Thanks for joining us for a full week of Steven Universe stories. For our final piece, Lorna Oppedisano wrote this, about one of the most touching songs on the show…
Oh, this song. Talk about a yank at the heartstrings.
I listen to most of my favorite Steven Universe songs on repeat. “Here Comes a Thought” is my jam when I need to recenter. I’ve put on “Stronger Than You” at the gym more than once — and attempted not to dance while running. “Peace and Love (On Planet Earth)” makes me dance around my apartment and sing to my cat. Trust me, he loves it.
But I haven’t listened to “It’s Over, Isn’t It?” since I first watched the episode “Mr. Greg.” It’s just too heart-wrenching. I remember sitting there, staring at Pearl and that rose, pulling my knees closer and closer into my chest as the music built. I fought back the tears as best I could, but — like Pearl at the end of the song — I was not victorious.
I was nearing the end of a relationship back then, so my emotions were a little on edge. But even now, as I watch the song on repeat, I’m reduced to the same puddle.
Regardless of where you are in life — how happy, settled or grounded you might be — “It’s Over, Isn’t It?” has the power to bring you back to the heartbreak of your first love. For me, that means high school, and my best friend. It was the best and worst kind of love: ultimately unrequited. I felt “petty and dull,” to use Pearl’s words, without him.
Like Pearl, it was years later that I was finally able to say, “It’s over, isn’t it?” and not be lying to myself and whoever I was dating. Like the shift of emotions on Pearl’s face as she sang, over time, mine shifted from nostalgia to sadness to anger to rage, back to sadness. Like Pearl, it was a rollercoaster of feelings for years.
Facing the consequences of a first love takes extreme bravery, and Pearl clearly has that in her. That question she asks — “Why can’t I move on?” — is something I consciously and then subconsciously asked myself for years.
I think now I know the answer. As depressing and clichéd as it might sound, your first love will always be with you. Once you finally accept that, you move forward. You don’t move on. Not really.
You find someone who — with no question — chooses you back. And that, my friends, is the best kind of love: true love.
And, like every one of us, Pearl deserves it.
That, friends, wraps up our week of Steven Universe stories! Thanks for following along, and if you missed any, check all of them out below! Thanks for reading The Dot and Line, where we talk about animation of all kinds. Don’t forget to ❤ this article and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
