'Steven Universe' Season Three Recap

​Written by Shae Rufe

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Steven Universe is an amazing show that, as many of you know, I fell in love with during a very hard time in my life. This show has continued to hold a special place in my heart, and with 'The Summer of Steven' over and season four under way, I thought it time to revisit this show in blog form. Let's talk feels and recap, shall we? Spoilers ahead!

First and foremost, how awesome was 'The Summer of Steven'? Granted, it never lasts as long as we want it to, but Summer of Steven took us from July to August in a month of awesome, with an episode nearly every week night. We got to learn a lot about Steven and we also got to see some characters come together. Lapis Lazuli came into the show with a strong presence of anger and rage, but she's calmed quite a bit. Our lovely blue gem now calls Earth her home and is even living with Peridot of all people. Lapis spent a lot of time fused with Jasper, but it seems the two faced off against the Crystal Gems and lost. I loved Lapis' story arc in this season because we got to know her as a haunted, yet kind character. That is until Jasper reappeared and begged Lapis to fuse with her. We learned that it wasn't Jasper who had control over Malachite, but Lapis, for the most part. Sadly, the purely kind gem we know was abusive toward Jasper. This story was an amazing way to bring in a very tough topic that even adults don't talk about. Abuse is a hard subject for anyone, yet the truth is abuse happens in so many different forms. With Lapis and Jasper it was physical, but abuse can be mental and emotional as well. While these two were enemies, Lapis showed sincere regret in hurting Jasper and refused to do it again. While she admitted to part of her enjoying the abuse, Lapis knew it was wrong and she didn't like that about herself. I think this show needs an award for the amazing ways it brings to light that which we seldom talk about. I know people who've come out of emotionally abusive relationships, and I can say I've been in similar situation with past friends even. The sad truth is that abuse isn't talked about as often as it should be, but this show makes hot topics like that easy to talk about with how it confronts them. Of course, Lapis stays strong in her desire to never go back to that. She moves on and stands up for herself, and learns to be here. There's a lot about Lapis we still don't know, but that's part of the fun.

We also got to see Pearl and Greg come together. It's been a long time coming, to say the least. Yet Pearl's hate for Greg was always breezed over. And then we got an all musical episode and we learned a whole new side to the story. We all knew Greg and Rose met and fell in love and had Steven, but we never knew the extent of Pearl and Rose's relationship. We actually still don't. We did find out that Pearl was madly in love with Rose and the crushing truth that Rose didn't feel the same. Unrequited love is perhaps the cruelest of all things in this world, and we got to see that first hand as Pearl sang 'It's Over' and we fell in love. The song, while sad, was also cathartic, and in the end Greg heard the whole thing. The two finally seem to talk and by the end seem to even have a level of understanding. Rose is a mystery we may never get answers to, yet she left behind a whole lot to look into. Throughout Summer of Steven we did see more of Rose and we learned a lot about her. For one, Rose had many secrets. Aside from choosing Greg over Pearl, she also had a Crystal Gem hidden away from the others. Bismuth was the gem hidden in Lion's mane and she was very happy to be set free. The full half hour episode featuring the old Crystal Gem spoke volumes to what really happened in the rebellion. A turning point was about to occur and Bismuth was leveling the playing field. Bismuth are blacksmiths and their main purpose is to build spires, temples, arenas and so on for the Diamonds. Except this Bismuth, she invented a weapon that wouldn't just change the war, but win it. The Breaking Point was a weapon designed to shatter gems, unlike Rose's sword which only damaged their physical form. Rose's answer to this was to poof Bismuth and hide her away. She never told the others what happened to her... Sadly, Bismuth came and went far too soon. She tried to kill Steven and in an event that cannot unhappen, he poofed her and bubbled her away. The only difference is that Steven told the Gems everything, which included Rose's lie.

Lastly, Jasper. The arc of Jasper has been long and convoluted, yet we finally got to the end of the road, or did we? As it so happens Jasper was born on earth and her purpose was to fight the rebellion. She never got to officially fight Rose but she had heard a lot about her. Jasper spent her entire time stuck on earth calling Steven, Rose and refusing to believe he wasn't his mother. From her fusion with Lapis to the end of it, we got to see Jasper's path to corruption, and it wasn't a pretty one. Jasper's whole purpose is to fight and win, but against Steven that's kind of hard. Steven lost the battle to persuade Jasper that he wasn't his mother nor was he trying to manipulate her. Jasper's corruption was complete after she fused with a corrupted gem. Just before she turned into a monster we learned that Jasper wasn't just made on earth, her diamond was Pink Diamond. Of all the Diamonds only two have made an on screen appearance, and Pink Diamond has only been seen in one mural. We also learned that Rose was a soldier just like Jasper, which explained her giant pink hair. Through the Rubies who were searching for Jasper we learned that Pink Diamond was supposedly killed by Rose. Our world has been forever changed.

This conclusion to season three brought so many more questions with little answers. We finally got to see Smoky Quartz, who turned out to be the cutest fusion of Amethyst and Steven, we saw the corruption of a gem first hand; we also saw a half healed corruption with Centipeetle. Corruption turned out to cause damage to a gems mind, unlike a physical crack, corruption cannot be healed, so far. We also learned that Steven can possess other bodies, as he does with Lars. And so far, season three wrapped up with an amazing ending that has left us all wanting more and more. More is what we got, thankfully. Hopefully season four can captivate us just as strongly, which something tells me it will! What a wondrous adventure we're on!

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