Spoiler Depending on the size of Rose's army, the CGs might not be able to keep track of all of who was on their side or not among the corrupted gems. Especially after this long, and with everyone corrupted. Plus it looks like there were civilian colonists who weren't intended to directly be part of the fighting- it sounds like even Centipeedle's group was originally sent to help build.
Spoiler it loooked like they were possibly building the kindergarten actually, or maybe that was just me? but the building on the far right in that crayon scene looked an awful lot like a cliff wall in the kindergarten actually no I take this back disregard this X)
Spoiler: monster reunion spoilers @rainbowbarnacle just brought up to me in chat that Pearl's handling her anxiety better in this episode! She takes a little more time to analyze the situation instead of going from zero to OH NO AHHHHHH immediately. So she's able to explain herself - rather than yelling DON'T TOUCH THAT STEVEN! about the broken plate, she tells him she doesn't want him touching a broken plate, let her get the dustpan and broom.
Spoiler new thoughts, now, looking at the actually frame I was talking about, lunar sea spire, communication hub, and something else... were made by centipeetle cool! maybe we will see the mystery location in a new episode? or maybe I'm blind and we've already seen it?
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE okay lemme quote my liveplurk reactions: Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler the results would be terrible but funny /amethyst muse out Spoiler Spoiler that's what's getting to me, too. maybe one of YD's immediate subordinates. It was too easy to recognize the Ruby in the crowd of retreating gems for me to think it's just a stylization problem. Spoiler eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Spoiler: Oh hey Current working theory is that the Crystal Gems we know were protected by being in Rose's bubble, and Lapis was protected by being trapped inside the mirror... Maybe Rose bubbled Bismuth to protect her?
It appears I too am crys Spoiler: aaaa that poor, poor gem, she looked so terrified. and poor steven, running headfirst into hurts he cant heal why three diamonds only hmmm hmmmmmmm
Spoiler What I think is implied is that the Crystal Gems were winning, so Homeworld sent an attack that would corrupt all gem life on the planet. Rose protected Garnet and Pearl with her shield/bubble, and they were left alone on the planet. Eventually, they came back and the Crystal Gems eventually repelled them, but not before they created The Cluster with the remains of the Crystal Gem Soldiers. Now, when was Amethyst born?
*kicks down a door* GUYS HOLY FUCK I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING I want to do this whole post in allcaps but that can be hard to read!! Spoiler: spoilers for monster reunion I was thinking that Steven couldn't heal inanimate objects because he couldn't heal the Geode. But we see in this episode he healed M.C. Bearbear. What if he can only heal things he loves? Then I remembered the line from the ending that goes "I could even learn how to love like you". If love is what drives the healing powers, what if Rose didn't/couldn't love with enough intensity to heal the corrupted gems as well as Steven? What if that's why she made Steven, specifically to be able to love strongly and widely enough to heal corrupted gems? Clearly it's going to take more than what he's able to do right now, but he's already had more success than Rose did (according to Pearl whoops, it was Garnet who said it.)
Adding to the last post- Spoiler Some people on tumblr have mentioned Steven's dream powers as being a possible way to heal corrupted gems, sort of the way he helped Kiki. Perhaps in combination with the healing powers letting the corrupted gems be more in control of themselves (like Centi was here) he'll be able to enter their minds and help sort things out. Also, I really want there to be an anti-corruption/purification musical sequence in someone's head. XD
Spoiler "Just a few things! Like Hello, how are you and Where's the bathroom? and... "...I'm sorry." Owwwww.
Spoiler: THOUGHTS Re: the theories about Steven using his dream powers to help corrupted Gems; It's also been established that Steven can accidentally switch bodies with people through his dreams. Now I'm not saying the Crewniverse WILL make Steven switch bodies with a corrupted Gem (it's possible he can only switch bodies with humans since Gems don't technically HAVE bodies), but I AM saying it'd be super cool and also kind of horrifying
Spoiler: serious MR spoilers Okay that episode got me right in the feels D: Poor centipedal - I'm glad she's back with her family/crew, even if they're all still pretty borked. Maybe her 'offspring' we saw in the first episode was a reflection of her need for company? (The same way PMMM Witch Barriers produce skittering familiars in their madness...) Also, furthering her first identity speculation, is it just me or did the gem-scribble she made when Steven asked her name look a lot like 'Emerald?' (I did earlier think that she might be a green beryl, but tired/spoonless past me didn't make the connection...) Spoiler: kinda spoilery theory/headcanon dsfjjkklk ALSO her description of the song-weapon from the Diamonds leads into one of my main theories as to why music and dance is so important to Gems who are allowed to discover it! Crystal matrices react to certain sound vibrations - that's why you get the idea of the opera diva being able to shatter a wine glass with a high note - so it's possible that certain tones and patterns of tones make Gems literally feel physical pleasure (I like that idea better than the weird ones with gems having anything resembling biological anatomy) - or, in this case, the Diamonds found a note that can fuck their kind up really badly.
Yeah don't worry, that was my thought as well! (Although brown note's effects are not a thing that can actually happen to humans :P)