They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot / Steven Universe

• The fact that the series is shown from Steven's point of view means that sometimes we will miss potentially more interesting stories that don't focus on him or not feature him at all. Some of the most prominent examples:
  • "Onion Friend". Showing how Amethyst was dealing with the drama between Pearl and Garnet along with rekindling with Vidalia is sidelined in favor of focusing on Steven and Onion.
  • Because the focus of Steven Bomb 5 was on Steven rescuing Greg from the Zoo, it meant that we got the So Okay, It's Average episode "The Zoo" while being left in the dark about how Amethyst met her sisters and the initial reactions they had to meeting each other. This is an especially weird choice since Amethyst meeting and being supported by her sisters is largely why she gained a confidence boost and quit wrestling in "Tiger Philanthropist."
  • Lars and the Off Colors escaping Homeworld could have been enough material for a Stevenbomb, but we're only shown the aftermath of it, with allusions to the prior events at the beginning of "Lars of the Stars".
  • Subverted, however, in "Jail Break". If this episode followed the above examples, we would have missed the incredibly epic Garnet vs Jasper fight, as well as the former singing "Stronger Than You", considered one of the best songs of the entire series, for the sake of seeing Steven releasing Pearl and Amethyst from their cells. This marks the first, and so far only time in which the show dropped Steven's perspective... At least at first. After a cut back to Steven, Pearl, and Amethyst, the show goes back to the fight when Steven looks at the monitor showing it, technically putting it in his perspective. Nonetheless, some fans wonder why don't they do away with it already, given that it often results in this trope, as well as missing what other characters do or how they behave whenever Steven isn't around.
• "Beach Party" was the first episode to focus on the fact that the Gems don't understand humans, or really even seem to empathize with them at all. While all the stuff with the Pizza family is entertaining, the episode sidesteps the deeper issue of how the Gems view humans, to be saved for future episodes.
• "Chille Tid" has both this issue and It's Short, So It Sucks!. Steven's ability to speak with Lapis mentally is used for all of three minutes, and in the end, we never learn where she and Jasper are or if Garnet found anything important, and the subplot of finding the Fused Homeworld Gems was put on hold until "Super Watermelon Island", where they finally get defused.
• "Keystone Motel". Steven, Garnet and Greg take a road trip to a neighboring state. It could have given Garnet and Greg a chance to get closer, or given us a good look at a part of the world beyond Beach City. Instead, Greg is just a side character for the episode, and the plot is instead about Ruby and Sapphire arguing about the events previous episode, not realizing the way they're acting is affecting Steven.
• Quite a few fans were disappointed that Vidalia didn't have any interactions with Marty in "Drop Beat Dad", considering their history together.
• "The New Lars" wastes two ideas:
  • Sadie's belief that a "Freaky Friday" Flip was happening would've been extremely interesting, given that Lars doesn't understand Steven as much as Steven doesn't understand him.
  • Steven being shown to still have some growing up to do despite how much he's matured as of late would've worked a lot better in a different episode (and involve at least one of the other Gems).
• "Bismuth". Despite its extra running time, many fans were severely disappointed by how it was never once acknowledged that Bismuth was the Gem that poofed Lapis.
  • Given that we knew that Rose Quartz must have sealed away Bismuth for a reason, the reveal was rather obvious. Keeping Bismuth around, at least for a couple of episodes, maybe even a plot arc, would have made the reveal a lot more painful.
• It's frequently established that Jasper is simply no match for the Crystal Gems all by herself, being dealt with rather quickly should she cause problems since the Crystal Gems simply outwit or overpower her whenever she actually intends to cause trouble. Some fans thought that Jasper really needed a partner, with the Ruby Squad being the perfect example, since they already admire her and were trying to find her in the first place. So what does the show do once Jasper and the Ruby Squad appear in the same episode in "Earthlings"? Jasper is defeated long before she ever gets the chance to meet them.
• After "Bubbled," the Crystal Gems acquire a spaceship by stealing it from the Rubies. Pearl used to show interest in space travel, and wanted to show Steven distant galaxies. While Pearl's Character Development from what happened in "Space Race" is commendable, we could have gotten a story arc in Season Four about Steven and the Gems visiting other parts of space, and seeing planets that Homeworld colonized. Peridot could have also served as an expositor on how Gem culture has changed. Instead, the Gems use the ship once to rescue Greg, and afterward Navy steals it back from them.
• In "Steven's Dream," though he gives them a ride, Andy doesn't join Steven and Greg when they finally find the palanquin from his dream. We don't even know where he is. It might have been interesting to see his interactions with Blue Diamond, another "illegal alien", and hilarious to see him in the Zoo with Greg and Steven.
• "The New Crystal Gems":
  • Many fans were disappointed that the plot was about the B Team impersonating the A Team and running a car wash rather than doing what Steven and the other Gems asked: keeping Beach City safe from, say, a Corrupted Gem or two. They could easily have learned the same lesson about being themselves instead of emulating the A Team while fighting a Gem Monster, which still could've involved the car wash by means of one attacking it.
  • Some fans wish that the episode had been a P.O.V. Sequel instead of a Whole Episode Flashback.
• One of the reasons Ronaldo is The Scrappy is because of the many wasted or botched opportunities to develop his character. One example is "Horror Club," where the reveal that he and Lars used to be friends hasn't come up since it aired. They could have had Lars and Ronaldo sort out their differences and he could have learned to be a better person. Another one is in "Rocknaldo", where Ronaldo realizes that he's misjudged the Crystal Gems and decides to join them so that he can truly understand them and help their cause. But when the Gems go on a mission, they don't allow Ronaldo to join for fear of him becoming The Load, which leads to him spending the whole episode acting like Jerkass to Steven, which leads to Steven calling him out. While the Gems' decision was understandable, and he still learned something by the end, not allowing him to come effectively squandered a golden opportunity for Ronaldo to see what the Gems do first hand, gain deeper respect for them, and allow for positive Character Development for him. Even if he didn't become a frontline combat member, having another human in their corner with extensive internet experience could be beneficial for the Gems, and it isn't as if humans haven't been able to aid the Gems in the past- Connie and Greg being prime examples. Coupled with his enthusiasm about learning about supernatural things, knowledge of Cryptozoology and myths, and earnest desire to help, his joining the group in a support role could have done some really interesting things.
• Peridot wasn't around for The Reveal in "A Single Pale Rose", and many fans were curious to see her reaction to Rose being a Diamond. However, her next appearance was as a comedic side character in "Made of Honor", apparently already up to speed and overall disinterested. While Pink Diamond and Rose certainly meant less to her than they did to the other characters, it's still disappointing that she's the only Crystal Gem whose reaction is totally glossed over.
• Several fans also had issues with the show generally glossing over the full implications of the reveal, with everyone taking at most a single episode to be perfectly fine with it. This is especially noticeable with Greg, who only gets a single line that his not giving Rose his birth name makes them even, and Bismuth, who missed out on thousands of years because of the lie but only needs a quick Cathartic Scream to be fine with it. There's actually some hints that they're all deliberately repressing their feelings to focus on helping Ruby and Sapphire (especially since the latter did not take the reveal well at all), but that's all pushed aside when Blue and Yellow come breaking down their door and the plot shifts towards the climax.
• Yellow and Blue Diamond are stranded on Earth when their ships are destroyed, potentially forcing them into the same position Pink was in with getting a close-up look at just what they've been destroying due to not considering organic life worth saving. Instead, the very next episode has the crew finding Pink's old ship and leaving.
• More like "They Wasted A Perfectly Good Moment To Play A Song", but many viewers criticized "Escapism" for tacking the titular song at the end as background music, despite the opening of the episode (with Stevonnie being imprisoned) would have been the perfect moment to play the song instead. It's especially frustrating since Stevonnie's VA is singing the song and the song itself being highly anticipated, with tons of theories speculating who may sing it.
• "Legs from Here to Homeworld" brought up the idea that White Diamond was somehow "different" from the other gems, and even the other diamonds. This, combined with the fact that nobody mentions her up to this point, lead to tons of speculation and theories about what White Diamond is and what she's been up to all this time, but in the end (some Epileptic Trees aside), it seems like she's just an extremely powerful gem.
• Through her arc, Amethyst finds a lot of similarities between her and Jasper as Earth-born Quartzes, viewing Jasper as a kind of "sister" and trying to help her, with a scene from the series finale even focusing on her comforting a now uncorrupted and confused Jasper. The relationship seemingly collapsed off-screen during the time-skip, and Jasper and Amethyst never interact again.
• Lapis and Peridot’s relationship is all but dropped post-Reunited. Despite spending the last few seasons as a package duo, and the drama caused by the former’s departure, the two hardly interact during the movie, and don’t interact at all during the sequel series. Heck, by the time Future comes around, the pair are seen doing activities they would normally do together on their own, with Lapis having seemingly lost all interest in Camp Pining Hearts and farming, and Peridot having lost most of her interest in art. Couple this with Pumpkin, the duo’s pet, passing away during the time skip, and it almost seems the writers are intentionally trying to distance the two. Given their relationship’s controversial history, however, it’s not hard to see why…
• In the movie, Pearl is factory-reset and reattached to Greg, who considers it disrespectful to ever command her and helps her rediscover how much she loves her independence. It would have been great to see how that affects her beyond the Volleyball episode.
• This entire trope is lampshaded hard in "Little Graduation" where Steven refuses to accept that Lars and Sadie are not together for any valid reasons except some sort of misunderstanding, to which both Lars and Sadie basically explain that this whole relationship that failed went on offscreen following the end of the original series all the way to this episode in Steven Universe Future, and Steven didn't know a single detail about it until this exact moment. Furthermore, when Steven mentions he didn't witness any of this offscreen breakup and relationship drama, Sadie states "it was private", as if trying to say that things indeed happen all around Steven (that are interesting) and that he doesn't know about since he isn't present to witness. In a cynical viewpoint: the writers are aware that interesting stories are going on in the background, but Steven's POV puts tunnel-vision on the plot and makes it impossible for the audience to see these stories as well.