The Irelanders Meets Steven Universe Future - The Finale

The Irelanders Meets Steven Universe Future - The Finale is the 171st to 174th special of The Irelanders Meets Steven Universe.

Plot
The episode begins directly after the events of "Fragments", with Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl still waiting outside the bathroom door for Steven, worried that something may have happened. Jasper eventually emerges, and when asked where Steven is she moves to reveal him, responding with "Right here." as she performs the Diamond salute. Steven walks out of the bathroom, scared and depressed. The Gems attempt to try and talk to him again, but Steven ignores them as he heads up to his observatory's Warp Pad. As they try to approach him, he creates a barrier, and fails to reassure them by saying he loves them, but can't help him anymore. He also tells them not to follow, including Jasper, to which he coldly says "Go find something better to do in your life.", which surprisingly leaves her in a state of silent shock. Garnet reminds Steven "We'll always be your family.", just before the Warp Pad activates and Steven leaves his family. Steven finds himself soon on Homeworld, now filled with natural life and aesthetically pleasing buildings. Heading inside the royal palace, he sees the throne room for the Diamonds, now filled with all sorts of Gems, but no Diamonds insight. As the crowd walks away, Spinel is shown from behind them. Once seeing Steven, she immediately goes to greet him out of joy, setting him off in his pink state from being startled. Once calming down and knowing how she's been, Steven asks her to take him to the Diamonds. They first meet Yellow Diamond, who is attempting to repair her old Gem Experiments. After spending thousands of years destabilizing Gems, Yellow decided to use her powers to restabilize Gems, even if their gems are cracked or shattered. Yellow and Steven converse, with Yellow attempting to change Steven's size (which is a procedure of her Gem Repairment). This sets him off a bit as well, considering this isn't helping what he wants. Yellow decides that maybe Steven's problem might not be physical but rather emotional, advising Steven to talk to Blue. Steven and Spinel visit Blue Diamond, who explains that she vaporized her original tears of sorrow into clouds that cause you to feel joy and excitement when you touch them. After Blue Diamond sings "My Little Reason Why", Steven indulges with these clouds, but he turns pink in the response that this isn't what he wants either. He explains that he doesn't want to feel better, but he wants to be better. Blue explains that Steven's problem might not be emotional but rather something with his self-worth and that he should visit White Diamond. When visiting White Diamond, she tells him that instead of taking control of Gems and make them see things from her perspective, she is doing the opposite by letting Gems take control over her and seeing their point of view. White demonstrates by letting Spinel take over her body, her color changing into Spinel's palette and copying her every move.

White excuses Spinel so she and Steven can talk alone. After Stevens explains his problems, she tells him that if he tried her way of understanding new points of view, she could help him. Steven accepts the offer and White allows him to take control over her body, turning it pink. Steven is amused at first but realizes that he's seeing himself how he doesn't want to be seen: as a Diamond. He begins to lash out over his problems, as White makes the same movements he does, causing her to destroy part of her room, which scares Steven. As Steven questions why he's afraid, he remembers what happened in "Change Your Mind", when White ripped out his gemstone in an attempt to bring back Pink Diamond. With vengeance, Steven remembers that he is in control and that she should be afraid of him. The background turns dark with Steven being bigger than White. He then controls her in a way similar to a marionette, though both of them have the same voice. White becomes scared and confused, whereas Steven is cold and vengeful toward her, and he attempts to force her to bang herself on a pillar, presumably trying to shatter her, just before he hits his own head and loses control over her. White is confused and scared of this and she asks him what that was, to which Steven stammers that he doesn't know.

Steven shifts in and out of his pink state and begins to swell up uncontrollably while running away from White. Spinel chases him and asks where he is going. Steven remembers that Spinel once had vengeful thoughts, and asks for advice on how she got rid of hers. Nonchalantly at first, Spinel suddenly becomes excited and answers that she got rid of them when she met Steven and, in a singing voice, begins to recite lyrics from his own song "Change". This angers Steven, not wanting to hear the advice he gave her, and his face swells up again before the Diamonds appear. Concerned for Steven, the Diamonds asks him to let them help. He anxiously declines and runs away. Spinel runs after Steven while his appearance changes similarly to how he looked in "Fragments". Steven leaves the palace, and Spinel and the Diamonds try once again to get him to accept their help. Steven, in anguish, asks them not to follow, and the episode ends with him warping away from his family, who are trying to help him, once again. The episode continues off from the last one, with Steven warping back to home, where he slowly and quietly goes inside and slumps on the bed. Then he gets a call from Connie, who notes that that she hasn't spoken to him since the hospital and asks if he is feeling better from the swelling. He jumbles with his response before settling on "maybe". He then attempts to change the subject by asking Connie how she's been preparing for college. Connie tells him that it's been fine, but becomes concerned with Steven's answer to her question. Panicked, Steven hangs up and once again struggles with keeping his mind together, which interferes with the TV, displaying his rage against Greg, Jasper's recent shattering, and nearly shattering White Diamond while controlling her. He turns the TV off and sees his reflection, noticing his pupils in the shape of diamonds. Looking with disbelief, he denies his outbursts he has had with everyone, and constantly tells himself that he's fine. He yells this aloud and his powers, along with the denial, cause the windows to crack, and the Gems take notice of his presence, shocked at his appearance. Even Garnet herself says they're all worried for his condition, but Steven tries to reassure them that they have nothing to worry about. He gets the idea that since he has quit running Little Homeschool everything has gone downhill, so he should go and visit. Steven rushes out of the house with his super speed. After arriving at Little Homeworld, Steven looks for any Gems in need of assistance. He starts by visiting Peridot in the Greenhouse, who is teaching her Gem students about horticulture. He takes notice of the plants in bad condition, and attempts to heal them with his powers, but Peridot halts him from doing so, reminding him that Amethyst told her about his last encounter with plants. However, the plants appear to be dying, so Peridot hesitantly allows Steven to use his healing powers to cure the plants. This all goes awry when Steven uses saliva to try and heal the plants, as the scene cuts outside of the greenhouse, where the plants have come back to life, in the shape of him, breaking through and running amok and trying to help others. As Garnet is giving advice to a couple, she hears Peridot screaming. She is ready to fight, but is blocked by multiple Topiary Stevens. Steven interprets this as though he's helped a lot, and uses his super speed to search Little Homeschool and see if anyone else needs help. As he walks through Little Homeworld, he sees Bismuth's forge and monologues about the ongoing shop class. Amethyst, noticing Steven is talking to himself, asks if he is okay, but he doesn't respond. Inside the forge, Bismuth is testing new armor with Yellow Pearl as the model. Steven approaches, with Bismuth being impressed by his appearance. Steven asks if she needs any help, so Bismuth offers to let Steven shape a piece of the pauldron. Steven is excited, and prepares to mold it with his fists. Bismuth stops him, explaining that he is supposed to detail the armor. She offers him a small hammer, which he accepts, feigning forgetfulness. He taps the metal, bending it, but in the process splitting the anvil in half despite his careful touch. Steven cracks a joke, but Bismuth grieves over the destruction of her anvil, so Steven laughs the situation off, throws the hammer behind him, and leaves, seeking an opportunity to help elsewhere. He is followed by three Topiary Stevens. Steven stops by to see Amethyst playing a baseball game with other Gems, and Steven asks if he can participate, which Amethyst allows him to. With Onion as the hitter, and Nephrite as the pitcher, Onion successfully hits the ball, but it begins to head towards a window where inside, the Heaven Beetle and Earth Beetle are sharing tea. Steven rushes and catches the ball before it hits the window, garnering applause from the players. Steven is amazed at how he not only caught the ball, but also genuinely saved someone during the event, and didn't mess up as he thought he would. He shouts in joy, only to cause another outburst, destroying the surrounding buildings. Steven looks in embarrassment, and nervously apologizes for his mistake, but tries to brush it off by saying that making mistakes is okay, and he can improve from them. He picks up some of the remains of the neighborhood in Little Homeworld, as more Topiary Stevens follow him and do the same. Back at the Temple, Steven warps back home, surprised to find Connie, Greg, and the Gems waiting for him. Connie reveals she tried to call Steven multiple times, until his powers interfered with her phone, displaying Steven's current behavior during the day. Steven continues to deny how he's feeling, but Greg responds that no matter what happens, everyone will be there to support him. Steven once again explains that there's nothing to worry about, and tries to leave the house, but everyone surrounds him, trying to give him the opportunity to talk to them and share his feelings. Steven strains and his swelling starts to get worse. Steven starts acting even more hysterical, and even admits the things he's done from the events from "Mr. Universe" to "Homeworld Bound", which shocks everyone, especially the parts about him hiding that he needed to go to the hospital, and when he admits to accidentally shattering Jasper and nearly doing the same to White Diamond. Everyone expresses horror at the revelation of Jasper being shattered, however, Steven reveals that he fixed that situation as well and seems to come to the conclusion that he can continue making mistakes and fixing them forever, to where no one will suspect a thing afterwards; but his false cheery attitude becomes somber and frustrated as he comes to the conclusion that he hasn't learned anything from his mistakes and he strongly regrets the things he's done, that he's not the same person, not the same kid, that people have always seen him as, and that he sees himself as the same thing he has seen his mother as for so long: a fraud and a monster. At that, the episode abruptly ends with him hitting his apex as spikes protrude from his back and rip through his shirt as his friends and family watch on in horror. The episode begins with Sour Cream and Yellowtail listening to music, Vidalia painting while Onion sits in a trash can, Bismuth and Peridot cleaning up the damage in Little Homeworld from "Everything's Fine", and Bill Dewey and Buck walking when they all begin to feel the ground shake. Everyone turns and notices a giant pink monster looming over them and roaring. Noticing that it is on the beach, Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot warp over to the Beach House and announce that reinforcements have arrived but are confused when they see the entire front wall demolished.

As they walk outside, they see Connie, Greg, and the Crystal Gems trying to reach out to the monster. Joining their friends, Peridot announces that they are ready to fight, but Garnet declines this, confusing them. Lapis notices that Steven isn't there, and Garnet says to them, "That is Steven.", to their horror. Steven bashes his head against the cliff of the temple, causing a small rockslide. As the group runs out of the way, Amethyst explains that they can't get him to listen, while Pearl is confused about what has happened to him. As Connie questions if they can change him back to normal, Garnet claims that as long as Steven thinks he's a monster, he will stay one. Steven begins to move toward Beach City, with Bismuth noting that they have to keep him away from town. Garnet tells Connie to try and keep the citizens safe, telling Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot to try and lure him to sea; she then fuses with Pearl and Amethyst, forming Alexandrite.

As Steven tries to climb over the lighthouse and towards Beach City, Alexandrite jumps on him and covers his eyes. In response, Steven begins to move and squirm around, bashing Alexandrite between him and the hill, forcing her to unfuse. Peridot uses her powers to move her and Bismuth through the air and hit Steven, getting his attention; Peridot immediately apologizes, and Steven jumps out to the ocean to attack them. With him now in the water, Lapis forms a whirlpool and launches some water chains to restrain Steven, keeping him from moving any further. Lapis informs the team that she can't hold him for long. As the group looks on, Amethyst questions what to do next, with Pearl adding that they can't leave him as a giant monster, and Garnet stating that they must reach him and bring him out. Amethyst remarks in frustration that Steven would have done the best job at doing the latter. They then see the Diamond Ship landing beside them, while the Diamonds and Spinelask if this is a bad time. Spinel exits the ship with Steven's flip-flop in hand, saying he forgot it and is blown away as she notices the monster in the ocean. As the Diamonds follow her and notice Steven themselves, White states that something bad is always happening whenever they visit Earth. When Blue Diamond asks what the monster is, Garnet informs them, to their shock, that it is Steven.

Yellow attempts to use her powers to try and revert Steven's physical form to his normal self, but this proves to be ineffective. Despite shrinking his head, it immediately reverts to full size before Yellow ceases attempting to return his form. Blue uses her clouds of joy in the hopes of calming him, but Steven forces the cloud directly towards Yellow and Spinel, causing them to burst out laughing in regards to Blue's failed attempt at curing Steven. White then insists that she can help Steven and understand what he's going through if she can connect with him. Using her power to try and get through to Steven, he proves to be far too powerful for her to handle, and so she too fails. With a scream, she collapses as Yellow and Blue catch her, at which point she exclaims that the monster is no longer Steven. Lapis struggles even more with restraining Steven, and as his eyes and spikes glow, he lets out a furious roar that pushes everyone back and breaks the water chains holding him. This predicament goes so far as to force Garnet to unfuse.

As Steven walks towards them, the Cluster's hand emerges from the cracks in the earth caused by Steven, preventing him from coming closer to everyone else. Despite the Cluster's strength, Peridot realizes that Steven is stronger than the Cluster and will overpower it soon. Pearl says that despite the "monster" he is, Steven is still in there and must be feeling very angry at himself and everything that's happened around him. Amethyst regrets that she wasn't there to help Steven when he needed it, whereas Ruby and Sapphire cry over the thought of him staying a monster permanently if they can't get through to him. Amethyst tells Greg that he needs to leave and get somewhere safe. Greg refuses, however, as he claims despite this being a Gem-centered problem, which he has always run from, Steven is still his son; he feels that he neglected him by not protecting him from all the trauma he experienced. Spinel and the Diamonds all burst out in tears at the hand they played in Steven's trauma, with Blue and Yellow initially taking blame only for White to argue with Spinel about who should be more at fault for Steven's mental breakdown. Spinel laments that she wanted him to die alone after wiping his powers and his friends' memories, while White Diamond notes that she neglected and abused not only Steven and Pink Diamond but all the gems in the galaxy. Suddenly, Connie replies that while it istheir fault, grieving and self-blame will not solve the problem. She points out that Steven has always put everyone's feelings before his own, and that they've had him around when they needed him, and Connie says that this time, he needs them. This motivates Ruby and Sapphire to fuse into Garnet once again, and she devises a plan to get Steven back to normal.

Steven overpowers the Cluster, sending it back into the Earth's core. Here, Garnet sets her plan into action by having Yellow make her the same size as him as Blue lifts up everyone on her clouds. The group rushes at Steven as he makes a break for shore. Garnet leaps towards Steven, giving him a hug and explaining calmly she wants to help him as he struggles to escape her arms, and he finally comes to a stop. Everyone hugs him and shares their feelings about all that he's done for them and how they can understand different facets of what he feels, wishing to help him overcome these problems. Even the Cluster grabs his hand, showing that they care for him too. Connie comes up to him last, stating that she understands everything he went through and how he was scared to show his more negative side to those close to him. She reassures that everyone will always be with him, as he was always there for them. As she notes she doesn't have his healing powers, she kisses him to comfort him as the scene cuts to black, a pink droplet punctuating the darkness. The scene then illuminates to show pink drops falling into the ocean as Steven cries from everyone's touching words and unconditional love for him. His tears start to glow, followed by the rest of him as he starts to transform back. As the scene fades to white, Steven has fully returned to normal. He wakes up, covered in a sheet, to find all of his friends and family standing over him, everybody standing on the Cluster's open hand and happy to have him back to normal. Steven starts to remorsefully tear up over the trouble he has caused at first, but then Lion licks him in comfort. This causes Steven to feel a little better, and he finally lets out his emotions, sobbing as he clings to Lion. Steven is on the beach doing a workout when Connie and Lion warp in. She asks Steven if he wants to do one last routine before he moves out, which he agrees to.

In Steven's bedroom, Steven and Connie plan Steven's schedule. Connie asks him how everyone took the news about Steven moving out. He basically told everyone in Beach City, and his dad, but he hasn't told the Gems yet. He doesn't have any idea how they are going to take it because the Gems have been so protective of him for the past few months since his meltdown. He wonders if there's a way he could let them down easy. Later that day, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearlreturn from the Warp Pad and they see Steven waiting for them. He then shows the Gems his homemade Cookie Cats, and the Gems eat some, including Pearl. The Gems reprise the Cookie Cat song Steven sang to them years ago, singing the song themselves (but ending on "He left his family behind").

Steven compares his abandonment of everyone else to Cookie Cat, thinking the reason he left was to move forward in life, despite how difficult it was. He then quickly announces to the Gems, with hesitation, that he's decided to move out the next day, and has a plan of how he's able to visit his friends before he can decide where he wants to go and urges the Gems not to talk him out of his decision. However, the Gems seem to take his decision very lightly and are proud of him showing a desire to be independent. Steven goes to Little Homeworld, where Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot do not take the news of Steven's departure so lightly. Bismuth begs him not to leave them, and Lapis tries to assure him that running elsewhere will result in what she went through in her past. Peridot bursts out crying, showing how she doesn't want Steven to leave and that there won't be anyone else like him. To commemorate everything they've been through, Steven hands out gifts for everyone to remember him. He gives Peridot his old salmon-pink shirt from the original series, a drawing kit with watercolors for Lapis, and Bismuth gets Rose's Battle Flag since she was one of the very first Crystal Gems. They all hug him while crying, thanking him for all he's done for them, even Steven bursts into tears saying that he loves them, as they reply the same. Before heading back to pack his things, Steven encounters Jasper, who appears by punching a hole in the wall. She has heard about him leaving and insists that she's coming with him, but he says to her that he will move on alone, and can protect himself. Jasper punches another hole after saying to Steven "Farewell, my Diamond.", proving that even she is also upset about him leaving.

Steven heads back to the Temple and gives Amethyst his old video games. She is touched at first but appears to be excited to play his games, which isn't what Steven was expecting. He then goes outside to give Pearl his old ukulele, and she nonchalantly stores it in her gemstone. Steven says it's okay for Pearl to be sad, but she replies that him leaving is a positive thing as he's going to explore new places.

Steven holds back his tears as he goes to visit Garnet, giving her the same wedding plan book he used to plan Ruby and Sapphire's wedding, in the hopes that Garnet can eventually help Steven plan his own wedding when the time should come. As she takes it, not showing a lot of emotion, Steven tries to reason with her about how she should feel about his leaving, but Garnet reassures him that he'll be fine. She says that even with her future vision, it's up to him to figure out what to do when he leaves. As she warps away, he weeps. Steven has all of his things packed up, but he's a little upset over the fact that though the Gems know he's leaving, he didn't get the reaction he was expecting. Greg tells him that they still love him, and are probably trying to be supportive. Steven's gift to Greg is his old room and a wall poster of Kerry Moonbeam, stating that he is now able to move in with the Gems. Laying down on the bed, Greg appreciates this gift, stating how he finally getting some well-deserved rest, and Steven departing is similar to his own childhood.

Outside the Temple, Steven says his goodbyes to Connie and Greg (sharing a kiss with the former), with the intent of heading for a bed and breakfast, with Connie reminding him to give her a text once he arrives so he doesn't forget to have breakfast with her. Afterward, he says goodbye to the Gems, who are still smiling, and each of them gives Steven a goodbye hug. As Steven heads off in the Dondai, driving off to his next destination, he looks in his mirror, watching his family and Connie waving goodbye to him until he can't see them anymore. Suddenly, he halts the car and quickly drives it in reverse back to where the Gems are, and bursts into tears, asking why the Gems are taking the situation so lightly. However, the Gems reveal that they have been holding back their tears, and are extremely sad about Steven leaving. They all come crying together for a group hug and the Gems explain that they didn't want their sad thoughts to interfere with Steven leaving, but whatever happens in his future, they'll make sure that they're a part of it too.

Everyone expresses their love for each other, and after one last goodbye, Steven leaves his old home for a new path in his life. He passes by the Big Donut, where everyone waves goodbye to him as he leaves Beach City and begins his road trip, ending the episode, and the series.

Trivia

 * This episode marks the debut of different fusions.

Transcript

 * The Irelanders Meets Steven Universe Future - The Finale/Transcript