The Point of Steven Universe [Season 3]

Steven Universe and its creator Rebecca Sugar have weathered many critics and reviews over the years. I responded to many of those in my previous videos on Lily Orchard and her video Steven Universe is Garbage and Here's Why video in my Lily Orchard is Wrong and Here's Why video as well as the notorious EzPz and E;R videos in my In Defense of Steven Universe video. Now we are in Season 3 of my affirmative argument for Steven Universe. Enjoy!

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Time Stamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:37 Ep1
00:05:43 Ep2
00:11:40 Ep3
00:22:40 Ep4
00:33:23 Ep5
00:37:30 Ep6
00:45:24 Ep7
00:53:52 Ep8
00:56:52 Ep9
00:58:38 Ep10
01:01:00 Ep11
01:05:09 Ep12
01:17:29 Ep13
01:26:08 Ep14
01:28:28 Ep15
01:29:33 Ep16
01:30:30 Ep17
01:34:23 Ep18
01:35:36 Ep19
01:46:20 Ep20
01:49:52 Ep21
01:51:34 Ep22
01:57:12 Ep23
02:01:38 Ep24
02:16:10 Ep25
02:19:33 Ep26
02:25:27 Ep27
02:28:05 Ep28
02:33:38 S3 Reflection
02:37:50 Outro

[HidinginPrivate]

Hope you all enjoy. To hurry along the production of the Season 4 video, I will be releasing one episode chunks weekly on Patreon until the whole video is completed. As a general rule, the less financially desperate I am, the quicker it can come out. Dozens of exclusive videos on Patreon now, and a handful of exclusive videos for channel members here. Thank you all again for your support, even if that shows itself through comments, shares and likes. I appreciate it greatly. Hope you enjoy.

Patreon:
Kofi:

[tortle]

I remember people HATING "Hit the Diamond", because they believed we'd get more info on the Diamonds and not a baseball game.

[dre]

People not understanding that Jasper was in the wrong in Alone At Sea is so frustrating. She shows up, knocks Steven aside (literally), tries to emotionally manipulate Lapis into believing that she’s too dangerous to be around anyone else, and then tries to kill Steven when she doesn’t get her way. There is nuance to the situation of Malachite as a relationship, but Jasper is trying to drag her and Lapis down. To read it as Lapis being the sole abuser is so messed up.

On a lighter note I love that Log Date is the first ep where we get Peridot’s running gag of saying “Wow thanks”. It starts off as a sarcastic saying, and then she genuinely means it when thanking others. It’s cute.

[spookyghost]

Lapis slander makes me sad as a person with ptsd. Her worry that the coping mechanisms she developed to survive make her a bad person at her core is very relatable. She truly is just misunderstood.

[matti.]

This is the first Steven Universe analysis I've seen that actually considers the fact that it's a kid's show. You take the time to think about what each episode is trying to communicate to its target audience.

Many people like Lily analyze it at surface level ignoring the target audience. For many "it's for kids" is just an excuse for bad writing. Being for kids doesn't mean talking down to your audience but it DOES affect the way you communicate things to them.

[BinguDingus]

There's this one scene in episode three I always loved.
Before the big confrontation with Yellow Diamond, while locked inside the car, Peridot is explaining her plan to Steven, which he misunderstands as her going back to her old ways and wanting to sell both the earth and crystal gems out to homeworld. In reality, bless her little neurodivergent heart, Peridot had attempted to explain to Steven how she was going to reason with Yellow Diamond to save the earth and preserve it, effectively only taking the least amount of resources necessary without hurting it and its life.

This is why later on, Peridot is so confused when her seemingly perfect, intelligent and logical diamond ignores her ideas and appears unreasonable. Yellow responds emotionally, with rage and denial, ignoring all rhyme and reason, which is anything but the image Peridot had painted of her. This would also be consistent with her characterization later on. Yellow Diamond copes by being both dismissive and aggressive, avoiding any emotional distress and baggage. (and failing miserably in her attempts)

Steven Universe has always had (mis)communication as one of its big themes after all.

[Lermurmer]

"This sensitivity Peridot has for her *WIFE*" took me out

[dusksentry]

this series really deserves to blow-the-frick-up, to clear up all that bad faith aimed at a show that doesnt deserve it

[gingerbreadpop]

Babe wake up new hiding in private vid dropped

[AnakhaSilver]

I don't think Jasper is a missed opportunity so much as a message that you can only really help people who WANT to be helped. Never once does Jasper reflect that SHE might be the problem. Not even in Future. So she isn't helpable.

[matti.]

The people who complain about the show "forgetting about the cluster" are missing the point. The REAL focus of the arc is Peridot's development, the cluster is mostly just a plot device to facilitate it.

If every episode was about building a drill and talking about the cluster, then Peridot's story would suffer for it.

[raeosunshine]

no joke, I just finished re-watching all the previous installments of this series YESTERDAY. I'm so so so excited to add this to my comfort videos playlist 🫶🏻

[madam-mint]

I love how the show makes so much sense when you
1: actually WATCH it
2: pay ATTENTION
3: DON’T have a personal vendetta against the creator that makes you project all of your own untreated issues onto them.
And yes, this is *very* targeted.

[dustinmartin]

I think we pretty much all agree season 3 is the best Steven Universe season. Hell it might not even be my favourite, but it’s very clearly the best season. It’s one of the best seasons of animation period really, it’s incredible just how much they were able to pack into a 26ish episode season.

I know it’s not a perfect comparison but I’ve always thought the first 4 seasons are built around a different crystal gem. Season 1 is Pearls season, Season 2 is Garnets season, Season 3 is Amethysts season and season 4 is Steven’s season. And of the four, Amethysts season arch is by far the most satisfying, it took a lot of seeds that were planted earlier in the show but not really expanded on (Amethyst wasn’t born “right”, her lack of self-esteem, her still being relatively new to the group, her reluctance to rely on others) and contextualised all of it around Jasper, who ends up becoming the physical manifestation of Amethysts insecurities. And then her defeating that by accepting the help of others, accepting she is loved for who she is and embracing that her strength has nothing to do with her physical attributes or power but instead her emotional maturity, her self image and the relationships she has with others. All things Jasper doesn’t comprehend or refused to engage with, leading to her eventual defeat and corruption

Plus you have some fantastic towny episodes, Lapis + Peridot stuff which is fantastic and episodes like Bismuth and Mr Greg that are rightly consistently considered among the shows best. If you are going to be nit-picky, I’ve always thought having 4 or 5 Town episodes in a row can hurt the shows pacing but that only becomes an issue when you are getting consistently dud town episodes. And this season set up the foundation for seasons 4 and 5; Pink Diamond’s shattering, exploration of corruption, the Cluster, Lapis and Paradot joining the gems, substantial doubts on Rose’s character, morality and honesty, way more homeworld Gems coming to Earth. A significant amount of which isn’t even focused on but is instead explored thematically or just mentioned in conversation. It’s such a good season, pretty much all hits no misses

[pokepoke]

I have a headcanon that the reason why Jasper is so perfect is that she stole all the nutrients from around her to beef herself up, whilst leaving the other incubating gems in the dirt (Skinny Jasper)

[a_naotenhonome]

Its nice to see someone actually genuinely appreciating this show and dissecting the messages, the show is basically became the main target for bad faith criticism, so its good to see someone doing justice with this show

[starkid]

56:37 tiniest correction (more a nitpick really) - Yellow DID try to wipe Peri out via the exploding communicator after being called a clod. But you're right that she didn't even care enough to confirm the kill, and probably assumed the Cluster would taker her out if not

[veggiedragon]

Fun fact! "Blood is thicker than water" is actually a truncated quote. The full saying is, "The Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb". So by the original meaning, Drop Beat Dad is not a refutation but in agreement with the phrase.

[DumbIdeaPresentedStupidly]

1:05:25 Greggs song that got turned into a commercial is Just a Comet which is just before he met rose. So it is not a love song he wrote for rose. It was the song that caught Roses attention, which is why pearl responds "This is what did it? Burgers???"

[UnexploredBlue]

I personally think that they didn't need to "redeem" jasper. There seems to be this message the fandom has projected onto the show where all villains needed to have been redeemed when it was never about that. The show frames the antagonists to be the way they are initially because they are incapable of accepting change, and redemption is never once a word used in the text.
By the end of future, she has at least accepted that Pink Diamond is gone and Steven doesn't want her to serve him. While that may not be as satisfying to some people, it at the very least ties up that loose end in a way that makes sense for Jasper's character.