Why am I giving this episode a nine out of ten? I generally consider eight to be the upper ceiling for episodes, but this episode was special: it’s the ideal culmination of Peridot’s character arc over the last two seasons.
I suspect that in the coming seasons, that arc is going to deal heavily with Peridot’s choices and what they mean to her. Now, with the end of the character arc for Peridot, the Homeworld Gem, the new one for Peridot, the Crystal Gem, begins. But it’s a continuing motif in Peridot’s character arc that being good, free, and strong aren’t things that you are they’re choices made in the moment. Steven and the Crystal Gems celebrate Peridot’s defection at the end of the episode, but Peridot’s decision hasn’t magically made her a good person.
Peridot’s anger and frustration made her impulsively seize the right decision and render her an outlaw from the Gem empire latae sententiae. There’s no philosophical soul-searching here. When faced with a spiteful, petty undercutting of her compromise proposal, Peridot’s temper prompts her to respond with a furious outburst and an insult to her god-empress. So why did Peridot finally burn her bridges with Yellow Diamond (Patti LuPone)? The answer’s so wonderfully in line with Peridot’s fastidious nature, and so wonderfully human.
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And yet, it reveals so much about Peridot’s character that, at the end of her story arc, at the moment where the status quo has to give way, she clutches desperately at an answer that will free her from the responsibility of choosing a future for herself. Still, it’s apparent to everybody that it’s a non-solution for both parties. It wouldn’t be improper to say that Peridot’s proposal was just as villainous as Yellow Diamond’s, but limited itself to a pragmatic kind of villainy that would preserve all of the things she appreciated on Earth. Earth and humanity would continue to exist, and the Gems could harvest the planet for resources to fuel their galactic conquest. Her real goal was contrary to Rose Quartz’s (Susan Egan) ideal of an independent Earth and free humans: Peridot wanted to turn Earth into a vassal of the Gem Homeworld’s empire. Peridot wasn’t trying to join the Crystal Gems in “Message Received”. But at the same time, Peridot couldn’t rid herself of the existential bad faith she’s cultivated that tells her that the prosperity of the empire is the prosperity of the galaxy, and that the Diamonds are enlightened rulers who always make the right decision, if only they have the right information! As the saying goes, innocence - even the malignant innocence of enslavement - once lost, can never be regained. There was an awareness on her part that in the month she’d spent with the Crystal Gems, she’d become too big to go back to the smallness that had been her life on the Homeworld. Steven (Zach Callison) and the Crystal Gems - and even Earth itself - have given Peridot music, humor, love, and the dawning realization that she can be seen as the Peridot instead of a Peridot: facet 2F5L, cut 5XG. Many people are already saying that this episode was one in which Peridot “joined the Crystal Gems”, but that’s not wholly accurate. Molisee and Paul Villeco were definitely willing to lead the audience through the absolute nadir of the Crystal Gems’ relationship with Peridot to get to the last few minutes of “Message Received”. “I can tell you with certainty that there are things on this planet worth protecting!”Īt the end of “It Could’ve Been Great” and the beginning of this episode, we weren’t sure if Peridot was going to side with Earth episode writers Raven M.
(As with “The Answer”, a 12-minute episode that deals with a radical change to the show’s status quo is essentially spoilers from beginning to end, so keep that in mind before reading this review.) Peridot (Shelby Rabara) has made her decision.
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