Review: Steven Universe “So Many Birthdays”

Spoilers!

The Gems are looking for something in Amethyst’s temple. They find an old picture of the Gems with Steven’s mother. After seeing this, and Amethyst puking from a rotten burrito, Steven gets sad from hearing the gems don’t celebrate birthdays. Steven plans to put parties for all of the gems, but it goes awkward for all of them. Garnet and Pearl feel like they are too old, but Amethyst loves it, because Steven is doing things his Dad does for him on his birthday.

Feeling sad, he takes a walk down the boardwalk. As he’s walking, his gem starts aging really fast. Lion brings him to the other Gems as they are cleaning up the parties, feeling really bad about Steven. The funniest bit in this series happened when they get to Garnet, who is still wearing the crown and cape from Steven’s birthday suit. Garnet is wearing it, surprisingly enough, because it makes her feel important.they think that if they celebrate birthdays, that he would age back. But he only is getting older. After Garnet attempts Shaken Old Person Syndrome, Steven starts telling them that he feels bad, and they need to stop arguing. As he is ranting, his age is fluctuating. So, they deduce that since he’s half-human, his gem makes his age fluctuates to his state of mind. They make him feel young again, and he reverts back to his normal age, from his torso upwards, anyway.

One of the best parts of this was Garnet and the cape and crown. You would never think she’d feel anything other than a rock of sorts. Wanting to feel important is something you wouldn’t expect from Garnet. It’s so out of left field. There’s Rebecca Sugar, bringing the feels, again. Actually, this show in general has taken a lot of shots to the feels. Steven Universe is coming very close  to just being a feels show. Considering the writers keep playing on Steven’s naivety, I have a gut feeling that these are going happening more often. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, though.

Steven’s age fluctuation was a really cool plot point, because it puts some tangibility to that feeling when you realize that you outgrow something. We’ve all had it before, and we all made it through. Granted, we always didn’t get a chance to put someone else in place, but we get through it. And Steven got through it. This, in essence, was Steven’s coming of age tale. And it was damn good television.