Steven Universe
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Season 1
- The "Mirror Gem"/"Ocean Gem" two-parter has multiple: It turns out the Crystal Gems are not unique, as we meet a new (and seemingly extremely powerful) Gem named Lapis Lazuli, who Steven promptly sets free. It's revealed that Gems fought each other all the time; the various monsters fought over the course of the series are confirmed to be Gems that have become "Corrupted"; Gems are aliens from another planet; and Steven appears to have more control summoning his shield.
- "Warp Tour": Another Gem by the name of Peridot makes an appearance after her robots land from outer space and fix the Warp Pad, with Homeworld's technology further Doing In the Wizard of the early episodes. Whatever this means, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are extremely distressed about the possibility of Homeworld Gems returning to Earth. It ends with Garnet smashing the Warp Pad, and raises even more questions about the Crystal Gems and why they seem to be in such a conflict with the others.
- "On the Run": Pearl reveals that she, Garnet, and Rose were part of group that defected from Homeworld due to opposing a plan that would have damaged the Earth greatly, which involved a place called a "Kindergarten". Later on in the episode, Amethyst reveals to Steven that she was actually created on Earth, and was one of the many Gems made in the Kindergarten.
- "The Return"/"Jailbreak" two-parter: Peridot arrives on Earth in a giant hand-ship from Homeworld. Steven and the Gems then face off against a new Gem, Jasper, who fought against Rose Quartz's army in the war for Earth thousands of years ago. Also, it's revealed that Garnet is a Fusion between two Gems, Ruby and Sapphire. Finally, at the end of the episode, Jasper Fuses with Lapis into the malevolent Malachite, but in a huge twist to Jasper, Lapis takes over and drags them both into the ocean (possibly) forever. Peridot also managed to escape and is somewhere on Earth.
Season 2
- "Keeping It Together": We get a hint about what Peridot meant when she mentioned "the Cluster" to Jasper back in "Jailbreak": the Kindergarten is being used as a science lab for Frankenstein-esque experimentation, with Homeworld using the shards of fallen Gems during the war to create a Fusion-based superweapon. Not only does Garnet find this so horrifying that she nearly breaks apart, but she even reveals that the Gems used in the experiments are former Crystal Gems, her sisters-in-arms.
- "Catch and Release": Peridot kidnaps Steven to get him to fix the Warp Pad, but gets poofed by the Gems, where it's revealed that her arms and legs are mechanical. Steven frees her to learn why she wanted to leave the planet, and it turns out that Peridot is actually about Steven's size. Peridot reveals that she was sent to check on the Cluster, but got trapped on Earth. She tries to run for it, but when the Gems stop her, she locks herself in Steven's bathroom. The Gems decide to leave her there, since they need her information about the Cluster and Homeworld.
- "When It Rains": The Cluster is revealed to be a giant Gem Shard Fusion deep within the Earth's core, that when fully matured, will be bigger than Earth, and will destroy the planet once it awakens. Peridot finally agrees to work with the Crystal Gems to stop the Cluster.
- "Message Received": Peridot manages to contact Yellow Diamond (giving the audience their first clear look at one of the rulers of Homeworld), not so she could join with Homeworld again but so she could try and convince her leader to spare the Earth. When Peridot finds out that Yellow Diamond only wants Earth destroyed regardless of the resources, she calls her a clod, fully cementing her Heel–Face Turn.
Season 3
- "Super Watermelon Island": The Watermelon Stevens have become a civilization on Mask Island, and it's revealed that Steven can take control of their bodies with his astral projection powers. Malachite returns, and is defused by Alexandrite after a long and grueling battle. After everything settles down, the Cluster starts to emerge, which results in an unconscious Jasper falling into a crack. Thanks to the Warp Pad getting destroyed during the fight, the Gems have no way to make it back in time, forcing Steven and Peridot to go alone.
- "Gem Drill": We finally see what the Cluster is like. It's absolutely horrifying, and is about to take form and destroy Earth. Luckily, Steven manages to convince the Cluster to bubble itself by talking to it!
- "Monster Reunion": Centipeetle returns, and is somewhat healed by Steven. We learn that Gem Corruption is caused by something the Diamonds did at the end of the war, that Centipeetle was originally a pilot, and that something happened to Pink Diamond before the war was over.
- "Gem Hunt": Jasper returns again, having ditched the idea of Fusing with Lapis, and is shown to be collecting Corrupted Gems for an as-yet unknown purpose.
- "Earthlings": Mama. Mia. Steven Fuses with Amethyst to make Smoky Quartz, making this his first Fusion with another Gem, Jasper gets Corrupted, poofed, and bubbled, removing a recurring villain. But before she goes, she mentions Pink Diamond, making her the first character in the show to acknowledge Pink Diamond's existence. There's a heavy implication that Rose did... something to her.Jasper: Wh-?! My Diamond! Your Diamond! PINK DIAMOND!!
- "Back to the Moon": Building off from the previous episode, it's revealed that Rose shattered Pink Diamond. This reveal also makes Yellow Diamond wanting to destroy Earth despite its resources make a lot more sense.
Season 4
- "Steven's Dream": Blue Diamond is introduced in person (after getting a shadowy cameo two seasons back), and abducts Greg.
- "I Am My Mom": Everything starts to go downhill. The Crystal Gems reason that the Diamonds must have sent Aquamarine and Topaz personally (presumably for the human zoo). Aquamarine reveals that she and Topaz were sent to collect the humans Steven mentioned to Peridot all the way back in "Marble Madness", causing him immense guilt. When Aquamarine threatens to kill the captives if "My Dad" is not handed over, Steven "reveals" it to be him and hands himself in. He manages to free everyone aboard the ship, Alexandrite stops it from going too far, and the captives (except Lars) escape, only for Aqua to freeze both Alexandrite and the escapees in place. How does it end? Steven reveals his gem, declaring himself to be Rose Quartz, and goes with the invaders to Homeworld as a sacrifice in order to free the others and to try and make amends for his and his mother's mistakes, ending on the ship warping away with him and Lars inside as Connie screams out for Steven.
Season 5
- "The Trial": As Steven stands trial on Homeworld for Rose Quartz's crime of assassination, Yellow and Blue Diamond preside over the trial with two Zircons as the defense and prosecutor. Steven's Zircon fumbles a bit trying to come up for a defense while Steven flat-out admits to the crime, until she realizes that the story doesn't add up. None of Pink Diamond's entourage—not even her Pearl—were present to prevent the shattering. Someone close to her must have allowed the attack and had to have supreme authority to cover it up afterwards... someone like one of the Diamonds. Suffice to say, Yellow does not take kindly to these accusations, considering she spent the whole time wanting the trial over as quickly as possible.
- "Off Colors": In a hurried escape to avoid the wrath of the Diamonds, Steven and Lars venture into the abandoned recesses of a Kindergarten on Homeworld, where they find several misfit Gems that are also on the run from the Diamonds for being Fusions, deformed, or simply working differently from other Gems. As they try to hide in said Kindergarten, they are cornered by bots made for shattering Gems, and, thanks to them being made to track the gem itself and not the being attached to it, can't detect Lars. With newfound courage, Lars performs a Heroic Sacrifice - and Steven brings him back from the dead with his tears.
- "Raising the Barn": Lapis, fearing the Diamonds coming to Earth and starting another war, flees the Earth. Peridot tries to talk her out of it to no avail. Lapis takes the barn with her, forcing Peridot and Pumpkin to move back into Steven's bathroom for the time being.
- "Sadie Killer": Sadie quits her job at the Big Donut to join a band with Sour Cream, Buck Dewey, and Jenny Pizza. Not as big as other whams on the list, but still a big change to the status quo.
- "Jungle Moon": As Stevonnie camps out on the alien moon, they have a dream of Connie's mother on the phone, talking about invading a planet. As the dream goes on, she morphs to look like a Fusion of her and Yellow Diamond, and Stevonnie begins throwing a temper tantrum about wanting a colony. The argument escalates, and Yellow reveals that she's arguing with Pink Diamond. Pink leaves in a huff, and punches an adjacent window, which is about the same height as Stevonnie.
- "A Single Pale Rose": Steven had been told that his mother Rose shattered Pink Diamond, but then... Boom. After a trip through Pearl's head, Steven finds out that Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond are the same person, meaning Steven is half-Diamond rather than half-Quartz like he had always believed. Pink faked her death by swallowing fake shards, then getting Pearl to disguise herself as Rose Quartz and "kill" her, tricking the other Diamonds into thinking she was dead, when she had just been poofed. Also, Pink ordered Pearl not to tell anyone the truth. All of this was an attempt to get Blue and Yellow to leave the Earth alone, but it backfired spectacularly. On a more minor note, we learn that Pearl's original owner was Pink Diamond. Since this revelation, Steven and Garnet (and by extension, her Sapphire half) struggle to make sense of everything "Rose Quartz" stood for.
- "Reunited": Where to start? Ruby and Sapphire marry, the Diamonds attack the wedding reception, the Cluster rebels against the Diamonds, Rose's sword is shattered, Lapis comes back and officially joins the Crystal Gems, both Lapis and Peridot get poofed, and Yellow and Blue cease their hostility when they learn that Pink wasn't shattered after all.
- "Legs From Here to Homeworld": Following off from ending of the last episode, Centipeetle is temporarily healed of her corruption, allowing us to see what she originally looked like, and she confirms she was a Nephrite. We learn that the Corruption was unintended; the Diamond's light flash was supposed to shatter every gem on Earth. Yellow Diamond theorizes that the Corruption can be healed by all four Diamonds working in unison. The main Crystal Gems leave the Earth by taking Pink Diamond's legship (which is half-buried in the desert near the ruins last seen in "Lion 4: Alternate Ending"), we get a view of Homeworld from orbit where it looks completely broken apart, and we finally meet the fourth Diamond foreshadowed in "Your Mother and Mine": White Diamond.
Steven Universe Future
Season 1
- "Volleyball": Remember that crack on Pink Pearl's right eye? Well guess what folks? White Diamond didn't do it, Pink did. And even more shocking is that there's a new fusion with both regular Pearl and Pink "Volleyball" Pearl!
- "Little Graduation": Lars and Sadie have broken up, Sadie has a nonbinary partner named Shep, the Suspects have broken up, and Lars and the Off Colors are going back to space after the graduation ceremony. Steven has a mental breakdown over all of this and accidentally traps his friends in a dome, psychologically projecting his issues onto Lars. Then he decides that it may be for the best if he left Little Homeschool, only to feel that he now no longer has a purpose.
- "Prickly Pair": Steven did not take the events of last episode very well, as he's been naming his plants after friends and talking to them. Then he mistreats his pet cactus by using it as an emotional punching bag, because he feels that he shouldn't talk to the Gems. At the end of the episode, Steven decides to bottle his feelings even deeper. Throughout the episode, the Gems know that something is wrong and keep reaching out to Steven, but he rejects their help.
- "Growing Pains" reveals just how badly Steven's adventures have affected him over the years. After getting a physical from Dr. Maheswaran when his powers start going haywire, she notes that his X-rays indicate Steven has suffered countless bone fractures throughout the years. But it turns out that Steven's internally scarred in more ways than one; after hearing about Steven's life, she concludes that Steven's troubles are primarily psychological in nature. Steven's dangerous and often frightening adventures with the Crystal Gems (coupled with repeated injuries he's only survived because of his healing powers) have given him intense trauma that he needs to find a way to deal with if he ever hopes to live a normal life.
- "Fragments": Steven becomes increasingly emotionally distraught and travels into the woods to Jasper, who trains him with her Social Darwinist philosophy into a significantly more powerful form, and he becomes increasingly ruthless before shattering her and barely putting her back together, prompting Jasper to smile in admiration and state "I bow to your strength, My Diamond."
- "Everything's Fine": Gee, how should we put this? Steven's Sanity Slippage reaches a breaking point. When Greg, the Crystal Gems and Connie finally decided to confront Steven about what's going on to him lately, he started acting even more hysterical, and at first he played down his issues all throughout Future, likening his crashing the van to "a little disagreement" and a "rite of passage". In the same breath, he mentioned that he almost murdered White Diamond and "only" shattered Jasper but thanks to his powers, he can fix everything with no one being the wiser, much to their horror. However, hearing his actions aloud and realizing how much he's messed up, Steven came with the conclusion that he is not that innocent kid he used to be, and that he has become a fraud, and a monster. Cue pink spikes bursting out of his back.
