The Tragedy of Fragments (Steven Universe Future)

#StevenUniverse #Cartoons #Review

This is definitely not the Teen Titans video I've been hyping up for like 3 videos now.
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00:00 Intro
00:47 The Episode
09:28 Conclusion
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Music (By order of appearance, "Song - Media/Artist") :
Cianwood City - Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
Albumen Shore Awakening - Anodyne 2
Ravaged Rustworks - Hey! Pikmin
Snowstyle Bar - Rune Factory Frontier
Sephonie - Sephonie
Inner Quarters - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
I'll be here for a while - Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk
Guardian Palisade - Anodyne 2
As You Wish - Mother 3
Fly Me to the Moon - Sackboy: A Big Adventure

[LanaJuno]

When Steven opens his hand and shows Jasper, the music drops. When I heard it the first time, I thought: "This is it. There's no coming back. Steven literally murd3red someone!". It was so real and stressful - I was panicking with Steven all along! This episode is truly a piece of art!
P.S.: While many people think the shattering shouldn't be reversible, I think it's a cool touch since I see Steven Universe as a comfort show.

[twindrill]

That scene with Jasper's broken gem is so...unsettling. Especially when Steven tries to put the pieces back into place. I can only imagine what his initial reaction was to finding out he just shattered Jasper's gem when he likely only intended to poof her.

[blacksesamecandies]

Fragments was so insanely good I just wanted to keep watching Dark Steven and wish we had gotten far more episodes after this turning point than we did. I'm happy at least Future did address Steven as a character more, rather then him just being the catalyst for every other character's growth and how putting himself last for so long eventually snowballed into what we see unfold in Future.

[LittleMissFoxy]

I think this episode really showed that Steven became everything he didn’t want to become but it got one step worse by shattering Jasper. Because from my knowledge of the show and what I remembered I don’t remember Rose/PD shattering anyone in particular since she opted to bubble anyone. The only one she shattered was herself but maybe during the war she did but it was never stated from my memory (correct me if I’m wrong) but Steven actually shattering someone really set in he was no different than the other Diamonds. Which really hurt when I first saw this episode.

[merveeille]

4:30 I disagree, because when Steven moved in with the gems he had to spend a lot of time alone before he could join them on missions. I mean there were even a few episodes focused on Steven wanting to spend time with the gems and them being too busy (e.g together breakfast, roses room (?) or the one where he wanted to go mini golfing)

[hilariouschip]

6:43 you could also argue that the fuah part was foreshadowing because it is subtlety say that now steven is willing to take a life, which he does to a more damaging extent next time. But vegan to carnivore is kinda crazy especially for him

[jamtyx]

This episode had me absolutely speechless, The first time I watched it. Sometimes you get so wrapped up in your own head. You forget to tell yourself behind every action, There's a person and in the moment of watching this episode for the first time I had forgotten to ask the question. Why would Steven do something like this? I was so in shock with his actions. I completely ignored the cause. Thank you for making such an empathetic video, Such an insightful video. Steven Universe is awesome.

[Peridotxg]

Watching Fragments for the first time was... a shocking experience

[samvanroon]

As much as everyone wanted see Steven's Diamond powers the fact remained that there was simply nothing on a big enough level for him to truly safely use them on, Jasper was probably one of the strongest Gems there was short of the Diamonds and while she could push him to a degree she couldn't really stand up to his A game.
Jasper's training was actually half decent for getting a hold on his new powers, problem is while the training was good for his body in the long run it was detrimental to Steven's mind.

Side note for the most part Steven has never had to worry about lethal force as he was usually on defense and healing while everyone else actually delt the finishing blows usually, and the times he did it was usually in pretty extreme scenarios like with Bismuth, and with any finishers in fusion form his partner is where most of that experience is coming from.

[rawonions]

Your style of analysis is so thoughtful! Over the years there’s been a lot of negativity surrounding SU, so it’s refreshing to see praise for the things the crew were actually trying to do and breaking down character motivations and thematic parallels.

I believe back then it made us uncomfortable to see Steven really lose control. Because just like the crystal gems, we couldn’t really understand what steven was going through. Seeing him like that, being different from the steven we remembered him as, is scary.

I think after doing my fair share of growing up, I can relate to steven a lot more. And i think a lot of what people missed is just from not taking the time to empathize with these characters—approaching then from face value of their actions and the narrative itself.

[DarkPrincessAly]

I hope you cover growing pains, as I think it's one of the most important episodes to ever appear in children's programming and helped me, going on 25 when it first aired, come to terms with my own mental health issues, getting me actually thinking about therapy. It took a few more years for me to actually go through with it, but Growing Pains was the thing that really made me aware of how bad my trajectory was going.

I hope kids watched that episode and realized they needed help. I hope they got that help.

[veesaos]

I think Jasper in this episode can be understood as toxic masculinity (with she/her pronouns lol). Because Steven is such a subversive male character, we tend to forget that he's still a boy. He is still susceptible to the siren calls of the power that comes with being male in our society. Power and aggression give a lot of young men a sense of control when dealing with growing pains, and Steven is still a growing young man. I guess the real life equivalent of this is Jasper handing Steven a mic to record a misogynistic podcast lol

[TroublingZeal]

1:43 “going from least bad to Pearl” almost took me out

[iatewoodchipsforlunch]

6:51 and steven in an earlier episode (snow day i think?) he declares hes vegetarian which definitely ties back to what you said about steven's character (and also his morals) being corroded away. he doesnt care as much about sacrificing his morals at this point. i really hope that was intentional by the Crewniverse!!

[thevarietychannelofyoutube]

Is it unusual for this show to resonate with someone in his 20s? Because I just watched it a few months ago for the first time and I love it

[marielarubiodiaz]

It's one of those tragedies that don't make me cry but laugh with. It felt like finally seeing the rain drop after an incredibly warm day, just a release of everything that's been building up to. Yes it's super horrible for Steven and damaging but I loved it cause it showed how human he is and for me that's the real tragedy. If Steven had kept putting everyone himself till the end and never had shown resentment it wouldn't have been bad writing exactly but it wouldn't have been as sadisfactory and in character, this episode made Steven an actual character in the show, not a clutch, a human. How sad the action that he feels has dehumanized him completely it's the one that finally gives him personhood

[snekboiboop]

ahh a new ample samuel SU video!!! you're part of the reason i rewatched the whole series this summer!! imhappy you're making more videos on it!!

[gengargamer]

I adore Steven’s fall from grace in this episode

[him_shift]

Another wonderful analysis <3 There's so much heart in the way you talk about trauma and what shapes each characters' actions, and I like how you highlight the greys of the character instead of writing them off as bad people. When the SU fandom was at it's height, it was really divisive and wrote off some characters (Like Rose Quartz's background and Steven's behavior in Future), so it's really refreshing to hear someone talk about these episodes in a more empathetic light.

Hope to see more analysis videos from the channel!

[Kelpy]

This video was a great video I never got the chance to watch future but know I think I want to watch it