Spoiler: Greg the Babysitter Oooh. This was juicy info on Rose's decision to make Steven. Gems come only in specific forms for stated purposes. If her sacrifice can make a gem with the human ability to change and grow in significant ways, that's a huge deal! What do you wanna bet that she sees a cause of the lot of the sickness in Gem society as stemming from an inability to adapt the way humans do?
Spoiler: Greg the babysitter Aw man, SO cute. And I liked how Greg told Steven that growing up is something you have to decide to do. J brought up that it's interesting to see how much Rose is interested in self-determination, and how humans growing up almost seems like an idealized form of rebellion to her. Maybe that's part of her dream for Steven - be an example of someone who can grow and change, for the other Gems. Also, we were delighted how baby!Sour Cream sounds just like his current self. XD
I love all the Greg episodes and I really enjoyed this one too! I love Spoiler: Greg the babysitter how fast rose went from 'profound but relatable insights into humans' ability to grow and change' to 'hey Greg the baby climbed a Ferris wheel help' also for a brilliant tactician she quickly resorted to the trademark Quartz problem solving strategy of smashing things, huh? XD I ALSO LOVED BABY SOUR CREAM
Ah, I thought that it was discussing the episode. Spoiler: Thoughts! Song! OH MY GOD ROSE IS READING GREG'S ALIEN ROMANCE NOVELS ...greg it is not good to shower in the ocean Hi Vidalia! Oh hey baby sour cream! baby sour cream's voice has not changed at all apparently Also it's nice those two are... friends? I guess? Lil Butler! Aww Greg don't get mess on her - yes exactly Vidalia. Greg you do realize she has a KID. Who will need food and clothes and a roof and all of that. awww uncle greg mini-human! seriously Rose well I guess Gems don't really grow. Homeworld stuff! On Earth, everything is always changing oh dear. wow everything got overcast really fast You didn't check the temple? ...the arcade? really? ROSE HUMANS ARE FRAGILE also goodness sour cream is a good climber. GREG ROSE CAN FLY JUST ASK HER TO HOP UP THERE AND GRAB HIM. NO NO ROSE YOU CAN FLY ...wellp ....oh dear. Rose is SO STRONG aww Greg LET ME DRIVE ME VAN INTO YOUR HEART steven you know teen sour cream... and the ending song is still beautiful
Spoiler I wouldn't say she was bad at understanding human morals in this episode so much as human development. Which is kinda funny given how long she's been on earth - I kinda get the feeling that she's not terribly observant.
Spoiler It looks like she's missing some of the "protect the young from harm" axis of... morality? Ethics? It's a value that humans by and large have. And it makes sense that she'd be missing some of that; vulnerable young is a thing that gems do not have. They hatch from the earth with a much great degree of self sufficiency than humans. They might gain some knowledge and experience, but some combination of their nature and their expectations of life means that they don't grow and change at anything like the speed humans do. ...At least, not without Steven around prodding lessons of Friendship at them. :P
Spoiler I think it's one of those instincts where we additionally have morals to reinforce it. Instinct is absolutely at least a component of it; the "d'awwwww it's so cute" impulse.
Spoiler The reason I wouldn't class it as an ethical/moral misunderstanding (although that's definitely also something she has problems with sometimes) is because it didn't seem like she was failing to protect him out of any kind of indifference to his wellbeing - it's more like she just didn't understand that human babies don't yet have the developmental capacity to make good decisions or keep themselves safe from dangerous situations. Like, you'd let a 8 year old be alone for a bit in a room with a heavy flatscreen TV, because you could trust them not to pull it over onto themselves, but you wouldn't do that for a toddler, because toddlers are at a developmental stage where they can't yet understand that stuff. I can actually kind of see how that would be a difficult nuance for a gem to grasp, though, given their millenia-long lifespans - to them, the transition from "glorified fetus" to "fully self-sufficient, independent human being with a fully developed brain" happens literally in the blink of an eye. And when you take into account all the other species on earth, and their insanely differing timelines of development, I can see how the specifics of human brain development would seem more like obscure biological trivia than need-to-know information. EDIT: to clarify, if she'd shown that she understood Sour Cream was not yet capable of protecting himself, and gone ahead and let him do whatever anyway, that would be a definite moral problem.
Spoiler Plus every gem is born knowing her purpose. So if you see one wander off and do something she probably has a good reason! Unfortunately humans are not so reasonable when smol. Though most humans also are not freakishly good climbers so early...
(out of spoilers since it's not really specifically about the episode anymore) I think that she might have grasped the "humans grow and adapt and change their purposes throughout their life" part of humans developing, but not really the "human brains literally lack certain capacities (eg: rational decison-making, self-control, ability to assess consequences) to start with, and develop those capacities over time" thing.
Spoiler: Greg the Babysitter Sour Cream = Dave Strider CONFIRMED I loved baby Sour Cream so much tho, he's such a chill baby
Once again, Vidalia is my favorite human in Beach City. I love her so much. (also interesting thought: if she had Sour Cream so soon after Greg and Rose started dating, then does that mean auntie Amethyst got to chill with her and the baby?)
@liminal omg that sounds like a fanfic I need in my life And again, I love how the gems' non-humanness is written. They clearly have a set of morals and instincts and traditions like we do, but they're different in ways that are good, bad, and neutral, and it's really cool :D
I kind of want to see a redeemed Jasper, Amethyst, and Peridot stuck in some kind of complicated puzzle trap and Peridot is fucking pissed because Jasper and Amethyst keep breaking everything when they don't know what to do. *something happens* Amethyst: AHH WHAT DO WE DO? Jasper: *summons helmet* Peridot: WAIT NO- Jasper: *headbutts thing, possibly a precious clue to their escape, into oblivion* Peridot: WHY DID I HAVE TO GET TRAPPED WITH YOU CLODS (one eternity later) Peridot: did you really think breaking everything in the room was going to help? Amethyst and Jasper: *shrug and make the I dunno sound in unison* Peridot: THAT'S IT. WE'RE DOOMED. I'M GOING TO SHATTER HERE WITH YOU CLODS AND NO ONE WILL KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR PRECIOUS AND LOVABLE PERIDOT.
