Steven Universe Season 1A / Tear Jerker

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"Gems can't die from aging... but he's half-human..."

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Gem Glow

Right off the bat we do have two: a somewhat sad one (Steven losing the last Cookie Cat Ice Cream cookies as well as the fridge) and a happier one (Steven sacrificing those things to save the Crystal Gems). Sure, losing those cookies might seem silly compared to heavier stuff, but seeing how sad Steven was after learning they were discontinued, how the Gems bought them because they knew this and how happy he was for keeping the cookies AND the fridge, it is pretty sad that the poor sap lost all those little things that made him happy, like one's favourite toys or sweets when they're little. It also shows how much he loves his three moms and how long would he go to save them and be useful (he felt depressed before about never being as good as them).

Laser Light Cannon

Doing triple duty as a heartwarming moment and The Power of Love — Greg sees a silhouette of Rose in the sky after the Rose Cannon is activated. He whispers, "Rose..." with tears in his eyes. The code phrase to activate the cannon was a old saying Greg repeats often enough that even the Crystal Gems know it.
Only the second episode and we're already hit with depressing backstory and subtext; while giving birth to Steven, Rose had to give up her physical form (AKA die, as in died in childbirth). Also, currently, Steven's dad lives in a van.

Together Breakfast

There is something positively depressing with Steven's efforts in having a simple family meal. There is no doubt that the Gems love him, but they still are defenders of humanity and Steven doesn't quite grasp why they're absent so frequently.
"I'm sorry, guys. I guess I dreamed too big."

Frybo

Peedee Fryman's just a kid yet he sounds like a disillusioned adult during his conversation with Steven in the arcade. Someone's not having a happy childhood...
Peedee: (riding seahorse ride, sad and bored expression) This seahorse used to make me so happy... Now it's just giving me whiplash. I feel like there's just no point to it, you know?
Steven: (riding jellyfish ride) I just feel tingly!
Peedee: (sigh) You'll understand when you have a job.
Steven: I do have a job! I protect humanity from magic and monsters and stuff!
Peedee: I mean a real job that you get paid for.
Steven: I'm paid in the smiles across the town's faces.
Peedee: I don't see anyone smiling... You pick up a job to buy a house, or raise kids, or to... impress your dad. You work away your life and what does it get you?
Steven: Smiles in faces?
Peedee: No... You get cash. Cash that can't buy back what the job takes... not if you rode every seahorse in the world.
- His expression slowly changing from gleeful to disappointed during the ride can remind some of things they used to love but lost their appeal over time.
- And then there's this track playing on top of it...

Cat Fingers

Steven's father trying to save his son from being consumed from the cats that are taking over his body. It's especially sad to watch Steven tearfully pleading with his father to help him while his father debates what to do.
Greg: No! I won't do it! It's too dangerous!
Steven: You have to! I'm a monster! I'M AN ADORABLE CAT MONSTER!
Greg: No, you're not! You're my son!
Steven: (While the rest of his body is getting covered in cat heads) DAD, PLEASE! AAH!

Bubble Buddies

Connie breaking into tears as she laments that nobody but her parents would ever notice her disappearing, because she doesn't have any friends.
Connie: Now we're going to suffocate or starve at the bottom of the ocean!! And no one but my parents will notice because NOBODY ELSE CARES ABOUT ME! ... I'm going to disappear without ever making a single friend. (cries)
- There's even a bit of subtle foreshadowing of this when she and Steven try to get free from the bubble using a harpoon from a boat:
Steven: You know a lot about boats.
Connie: That's what happen when you hang out at the beach, and don't swim and don't have friends. You look at boats.

Serious Steven

Near the end, with Steven blaming himself for trapping them in the dungeon. (He touched something he shouldn't have.) He says it's "just like the teacups" with him wanting to do something and everyone paying for it when it all falls apart. This led to a "Eureka!" Moment, though, so it's not all bad.

Tiger Millionaire

Several for Steven, such as accidentally making Lars cry by getting too "in character", then being told by Amethyst that he's a bad person, but some for Amethyst as well, such as the fact that she feels so controlled and unable to do anything she wants. And, and worst of all, we learn that despite her overwhelming self-assuredness, she really does take all the criticisms Pearl and Garnet give her to heart.
Amethyst: Listen, Steven. You can't let anyone make you feel like garbage.
Steven: ... is that how you feel?
Amethyst: *muttering* I only feel how I wanna feel.

Steven's Lion

Steven thinking the Lion only followed him home to get the Desert Glass back. Becomes a Heartwarming Moment when it's revealed that the Lion actually came back to protect them from the Desert Glass, not merely to take it back.
Although not made clear the first time around, Garnet's "We kept Amethyst" joke, which seems to be completely innocent to her, is a lot harsher once you know the details of "On The Run."

Giant Woman

Something of a subtle one, but Amethyst mentions early in the episode that they never fuse into Opal these days because Pearl is "no fun anymore." Makes you wonder if they used to be close and something happened in the past to create a rift between them. (In the flashback of Story for Steven they certainly seem to be a lot closer, with Pearl often carrying a more childlike Amethyst around.)
And why does Steven want to see a giant woman so badly in the first place? Because his mom was a giant woman.

So Many Birthdays

Steven getting depressed because he realizes he's too old for kid-style birthday parties. It gets so bad that he causes himself to age up (through Gem magic) due to feeling old and eventually turns into an old man.
The other Gems discover Steven's state, and realize that since he's half-human, the danger of dying from old age exists. They try to don Steven in the king costume, in hopes that it will make him feel young again. It doesn't work.
Amethyst: Good as new! ... Right?
Steven: Thanks, guys... but it looks like this suit's all out of birthday magic. We had a good run, huh...? (continues to age)
Garnet: (gasping anxiously) More birthdays. Now.
Watching all of the Gems desperately attempt to de-age Steven after he accidentally ages himself up to a state of near-death. Each of them tries their own way of bringing him back to his childish old self and fails, and for the first time we get a glimpse of how they'll actually react if (and when, given that they're immortal and Steven isn't, ^note) Steven meets his demise. Seeing them all fall apart and be reduced to tears is just heartbreaking. Even Garnet was crying.
Pearl's rapid breakdown is uncomfortably heartrending to watch and is the most emotional out of the three older Gems, considering that she acts the most like a mother to him. Even worse when you consider that from her point of view, it's like a parent having to watch their child die while completely helpless to save them. She tears up right away and is unable to even look at Steven when he's aged up until Amethyst physically moves her into position. She dressed as a clown, and tried to redo Steven's pie gag, albeit in slightly more well spoken manner. She was crying the whole time, her tears leaking down her long nose and face, probably soaking the pie.
Gems can't die from aging... but he's half-human...
- It all becomes even harsher in hindsight when you realize that not only is someone precious to the Gems dying but he's the last bit of Rose they have left, so in a way they're losing two people.
  - Even worse when you remember that Rose died giving birth to Steven-the Gems were very likely re-living the trauma of her death.
Garnet, out of desperation, attempts to cure Steven by violently shaking him, getting Amethyst and Pearl mad at her and they start fighting.
I thought violence would be the answer.
- It gets even worse when you realize what Garnet essentially is. That was Ruby acting independently!
Then there's this bit:
Steven: But I wasted your time! (turning old) We all have such little time...

Lars and the Cool Kids

It's extremely brief, but when Pearl mentions that Rose is "gone", her voice cracks a little and she has a sad/uncomfortable expression on her face.
When Lars criticizes Rose Quartz for planting the moss that's attacking the cool kids by calling her a "weird mom", it is honestly the first time Steven gets outright furious.
Steven: What do you know about my mom?! I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO KNOW MY MOM!!! But I do know she saw beauty in everything, even in stuff like [this moss], and EVEN IN JERKS LIKE YOU!
Right after his outburst, Lars sees Steven's shocked face and realizes he said something he shouldn't have. Lars had just insulted one of the few people who are actually nice to him and its that moment that he knew he screwed up badly. Thankfully, Steven's forgiving personality allows him to not have a grudge over such insults.

Steven the Sword Fighter

Steven watching Pearl get stabbed through the gut, then disappear. The little guy's heart seemed broken. It got okay, though... sorta. For a while he thinks it was his fault she got stabbed because he was distracting her, making him feel worse. For a few seconds, he thought he killed her.
Just before she disappears, Pearl realizes that Steven's essentially watching her die and tries desperately to comfort him, but disintegrates before she can finish. Good thing Garnet and Amethyst were there to tell him she'd be alright, or it probably would've broken him completely.
Steven missing hanging out with Pearl.
"How long are you gonna make me wait, Pearl?"
Steven tends to Pearl's gem the entire two weeks and carries it with him when he watches a movie. He even tries to get her hologram to act like her, to no avail. You can tell he really misses her.
The house is a mess, as Steven mentions that Pearl isn't around to help him clean up. It's a depressing visual reminder of her absence.
As Steven watches Lonely Blade V, he has a flashback of Pearl being stabbed. His eyes fill with tears, and he probably would've started crying if Holo-Pearl hadn't destroyed the TV.

Lion 2: The Movie

Connie feels as if she doesn't belong in Steven's world after seeing all the magical things he's involved in. He thinks it's his fault that she feels this way and he gets miserable about always screwing things up.
- Connie generally shows some heavy self-esteem problems. From mentioning that only her parents would care if she was gone in her debut episode to pretty much beating herself down over being "too normal" in this episode. It can be pretty hard to watch for those familiar with these feelings.

Rose's Room

This is another episode that draws attention to the fact that, as guardians of the universe, the Gems just can't always spend time with Steven when he wants them to. It isn't anyone's fault, but Steven being sad and angered by this hits pretty close to home for anyone who has parents/older siblings that are rarely home. They themselves feel guilty about it, but there's nothing they can do.
After a good chunk of being stuck in a creepy, Silent Hill-esque fake Beach City, Steven finally realizes, with tears in his eyes, that what he really wants is to be with the Gems.

Coach Steven

The entire episode is a massive Break the Cutie moment for Pearl. Her warnings towards her teammates are ignored, Steven starts looking up to Sugilite over her, and she hits her Heroic BSoD when Sugilite starts attacking the temple ground after losing control of herself, breaking down into tears when she thinks she's not strong enough to protect anyone.
Pearl kneeling down before Sugilite, distraught that she couldn't save her teammates.
"I'm sorry. Steven, Garnet, and Amethyst. I wasn't strong enough to protect you. I'm not strong enough to do anything."
The song Pearl sings is a very melancholy one as she worries about Steven not understanding that real strength isn't necessarily the ability to cause lots of damage and destruction. Even worse, the way she avoids admitting that she's jealous of Steven's admiration of Sugilite makes it all the more obvious that she is, and the song just really drives the point home that Steven is everything to her, and hearing how upset she is over him is heartbreaking.
It's a bit hard watching Sugilite's ruthless beatdown on Pearl, ESPECIALLY when you keep in mind that that's Amethyst and Garnet. Her own teammates and very good friends. Laying the smackdown on her and calling her "nothing". Just because of a bad temper.
- And poor Steven at first has no idea what or why is happening when Sugilite gets back and starts to wreck everything.

Joking Victim

The absolute devastation on Sadie's face when she finds out Lars lied to her about being hurt in order to skip work. She feels incredibly betrayed, and it shows. Considering her story about the night she spent with Lars, her line "You calling me your Player Two, is that your way of saying I could have been anyone?" hits hard.
Sadie's confrontation of Lars at the end. Might be made worse by the fact that Lars never did technically apologize and Sadie just goes right back to helping him.

Steven and the Stevens

Pearl clearly has a hysterical mental breakdown when she sees a giant wave descending on Steven and she's moments away from witnessing his death. It's very clear that her mind is in a fragile position after the loss of Rose and it won't survive losing Steven too.
The demise of Steven's time-clones.
When all the alternative timeline Stevens are fighting one is holding his hurt arm and crying, probably with no idea what was happening, just hurt and scared.
- Just the mere image of a Steven crying, showing how young he really is, has a surprising impact. And the two Stevens that may've been fighting him and/or each other just look completely unsure on how to deal with the situation.

Monster Buddies

The Gems trying to defend Steven from the freaked out Centipeetle, while Steven begs them to stop. But the Centipeetle keeps freaking out, so they can't. The saddest and most unfortunate part about it is that the Gems (Pearl in particular) had instantly assumed Centipeetle was aggressive when rocks rained down on them after she frantically sprayed acid into the ceiling for which reason they choose to strike her "back", not realizing that they actually accidentally scared her a lot with Garnet summoning her gauntlets before cementing themselves as a threat to her by attacking without any direct provocation, with Centipeetle retaliating not helping. To them it looks like she relapsed into a monster, but in reality, she was terrified and they mistook it for hostility.
The way they keep striking the Centipeetle away, even though it seems that she's just trying to get to Steven is very hard to watch because we've come to view her as a wild, but affectionate animal. It just feels like witnessing abuse, especially with Steven pleading frantically with the Gems in the background.
When Steven tries to calm the Centipeetle down, he walks towards her slowly, crying, while the Centipeetle backs away from him. This causes Steven to beg her to remember the good times they've had. He then hugs her while ignoring the pain of her corrosive saliva.
The Centipeetle ends up pushing Steven out of the way of a falling stalactite. She gets poofed instead.
A lot of the interactions with Centipeetle become this when put into the context of the revelation in Ocean Gem. Steven's not training it, he's more than likely reaching the lost vestiges of humanity of a corrupted Gem.

An Indirect Kiss

Pearl all but having a nervous breakdown due to her worrying about Amethyst, and (unwittingly) revealing how lost she feels without Rose Quartz's guidance.
As of this episode, Steven's real feelings towards his mom are revealed: he actually doesn't know what to think about her because he never met her before. Worse, he demonstrates quite a bit of insecurity towards the fact that he's afraid of not being able to live up to the kind of Gem that she was. What's more, Connie is in tears after that confession. Just imagine her finding out that her happy go lucky friend, who's always willing to cheer her up, has to deal with such insecurity and conflicted feelings.
Steven at one point voices his fears over not being able to obtain his Gem powers, and is afraid that will mean he won't be able to spend time with the Crystal Gems anymore. Considering how much they obviously love him, its a bit jarring to see him consider the possibility of them rejecting him.
- "Oh Steven, you don't have healing tears, you'll never have any real magic powers, and we don't want anything more to do with you." Even though Pearl really didn't say that (of course), the look of complete devastation on Steven's face can really hit home for someone who's ever tried really hard to impress someone and is terrified of it being all for nothing.
  - And while it's subtle, the Crystal Gems are more open about their displeasure of Steven not being able to use his healing powers like Rose. While they don't outright blame or belittle him, they are just... less reassuring to Steven than they've been in the past.
Steven saying that he can't do anything right to a dying Amethyst. And Amethyst's response (which is what starts Steven crying):
Amethyst: (broken voice) Ha ha... you... care... about... me.
A subtle one in an otherwise cheerful moment is Connie's reaction to Steven accidentally restoring her vision. She doesn't act overjoyed, or thankful, or amazed. Her immediate concern is what she'll say to her parents. Even at the end of the episode, she looks more unsure than anything. And it's not hard to see why: something in her life has just been irrevocably changed by her exposure to magic and her relationship with Steven. Even if the change is good, that's gotta generate some mixed emotions. This is made worse by Steven being too excited about his newfound power to notice or care about Connie's concerns.
The statue of Rose appearing to be reaching out to Steven when the fountain flows again. The look on Steven's face is what cinches◊ it.
When Pearl notes that the sanctuary is in shambles with Rose gone, she's also talking about the state the Gems (probably herself specifically) are in:
Pearl: Look at them. They're a mess without her guidance. Directionless, pathetic clinging things...

Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem

Garnet's fury toward Steven becomes a combination of this and Nightmare Fuel, especially considering how patient she had been with him in the past.
The fight between Lapis Lazuli and the Gems. They're essentially trying to force a Fate Worse than Death onto a broken Gem girl who just wants to go back home, because however simple her intentions she's harming everyone in the attempt. It's just a bad scene all around.
"See you, Lapis, wherever you are..."
Lapis' voice is filled with sadness when she begs Steven to leave her alone. She's also in despair when she understands that all the water in the Earth won't be enough to take her back home.
Lapis Lazuli in general. She was set up to be some sort of Psycho Ranger, but when she emerged from the mirror, she was revealed to be a sweet girl, albeit irate over being forced into a fate worse than death. The next day they find her, trying to escape Earth by borrowing the ocean's water to make a tower, defending herself, not to cause damage, but just to distract, while she gets away. When Steven confronts her alone, she is angry and afraid, simply wanting to go home.
The voicework for Lapis Lazuli is incredibly effective.
Lapis: I'm Lapis Lazuli! And you can't keep me trapped here anymore!
The implications of their actions when it's revealed that all the monsters are, in fact, corrupted Gems. They not the last of their kind anymore... to a loose definition, anyways... but are forced to confront people they may have known, or even fought alongside. And in containing them in the temple, they are, at best, doing so in hopes to find a way to heal the corruption that overtook them, and at worst, imprisoning them in a limbo-like prison to keep them from hurting others.
The moment where Lapis offers Steven to leave with her, only to be turned down is heartbreaking as well. Steven was the only person she met who genuinely liked her and didn't treat and/or use her like an object, so when he sided with the people who trapped her in the first place, she probably viewed it as a personal betrayal. Steven was only trying to protect the Crystal Gems and stop the fight, but he was lucky Lapis didn't try to hurt him the next time they met each other...

Tear Jerker / Steven Universe Season 1A

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