Honestly 'Mr Universe' is possibly my favourite THING to come from the 'Steven Universe' franchise. It's something that I'm glad is being talked about more, because it's a very tricky thing to tackle, and it did it perfectly. It's very common for abusive parents to raise their child in a way that they feel is best, but which the child hates. Greg's parents raised him in a very strict, very controlled way where he had to do everything he was told. It wasn't just a simple dislike of their parenting style, it was clearly a genuinely abusive household, hence why Greg ran away from home and never went back himself, despite at least TRYING to speak to them again with his letters. But the thing is, it's entirely possible for the child of abusive parents to become abusive themselves, by deliberately living the opposite way. Don't get me wrong, Greg is a GREAT dad, but Steven has a point, Greg really didn't raise him properly at all. Greg was so hung up on not being like his own controlling parents that he ended up being too lax and casual with Steven's upbringing instead, rebelling against his abusive upbringing by making Steven's own upbringing equally abusive as a result. And worse still, we can see this already starting to repeat with Steven. He longs for the kind of controlled, strict upbringing that Greg had, genuinely believing it would've been better for him. One of Steven's biggest issues in this show is that he's lost and doesn't know what he's doing with his life, he doesn't know what's happening to him with his gem powers and doesn't know who to talk to. He WANTS someone to tell him what to do, to give him answers, to say 'go here at this time and do these things'. He's craving that exact kind of rigid structure, because he's always been lacking it in his own life thanks to Greg's casual upbringing. Even during the finale in the car, Steven keeps trying to reach out for help, but Greg keeps shutting him down with nice-sounding platitudes about how life isn't a race to be run through or whatever. He's not actually listening to what Steven needs, he just keeps trying to push his 'it's cool man' attitude onto the matter. Even when Steven crashes the van, Greg just keeps assuring him that he's proud of him. Steven, in essence, wants Greg to yell at him, to say 'what the hell are you doing?!', but he's getting nothing from him except the same hippie bullshit Greg ALWAYS comes out with. Again, I think Greg is a great dad to Steven, but he IS perpetuating the cycle of negligent parenting by not raising Steven properly, as a result of his own parents not raising him properly either. Greg's parents were too strict, Greg was too casual, and if Steven grew up without dealing with this, he probably would've been too strict himself.
Yes to all of this, especially the explanation of why Steven is so disillusioned with Greg at the end of the episode. He's just realized that his dad, the person he's looked up to his entire life, is just as imperfect in his own ways as everyone else. I feel like Steven has always seen Greg as someone who truly understands what he feels. As someone who will always have the answer to his problems. And now he sees that his dad doesn't get him at all and that the answer to his problems won't be coming from him. It really is crazy to me sometimes just how nuanced, mature, and honest this show gets.
Finally I meet someone else who realises that Greg's permissive parenting style was neglectful and harmful to Steven. I've had too many people make excuses for Greg's parenting style. Though I wouldn't say Greg's a great father, he's a loving father, but to label him as great or awful removes some level of complexity to his character.
@@henryreed4697 I agree with the last part. I was more trying to get across that I don't HATE Greg or think he was a BAD parent, he clearly loves Steven deeply and would do anything for him. The problem is just, as said, he's so hung up on his own bullshit with his parents that he doesn't always know what's best, and made some bad choices regarding Steven's upbringing like not taking him to school or to a hospital. His reasoning is understandable, but he did still rob Steven of those necessary life experiences. Again, my point was just that I don't think he's a bad parent or a bad person either, he's just misguided.
greg is trying SO hard to be better than his parents and be supportive for steven that he's not realizing the issue is the lack of structure he's providing steven. it's why steven disassociates at the end of the episode. instead of providing the structure steven needs and having a serious conversation about the argument and the car crash, instead he gently tells Steven that hes proud of him. steven just objectively put his father in serious danger, he doesn't want to hear that he did the right thing or whatever. god, no one in Steven's life has ever understood what he needs. it's so sad because the gems and greg clearly love him.
The utter shock this episode illicits with everything we know about Steven and what it means to be shattered. The bravest choice to take Steven this far.
Fragments is legit one of the most shocking moments in any show I've seen. At first I was a little bummed that they didn't keep Jasper shattered to show steven the consequences, but bringing her back and keeping her around I think might be more damaging in the long run. It's wild stuff.
Being bummed that Jasper was brought back from shattering was something I too initially felt, but ultimately what I realized is that the horror of this episode isn’t just that Steven made the worst possible mistake… the very reason this episode IS horrifying to watch is that not only is Steven powerful enough to shatter a Gem with ease, he’s powerful enough to bring them back from the brink as if it’d never happened, too. In a far more extreme way than the car crash in Mr. Universe, he is (his own words, this ep) “hurting people” without facing any immediate consequences for it. Instead of pushing back and holding him accountable as he seems to desire right now (because he doesn’t understand how to control this himself right now, he craves Structure, and he’s not getting it from anyone around him at the moment), his dad says he’s proud of him, and then Jasper finally acknowledges him as her Diamond. What a nightmare, oooof.
I think it’s hilarious that every reactor I’ve ever watched for Fragments has had the same reaction (some variation of “whoa how many years have passed??”) when Big Buff Anime Ass Steven shows up lol. If one takes the bit of Steven ability lore Kat mentioned from So Many Birthdays to its logical conclusion, then it would make sense that his form subconsciously changes to emulate Jasper’s during that training, because that’s the sort of mold Jasper was telling him he should fill, and he’s ever so impressionable right now with how fragmented his sense of self and purpose is. (Alas.)
Greg's parenting style, with the context of this episode, really reminds me of Toph from Avatar. She was raised with absolute oversight and never had any degree of freedom, which was traumatizing for her. So when she had kids of her own, her response was to go in the complete opposite direction, complete freedom. But that approach was harmful to her kids too, and they wound up resenting her for it. I love the way this show handles it, because it's clear that Greg is still valid in his rejection of his home life due to the effect it had on him, but it doesn't completely absolve him of blame for the way his choices impacted Steven. It's not black and white, which is true to real life. Jasper's character development/teaching Steven to fight is everything I wanted out of the prospect of Future as an ongoing series and not just an epilogue capper. Tbh Little Homeworld really needs a coliseum. A place where Gems can go and fight consensually and only to poof, never to shatter, or even just fight for points. A significant portion of the population are Quartzes; statistically SOME of them must still like to fight. Plus Little Larimar? You know she's an absolute beast. It would be so good for Jasper; her talents and abilities could be recognized and lauded in a healthy way. She could have friends, a community. Rebecca Sugar teased recently that a follow-up to Steven Universe is possible if there's enough fan interest (personally I'd rather a Lars of the Stars show where we occasionally see SU characters but ehh) so I sincerely hope brighter things are ahead for Jasper.
Wow what an amazing set of episodes. It’s so nice to see Steven connect with his dad, especially after spending most of his time with the gems and being in a war haha. Although Steven isn’t in a great place right now and he took it out on his dad, but they’ll work it out. Also wow… Steven shattering Jasper? He’s really letting out his diamond powers and losing himself a bit. Anyways I love your videos so much, you two are so funny and entertaining 😊
6:42 "Who is Lauren Hecht? She sure wrote a lot" - The answer is very briefly visible at 9:01 before you cut off the footage: she's the animatic editor. I wonder if there's an inside joke that she writes a lot of feedback on the animatics or something. 12:09 "No! The grass!" Does this count as character growth? At the start of the season, Jasper and Steven had a conversation along the lines of "It took me forever to tear out all those little green earthlings" "you mean grass?" "I don't know their names!" Greg's a bit like Toph. He was raised too strictly, then swung back the other way and didn't give his kid enough structure. It's a reasonably common pattern, and a tricky balance to get right when you only have one shot.
rewatching this episode made me realize a connection between Steven's confrontation with the gems in fragments and his outburst in prickly pair. in prickly pair he says "And I don't need anymore high and mighty advice from Garnet. I just want to know better for once!" in fragments, garnet says "Don't let this power control you. You're better than this." which... augh. with that context it's so clear that despite garnets intentions, this was absolutely the wrong thing to say to him in this moment.
Greg telling Steven he's proud of him was not it sadly. He almost killed them both and gets praised for it. The lack of structure and rules is the problem and it might have felt like enabling him when maybe he wish he was scolded. Don't get me wrong Greg's a great dad but his childhood also reflects his parenthood. Running away from too much strictness made him extremely loose And Steven thinks he needed that structure But doesn't realize it was also bad What he needed as a child was a balance of both Which neither him or Greg had. Yeah it's tough.
Look, i get these 2 episodes are deep and traumatic and all, but i'm just obsessed with Jasper's impression of Vergil from Devil May Cry as she screams POWER!!! at a confused Steven
Honestly 'Mr Universe' is possibly my favourite THING to come from the 'Steven Universe' franchise. It's something that I'm glad is being talked about more, because it's a very tricky thing to tackle, and it did it perfectly.
It's very common for abusive parents to raise their child in a way that they feel is best, but which the child hates. Greg's parents raised him in a very strict, very controlled way where he had to do everything he was told. It wasn't just a simple dislike of their parenting style, it was clearly a genuinely abusive household, hence why Greg ran away from home and never went back himself, despite at least TRYING to speak to them again with his letters.
But the thing is, it's entirely possible for the child of abusive parents to become abusive themselves, by deliberately living the opposite way. Don't get me wrong, Greg is a GREAT dad, but Steven has a point, Greg really didn't raise him properly at all. Greg was so hung up on not being like his own controlling parents that he ended up being too lax and casual with Steven's upbringing instead, rebelling against his abusive upbringing by making Steven's own upbringing equally abusive as a result.
And worse still, we can see this already starting to repeat with Steven. He longs for the kind of controlled, strict upbringing that Greg had, genuinely believing it would've been better for him. One of Steven's biggest issues in this show is that he's lost and doesn't know what he's doing with his life, he doesn't know what's happening to him with his gem powers and doesn't know who to talk to. He WANTS someone to tell him what to do, to give him answers, to say 'go here at this time and do these things'. He's craving that exact kind of rigid structure, because he's always been lacking it in his own life thanks to Greg's casual upbringing.
Even during the finale in the car, Steven keeps trying to reach out for help, but Greg keeps shutting him down with nice-sounding platitudes about how life isn't a race to be run through or whatever. He's not actually listening to what Steven needs, he just keeps trying to push his 'it's cool man' attitude onto the matter. Even when Steven crashes the van, Greg just keeps assuring him that he's proud of him. Steven, in essence, wants Greg to yell at him, to say 'what the hell are you doing?!', but he's getting nothing from him except the same hippie bullshit Greg ALWAYS comes out with.
Again, I think Greg is a great dad to Steven, but he IS perpetuating the cycle of negligent parenting by not raising Steven properly, as a result of his own parents not raising him properly either. Greg's parents were too strict, Greg was too casual, and if Steven grew up without dealing with this, he probably would've been too strict himself.
Yes to all of this, especially the explanation of why Steven is so disillusioned with Greg at the end of the episode. He's just realized that his dad, the person he's looked up to his entire life, is just as imperfect in his own ways as everyone else. I feel like Steven has always seen Greg as someone who truly understands what he feels. As someone who will always have the answer to his problems. And now he sees that his dad doesn't get him at all and that the answer to his problems won't be coming from him. It really is crazy to me sometimes just how nuanced, mature, and honest this show gets.
Finally I meet someone else who realises that Greg's permissive parenting style was neglectful and harmful to Steven.
I've had too many people make excuses for Greg's parenting style.
Though I wouldn't say Greg's a great father, he's a loving father, but to label him as great or awful removes some level of complexity to his character.
@@henryreed4697 I agree with the last part. I was more trying to get across that I don't HATE Greg or think he was a BAD parent, he clearly loves Steven deeply and would do anything for him. The problem is just, as said, he's so hung up on his own bullshit with his parents that he doesn't always know what's best, and made some bad choices regarding Steven's upbringing like not taking him to school or to a hospital. His reasoning is understandable, but he did still rob Steven of those necessary life experiences.
Again, my point was just that I don't think he's a bad parent or a bad person either, he's just misguided.
Truly one of the most heart breaking depictions of realizing that your parents are just people
greg is trying SO hard to be better than his parents and be supportive for steven that he's not realizing the issue is the lack of structure he's providing steven. it's why steven disassociates at the end of the episode. instead of providing the structure steven needs and having a serious conversation about the argument and the car crash, instead he gently tells Steven that hes proud of him. steven just objectively put his father in serious danger, he doesn't want to hear that he did the right thing or whatever. god, no one in Steven's life has ever understood what he needs. it's so sad because the gems and greg clearly love him.
The utter shock this episode illicits with everything we know about Steven and what it means to be shattered. The bravest choice to take Steven this far.
Mandatory "Kat's make-up is amazing" comment (scratches bingo card)
Fragments was so shocking. I can't believe Steven shattered Jasper. I was so scared by that
😨😨😨😱😱😱
Fragments is legit one of the most shocking moments in any show I've seen. At first I was a little bummed that they didn't keep Jasper shattered to show steven the consequences, but bringing her back and keeping her around I think might be more damaging in the long run. It's wild stuff.
Being bummed that Jasper was brought back from shattering was something I too initially felt, but ultimately what I realized is that the horror of this episode isn’t just that Steven made the worst possible mistake… the very reason this episode IS horrifying to watch is that not only is Steven powerful enough to shatter a Gem with ease, he’s powerful enough to bring them back from the brink as if it’d never happened, too. In a far more extreme way than the car crash in Mr. Universe, he is (his own words, this ep) “hurting people” without facing any immediate consequences for it. Instead of pushing back and holding him accountable as he seems to desire right now (because he doesn’t understand how to control this himself right now, he craves Structure, and he’s not getting it from anyone around him at the moment), his dad says he’s proud of him, and then Jasper finally acknowledges him as her Diamond. What a nightmare, oooof.
Also he literally brought back a non gem being, aka Lars, so Jasper's expected
The horror and realization following that however....
I think it’s hilarious that every reactor I’ve ever watched for Fragments has had the same reaction (some variation of “whoa how many years have passed??”) when Big Buff Anime Ass Steven shows up lol. If one takes the bit of Steven ability lore Kat mentioned from So Many Birthdays to its logical conclusion, then it would make sense that his form subconsciously changes to emulate Jasper’s during that training, because that’s the sort of mold Jasper was telling him he should fill, and he’s ever so impressionable right now with how fragmented his sense of self and purpose is. (Alas.)
Thus, the moment he’s snapped outta that state by what he did to Jasper, he reverts back to his standard form.
He went BANANAS
5:54 The Spoons having all 4 diamonds colors
Hmmmmm what are you trying to say Rebecca 😂
Greg's parenting style, with the context of this episode, really reminds me of Toph from Avatar. She was raised with absolute oversight and never had any degree of freedom, which was traumatizing for her. So when she had kids of her own, her response was to go in the complete opposite direction, complete freedom. But that approach was harmful to her kids too, and they wound up resenting her for it. I love the way this show handles it, because it's clear that Greg is still valid in his rejection of his home life due to the effect it had on him, but it doesn't completely absolve him of blame for the way his choices impacted Steven. It's not black and white, which is true to real life.
Jasper's character development/teaching Steven to fight is everything I wanted out of the prospect of Future as an ongoing series and not just an epilogue capper. Tbh Little Homeworld really needs a coliseum. A place where Gems can go and fight consensually and only to poof, never to shatter, or even just fight for points. A significant portion of the population are Quartzes; statistically SOME of them must still like to fight. Plus Little Larimar? You know she's an absolute beast. It would be so good for Jasper; her talents and abilities could be recognized and lauded in a healthy way. She could have friends, a community. Rebecca Sugar teased recently that a follow-up to Steven Universe is possible if there's enough fan interest (personally I'd rather a Lars of the Stars show where we occasionally see SU characters but ehh) so I sincerely hope brighter things are ahead for Jasper.
Wow what an amazing set of episodes. It’s so nice to see Steven connect with his dad, especially after spending most of his time with the gems and being in a war haha. Although Steven isn’t in a great place right now and he took it out on his dad, but they’ll work it out. Also wow… Steven shattering Jasper? He’s really letting out his diamond powers and losing himself a bit. Anyways I love your videos so much, you two are so funny and entertaining 😊
6:42 "Who is Lauren Hecht? She sure wrote a lot" - The answer is very briefly visible at 9:01 before you cut off the footage: she's the animatic editor. I wonder if there's an inside joke that she writes a lot of feedback on the animatics or something.
12:09 "No! The grass!" Does this count as character growth? At the start of the season, Jasper and Steven had a conversation along the lines of "It took me forever to tear out all those little green earthlings" "you mean grass?" "I don't know their names!"
Greg's a bit like Toph. He was raised too strictly, then swung back the other way and didn't give his kid enough structure. It's a reasonably common pattern, and a tricky balance to get right when you only have one shot.
rewatching this episode made me realize a connection between Steven's confrontation with the gems in fragments and his outburst in prickly pair.
in prickly pair he says "And I don't need anymore high and mighty advice from Garnet. I just want to know better for once!"
in fragments, garnet says "Don't let this power control you. You're better than this."
which... augh. with that context it's so clear that despite garnets intentions, this was absolutely the wrong thing to say to him in this moment.
These episodes are no longer ending on even a semblance of a good note 😬
Greg telling Steven he's proud of him was not it sadly. He almost killed them both and gets praised for it. The lack of structure and rules is the problem and it might have felt like enabling him when maybe he wish he was scolded.
Don't get me wrong Greg's a great dad but his childhood also reflects his parenthood.
Running away from too much strictness made him extremely loose
And Steven thinks he needed that structure
But doesn't realize it was also bad
What he needed as a child was a balance of both
Which neither him or Greg had.
Yeah it's tough.
5:14 Never noticed the "Uaua" before 😆
Who's watching Galifrey Fals and Galaxy Freaks 😎 luv u guys
... oh boy ... oh no ... nobody Panic... NOBODY PANIC ... aaaargh
With Steven Universe coming to an end, I have to ask, have either of you watched Arcane? (dont recall if asked before >
Look, i get these 2 episodes are deep and traumatic and all, but i'm just obsessed with Jasper's impression of Vergil from Devil May Cry as she screams POWER!!! at a confused Steven
IS THAT A LEMONADE CAPRI SUN
algoooooo :D