I write the following open letter to the popular Cartoon Network show, Steven Universe, whose conclusion has left many of its fans forlorn. It is a letter expressing my love and gratitude to a work of art that has influenced my life, the lives of many others, as well as the course of the medium of storytelling that is western animation.

To Steven Universe, I thank you, for everything…

In what may sound like a familiar scenario to those reading this, I was originally standoffish towards you. To me, you seemed like yet another entry into the glut of glitzy, absurdist, psychedelic or otherwise saccharine fare that has become so prevalent in animation over the past decade. However, enough like-minded viewers professed to being won over by your infectious charm to make me let my guard down and see you for what you were.

Although I’m loathe to recapitulate what you and your legion of fans already know, it helps me put things in perspective to summarize your content. The heroes of your story, the Crystal Gems are a coven of warriors hailing from a seemingly all-female race of alien beings. Their physical bodies are holographic projections from mystical gems, which allows them to display physical and magical prowess their human-like appearance would belie. They were once a part of a brutal Empire that swept across the universe, conquering planets and destroying all organic life. Unable to continue being party to this evil, they joined the rebel leader, Rose Quartz, on the planet Earth to throw off their yoke of tyranny.

They earned their freedom after a harrowing war that ended in a pyrrhic victory. Ever after they have lived on earth, fearful of their empire’s return, but coming to peace with their lives of exile. Confident the fighting was finished, Rose Quartz eventually fell in love with a human. Desiring a child, she sacrificed her physical form so that her son, Steven, would be born as a hybrid between man and gem. So it was that the Crystal Gems vowed to raise and teach the callow young Steven to harness the mystical powers bequeathed to him.

In the course of their adventures, Steven struggles to prove himself to the Crystal Gems who harbor unspoken resentment for the loss of their leader, which his existence represents. They, in turn, struggle to be worthy parents and guardians despite their incomplete understanding of humans and troubled pasts. Through their ordeals, they grow closer as a family and Steven becomes an adult and a leader worthy of the mantle of the Crystal Gems. To think that this story would come to resonate as it has with so many people is a testament to the storytelling potential of western animation. To me, personally, it came during a time of great anxiety, when I, like Steven, looked to the future with uncertainty and fear. Seeing him triumph in his adventures or simply bonding with his loved ones in heartwarming moments of reflection helped anchor me when I felt unmoored in the storm.

To think that I spent so long shunning you (until the spring of 2017 as I recall), makes me regret the contrarian mentality I held back then. I was too eager to buy into the backlash against your surging popularity, confident their distaste vindicated my jadedness. But that is precisely how you came to earn such strong affection and loyalty from me; from how thoroughly and unabashedly you defied my expectations. Other shows of this age either feverishly shoe-horned social commentary where it didn’t belong or tacked on token characters for disingenuous representation. Many of your detractors were quick to lot you in with this fad after seeing how prolific LGBT characters became in your narrative, but I quickly saw the baselessness of these allegations.

In fact, the first of these relationships you portrayed, between the fastidious Pearl and the all-loving Rose Quartz, was expressly shown to be one-sided, unhealthy and tragic. You clearly demonstrated these relationships with a sense of dimension rather than merely as tools with which to pander. To you, they were characters first and soapboxes second. Moreover, those you portrayed in this way all displayed motives and desires that made me care for them.

In this regard, fusion was your greatest asset. As beings of holographic light, many of the Crystal Gems could “fuse” their light-based physical forms together, resulting in an entirely new entity that combined their powers, appearances, and personalities in ways that could be useful for combat. Their effectiveness to this end would rely on how in-sync each individual character is with each other, making their respective character development directly relevant to the goings-on. Thus, with this cleverly crafted aspect of the gems’ ecology, the feelings they have for each other, romantic or otherwise, all drive the plot forward.

This made your world feel insular, with elements of your characters, plot, themes and setting all tied together so intimately. All of this I experienced before even the end of your first season before your story had truly begun in earnest. As viewers, we had long inferred the gems’ extraterrestrial nature, but to hear it confirmed so shockingly, for the Crystal Gems’ idyllic, heady little dream world they’d been snugly wrapped up in for so long to come crashing down around their ears…was a tour-de-force. The true Universe of your story opened up to us then and since it has been a wild ride exploring it with you.

Although, it is true that this ride has had its bumps along the way. You’ve always been a bit rough around the edges regarding production value, but I’ve loved you, warts and all for almost every step of the way…I stood by your side even when many fans’ goodwill soured, and sentiment turned against you. The gauntlet of harrowing hiatuses was rough on us all, but I knew they were something outside of your control…if only that were all…

By now you’ve picked up the tangent I’m on. As much as I’d like to reflect on your legacy with nothing but fondness, something has bothered me about the road you took to the finish line. In the same spirit of full disclosure that you yourself have espoused over the years, I have something to confess…Not all love-letters are pure professions of admiration, heaping praise on the recipient. Nonetheless, I still say with love in my heart…that I’m disappointed in you.

I don’t know if I’m qualified to point to where it all went wrong, but for me, it began towards the middle of season five. I began noticing a gradual decline in the quality of your writing. Your dialogue became more stiff and pedantic, particularly with Steven growing into his role as a leader. It was a welcome change from his earlier goofy, oblivious persona, but the advantage in that was allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions about what was going on. It created a show-don’t tell style of storytelling that made your world so intriguing to explore and build theories upon. That sense of mystery slowly evaporated with Steven beginning to take us by the hand and practically spelling out the moral of every episode.

Your plot progression grew more rushed, disjointed and forced. It was as though you were stampeding towards some resolution for fear of cancellation leaving you on a cliff-hanger ending. Based on Cartoon Network’s track record, I can sympathize with this fear only far too well. Yet, I would have rather seen you hold to your vision and have continued at your own pace, even under threat of cancellation. If it came to the worst, you could have finished the story in graphic-novel format as other equally reputable shows have done in the past. I hope I don’t sound too presumptuous. You might not have had even that luxury. But it still would have been preferable to blitzing through some of the most important denouements you’ve ever tackled: the revelation of Pink Diamond having been Rose in disguise, redeeming the villainous and tyrannical diamonds, the fusion of all the Crystal Gems combined! All within the space of a handful of episodes.

That was a dark time for us both. I didn’t know how to defend you from allegations of condoning fascism, vilifying Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond or simply having no clue what you were doing with your story, because I knew they had some grain of truth to them. But, all the while, I still rooted for you. I still made excuses for you…I still had a ray of hope when I heard you’d been given a privilege few other shows experienced, a made-for-tv movie and an epilogue series. I hoped beyond hope that you’d do the smart thing and take the opportunity to iron out the narrative wrinkles of season five and win back the crowd in a stunning triumph. But when those mulligans had come and gone, I realized you were less a victim of poor circumstance and more of your own poor judgment.

To be fair, the movie had some of your best musical work, yet another example of how you could give Disney a run for their money had you half-a-mind. I genuinely enjoyed it, and Spinel was a treat to watch if yet another irksome blot on Pink’s already spotty record. Otherwise, I can only call it an unfortunate case of style over substance. Much of the ground you’d covered had already been trodden before. I can only justify this wasted opportunity from a cynical business perspective. I suppose you couldn’t afford to lose the inevitable crowd of newcomers flocking to the event without bothering to catch-up on the story so far.

But that was nothing compared to what you did with Steven Universe Future. That was a patently false sell. From the intro sequence, you’d expect an upbeat, optimistic celebration of how all the characters have grown. Instead, you myopically focused on Steven’s downward spiral into a self-imposed mental aneurism. Now, I can legitimately understand the direction in which you were going. I can appreciate how many people grappling with stress and trauma will see themselves in this arc. Hitherto, tackling the big issues has been your strength and you were never afraid to show people going to some pretty dark places. Honestly, I admired you for that. People can be ugly to each other, which you unabashedly acknowledge.

But in Future, it’s like you undersold all the ways in which Steven has changed for the better. The “there is no happily ever after” mentality need not come at the cost of reneging on all the lessons Steven had learned, all the progress he had made as a leader and adult. Not only that, but there were other characters and plot threads that deserved at least as much attention that had to compete with yet more low-stakes townie episodes. You left so many loose ends hanging, so many things left unsaid. You didn’t raise the stakes or build on the universe you’d built in any meaningful way.

For all your strength with characters, you have always struggled with plot, to build and release tension, to provide satisfactory payoffs for your setups, and it plagued you till the end. I wish I could say you ended on a high note, but it breaks my heart to admit that you have ended far past your prime. I’m sorry to have been so harsh on you, but I consider it a matter of principle to hold the things I love to the highest scrutiny. All that said, you will always be one of my personal favorite shows, but it pains me to say that, with your recent performance, I can no longer objectively rank your quality where I’d like. Had you delivered on your true potential, had you maintained the momentum you’d built in earlier seasons, you could have easily entered the pantheon of great western cartoons alongside Avatar: The Last Airbender or Batman: The Animated Series. I know many of your other fans still hold you in such high regard, but I can no longer count myself among them.

I’m sorry…but it’s over. I didn’t want to part ways like this, but you also deserve to know…I’ve found someone else. I’ve been seeing The Owl House for the past few weeks. She’s been good to me so far, and the way things are looking, she may be my new favorite. It’s bittersweet knowing it wasn’t harder…but I’ve moved on…Goodbye, Steven Universe. Farewell.

Steven Universe: 8/10