Steven Universe
Cast & Key People
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Our Review
Rebecca Sugar’s masterpiece, the most emotionally intelligent animated series ever made. Steven, the half human half-Gem son of a deceased alien rebel leader, lives in Beach City with the Crystal Gems (Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl), his mother’s old war comrades-turned found-family, and the show grows up with him: what starts as a monster of-the week beach comber becomes, across 160 episodes, a profound meditation on grief, identity, trauma, and love, queer, found, and otherwise, that treats its young audience with total respect.
The Gems’ history maps emotional truth onto sci-fi structure with unmatched elegance (Fusion as intimacy, the corrupted Gems as PTSD). The songs. “Stronger Than You,” “Here Comes a Thought,” “Love Like You”, are genuinely great. Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding was the first same sex wedding on a kids’ cartoon network. The finest thing Cartoon Network ever produced.
Verdict: Essential. Believe in Steven.
