This episode is 100% Stevonnie (except when it’s not).

We pick up right where we left off last episode, with Stevonnie crash-landing Lars’ starfighter on the titular moon.

Stevonnie: What do we do now? That was our best chance. We can’t fix the radio, the ship’s beyond hope, no one knows where we are…what do we do?

They’re promptly moved to action by a territorial alien critter that evidently has regenerative powers, as getting cut in half only scares it off instead of killing it.

Stevonnie: Uh…glad they’re okay. Wait. If life can thrive here, then so can I. I’ve just gotta hold out til Lars finds me. Until then, we survive.

Hence, the majority of this episode is spent with Stevonnie exploring the moon’s thriving alien ecosystem, and as such there’s a lot of colorful backgrounds and very little dialogue and I am perfectly okay with that.

This actually reminds me a lot of C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy (or at least the first two books – the third takes place entirely on Earth), probably thanks to the lack of civilization.  There is sentient life on the other planets in that series, but the focus is more on the planetary environments and, well, survival, than is common for science fantasy.

Fortunately, Connie is very well equipped to survive in the wilderness.

Unfortunately, Steven must protest when survival might mean eating cute alien critters.

Stevonnie: Come on, we have to, we’re out of energy bars! But it’s so cute! But we need the protein for a healthy diet! There has to be a better way – we can just stick to fruit! Fruit’s good.

But before they can quite come to a consensus on that moral dilemma, the critter’s mama comes around and chases them off.

Stevonnie: Huh. Have I…been here before? No, that’s ridiculous. Well, guess I’m camping here tonight.

So they drift off into what seems to be a (relatively) ordinary dream…

Dr. Maheswaran: There’ll be no more excuses, get it done. And don’t expect me to look kindly on this transgression. Embark at once.

Stevonnie: Mom? What is she talking about?

Dr. Maheswaran: Yes, I know there’s organic life on the surface, it’s an invasion.

Stevonnie: Hey Mom, what are you talking about?

Dr. Maheswaran: You will stick to my orders and you will destroy them!

Stevonnie: I hate it when she ignores me…

And just when you’re wondering where you heard Dr. Maheswaran’s particular inflections here (and why it doesn’t sound like it should be coming out of Dr. Maheswaran)…

“Dr. Maheswaran”: Honey, please, give me a moment.

I have to give props to the voice actress here, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, because she nailed Yellow Diamond’s pitch and intonation so well I had to triple-check before I believed that it wasn’t Yellow Diamond’s normal voice; I’m sure it helps that she’s done some voice direction herself.

Stevonnie: Hey Yellow.

Dr. Maheswaran: Oh, you’re still here.

It soon becomes clear that Stevonnie isn’t really “Stevonnie”, either.

Stevonnie: What’s this?

Dr. Maheswaran: I’m contacting the leader of the fleet.

Stevonnie: Let me do it!

Dr. Maheswaran: Don’t touch that!

Stevonnie: Why not? You have so many worlds and I don’t even have one! It’s not fair! I want one! I want my own army! I want my own planet! I deserve one! I’m just as important as you!

Dr. Maheswaran: Then why don’t you act like it, Pink?

And then they wake up.

Stevonnie: Steven, what was that? Diamonds…I’m having Diamond dreams again. But why now? Why…here?

What’s really strange is that up until this point, Steven has only ever had psychic dreams of living people, and here they were in the place of Pink Diamond…

Stevonnie: This is just like the Moon Base orbiting Earth. Woah now…that must have been a colony. Wait a second…Pink Diamond was here. Oh! And Yellow! That’s it!

They use their memories from the “dream” to access a control panel which just so happens to still have a functional radio (or whatever passes for radio with Gems).

Lars: Let’s get you up here and back home through my head.

Stevonnie: Yeah. I think I’m ready to go home.

The more we learn about Pink Diamond, the more things don’t quite add up.  Even disregarding the question of why Stevonnie dreamed something that was obviously her memory, it’s hard to pin down what her relationship to the other Diamonds was like – if this memory is any indication, she didn’t get much respect, although her childish mannerisms can’t have helped that.  Then there’s the question the Zircon brought up about how she could have been shattered in the first place…

Until next time…