running, she's holding his left hand. Then when she stops, she is holding his right hand again.
- When Garnet sings the line "But I think you're just mad 'cause you're single", her glove is on her bicep instead of on her forearm where it should be.
- During the song "Stronger Than You", when Jasper and Garnet are by the ship's core, Jasper's visor can be seen broken before it should have been, which happens just a few seconds later.
- When Garnet punches Jasper up in the air her hand appears to be behind Jasper for a split second.
- When Steven looks out of the window to find they are in space, the Gem Warship is shown to resemble a right hand, but, in every other scene, the ship is shown to be a left hand.
- This also happens in "The Return"; while the Gem Warship is seen through the telescope, it appears to resemble a left hand. While being hit by Opal's arrows, it resembled a right hand. However, upon landing on the beach, it is a left hand again.
- Throughout the episode, the knot on the back of Ruby's head strap appears and disappears.
- When Malachite appears, her back right leg is light green with a dark green stripe, then in the next scene, it is dark green with a light green stripe, then in the next scene, it is light green with a dark green stripe again.
- The moment before Steven turned his head to look in Sapphire's cell, his eye was unbruised.
- This happens again when Garnet enters the ship's cockpit after beating Jasper.
- And again in Peridot's full hand error.
- When Peridot grabs a destabilizer from the ship's control panel, she grabs it with her right hand, but when she uses it on Steven, she uses her left hand.
- When Jasper spin dashes herself at Garnet, the core of the ship is behind them, but after Garnet throws Jasper directly at the core, the core is located to their left.
- When Garnet sings the part saying that she is a conversation, the core disappears.
- When Pearl says "Okay, ship! Turn us around!", Steven was behind her, but on the next scene, he was standing to her left.
- The title card lists the episode title as "Jailbreak" while the episode's model sheets and the Cartoon Network website correctly list the episode title as "Jail Break".
- The episode is sometimes referred to as "JailBreak" in Steven Universe: Art & Origins.
- During the beginning of the fight while Jasper still has her gem destabilizer, when she tries to use it on Garnet, her left arm color palette is reversed.
- When Ruby says "Just go away!" to Steven, her gem in her left hand is missing.
- When Malachite is finished taking form, just after her hair was formed and she is revealed, the neckline on her top is missing, as you can see her shoulders.
- When Malachite is forming, Lapis' gemstone is green, but Jasper's is still orange for a few frames.
- When Amethyst attempts to grab Peridot's escape pod, her eyes are disconnected from her head when she moves into frame.
Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.
Gallery
Videos[]
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150316004305/http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/03/13/thursday-cable-ratings-nba-basketball-tops-night-vikings-thursday-night-smackdown-archer-more/374394/
- ↑ http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/video/steven-universe/steven-and-ruby-escape-clip.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20161012120415/http://fandom.wikia.com:80/articles/nycc-steven-universe-gem-harvest
- ↑ http://www.mtv.com/news/2721010/steven-universe-uk-censorship-petition/
- ↑ http://joethejohnston.tumblr.com/post/113524062863