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Spoilers forSteven UniverseandSteven Universe: The Moviebelow.
Its a message regurgitated regularly by popular media in all formats.
The romanticflings and failures ofFleabag?
Nicole Krausss novelThe History of Love?
Painful, and on-the-nose at that.
Listen to Joni MitchellsBlueand try not to cry.
Human beings: We like to wallow!
Except thats not quite it, is it?
What really hurts isnt love butloving, and all the small things that challenge it.
Thats the work thats never done.
This isnt exactly untrod territory for childrens or all-ages animation.
For Amethyst, the key to growth isaccepting affection and loving herself as she is.
Shes ashamed of her beginnings, afraid she will never outrun them, and unable to love herself.
In Stevens love for who she is, Amethyst finds her own.
Nothing is holding me back now, Pearl sings as she remembers who she is.
No one can push me around.
What do I want to be?
Im the master of me.
Garnets growth is a reminder thatcooperationandhonestyare the foundation of living with others.
But watching Steven defend her against an out-of-control Spinel and honestly state his intentions and feelings, Garnet remembers.
Stevens half-human, so getting hit with the Rejuvinator doesnt make him lose his memories just his powers.
Ill always have more work to do.
Love, when done right, doesnt hurt.
Thats not the cliche about love thats true.
Healthy love requires a lot: self-worth and self-confidence, honesty and trust, empathy and growth.
It also doesnt mean that learning how to do it right doesnt isnt painful along the way.
In the end, theres always more work to be done.
And work is hard.
