In the same way that watching Pearl poof wrecked him, seeing Garnet forcibly torn apart devastated him because of how helpless he was to stop it.īut with Stevonnie, it was clear from the jump that romance factored into their existence, which is what made it necessary for Greg to sit Steven and Connie down to explain the significance of wanting to fuse with someone out of love. But like all children who eventually realize that their parents had lives before them, Steven was curious to know about the circumstances of how Greg and Rose met and what the Crystal Gems were like before they became a trio of part-time parents.įor all the time Steven spends learning to heal other Gems, at this point in the series, his inability to properly heal himself and face his demons begins to manifest. Steven and Pearl would have more painful heart to hearts about Rose as they both became more comfortable being open with their feelings about her, but this was one of their very first steps in that direction.

As Steven Universe progressed, the series veered into the horror genre on more than a few occasions-specifically body horror-in order to convey the sorts of danger the Crystal Gems could sometimes be up against. The arrival of a Red Eye in Beach City made it clear that, powerful as the Gems were together, there was a reason they all depended on Rose to defend the Earth, and without her, much of that responsibility was destined to fall to Steven. For all of the deep worldbuilding and mythology the Crewniverse put into making Steven Universe the nuanced story it ended up being, the series also followed the most basic rule of putting its thesis statement right at the top in big, bold letters so that people paying attention might have an understanding of where this was all going. The idea of mainlining 40 episodes of a series might sound daunting, but recall that each Steven Universe episode clocks in around 10 or so minutes.

Steven universe season 1 episode 16