Humor m e. What, pray tell, is it about the writing for the Gems in these "drama episodes" that you find so terrible? Or do you just not like drama period?
I was waiting for this.
It's not so much that I dislike drama, but more that I think that the show's format is ill-suited to more dramatic episodes in general. The episodes for steven universe are limited to 11 minutes, so you need to pack the set up, conflict, and resolution into that small period of time. I think the writers of the show do a great job of this for the more comedic episodes and episodes with more down-to-earth and slice of life themes to them, but I don't think they particularly excel at doing this with the more dramatic episodes.
The best "Drama" episode, I feel, is Jasper's introduction. This is by virtue of essentially being a two-part episode that functions as a single package, which I wish the show would use more often since it lets them have a more consistent tone over the course of 22 minutes, rather than trying to pack everything into a single 11 minute episode.
The thing with most "drama" episodes in the show is that they have a tendency to whiplash right into the drama with no particular rhyme or reason. I think that it's something that has worked earlier on in the show, because a sudden change of mood can help establish that these characters can function in more tense or dramatic situations (Good examples being Cat Fingers and Steven the Sword Fighter, in my opinion), but I think that when you try to have major emotional developments in a short amount of time, you don't really get the lingering emotion that such episodes should warrant. You just get a sore neck from how hard the episode whiplashed. If the show used more two parters for these heavy hitting emotional episodes, I think that they could be able to give them the emotional punch that they deserve to have, rather than having to fit them into a more condensed period.
Going back to the whiplash, another problem that I have with the "drama" episodes in SU is how they follow a particular "formula" for the most part. That formula generally being
"Innocuous/Wacky Setup -> sudden emotional twist -> lots of angst -> moody lack-of-resolution".
In a show with longer episodes, this wouldn't be as much of a problem, since longer episodes can lend themselves more to a creation of a better atmosphere or mood and a more fluid transition away from the initial lighthearted set up, along with being able to resolve the at least part of the conflict that had been set up. Imagine if the last few episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender's Book Two, arguably one of the show's most emotional high points, had been condensed to a single episode. The whole ordeal would feel rushed, lacking in true emotional value, and ultimately not as good at all in comparison to a climax that had been being built to over the course of several episodes.
Imagine if the Bloodbending episode from Book 3 of the same series, considered by many fans to be one of the most terrifying episodes in the series, had been only 11 minutes long. You would lose most of the episode's tension, atmosphere, and emotional development by having what should have been a longer episode having its potential wasted by a shorter format. This is where I think SU is not very strong in its writing, because it tries to put episodes that should have stronger atmospheres and emotion impacts into small spaces.
While I think that this kind of thing is okay for episodes that focus more on showing how the characters can deal with more emotional or tense situations (Again, Cat Fingers and Steven the Sword Fighter), I feel that
major character revelations and emotional developments should not be limited to this format. This is where my most major issues with the Gems' writing in more dramatic episodes comes in.
I just wanna say that I do love the Gems as characters (except, at the time of this writing, Pearl, but I will say that I absolutely loved her early on and hope that they give her more positive development in the future), but I feel that the majority of episodes that focus on developing the Gems are very forced and come with no particular warning or buildup, this is in relation to the formula for drama episodes that I mentioned above.
I'll compare it to Steven's development that we've had over the course of the series. In general, Steven's development comes in small victories. He helps beat the monster of the week, he helps someone in the city with a problem, he learns a little more about the world or himself. It's little steps that serve as pieces of a bigger puzzle that forms a picture of a different Steven. The Steven we have in current episodes in very different from the Steven that he had the beginning of the show, but the core of Steven's character remains the same. Steven still has the same likes and interests, but how he acts, interacts, and perceives has changed significantly.
Now, let's compare Steven's development to that of another character that has changed very much over the course of the show: Pearl. Pearl is a very different character in current episodes than she was in episodes, but it is less because of gradual development over the course of the series and more due to sudden character developments that changed Pearl's core character. The Pearl we have now came during "Rose's Scabbard", an episode that marked a noticeable shift in Pearl's core character, her now-infamous Rose Quartz obsession.
I call this a change to Pearl's core character because it completely changed how the fandom perceived Pearl as a character, and cast harsh implications on her interactions with Steven in previous episodes (these implications being further compounded by Sword to the Sword). I wouldn't have as much of a problem with these developments if they had more gradual buildup to a tipping point, moreso than being thrust upon us suddenly as we are forced to accept these developments. What's more, we are forced to accept these developments regardless of how they clash with previously established characterization (Imagine early series Pearl's reaction to being told that current series Pearl willingly let Steven potentially fall to his death with no attempt to help him at all. She'd be fucking
furious).
I'm singling out Pearl here because I feel that she's the most drastic example of this in the series. Garnet and Amethyst have had problems with this as well, but they haven't had their core character overwritten in the process of their emotional development (Amethyst's sudden existential angst was very whiplashy, but the overall idea fits well with her hedonistic attitude. Garnet's severe stroke of poor judgement in Future Vision didn't seem in-character, but the overall idea that she sees many possible bad ends for Steven/everyone fits well with her protective nature for him) but Pearl doesn't have luxury. She has become the bitchy, obsessed, selfish jerk when she wasn't before. She's a completely different character and it came all at once and it's basically here to stay.
I don't even have a particular problem with Actually Pretty Horrible Pearl at the core, but the real problem arises from how drastically her character has changed in such a dramatically little time. Rather than actual character building, we get a sudden character shift that basically threw out the bulk of Pearl's core character and replaced it with something very different. It's like if "Keeping It Together" Garnet became the standard Garnet, or if "On The Run" Amethyst became the standard Amethyst. It wouldn't make the characters actually any more deep or interesting, but more a forced attempt at simulating depth through drama, which I've already stated that I think that the show is not particularly good at, due to formulaic approaches and a format that severely limits their ability to create truly profound emotional moments.
This is why I prefer episodes that focus on Steven. He's the best written character in the show by virtue of them actually being able to properly string together his development as a character, rather than suddenly giving him major changes, regardless of how those core concepts may be interesting.
This is why I think Steven and Connie are the best couple in the series, because we see their relationship and dynamic evolve more fluidly, rather than them just suddenly being something else (Connie becoming the sword to Steven's shield in Sworn to the Sword was a fantastic development overall and completely in line with Connie's character development and her evolving dynamic with Steven, even if I think the episode was generally poor due to, again, Gem drama).
I apologize if this is less coherent than I would have hoped, because I'm hella tired, but these are essentially my feelings.
I feel that the show's effective drama (small scale things like Steven the Sword Fighter, but also the two parter like Mirror/Ocean Gem, and Return/Jailbreak) is held back overall by a mostly incompatible format, emotional whiplash, character whiplash, and a now very bland formulaic approach to dramatic episodes.
I still really do love this show and don't have a problem with fans that do enjoy the Gem drama, but I feel that the show's flaws cannot be overlooked and must be critically analyzed in order to determine whether or not newfound developments are actually good beyond their initial shock value.
I'm going to bed. I didn't expect to write an essay. cite your sources, kids. brush your drugs twice a day and don't do teeth.
