Aaaah there's also that scene from Keep It Together where Sapphire Ruby says the clusters are punishment for Garnet's part in the Gem War so there does seem to be some kind of taboo around it. ETA: skip to 1:03
@autopsyblue yay, glad I could help! ^^ and yeah I figured that the big battle axe is one like the huge purple accented one they picked up off of that same battlefield, or like Rose's sword- if that gem is a Jasper fusion then the other gem might have had a different type of helmet or a face shield like Peridot's, hence the differences in it from Jasper's normal one. And yeah, fusion on Homeworld seems to be a mostly as needed thing, something basically for, a Pearl put it, 'deadly situations'(or something like that). Maybe Jasper's actually a really, really old gem and was around before gems realized fusing was a thing that they could do? That would really mess up the whole power structure if it was something gems realized was a thing later on and didn't just come into being with that knowledge. (Okay with all this said though I am still silently cheering on the 'Jasper is a fusion' theory lol, but the 'something tragic happened to her fusion partner' comes in close second)
Also - people are free to disagree with this, especially if it hits close to home. But while the Maheswarans are overly controlling, I feel like the fact that Dr. Maheswaran realized this, opened up to Connie, and loosened her control is a huge thing and shows her to be a good PERSON who didn't necessarily know how to be a good PARENT. Like, uh... one of the problems is that Connie will rather go behind her parents back than actually express problems she's having. I'm not blaming Connie! We don't know if she's just nonconfrontational with them, or if they've blown her off in the past, or if they haven't consciously blown her off but have accidentally done so and that's what she's processed. And like, the basic premise of 'children should not be running around with sharp swords' is generally a pretty solid one! The problem with how Dr. Maheswaran was acting was that she wasn't willing to trust Connie's evaluation, she outright accused Connie of lying because 'she always knows what Connie is doing', etc. And that's also a problem that Connie HAS been getting involved in all these dangerous things, but her parents had no idea, even if she wasn't directly telling them. She was getting (mildly) injured all through sword training! But they didn't even have any idea? That's not a sign of great parenting. Finally - plenty of times abusive parents promise they'll change, and even mean it, and nothing happens long-term. It's classic cycle of abuse! With that in mind, I'm not asking anyone to forgive Dr. Maheswaran because of the end of the episode. I'm just interested in seeing how this is followed up on, and how her behaviors change long term.
@Petra I don't realistically think she'll change. I think she'll change because this is still a fucking kids' show. Um, this hits too close to home for me. spec since mom issues are at the forefront. I'm sorry.
No, I agree! Even fairly complex shows need to simplify things, especially kid's shows, especially short-episode kid's shows. I wasn't trying to be invalidating at all.
Yeah like, in my experience controlling parents pretend they'll change, and then gloss over/ignore everything. Buuuuut, that is not kid show safe, exactly.
I also think the narrative of a controlling parent learning how to parent better isn't necessarily a bad one. Maybe it is wish fulfillment! But it'd sure be nice if that actually did happen in real life more often. Idk.
yeah, I know! It's just, it'd be more wish fufill-y for me if I could actually watch it without going rage mode.
I get you. I will say that the Maheswarans seemed controlling but not actually-abusive before this episode. The thing that really pushed me over the edge was Dr. Maheswaran saying stuff like she knew where Connie was always, stuff like that, especially when it's so blatantly untrue.
And then I realized in retrospect that Connie was certainly coming home from swordfighting lessons exhausted and at least a little bruised, and that either her parents didn't notice or hadn't actually followed up at all. Which wigged me out in a different way! I think they're probably two very busy working professionals who love Connie but can't give her the time she needs, so they overcompensate by being controlling, which makes everything worse. Not a justification, just an explanation.
I don't think it's impossible that she could change. I mean, the thing that really got to me was she correctly identified the problem, which is that Connie didn't feel safe being honest with her, identified what should be her position (to step in when things are too much for Connie), and then actually listened to Connie and proposed changes herself. It could be platitudes, or it could be that she actually got a wakeup call. @Alska I'm more for the second cause would really love to be able to empathize with Jasper a little bit. Right now I just mainly think of her as a bully and a violent abuser.
ETA: Domestic abuse tw for this I think? Also changed victim -> party cause 'victim' kinda presupposes abuse. Yeah it's not her actions in Jailbreak that really get to me, it's the way she treats Lapis, esp. the scene where they fuse. She immediately grasps her by the ankle when she tries to get away, dangles her by her wrist and grabs her face even though it obviously causes her pain, drops her on the ground and, when Lapis agrees, grabs Lapis's wrist again even though Lapis extends her hand. She intentionally plays into weaknesses she knows Lapis already has, aka. her resentment at being trapped and her desperation to go back home, in order to get her way. So basically: Jasper physically throws Lapis around while she's already beat up, which is physically threatening. Jasper demonstrates a common emotional abuse tactic by depicting themselves as the only person who can truly protect the victim. It's the physically threatening version of "I do this because I love you." Jasper drops Lapis before she gives her that speech, presenting the illusion of freedom for Lapis, but Jasper has already shown she's not going to allow Lapis to leave and Lapis is still within arm's reach. Physical strength and actual options don't matter much when it comes to abuse; a very tiny, physically weak and overall less powerful person can abuse a much larger, stronger person because abuse messes with your sense of self in really terrible ways. All that matters is that the victim thinks they can't escape, no matter their actual options. The fact that Lapis felt she had to choose fusion rather than just drowning Jasper or something is actually more proof that Jasper is abusive in my mind. Also she (with Peridot) was keeping Lapis in a cell for no reason at all wtf wtf wtf. Malachite factors into it pretty strongly too. Fusion is a physical representation of a relationship, and from the way Malachite is talked about it's clear to me that Malachite is supposed to be a representation of an abusive one. Other people comment on how terrible they are for each other. One person is physically threatening towards the other, as described above. One party feels the need to maintain the relationship to keep the other party in check. I'm not sure I can explain why this reads as abusive to me, but it's something I've seen in other people's abusive relationships. The relationship drains all of one party's energy. Complete concentration on Lapis's part is needed to keep the relationship together and redirect all of Jasper's energy into fighting her instead of Steven & the Crystal Gems. One party completely refuses help getting out of the relationship from people who care about them. So yeah, Jaspis for me is a big no go. I don't really mind other people making cute and fluffy stuff of their relationship and I'm certainly not going to tell them to stop, but when I see things like "and then they get married and have five cute kids and are space lesbians 5ever" I feel like a lot of people have majorly misread canon. Spoiler: Disclaimer abt. bias & rape mention Then again domestic abuse was triggering for me even before Boyfriend raped me so I may not be the most level headed on this.
Words have kind have dried up and I can't garuntee a full response later, but I can explain the cell thing- Lapis contacted the crystal gems and probably got caught. Contacting them could probably be considered treason, which could have probably resulted in a lot harsher consequences. Also we have no idea if keeping her locked up was Jasper or Peridot's choice, or if it was by orders from higher ups. Actually yeah, I can't give a ful response later, I'm done
I don't think she was locked up on the way over, although who knows. After she tried to protect "Rose Quartz" she's definitely under suspicion of treason, though. Of course, Jasper's already yanking her around in a way that she really doesn't do with Peridot before that. e. I would personally put it less "abusive relationship" and more "Gems are shits to POWs"
What I'd like to know is, why drag her back to Earth to begin with? It didn't seem like they needed her to do anything other than confirm that the Crystal Gems were the ones she'd met. In which case, Peridot could've just shown her an image from her robots and asked her or something. Possibly the higher-ups had no idea what to do with her and just sent her off with Peridot and Jasper to buy time until they could think of something.
