lesbian-cheeto-consumer:

Let’s talk about season 1 episode 38 “the test.”

Steven finds out that the mission to the sea spire was a test, and that he failed, and he demands a new test so he can really prove himself. Then when taking the new test that the gems gave him he realizes that it’s totally rigged and there’s no way for him to fail. Then he overhears them talking about how worried they are about him, how they need to give him a confidence boost, and how worried they are that they don’t know how to raise him, that they don’t know how to show him how to be a gem, that since he’s half-human and his existence is so unprecedented, they have no idea what he really needs.

And the way Steven reacts to this is IMO one of the biggest turning points for his character. He goes out of the test and meets the gems at the end, and instead of being like, “guys, what the fuck, this is not what I asked for, this is not what I needed” he gives them this detailed “you guys, that was so great and WOW I thought I wasn’t gonna make it but then I DID” and he ends with “thank you …that was just what I needed” and my POINT is Steven decides, even after feeling betrayed and humiliated (like anybody would! After finding out a test they thought was genuinely designed to help them prove themself was RIGGED), Steven decides that the important thing in that moment is to make the GEMS happy, and he decides to take care of them. This is, to me, the beginning of Steven maturing and putting other people’s needs before his own. Instead of letting the gems take care of him and not really thinking about their state of mind and how hard that is, steven decides he has to take care of the gems too, has to be responsible for their happiness as much as they are for his. And that’s a moment we all have! (Or, at least, it’s one I hardcore relate to.) When we realize our parents don’t have a handbook, and that they may be really struggling with knowing how to raise us, and that they are people with needs and they depend on us as much as we depend on them, and we decide to start taking care of them the same way they take care of us. Steven does exactly what the gems have done for him in this episode: he lies to make them feel better. But it’s so much more than that. It’s Steven starting to grow up.

Anyway, this show makes me want to cry sometimes. It’s genius.