Spoiler: alone at sea spoilers i'm thinking some more about lapis about her earlier "i'm not going to be anybody's prisoner ever again" view about her "don't put me in control" view as of now she realized how much she enjoyed hurting jasper, restricting her, controlling her. treating her how lapis has felt treated this whole time. and she compared that feeling to the feelings steven's been trying to nurture... and she decided not to go for that enjoyment. that bright, brittle enjoyment, that immediate gratification and ash (or water) choking her.... Spoiler: eta something about the way she said... "i don't deserve it" part of the way she holds herself away from people is fear of being hurt again and part of it is fear of hurting them and wanting to hurt them and fear/disgust at wanting to hurt them. huh. think i'm pinging lapis hard right now.
I am afraid that the fact that Steven calls Jasper terrible might not bode well for her. We've never had anyone who Stevo straight up disliked who was ever meant to be anything but awful. Is Jasper the Kevin of Gemkind?? Only time will tell.
...and I just realized that unless SPOILER CHARACTER arrives tomorrow we've already been spoiled on the plot that Ian explicitly asked people to watch properly and unspoiled.
To be fair, his beach summer fun buddy was pretty traumatized already. She's just extra traumatized now.
Spoiler: personal reflections on alone at sea, abuse references I can definitely understand people not liking Jasper after all that, but for me it's really important that I'm able to like her and hope for her redemption. Like - I really like the relationship because it echoes an abusive relationship I was in, where I hit my ex-partner once after they violated my boundaries awfully, and after that both I and they decided that I was The Abusive One. It's incredibly relatable to see something like that in fiction, like... Lapis as an abuse survivor is v. important to me because she does bad things, she fucks up, she's cruel, and her experiences don't excuse those things but they do inform them. And Jasper experienced bad things in the relationship too, she got hurt, she's been traumatised by it, but she uses that to try and pressure Lapis into getting back into it with her again because she can't imagine anything better for herself. (Which, wow - it's like a gem version of emails my ex sent to me trying to chase me down and get back together with me.) I really want to see Jasper redeemed and that relationship sorted out because my ex never changed, they never figured out why our relationship was so toxic - I had to say 'no' and metaphorically waterpunch them into the ocean and not look back. I want this really relatable reflection to turn out better, you know? I want these characters to figure out how bad they were for each other and learn and grow and heal their troubles and forgive each other and not get tangled up again. Sorry if that was oversharey, but I've been thinking about my reaction to the episode and realised that it was actually a lot more personal than I first gave it credit for, I guess.
Spoiler nah that makes sense and it's also sort of why i'm personally hoping for the best for jasper. i've definitely been the lapis in a shit relationship like that and i still have a hard time really looking at what i went through as Abuse because I Did Some Bad Stuff Too. but of course i did.. i was essentially put into a series of situations that would cause that result even from a saint. jasper is definitely being painted as 'the person who feels the need to continue the cycle of abuse' while lapis learned to refused to do so. that's an awesome lesson in a kid's show! but it'd absolutely matter a lot to me if jasper also got HER chance to say no and let it end, and realise that she doesn't have to be continue to be in toxic situations in order to.. be strong, be capable, be whatever, just be.
Spoiler: hydra is a bad man I just wanna see Jasper get physically and emotionally wrecked, why do all the tags gotta be full up of stuff that ain't that? It's all "Okay, but Mutually Toxic Relationships UWU don't exist, yer n abuse pologist", "don't call me a pologist you're a pologist", "pls stop fighting, love thy neighbor goddamn just shut up". Where's my Jasp suffers and does or does not "deserve" it but spectacularly fails to handle herself whatever the case fic and or art?? Fuck the discourse, let Big Orange suffer without fuckin moralizing.
Spoiler: alone at sea I am biased with a sympathetic view of Jasper, just putting that out there in the beginning. So, this episode made me like Lapis a lot more. She's shutting down conversations less, which is what bothered me about her most before. I mean, I got why, it's just particularly upsetting to me. I'm used to seeing that kind of behavior being used as a way to hurt people, but it looks like Lapis was doing it primarily as a way of protecting/defending herself. I am glad to see that, with some time to be calm & not be experiencing horrible things all the time, she's really coming around. She really made an effort to be social with Greg, too! For Jasper... Hoo boy. I think she is completely fucking lost and alone (I'm thinking that's where the episode title came from) and is clinging to the last thing that made her feel strong. Of course she's going about it in a completely fucked up way, but what else is she even capable of doing right now? Her plan was basically, "Find Lapis, beg to be a fusion again." Anyway, I honestly don't think the comment about Steven's shield or Lapis being a monster was supposed to make Lapis feel bad. Coming from Jasper, combined with the things she said later? That was a compliment. Like, definitely a fucked up compliment, but Jasper behaves like she thinks Lapis has all the power here*, and that brutal power is a good thing because any power is a good thing. Like, "I'm a badass, but you're an even BIGGER badass, and we should combine to make the BIGGEST BADASS OF ALL." Which is more important to her than anything else, even her own identity. She's willing to completely hand over the Malachite reins to Lapis, someone who kept her imprisoned for months, and not try to fight her at all. That is desparate and scary and sad. The way Jasper is obsessed with being strong pings me as insecurity, hence the sympathy. She's still perpetuating the cycle of abuse because she doesn't seem to know anything else, though. Someone please show Jasper how to be Strong in the Real Way... *In this instance, when she grabbed and pulled Lapis around, it struck me as being out of desparation and not really a malicious action? Still definitely a boundary violation, but someone less strong than Jasper might have grabbed her arm and then fallen into the kneeling position immediately. The tone is a lot different than when she grabbed her back in Jail Break.
This episode is making me make many faces. They include :3 :D :0 >:O > : O :| :3? I can't tell what I ship in Steven Universe half the time. This episode did not help.
Spoiler: spoilers I wish I could like this post many many times "I think when Jasper says Lapis changed her and she'll be better now, she means that Lapis made her see that she never should have fought to escape and that she'll do what Lapis wants without a fight, because it'll make her stronger than she was on her own." sdaksjgha;h;p yes "I also get the sense that she was proud of how much she withstood, and that maybe she thinks that one party hurting the other might just be how fusion is, and that how much Lapis hurt her is a badge of honor." AS;DKGJNAJNIEGKFDLHSLH YESSSSS
Oh my god. oh my god. how have I never considered jaspearl as a ship before, it would be more fucked up and yet potentially wonderful than peridot/pearl could ever have been, oh my god yes
Spoiler: aaaaaaaaaaaa GOOD SHIP GOOD SHIP GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD SHIP BOW HOWDY O GOSHEN GOOD SHIP!!!!!! THAtS A GOOD SHIP ALL ABOARD SS MISERY Those are my feelings about the newest episode
same hat! Spoiler: welcome to ship trash mountain, its sorta nsfw First of all, Jasper's voice is the hottest thing and I melt every time i hear it, god deliver me I love her. She's my fav forever. that said goddddd i need porn of this. the potential. it's infinite, I love it. mmmmmmmmm. imagine jasper trying to top from the bottom and lapis just destroying her tho imagine fighting and frustration leading to rough sex with both of them all torn up tho i wish gems bled
@Vast Derp cause I'm discussing your interpretation of Alone at Sea. I would do it on tumblr, but- *gestures at all of Tumblr* Spoiler: alone at sea, more interpretations! Okay, I went on tumblr and saw this post, and now I am bothered. It fits well enough that it makes me wonder if that was the actual intention of the episode, and if so, why am I feeling such a dissonance with regards to how I think Jasper views the situation? Is it because I've missed something, or something was clumsily handled, or what? I'd like to discuss it both in terms of the direction of the show, as well as how I (and others?) have internalized abuse apologia. After rewatching the scene a few times, I think what confuses me is that the mutually toxic relationship in question is fusion. Jasper says that Lapis is significantly more powerful than her, that she wants to be part of that power, and implies she's willing to give up her agency as part of the fusion. (We know that Lapis had to "battle Jasper to keep her bound to [her]", so I can only assume that "it will be better this time, I've changed" in this context means Jasper isn't going to be fighting to leave or be in control of the fusion.) Are we supposed to think that Jasper plans to or is even capable of mistreating Lapis in a way that reflects their earlier fusion? Unless the whole thing is an elaborate trick and Jasper has a plan to be the dominant force behind Malachite after wresting it from Lapis, I don't see how this makes her as shady as her dialog would imply. Example: "It'll be better this time, I've changed." I'm used to hearing this when the speaker engaged in harmful behavior during a prior relationship, and it's a red flag that things have actually not changed. In this instance, though, what she was trying to do before was end the fusion, which I would not characterize as harmful? And saying she's changed implies she wouldn't fight it, which might be detrimental to her, and could be neutral or beneficial to Lapis (the way Jasper sees it, that is.) TL;DR: Jasper's words are definitely "abusive ex trying to get you to get back together with them", but I don't see how that fits when the relationship was a fusion where Jasper was being held prisoner. Am I missing something?
@Shingleback i feel the same way. like for a lot of the discourse i've been seeing and even just considering on my own, it feels like there's something i'm not getting or something we haven't really been explicitly shown by the SU creators yet.
