#godddddddddddd

I dropped everything to draw our sleep paralysis papa-

In “I Am My Mom” she has to watch her kid taken away to be murdered for a crime that SHE framed him for in a round about way. She could save him if she could just find the words. Imagine if Steven had died on Homeworld. Pearl would’ve been trapped with the knowledge that her child died as a direct consequence of her actions, and she could never tell another soul.

It’s so heartbreaking to watch Pearl fight to physically pry her hand away from her mouth so she can be honest with Steven. She can HELP him, but her own body is working against her to keep her trapped in her own mind. And the worst part is the person she loved and trusted more than anyone else in the world did that to her. Even beyond the grave, Rose is preventing Pearl from forming true connections with the other gems.

Rose certainly didn’t “owe” Pearl her continued existence, but leaving Pearl alone to bear her secret was an incredibly cruel thing to do to her. Of course Pearl can’t help resenting Rose. Of course Pearl gets upset when she learns Rose kept secrets, even from her.

Rose wanted to liberate the Earth so she and Pearl could be free of their assigned roles. But to do that, she used her status as a diamond to exert control over “her” pearl. They could never be equal for as long as they both lived. Taking Pearl’s voice is a slap in the face—she’s perpetuating the “pearls should be seen and not heard” power dynamic, even though that’s the very thing she wants to destroy.