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cjlasky7"Steven Universe" ended its six season run last night, with a four episode block to close out "SU: Future"--the semi-sequel series designed to do a full dive into the psychological disintegration of the protagonist.
"SU:Future" was an unusual experiment. It really had no external crisis to speak of. The Diamond Authority was properly defeated (and rehabilitated!) at the end of the main series. Our heroines, the Crystal Gems, were happy and leading new lives liberated from dark threats from Homeworld; Connie, Steven's OTP, was ready to go to college; even Greg, Steven's slacker dad, found a new lease on life in the music biz managing Sadie and her band.
All his friends and loved ones were doing great...
So why was Steven falling apart?
Steven Universe followed the pattern of many shonen anime series where the fate of the universe rested on the shoulders of an adolescent hero. But in these series, all the horror, the pain of war, the constant life or death struggles never seemed to affect the protagonist. So SU creator Rebecca Sugar wondered: what if we showed the psychological damage done to Steven from all his battles?
It was not a pretty picture. Steven's increasingly erratic behavior was downplayed by the other characters, because they all saw Steven as the same rock he'd been for the previous five seasons. They didn't figure on Steven succumbing to PTSD, or feeling confused about how to live a normal life after the battles were over.
As a longtime fan, watching Steven flail around while his loved ones were moving forward could be heartbreaking. When Steven decided that marrying Connie was the way to happiness, every SU fan in the audience swallowed hard and whispered, "Oh Steven--Steven, no." Connie loved him dearly, but she had other plans for her life at the moment. We cringed as Steven planned a beautiful picnic, sang her the sweetest love song--and crashed and burned spectacularly.
Even after Connie's Mom (Dr. Maheshwaran, series hero!) properly diagnosed the problem (by treating him like a regular kid, not an anime character), the supporting cast couldn't pull Steven out of his spiral. His fight with Greg in "Mr. Universe" was another gut punch--not only because it fed Steven's ever increasing anger, but because it exposed Greg's limitations as "cool rock and roll dad." (I could see a similar fight happening in my future...)
The ultimate manifestation of Steven's psychic crisis could have been pulled straight from the BUFFY playbook: Steven thinks he's a monster... he becomes a monster: a sixty-foot reptilian beast (Steven Kaijuniverse!). And if the resolution to that crisis seemed simplistic--a literal group hug--the series had spent five plus seasons building emotional relationships to set up that moment. We knew what every single character in that hug had learned by having Steven in her life and what they'd be willing to sacrifice to make him whole again.
So Steven started on the road to wellness, both metaphorically and literally. He left his home behind to see what the world had to offer him. He didn't have to be the savior anymore; he didn't need to be perfect. Besides, as Greg said in the second episode of the mother series, a long time ago: "If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs."
*************************
The comparison to BUFFY is not made lightly here. The AV Club reviews of SU:F have constantly compared this set of episodes to Buffy S6, and I do see the similarities. Both dealt with the protagonist's emotional crisis rather than a major external threat and both cut away a section of the series metaphor to deal with the problem as if it were happening in real life.
I have always had problems with S6 Buffy, but none of them had to do with the central premise. If anything, I wanted more Buffy vs. Real Life material, like "Flooded" and (yes, kids) "Doublemeat Palace." But the year long plotlines with the rest of the Scoobs--and I'm including Spike here--were too muddled, underwritten or just plain unsatisfying, and they distracted from Buffy's battle with depression. We never really got to see Buffy work through a breaking point the way Steven did--and her 'psychological resurrection' in "Grave" had no impact.
Maybe it's because SU:F had the equivalent of five hours and Buffy had to fill 22, but SU:F worked better for me because it was laser focused on the main character. It's not that the supporting cast didn't have great moments (they did), but none of it distracted Sugar and her crew from dealing with the matter at hand. So when the fully assembled Crystal Gems (and Greg!) went in to hug Kaiju!Steven, the room did get a bit misty. (Damn humidifier....)
************************
I am going to miss this show. What will Steven do with the rest of his life? Will he eventually marry Connie (and will Garnet use one of her 532 wedding plans)? Are Pearl and Bismuth like, together together?
Well, there's always fanfic.....
"SU:Future" was an unusual experiment. It really had no external crisis to speak of. The Diamond Authority was properly defeated (and rehabilitated!) at the end of the main series. Our heroines, the Crystal Gems, were happy and leading new lives liberated from dark threats from Homeworld; Connie, Steven's OTP, was ready to go to college; even Greg, Steven's slacker dad, found a new lease on life in the music biz managing Sadie and her band.
All his friends and loved ones were doing great...
So why was Steven falling apart?
Steven Universe followed the pattern of many shonen anime series where the fate of the universe rested on the shoulders of an adolescent hero. But in these series, all the horror, the pain of war, the constant life or death struggles never seemed to affect the protagonist. So SU creator Rebecca Sugar wondered: what if we showed the psychological damage done to Steven from all his battles?
It was not a pretty picture. Steven's increasingly erratic behavior was downplayed by the other characters, because they all saw Steven as the same rock he'd been for the previous five seasons. They didn't figure on Steven succumbing to PTSD, or feeling confused about how to live a normal life after the battles were over.
As a longtime fan, watching Steven flail around while his loved ones were moving forward could be heartbreaking. When Steven decided that marrying Connie was the way to happiness, every SU fan in the audience swallowed hard and whispered, "Oh Steven--Steven, no." Connie loved him dearly, but she had other plans for her life at the moment. We cringed as Steven planned a beautiful picnic, sang her the sweetest love song--and crashed and burned spectacularly.
Even after Connie's Mom (Dr. Maheshwaran, series hero!) properly diagnosed the problem (by treating him like a regular kid, not an anime character), the supporting cast couldn't pull Steven out of his spiral. His fight with Greg in "Mr. Universe" was another gut punch--not only because it fed Steven's ever increasing anger, but because it exposed Greg's limitations as "cool rock and roll dad." (I could see a similar fight happening in my future...)
The ultimate manifestation of Steven's psychic crisis could have been pulled straight from the BUFFY playbook: Steven thinks he's a monster... he becomes a monster: a sixty-foot reptilian beast (Steven Kaijuniverse!). And if the resolution to that crisis seemed simplistic--a literal group hug--the series had spent five plus seasons building emotional relationships to set up that moment. We knew what every single character in that hug had learned by having Steven in her life and what they'd be willing to sacrifice to make him whole again.
So Steven started on the road to wellness, both metaphorically and literally. He left his home behind to see what the world had to offer him. He didn't have to be the savior anymore; he didn't need to be perfect. Besides, as Greg said in the second episode of the mother series, a long time ago: "If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs."
*************************
The comparison to BUFFY is not made lightly here. The AV Club reviews of SU:F have constantly compared this set of episodes to Buffy S6, and I do see the similarities. Both dealt with the protagonist's emotional crisis rather than a major external threat and both cut away a section of the series metaphor to deal with the problem as if it were happening in real life.
I have always had problems with S6 Buffy, but none of them had to do with the central premise. If anything, I wanted more Buffy vs. Real Life material, like "Flooded" and (yes, kids) "Doublemeat Palace." But the year long plotlines with the rest of the Scoobs--and I'm including Spike here--were too muddled, underwritten or just plain unsatisfying, and they distracted from Buffy's battle with depression. We never really got to see Buffy work through a breaking point the way Steven did--and her 'psychological resurrection' in "Grave" had no impact.
Maybe it's because SU:F had the equivalent of five hours and Buffy had to fill 22, but SU:F worked better for me because it was laser focused on the main character. It's not that the supporting cast didn't have great moments (they did), but none of it distracted Sugar and her crew from dealing with the matter at hand. So when the fully assembled Crystal Gems (and Greg!) went in to hug Kaiju!Steven, the room did get a bit misty. (Damn humidifier....)
************************
I am going to miss this show. What will Steven do with the rest of his life? Will he eventually marry Connie (and will Garnet use one of her 532 wedding plans)? Are Pearl and Bismuth like, together together?
Well, there's always fanfic.....
