“It’s nice to have a new addition to the family.”

[beat for comedic timing]

“Augh, wait, what the?! Hobos broke inta da bahn!”

“Hey! Don’t you touch our things!”

“… Yer hobettes?! A hobo is a man’s job!”

And, meet Uncle Red Cap. Uigh. Guessing the point here is to presage Steven’s later attempt to change the mind of a bigoted elder relative.

“Hey, it worked for Uncle Andy! He stopped screaming about immigrants and hippies after I talked to him for twice the length of nearly any other episode. Give me a quadruple-length episode, and I bet I can do it again! What could possibly go wrong?!”

It’s a shame the “hug a Republican” episode came out days after Trump’s election. That just… I mean. I see what they were trying to do here. And they couldn’t have known what was coming when they were boarding it, years earlier. But… this is where the show’s fantasy falters.

As for how this fits into Steven’s whole emotional journey this season, there are a couple of things. For one, this is the first biological family Steven’s ever met, aside from his father. Again he’s the first real concentrated dose of bigotry on the show, setting up Homeworld.

His introduction… it kind of messes with the stability of Steven’s world, introducing another tiny wedge of uncertainty. Rose isn’t the only one with secrets. The surname Steven inherited, it’s not Greg’s original name. Much as his middle name would turn out to be false, later.

Well, I say false. That’s the wrong approach, because Rose is who Pink chose to be. In the narrative it’s fair to think of Pink Diamond as her deadname. But from Steven’s perspective, the revelations reflect on his own sense of identity, adding to his uncertainty.

The show loops around and dots the lower-case j when Greg later shrugs at Rose’s given name, saying he never told Rose he used to be Gregory DeMayo. But here it serves as clear foreshadowing, as well as helping to undermine Steven’s confidence that he’s even a real person.

“So, ah, which one of these girls is the wife? I gotta give ’em my condolences, right? Ha ha ha ha!”

“Hey, c’mon, what, I gotta guess heeyah? It’s gatta be you. I bet this useless lump needs a big girl to keep ‘im in line.”

Where’s Padparadscha when you need her?

This is what I was talking about. “You’re telling me… ‘Universe’ isn’t even a real last name?!”

The whole show is Pearlception, really.

When Steven decides to change Andy’s mind, this is, uh, the pose he strikes.

… Not to be mistaken for…

His plan, incidentally? Throw a big party. … So, yeah.

Line of the episode? Not much contest. It’s so nice to see the development in “Mr. Greg” sticking, and continuing.

She’s still such a… Pearl, but now she feels some personal ownership over Greg. So that’s something.

It’s also echoed a couple of episodes later. Which helps, in terms of setting up the emotional stakes for the zoo arc. Illustrating that Pearl actually does care on more than an abstract level.

Runner-up quote, though.

“Gem Harvest” is also where the unsettling ending theme starts to evolve. It’s hard to over-emphasize how that change in ending music supports the show’s whole tonal shift after season three. Every episode now ends with this uncertainty. Emotionally the show has become off-kilter

Instead of lulled into a childlike security, you’re now left dangling with every episode, unclear what’s happening, where things are going, or why or how. But it doesn’t seem good, whatever it is.