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Why I wish people would stop saying Steven Universe is ending
All right y'all, I know I’m not the only person saying this but maybe I can help put this into perspective for you.
No, there is no indication that Steven Universe is ending or has ended.
It’s not difficult to see why some people are suggesting this. It’s largely based on how quickly longstanding mysteries were wrapped up in “Change Your Mind” (bringing back Jasper, what is Steven’s “real” identity, what happens if he loses his Gem, finding a workable treatment for corruption) and how many long-awaited elements were spotlighted in the episode (Lars and Sadie reuniting; the Off Colors making it to Earth; new outfits for everyone; the appearance of a Steven/Pearl Fusion, a Steven/Garnet Fusion, and a reveal for the modern version of the Temple Fusion). Combined with a reprise of the theme song and a special-length epic episode, it’s hard to not read this as a finale.
It’s certainly written as one. Not necessarily for the show, but for an arc they built and fed into for a long time.
So I understand. I do. But.
Please stop saying it’s obvious the show is over because YOU can’t personally imagine what they could do next.
I’m seeing a lot of this. “What else do they have to wrap up? They montaged through all the stuff we had left to see. There’s nothing else to do. The dangling threads they did leave aren’t enough to make another season about. I can’t imagine they have anything left to tell us.”
That’s right. YOU can’t imagine, naysayer. But they can, and they have.
Remember when some scenes from the “Heart of the Crystal Gems” arc and the episode “Legs From Here to Homeworld” leaked, causing popular fan theorists and even reputable news sources to start blasting CARTOON NETWORK SPOILS THE FINAL EPISODE OF STEVEN UNIVERSE?
Remember how people were saying “well obviously if the Diamonds are interacting peacefully with Steven, that’s the end, that has to be the last episode, it’s over”?
They COULD NOT IMAGINE that we had anywhere else to go from there. They COULD NOT IMAGINE that the show would take us beyond that to a place where conflict and resolution were still out there to explore even if it didn’t involve these particular characters beating up on each other anymore. There were so many people who were so sure this couldn’t be a thing unless the show was ending–that they said it with confidence, they said it uncritically, they said it in multiple reputable news stories.
They were wrong. Those scenes happened in episode 153 and then there were more than half a dozen more episodes since, proving that those scenes did not come from a final episode.
But now people are making the same mistake again.
I realize some of you are used to seeing this sort of thing when shows end (at least, on the shows that get to choose their ending instead of being cancelled and cut off). I realize that this FEELS very final because of some of the tropes and tells they chose. But I find it really baffling that so many fans are ignoring all these other reasons to know the show is continuing:
- The movie was promoted right after “Change Your Mind,” slated for fall 2019. If they have nowhere to go from here, what do you think they’re making a movie about?
- The voice actors, writers, and creators have repeatedly discussed continuing sessions and future plans in all the supplementary materials–podcasts and tweets give you audio and visual evidence that content is still being made. What do you think they’re doing with that stuff if there’s nothing else to this story?
- There are many plot and character threads we can see addressed still–not only those set in place by the circumstances of “Change Your Mind’s” ending, but those unaddressed, like what is going to happen to the Zoomans and the Famethysts and the bubbled Rose Quartz Gems, or what the heck is in Lion’s treasure chest.
- This package of episodes created a satisfactory ending to what episodes had been ordered at the time that they were written. Matt Burnett and Ben Levin left the show following this season (to write Craig of the Creek), and they’ve discussed how they have come to the end of the episodes that were ordered when they completed their work and departed. (And now they’ve joked that if they want to find out what’s coming next, they just walk over there and peek. It’s got to still be going on for them to do that.) It feels the way it does because they did write it with a stopping point. There have been a few of those (“Ocean Gem” was another one).
- TV is a difficult medium to write stories for because so much is unknown about the future of your show, so you have to be flexible. They wrote it so they could go on or not depending on how the dice fell. They fell to give us more.
- I know we don’t have an “official confirmation of Season 6,” but seasons have consistently been meaningless on this show. (I remember seeing Ian Jones-Quartey express frustration with fan fixation on how to define what goes in what season, since it’s pretty arbitrary.) Some people took information they THOUGHT they knew (that they did not know) to explain to others how many episodes we could expect and how the story would therefore unfold, but they were wrong. Unless they are insiders, they will continue to be wrong if they keep basing their understanding of how this show will be handled on how other shows usually handle their storytelling.
- ON THE DAY THAT STEVEN UNIVERSE DOES COME TO AN END, I believe (but don’t KNOW) that the process will be more like Adventure Time’s was: Adventure Time was handled very similarly to Steven Universe in many ways, and when that show was determined to be ending, not only was there an announcement that SAID SO, but then we also got little milestones along the way featuring boarders and writers finishing their last episodes, and then more than a YEAR later the finale finally aired. Given that, I’m confused why people seem to think it’s logical that Steven Universe would just end there with no explanation and no announcement. You haven’t seen an announcement about it wrapping because IT ISN’T DOING THAT RIGHT NOW.
I know I don’t speak for everyone, but considering how well this show handles its reveals, I think it’s really arrogant for fans and critics to insist it has nothing else worthwhile to show us or will necessarily go downhill from here if it continues.
I feel it has a wonderful mixture of reveals that no one sees coming and reveals that we predicted (or could have). It consistently finds a way to do things we expected in ways we didn’t, or to throw curveballs that we retroactively see were supported with subtext and subtle tells. If you’re honestly telling me you’ve watched this show for five seasons and you don’t trust it to surprise and delight you again, I’m confused about what show you think you’re watching. I’m not demanding people love it, and I’m not saying you can’t criticize it or wish for more content or different content with your favorite characters or plot elements, but if you’re still here watching this show and you’re not just hate-watching it at this point, give it some breathing room. I wanted to write something comforting here to reassure people that there’s no indication the show is ending, but I’m honestly just kinda angry at all the pessimism and naysaying.
I remember when “Escapism” premiered on the Steven Universe Podcast, context free, and everybody had a theory about who sang it. There was so much arrogance! OBVIOUSLY this is a Lapis song. Oh wait no, that doesn’t make sense now that she ran away and came back. OBVIOUSLY this is a flashback Pink Diamond song. OBVIOUSLY this is a White Pearl song. OBVIOUSLY this is Steven song, a Blue Diamond song, etc. People thought they were reading black and white messages but they were not. They were developing headcanons and becoming so confident about them that they developed expectations about what this song owed to them. Guess what? The song was Stevonnie’s voice as a soundtrack to a possessed watermelon. You didn’t know. And you don’t know now.
Please listen to what the actual Crewniverse people are telling you about the ongoing production of the show and stop spreading the misleading information that it is known to be ending. I believe we will be given time to handle that news, like we were with Adventure Time, and that like most things with Steven Universe, it will complete its story gently, gracefully, and with resolution to questions and arcs–both for those we’ve had for some time and for those we don’t even know are coming yet.
Trust in the imagination and heart that inspired this show. All evidence suggests they have plenty more to share with us.
tl;dr: Just because someone can’t imagine what might come next in Steven Universe doesn’t mean the show is ending. There is overwhelming evidence that there is more, and some people in this fandom have a history of unfounded overconfidence in their expectations for its future. Wait and see.
gummycore
