I think I know why they wrapped up so many plotlines so quickly

cant-get-enough-pearl:

I’ve been thinking and thinking so much about why they would wrap up so many things in such a short amount of time… why they would show three completely new but so extremely desirable fusions, as well as going through the “what if Steven got poofed” thing, and healing all the corrupted gems, and just everything in such a really, really short time.

I think I know the answer, maybe.

https://ew.com/tv/2018/08/13/steven-universe-rebecca-sugar-lgbtq-cartoons/

This is Rebecca Sugar talking about the hard times she had to go through to be able to give us Garnet’s wedding scene.

“We started talking about the wedding episode, I think, in early 2016 and it didn’t surprise me that there were roadblocks. I mean, when we were working on “Jail Break,” gay marriage was not yet legal in the US. Basically, what was interesting to me about the arc of this whole experience was that I ended up in many conversations where it was made clear to me that this was not something that should be in G-rated content and that there was a limit on how much we could show these characters, how close these characters could be with each other. And it was a little bit like staring into the sun because I felt the toll it was taking on my personal mental health and I realized that that is what is happening to millions of children because when this is not in this content, that is what is being said to them.”

and especially

“Ultimately, I said, “If this is going to cost me my show that’s fine because this is a huge injustice and I need to be able to represent myself and my team through this show and anything less would be unfair to my audience.” This was around 2016 and that’s when I began to speak openly about what we were doing.”

I think this is when CN probably said “Okay, you can have the Garnet wedding scene, but we can’t promise we’ll renew your show, then.”

And Rebecca said

“Okay”.

And so she did.

She gave us the LGBTQIA+ representation we all to desperately would have needed when we ourselves were kids. That kids today can enjoy because of her.

This is all just me guessing, I mean, I don’t know for sure, but it makes so much sense. She gave CN an ultimatum in 2016. That’s when they would have started working on the second part of season 5. It makes so much sense.

This gives a whole new layer to the song, on which the episode (and arch) end on:

I don’t need you to respect me, I respect me.
I don’t need you to love me, I love me.
But I want you to know you could know me,
If you change your mind.

Rebecca Sugar, I love you.