Steven Universe Shaded Tea Room

Pink Pearl and Pearl's Trauma *SPOILERS*

This contains spoilers from Saturday's premeire. Please do not read if you haven't watched.

Can we talk about Pink Pearl ( Volleyball) and Pearl's history with Pink Diamond aka Rose Quartz.....whatever. Both of them were basically  traumatized. At least according to their conversation.  And I was sort of wrong about what happened to Pink Pearl ( formally called White Pearl)But let's break it down a bit, starting with our Pearl.

Pearl has been at Pink Diamond's side as both a diamond and a quartz for thousands of years. We know Pearl threw herself in front of danger for Pink. She still thought of herself as little more than a meat shield. She constantly doubts her own self-worth, and her need to justify her actions and her place on the team creates friction with her fellow gems. And then we find out she help fake Pink's death. 

And we got Volleyball. Like 3000-8000 years are gone. One of the things she remembered was Pink's tantrum. "She had a scream that could crack the walls..." Like what? Tantrums left and right? What the fuck? What's the truth?...well we all know the truth, Pink was horrible..was, she sort of gotten better, but again with all the secrets, it's just hard to see her as this amazing gem, but that's another chapter. But a tantrum that shattered a gem and left  a psychological scar that ran so deep it still manifests as an actual scar. Her gem is fine, but her mind is not. And she just laughs it off because she was too close. And she sort of cowards and duck down when Steven blows his lid. 

Both of them remember Pink Diamond, but not the same way. To Pearl, she was a healer, secretive, and kept to herself. To Volleyball, she was destructive and open about everything. 

And as it turns out they were both making excuses for Pink Diamond. Pearl stills wants to see her as some savior and Volleyball comes to realize she wasn't as great as she remembers. Like what exactly happened that we weren't shown? We sort of have an idea of what happened to Volleyball, but was Pearl told what happened to the pearl before her. 

 A lot of people think the writers and creator is taking a dump on Pink Diamond, but I don't think that 's the case. What Pink Diamond did reminds me of an extremely angry person , taking their anger out on everything and anyone around them. Sure they don't mean to due to their anger. That does not mean their anger hasn't caused harm, and lasting damage. I think that emotional response is something PD saw within herself. However she could not see how to or did not solve the consequences thoroughly enough. Hell it also sort of alludes to abusive relationships. The person who got out of it remembers one thing, and someone else remembers another and they sort of put the pieces together. 

We are seeing her characterization in reverse and while she got better her past actions still exist.And we're seeing it first hand. Pearl and Volleyball both never really recovered from it. One day they might, but the healing has just begun.