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joecasualnerd · 6 years

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Number 17: Bismuth

A little behind the scenes thing for whoever happens to be reading this, I am writing every single one of these posts on a single word document first and then just copying and pasting them onto tumble with the title card.

Well I am on the 26th page and have written over 11,000 words, and I just thought that would be a fun thing to share with everyone.

All that said, let’s get into this episode because, yes, it is the only other double episode in the series, Season Three’s Episode 20 and 21, Bismuth.

Premise

Steven is playing a video game with the Crystal Gems cheering him on, only for everyone to get sad when Steven dies in the game. Lion is messing around with a novelty T-shirt that Steven has, so Steven goes to keep it away from him.

After Lion tries to take it again, Steven takes the shirt into the one place that Lion cannot get too, and that’s in the dimension inside of Lion’s mane.

As Steven hangs from one of the branches in the tree that just so happens to be in the mane, the branch snaps and Steven lands on the bubble that was in the Lion dimension.

Steven panics and tries to re-bubble the Gem that was in the bubble, only for it to form into a brand-new Gem. After the two stare at each other for a bit, Steven leaves the mane and tells the Crystal Gems about the Gem in the mane.

Upon hearing the description of the Gem, both Garnet and Pearl are stunned to hear about the Gem and request for Steven to take her out of the mane.

Steven goes back in and he manages to get the Gem out of the mane. While Amethyst has no idea who this new Gem is, Pearl and Garnet are in absolute shock, and Pearl runs into the Gem’s arms and we learn the Gem’s name, Bismuth (well within the show, the title card gave her name away).

Pearl and Garnet have immediate chemistry with Bismuth, making jokes about Pearl being an ex-slave and some light teasing at Garnet. Garnet and Pearl reveal that Bismuth was one of the original Crystal Gems and she formally introduces herself to Amethyst and Steven.

Pearl said that Rose told her and Garnet that Bismuth went missing, sparking a reaction from Bismuth and her asking where is Rose. Steven says that he has Rose’s gem and after some musing on how Rose was something else, Bismuth asks where everyone else is, rattling of names like Crazy Lace, Biggs, and Snowflake.

They take Bismuth to the Strawberry Battlefield and tell her that the war didn’t go so well, and they had lost many comrades, to which Bismuth begins to cry. Pearl and Garnet say that they managed to get Homeworld off planet, but that they are planning to come back.

Bismuth then becomes motivated to take on Homeworld, and manages to boost the group’s morale by saying that they have faced worse odds before, and they can do it again. She then declares that they are going to the forge.

What forge? Bismuth’s forge, because the audience learns that it was Bismuth who created the solid weapons during the war, and even presents some upgrades to the Crystal Gems weapons.

Amethyst shows some hesitation in trusting Bismuth, but that quickly disappears when Bismuth gives her whips some spike balls.

They all go back to the house to do some training, and after an awesome action scene, Bismuth invites Steven in on the action, but Steven says that the training may be a bit too intense for him.

Bismuth says that it’s a tradition for the Crystal Gems to spar before battle, and Steven says that there are some rituals that he likes better. Bismuth asks to see these rituals and we get a cute montage of everyone playing tennis, playing cards, making pizza, and end on everyone watching a Lonely Blade movie.

When the day is over, Steven says that Bismuth can relax on the couch and Bismuth says that she had a great time and that she might even actually try sleeping.

Steven says that he’s glad that Bismuth hasn’t tried to kill him like almost all the other new Gems that he has met, and Bismuth asks if she’ll see what Steven has on the battlefield the next day. Steven says he would, but that all his weapons are built for defense, except for one.

He show’s Rose’s sword to Bismuth, who marvels at her creation. Bismuth remembers how Rose changed her perspective on things, brings up that Rose came from Earth, and says that Rose gave her the opportunity to be whoever Bismuth wanted to be.

Steven says that he feels like he must live up to being Rose, and Bismuth says that Steven can be whoever he wants to be and says that she’ll give him an even better weapon.

They go to the forge and Bismuth says that Rose’s sword will always cut through the form of the Gem, but never the Gem itself. She then activates a secret elevator and when they reach a secret room, she reveals a new weapon, the Breaking Point.

Steven asks what it does and Bismuth, after giving a small speech, activates the weapon, shattering one of the training rocks. Steven is horrified to see this, and Bismuth explains that to definitively make sure that the Homeworld Gems won’t come back or take over, they need to use the Breaking Point to reduce them to shards.

Steven point blank refuses to use the weapon and says that shattering a Gem is wrong and that no one is using that weapon because it isn’t what a Crystal Gem would do.

Bismuth then remarks that what Steven is saying is exactly what Rose said. Steven tries to say that he isn’t rose, but Bismuth is not listening to him, thinking that it’s just Rose lying to her again since she had lied about everything else.

Bismuth goes to attack Steven and after a fight scene, Steven has the Breaking Point in his hand. Bismuth demands that Steven shatter her, and Steven won’t do it. Bismuth grabs the Breaking Point to use against him, and Steven grabs Rose’s sword and stabs Bismuth in the gut.

Bismuth says that he should have shattered her, and that if she was shattered then she wouldn’t have had to know how little she mattered. Bismuth then says that Rose didn’t even tell her friends what she did, and Steven says that he is going to tell the Gems everything.

Bismuth chuckles and then says, “Then you really are better then her,” and then poofs. Steven tosses the Breaking Point into the lava and goes back to the temple.

After explaining everything, the Crystal Gems take the bubbled Bismuth and set her in the Bubble Room, and they all go outside to comfort Steven, ending the episode.

Discussion.

You know what’s appropriate for a family show? Speaking about the complexities of war and trying to say whether it is right or not right to destroy a being with a complete conscious into several dozen smaller beings with a broken conscious in every one of those pieces.

Now there was, and for the most part still is, a debate on whether Bismuth was right or not in wanting to shatter the Homeworld forces, and that’s what I love about the episode.

It presents a moral conundrum about whether it is better to essentially kill your enemies or keep them as prisoners of war in bubbles.

Both aren’t the best options, but at least it is much safer to bubble the Gems and keep them in a secret place as to not have them return to the battlefield. However, if the Gem was shattered then there would definitely be fewer soldiers on the battlefield and potentially be used as a scare tactic.

There isn’t a clear answer, but there is a moral answer, don’t shatter Gems.

Now to me this is the better option, because let’s face it, Bismuth doesn’t know about the fusion experiments or the Cluster. She doesn’t know that even if the enemy Gems were reduced to shards that they could still potentially pose a threat.

Not only that, but if the Breaking Point were to be taken by the enemy and mass produced, then Bismuth would have just handed Homeworld a new weapon to destroy the resistance faster.

Not only that, but there could also potentially be a schism between the Crystal Gems, with one side favoring the Breaking Point and the other side favoring the bubble.

Rose, as a leader, saw this and made the decision to not let this potentially happen, since an army divided is going to lose. Bismuth was very much focused on completing her goals of shattering the Diamonds that she failed to think about the plan on a logistics level.

Again, this is my interpretation.

However, there is much more to the episode then the complex questions of war, and that is the fact that Bismuth said that Steven didn’t need to live up to Rose. Granted, it could have been used to convince him into using the Breaking Point, but I do think that she was sincere.

She was a builder and with the help pf Rose, Bismuth was given the choice of what to become, and she tells this to Steven. Steven can choose to be whoever he wants to be, and during this arc it is an important piece of dialogue.

Another important piece of dialogue is Bismuth saying, or implying, that Rose came from Earth. So not only was Rose protecting the planet from becoming a husk because she loved humans, but also because it’s where she was from.

Speaking of Rose, we get to see the image of Rose being broken down a bit by the reveal that she had lied to Pearl and Garnet about Bismuth’s whereabouts.

Why did Rose do this? Was she ashamed that she had to do this to one of her closest allies, or was it just a calculated risk to make sure that one knows about the Breaking Point?

Either way, it shows that Rose may have even more secrets that the audience will be clued in on later in the series (spoiler, they do).

Until next time, thanks for reading and have a pleasant time.

Peace.

#steven universe #top 25 #stevenmas #bismuth #bismuth (character)#analysis #discussion

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