Rebecca Sugar’s Cartoon Network animated series Steven Universe has been a source of progressive delight for both children and adults since 2013. A fantastical story of a half-human, half-gem boy and his adventures with the refugee aliens known as the Crystal Gems—the 11-minute show has gained a reputation over the last seven years as a musical haven for people who are different or alone, telling bite-sized stories about love, war, community, gender and repentance. Over time, those stories expanded into larger arcs within the show’s overarching intergalactic mythos, and the war that prevented the Earth’s destruction and led to Steven’s birth.
Now, after a six-season run and a finale musical film that premiered last summer, Sugar’s epilogue series Steven Universe Future has introduced a brand new status quo. With the war against the Gem Homeworld finally won, the new story tackles Steven’s need to focus inward now that he no longer has the weight of the universe on his shoulders. Building on the story of the original series—in the aftermath of a gem war and the introduction of a new intergalactic peace—Steven Universe Future makes the argument that introspection and self-healing are a significant and important part of emotional growth.
Explaining the show’s intricate mythology would take time, but the basics are as follows: Steven Universe is a half-human half-gem boy (now teen) who grew up as part of the Crystal Gems—a small group of alien refugees leading a rebellion on earth to protect the planet from terraforming by their home planet, Homeworld. The Crystal Gems were initially led by Steven’s mother Rose Quartz—a legendary resistance fighter infamous for shattering the famed Pink Diamond. But Rose gave up her physical form to give birth to her son, and Steven inherited her gem. Tragically, it was later revealed that Rose was none other than the missing Pink Diamond in disguise— the youngest member of Homeworld’s Diamond Authority, and the person whose death had ended the gem war.
Much of Steven Universe’s final two seasons dealt with Steven discovering the truth about his mother and the extent of the harm she had caused. Now, a more mature Steven finds himself having to deal directly with the full extent of Rose’s tyranny and the ripple effects of her actions on the gems around her. With his ultimate goal of peace achieved, the only thing left is to reconcile his own feelings of responsibility for the things that were done in the name of his diamond gem. Now that he is in full possession of the truth, Steven’s new imperative is to give himself permission to let go of the emotional burden of repenting for his mother’s sins. Having finally settled his issue of identity, Steven is now working through his own self-conception, his guilt at his mother’s actions and his desire to make up for her mistakes as he learns more about the full extent of her abuse and cruelty.
In many ways, Rose is the series’ original villain. Flighty and impulsive, she chose to incite a war against her own family rather than explain her new desire to preserve life on earth. Her actions led to the death of many gems, and the secrets she kept damaged the gems who tried to uphold her legacy. Though he had grown up hearing stories about her bravery and selflessness, it became clear over time that Rose was motivated only by self-regard and that she needlessly put thousands of gems in danger by keeping her true identity a secret.
Each of the new series’ episodes has dealt in some way with Steven’s need to slow down, look inward and acknowledge the trauma he himself suffered in the face of learning the truth about his history and identity. Steven’s selflessness and heart have positioned him as the polar opposite of his mother in many ways. But despite his best efforts to restore balance to the universe, he is still left to deal with his mother’s smaller cruelties. His reluctance to completely face the hurt he is feeling begins manifesting in new powers borne of anger—inevitable outbursts resulting from repression.
But Steven can’t seem to figure out how to let go of his old role. He’s older now and his understanding of the world has matured, but he still feels burdened by the weight of expectation. In classic Steven fashion, he focuses on helping the gems around him, but this time he’s doing it at the expense of taking care of himself. Every time he represses his feelings, he is left drained and exhausted from the effort. But Steven Universe Future makes it clear that the only way for Steven to heal is to embrace the trauma that his mother inflicted on him and figure out how to come to terms with his own feelings.
Steven Universe became a sensation in part because of its studied and mature examination of difficult issues. Framed with bright colours and catchy tunes, the show gave audiences a young male protagonist who was always concerned about the welfare of others, deeply committed to striving for equitable solutions and extremely invested in the happiness of those he loved. But Steven was always able to approach the world with the naive optimism of a young child. As he finally gets older, Steven’s struggle with the difficulties of the world reflect his growing understanding of the hard choices we must all make in life. Now that the broken heart is his own, we get to see the hard work that goes into healing emotional wounds instead of just physical ones.