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Fridge Brilliance

General

Garnet starts off with singing "we"... before everyone joins in and it's revealed to be the song "Happily Ever After" from the movie instead of "We Are the Crystal Gems". The theme of the series is how everything changes and learning to embrace them.
- Additionally, Garnet represents love (well, a love). Another theme of the show is how some of the most important things, like the love Steven's family has for him, will never change. Kinda like Garnet starting the opening with "We...".
The theme song is actually a shortened version of "Happily Ever After". One line prominently cut from the opening version is, "Nothing to fear, no one to fight." The place in the title sequence where this line would be sung shows an antagonist lineup, showing that there is something to fear and someone to fight. But even still, the protagonists will "so happily face whatever comes their way."
- It's also worth noting the line before it: Here we are in the future, and it's bright... before cutting to a shot of the 'villains' for the series. Could be a subtle way of saying that just because things are better than before, that doesn't mean everything's perfect. The future is definitely bright, but it's still dangerous, and that's worth remembering.
The title card of each episode is in the driver's seat of Steven's car, with a taped photo of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl on the sun visor, and the back of a certain hillside reflected in the interior rear view mirror as the car drives away. It counts as foreshadowing, and from both Steven and the audience's perspective once they've finished the series: a nostalgic memory of the past. Enjoy the ride.
The shot of the challenges Steven will have to face (rogue Gems, his monstrous transformation, etc.) in the opening to Future, all represent all the different kinds of foes that Steven had faced throughout the series, but with varying alterations or aversions to them, be it with the characters themselves or the events that transpire with them;
- Jasper clearly reflects Steven's battles with her, but instead of them involving her trying to destroy him and thus initiating the conflict between, they now present it as Steven initiating the combat between the two; one time to get her to open up to him and the other so that he could learn to channel his out-of-control powers, with the latter confrontation reversing which one of them required the other's "help".
- The two Lapis Lazulies reflect Steven's original interactions with Lapis, with the two of them reflecting her two key personality traits; Mean!Lapis reflects her wrathful side whilst Nice!Lapis is the side of her that has the capacity to be a better person. However, whilst Main!Lapis has both of these personality traits, the Lazulies are completely dominated by their respective mindsets. Also, whilst Main!Lapis damaged a planet to try and get home, the Lazulies were doing so for the fun of it.
- Cactus Steven hails back to the early days of Steven Universe, back to when he was trying to control his powers. In particular, the one that enabled him to create sentient plant life in his image like the Watermelon Stevens. However, Cactus Steven differentiates from them in regards to how their introductory episodes went; whilst the Watermelon one ended with Steven chewing them out for their behavior and sending them away, Cactus Steven continuously talks about all of Steven's secret gripes with the Crystal Gems before leaving once Steven makes it say what he wants it to whilst continuing to burying his issues.
- Bluebird Azurite, the fusion of Eyeball!Ruby and Aquamarine both represents the times when enemy Homeworld Gems would come to Earth and Steven's run-ins with both halves of them. This time around, however, whilst they both originally came individually, now they've come together as a fusion, which also serves to show their differences in the original teamwork they employed; Eyeball!Ruby originally only fused with other Rubies and Aquamarine originally had two Topazes doing her bidding.
- White Diamond, although no longer a direct antagonist herself, has developed a new ability that follows this shaken-up formula; originally she would take possession of other Gems, which was the source of conflict in "Change Your Mind" and the time that Steven was in direct opposition to what the Diamond's stood for, but now she allows other Gems to take control of her to explain their issues. This caused Steven, when it was used on him, to subject her to a little revenge that almost caused her to seriously harm herself, and for an extra twist of irony, White Diamond developed this ability as a result of Steven's victory over her that ultimately made her a better person.
- Finally, Monster!Steven can be seen as the reflection of the entirety of Future, as he was created due to Steven's pent up issues and trauma. This would usually be a situation, one where a person needs help with their overwhelmingly crippling issues (or more accurately with the show's formula, one where a Gem monster needs to be brought down), that Steven would once again jump in to sort out as the hero, but this time, Steven is the one with the problem, and it's ultimately up to his friends and family to save/stop him, which is arguably the biggest flip on the formula of the Steven Universe show.
True to her character in the original series, Jasper is one of the most important antagonists. It's her first fight with Steven that establishes his pink state and her helmet horns resemble Monster Steven's, foreshadowing her role in his downward spiral. During "Growing Pains", Steven is on the floor similar to Jasper during her corruption scene, foreshadowing his own corruption. During their second fight, Steven takes on a muscular form similar to Jasper, the music is a Dark Reprise of the tracks from the first fight, Steven's pink state has consumed him enough that he shatters Jasper and resurrects her later. It's Jasper's newfound servitude to Steven that finally drives him over the edge, making him desperate to seek help from the Diamonds. Jasper is also completely absent when Steven corrupts and becomes Monster Steven and is only seen again after the Time Skip, with Steven making it a point to set boundaries between them.
Remember in "So many Birthdays" when Steven (in the unwitting form of an adult) was trying to decide his future through shirts he was perusing through? One of those shirts he rejected was "Love Doctor" on the basis he was 'too squeamish'. Whether this was intended or not, this does foreshadow what ultimately happens with Steven when he tries to become a kind of "doctor" to the newly rehabilitated gems. He tries to be their (emotional) healer, but couldn't handle the pressure that came with juggling their issues without letting them his own personal demons.

Little Homeschool

It makes sense that Jasper's turn around would occur after having a real fight with Steven—as the ultimate Quartz soldier, she lives to fight and it's already shown that she hates living in a time of peace.
Jasper talking about grass as sentient "Earthlings" makes sense when you realize that A) plants don't exist on Homeworld or other conquered Gem planets, and B) we've already seen that there are several Gems that only exist to be part of the scenery on Homeworld (the yellow walls in the Palace, Blue's spa statues, the ballroom singer, etc). Suddenly the idea that the plants surrounding Jasper are thinking beings isn't so out of the blue.
Pearl's pretend phone call isn't just teaching the new Gems about Earth technology, but also the etiquette behind it. Homeworld Gems would have no use for communications devices outside of utility or combat—messages would be short and to the point so as not to waste valuable time, and calling anyone just to chat would be right out. With so many Gems trying to fit in to Earth society, establishing the accepted (read: polite) forms of communication would be essential.
Jasper's Character Development may seem small — she's a Graceful Loser to Steven after they playfully spar, acknowledges that he's not his mother, and doesn't want a toxic fusion anymore — but for Gems, it's significant. The Crystal Gems needed a decade to deal with Rose's death; Jasper has to deal with Pink technically dying twice and lying to everyone. She's actually talking about her problems rather than burying it under a need for revenge. That was all Steven's influence.

Rose Buds

It's generally been speculated before that the reason Pink Diamond's Rose form looks the most human is because of her love of humans. Now that we see what actual Rose Quartzes look like, it seems to check out.
- Notably, Pink Diamond's Rose form has Non-Mammalian Mammaries and actual Rose Quartzes don't. In real life, diamond has cleavage and quartz doesn't.
Fans were briefly confused at the fact that all the Rose Quartzes were voiced by Kimberly Brooks and not Susan Egan, but it makes perfect sense; The Rose Quartz we knew was really Pink Diamond, so it was never a "true" Rose Quartz voice to begin with, with Brooks turning out to be the real deal.
- Not to mention Kimberly Brooks is the voice of Jasper, who's also a Quartz soldier. So looks like Kim's adding Rose Quartzes to that list as well.
Holly Blue immediately shuts up when she realizes that Steven is hearing her complaints about him; even though Steven is a Nice Guy and wouldn't get her in trouble, old habits die hard for a loyal Gem.

Volleyball

Rose requesting a sword that can cut through any Gem's physical form but never the gemstone makes sense given that when she was younger her powers would go out of control during her tantrums and hurt innocent Gems nearby. Of course she would want to be absolutely sure that the Gems she was fighting wouldn't be permanently harmed!

Bluebird

Bluebird has many asymmetrical features, and her Ruby and Aquamarine parts blend together very imperfectly. This is because she's a fusion whose parts aren't in harmony and don't have much in common other than their mutual hatred for Steven. Fusions whose parts are more in sync with each other tend to blend together much better.
When Bluebird offers Steven food, she offers him a plate of grass, peanut butter, and oysters. Remember how peanut, sea food, and pollen allergies are the most common ones people tend to have?
Talking about fusions, Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet manage to instantly fuse into Alexandrite instead of going through a long Fusion Dance because the three are perfectly in sync at the moment: all three are focused on saving the boy they raised and love.
Fridge-Awesome: The only reason Bluebird failed at holding Greg hostage, the one factor she didn't account for, was his hair. Unlike Gem hair, his hair could 'detach', for lack of better words. What makes this brilliant and awesome is that it's a Call-Back to what Rose Quartz loved most about humans: unlike Gems, they can grow and change at a moment's notice.
Aquamarine's "ransom" when threatening to kill Greg is actually (partially) a form of foreshadowing for the next few episodes.
- "Destroying your house"—in "Prickly Pair", Cactus Steven destroys Steven's front door and a "sizeable portion of the front wall", while in "I Am My Monster", the entirety of the front wall has been smashed apart by corrupted Steven.
- "Bubble your friends"—while not as it was implied, in "Little Graduation", Steven effectively traps his human friends in a semi-transparent magic dome, thus "bubbling" them.
- "Burn Little Homeworld to the ground"—More accurate if "burn" was replaced by "destroyed", which Steven partly commits in "Everything's Fine" unintentionally.

A Very Special Episode

The episode's Gainax Ending makes a lot more sense if you assume that it really was a Show Within a Show made by Steven and the Gems, explaining why Garnet and Pearl are acting in more exaggerated ways (Garnet in particular with telling the other Gems everything that could possibly go wrong), how they were able to fuse so easily despite the stress they were going through, and why the other Gems followed Onion when he started playing a piece of grass - they were all just acting. It also explains a few of the Idiot Ball moments (such as Garnet not simply cancelling the safety lesson, Steven not using Lion to warp between places, and the other Gems walking off a cliff).
The episode being a Show Within a Show also explains why Onion is suddenly in need of a babysitter when he was perfectly fine (at least by his own Creepy Child standards) without one in previous episodes.
When Onion is smashing the pot the first time Rainbow comes back, he may not just be acting out destructively. Notice the tool he uses—it's a collapsed folding umbrella. Rather than simply destroying the pot, Onion may have been trying to duplicate Rainbow's animation magic with a non-magical substitute, and trying a little too hard when a gentle tap didn't work.
Garnet may have seen the consequences of Steven's inability to budget his time properly using future vision, which in turn probably inspired her to make the PSA in the first place.
On both of those notes, it's likely that Garnet and Steven made the PSA specifically to avoid Steven's time management problems—inviting Onion to join in the PSA is a perfect way for him and Rainbow Quartz 2.0 to play together (and maybe even give him an excuse to destroy the house), and Sunstone gets to give their safety advice to the Gems of Little Homeworld.
At the end of the episode, Amethyst claims she misses Steven because she hasn't seen him in 11 minutes. This marks Amethyst's first appearance in this episode, with each episode of the show being 11 minutes overall. If the previous episode and this one are played one after another, Amethyst hasn't seen Steven for 11 minutes exactly since her last appearance in the show.

Snow Day

Garnet was able to escape Steven's Rose Room so easily because of what she wanted most—to spend time with Steven, the real Steven.
- Back in "Rose's Room," we see the Gems in more or less the exact same positions when Steven enters and exits the room—it's possible that Garnet didn't so much as escape the room quickly, as time just works differently inside and out of the room.
Sapphire knew how to stay on the roof so she could tag Steven because she knew exactly where he would go and what he would do because of her future vision.

Why So Blue?

The two Lazulies call Lapis dull. As shown before with the Ruby Squad in "Hit the Diamond", older Gems have a more brighter color than those newer ones, reflecting real gems losing their luster after years of handling.
- It could also be a way to rebuke some fan dislike on Lapis' color palette, allegating that real lapis lazulies possess darker blue tones. Well, here are two darker, new Lazulies; too bad they're also pretty mean because they don't have Lapis' experience.
The two Lazulies are newer than our Lapis, which means they also were hit by Homeworld's austerity with resources. They might not have technological enhancements, but they're significantly weaker than Lapis as they don't seem to be able to shapeshift their own water wings nor have the immense control and might Lapis showed to possessed. They seem to only have enough power to do their job, but most likely they can't create an elevator with a planet's entire ocean.
It was previously heavily implied, but this episode more or less confirms the reason Bismuth sneak-attacked Lapis in the backstory - Lapis was there to kill all life on earth, and Bismuth, knowing how dangerous a Lapis Lazuli can be, wasn't willing to take the risk of talking to her when the entire planet was at stake. Taking Lapis down would have been an absolutely essential part of the Crystal Gems' plans.

Little Graduation

Steven's surprise and dismay at all of his human friends changing around him comes from the fact that, for most of his life, he's had to deal with the consequences of the Gems' unchanging nature. With the Gems only recently learning how to grow and change, it makes sense that Steven would be blindsided by just how relatively fast the life of a human can change.
- Alternately, it could be a reflection of showing Steven's imbalance for his life. The show started out with him primarily focused on his human aspect, gradually shifting to more focusing on the Gem. When he feels he can finally try and focus on the human stuff, a lot has changed and he can't cope with it after neglecting it for so long.
- After the revelation in "Growing Pains" that Steven has PTSD, and that losing supportive relationships can cause the symptoms to worsen, his fear over people leaving him is pretty understandable.
Most of Steven's human friends in Beach City are a few years older than him. Going by the timeline, Lars, Sadie and the Cool Kids are all adults now while Steven is still in his teens, adding to his fears of being left behind.

Prickly Pair

Cactus Steven parrots many of Steven's private rants against the Crystal Gems and over Steven's own insecurities during an intense battle that demolishes the Beach House's living room before taking his leave by tearing down the front wall. One could say Steven's collected facade has been torn down as well.
- Taking this a step further, the Gems were able to see the chaos unfolding in the Beach House through the large porch windows. Steven's inner chaos is more visible than he would like it to be.
Steven's inability to confide to people about his problems has been tragically foreshadowed since early in the series. It's been often brought up how his unique situation of being a Human/Gem hybrid makes it difficult to relate to other people, whether Gem or human. Initially, the emphasis rested on how Gemkind had large trouble understanding him and vice versa, but now we're seeing his human relations suffer, likely because he has been neglecting it for the past few years due to Gem-related problems; very few people could probably comprehend what he has gone through and how it is affecting him.
Steven is trying to gain a sense of control over the people he feels he's losing by proxy of his plants. Plants are literally rooted to their place in earth, thanks to being under a dome no rain is accessible and plants are susceptible to parasites or old leaves taking away their strength, so they're completely dependable on Steven to water them (provide support) and keeping them clean (help them with their issues).
- It's especially significant that he included Connie among the plant proxies; after all Connie is yet to make a proper appearance in Future after ten episodes. Given how a video notes her studying for college, it's likely he knows she's going away to college and worries they will drift apart.
Steven isn't the first Pink Diamond to use a garden to occupy themselves in order to not think about their problems.

In Dreams

How the Diamonds are depicted in Steven's dream correlates to how he views them:
- Blue being a dolphin shows her (relative) openness and willingness to play along with Steven's ideas (and the first one of the three to be redeemed).
- Yellow being a pineapple shows that she is essentially spiky on the outside, but soft and sweet on the inside.
- White being only shown by her feet shows that she was formerly quite unreachable, intimidating, and aloof.

Bismuth Casual

In hindsight, there have been hints that Bismuth has been crushing on Pearl since they were fellow rebels. She was very happy when Pearl gave her a Glomp after Steven freed her the first time, and jokingly asked if someone had lost a Pearl. They're not so different as being made to serve the Diamond authority and Bismuth was led to believe that Pearl rebelled and ran away from her mistress. No wonder Bismuth was mad at Rose for being willing to let Pearl be such a Love Martyr.
One thing that makes Bismuth better than Rose; she respects Pearl's feelings and wants her to be happy. Rose got better at managing relationships, but she took her Pearl for granted and ignored her wishes on certain occasions. Bismuth presumably saw that Pearl would do anything for Rose, even get poofed. Later, Steven told her that Pearl suffered for millennia being unable to tell anyone the truth about Pink Diamond faking her death and then mourning Rose. She thinks that Pearl is much happier finding out who she is and making friends without the weight of someone having a crush on her.

Growing Pains

The fact that this is Steven's first ever visit to the doctor actually makes some amount of sense, given that Greg likely couldn't afford the fees for a check-up for the majority of the series and the Gems would see no need to visit a human doctor.

Mr. Universe

When Steven says Greg is just like Rose, he's more right than he realizes. They both suffered from abusive parental figures who tried to make them conform to be what they wanted them to be, and they both ran away and re-invented themselves when they realized how much more was out there. Steven doesn't get it though - because he's only met the Diamonds, who are/were scary ultra-powerful dictators who wanted to destroy the earth; Greg's parents were just ordinary humans in comparison, so how bad could they be? It's a lot easier for him to understand why a Gem might be scared of/traumatized by the Diamonds than why Greg would have been traumatized by growing up in a normal house with a stable family.
- Naturally, this stems from the fact that Steven's never met an outright abusive human before. He knows Gems are capable of horrible things, but he's had no concept of humans being just as capable of terrible things.
On another note, the reason Greg probably raised Steven in such a free spirited way was likely a subconscious choice due to how strict and emotionally absent his own parents were.
- Psychologists also attribute that styles of parenting can drastically alter a person's functionality in the world. Greg's strict upbringing made him rebellious and unsure of what to do with his life up until meeting Rose. Greg’s liberal upbringing of Steven is part of what made him morally strong but emotionally incapable of processing stress or change.
After seeing how Greg was raised, it's an uncanny coincidence that Connie came to confide in him whenever she had questions about the Gems: he's been where she is. Both grew up with strict parents, both met a Gem(/human hybrid) who changed their lives, and both found their identities beyond being their parents' perfect child. The only difference being that Connie was able to reason with her parents to be less strict and to let her have a bit more freedom.
A comment on YouTube makes a point that the reason Greg got into the song "Mr. Universe" is because it has a certain Double Entendre: "Mr. You-niverse". One can say the song might've inspired Greg to think of what he wanted to be instead of what his parents made him be.

Fragments

In his muscular Pink Steven form, Steven's hair becomes a poofy pompadour. This is a visual representation of him becoming more similar to Pink Diamond, who also has large, poofy hair.
- It could also be a Continuity Nod to the version of Steven in "Steven and the Stevens" who also wore a pompadour and got Drunk with Power, which cost him his life.
A thing to notice during the episode is that during training, Steven takes on a more muscular form with a pompadour. This isn't just a callback to "Steven and the Stevens" where one of the copies has the same hair, it's also similar to Jasper's appearance: a muscular body with a pointed helmet. During their rematch, Jasper pushes Steven to use more and more of his power, effectively causing him to become more like Jasper in appearance and attitude.
There are several reasons why Jasper is able to forgive Steven for effectively killing her: It's been established since Season 1 of the original show that when a gem is shattered, they are still conscious but unable to do anything. If anything, Jasper is probably grateful that Steven put her shards back together instead of either bubbling her and leaving her to rot or deliberately turning her into fine grains out of spite. Another is that Season 3 of Steven Universe establishes that Jasper is willing to submit to those far stronger than her, and Steven has more than proved that he's stronger than Jasper at this point. Another reason is that much like Lars, her death and resurrection is a metaphorical death of her old self.
We learn from the end of the episode that a shattered gem can be brought Back from the Dead if all four Diamonds' essence is used. Assuming the Diamonds knew about this (which they may have not), why didn't the other Diamonds do the same to bring back the apparently-shattered Pink Diamond? Because they most likely didn't have any essence from her. Alternatively, they may have tried, but failed because the shattered Pink Diamond gem was a fake.
Why was Garnet not able to predict that Steven would lose himself to the point that he ended up shattering Jasper, or even that Steven ran off to Jasper in the first place? Remember back in "Pool Hopping" that the reason Garnet's future vision was off is that she hadn't factored in how much Steven had matured. Here, her future vision is not working again because she hasn't realized and been able to account for how bad Steven's PTSD and other mental problems have gotten.

Homeworld Bound

Following their Heel–Face Turn, all Diamonds gained a power that is in some way an inversion of their original villainous power: Yellow, instead of destroying a Gem's physical form, can restore it; Blue, instead of making others feel sad and miserable, makes others feel serene and happy; and White, instead of possessing and mind-controlling others, allows others to possess her body. This is also true about Pink: in "Volleyball" we learn that she had destructive powers, whereas after becoming Rose Quartz she got her trademark healing and life-giving powers.
- This might explain why Pink Diamond seems so much more temperamental and destructive than Rose Quartz. After all, Pink wasn't feeling very happy while she was a diamond so her powers were bound to express themselves negatively (note the accident with Volleyball) more than they did positively.
There are several Alice Allusions in this episode. Yellow Diamond using her powers to shrink and grow Steven is similar to Alice drinking the juice and eating the cake that makes her grow and shrink. Blue's clouds are similar to the smoke from the caterpillar's hookah. White Diamond turning pink when she channels Steven and Spinel is similar to 'painting the white roses red'. At the conclusion of the episode, Steven gets mad at Spinel for repeating his advice to him; whereas at one point Alice laments that she never follows her own advice.
This tumblr user pointed out something interesting regarding the way Yellow Diamond spends time in her room now.
Blue Diamond's new power to create a cloud of mist that makes people feel happy has a lot of fans joking she's a drug dealer, but considering Future's focus on mental health and Steven's obvious discomfort when she tries to use it on him, it could be seen as a metaphor for apathetic therapists who throw medication at their patients without ever really talking to them or understanding what they're going through.

Everything's Fine

Steven's infamous tangent at the end of the episode is highly reminiscent of a mental breakdown, with several fans who have personality disorders pointing out its accuracy. Steven isn't angry, per se; he's in a manic phase, smiling despite there being very little to smile about, and talking nonstop for fear that someone's going to tell him something that'll feed into his bad mindset. "Manic" doesn't necessarily translate to "happy" after all.
Steven is acting quite similar to White Diamond, causing a lot of pain and trouble but denying it for the sake of appearing fine.

I Am My Monster

Why does Connie yell at everybody to stop blaming themselves for what's happening to Steven? Self-pity and blaming himself for things beyond his control caused Steven's corruption in the first place, and Connie knows that anybody else going down that same path is the LAST thing they all need right now.
- Not quite. Show creator Rebecca Sugar mentioned at a book signing that Gems can dissipate or "poof" their physical forms not just from injuries, but also extreme emotions which is likely a natural failsafe to prevent corruption without external influences. Unfortunately, since Steven's body is half-organic, which makes him unable to do so, he could have been forced to endure the process.
- Adding onto that, when Spinel and White Diamond start freaking out, one may find it difficult to take their near-tantrum seriously—but that's the point. By taking the scene out of context, you get a situation where a bunch of people are making it about themselves instead of helping someone who needs help, and that in and of itself is hard to take seriously.
Monster Steven doesn't really seem angry until the Gems start physically attacking him. Up till that point, he mostly staggers around with a scared/confused expression, and harming things by accidentally sweeping them away or stepping on them. This makes sense, since Gem Monsters are like animals in the sense that they act aggressively when confronted.
While the CG, Connie, Greg, Spinel, the Diamonds and the Cluster all hugging Steven might seem cheesy and anticlimactic, it's actually heavily recommended by therapists to have a support system available during a mental breakdown. After all, if you think that things like threats or punching would stop someone's meltdown, who just happens to be your loved one, be our guest.
- There's also the fact that, despite all their flaws, all those individuals involved love Steven. Even with him becoming a monster and attacking his town, none of them want to hurt him. A giant fight wouldn't work because Monster Steven isn't just a monster that can be bubbled until the Diamonds can cure them.
- Furthermore, Steven turned himself into a monster due to his trauma and his feelings of rage, fear and self-loathing. Using brutal force would only enforce his belief within him that he is a monster, thus worsening the situation. By hugging him and giving him love and reassuring words, they helped him to realize that he's not a monster, but a kind and compassionate kid who shouldn't be afraid to ask for help when he needs to do so.
If we assume that Blue Diamond can be affected with her own powers since Yellow pushed her away from it as well as Spinel's comment about "Blue's cool new power", the reason she didn't help Steven much in "Homeworld Bound" even though she is the most feeling/caring was because she was sitting on her own cloud. Her powers only made her feel happy and contented, so she wasn't able to empathize with Steven, she couldn't feel his pain and frustration.
- When she did, it was at the end of the episode where she was with the other Diamonds trying to reach out to Steven. But he had already given up on reaching out to them.
It makes sense that the Diamonds aren't very effective in helping Steven out of his meltdown. In the original series, they were metaphors for abuse (physical/emotional/mental) and unhealthy coping mechanisms for grief (overworking/depression/isolation). In addition, their methods in Homeworld Bound are considered metaphors for unhealthy coping mechanisms for stress (drugs/plastic surgery/self harm). Unsurprisingly, the Diamonds completely fail to understand that Steven's problems require empathy and understanding in order to overcome them and eventually they have to let Connie, Greg and the Crystal Gems free Steven from his corruption.
Connie's kiss to Steven did a lot more than what was shown on the surface as far as science is concerned. Physical affection can help alleviate stress. Kissing triggers your brain to release a cocktail of chemicals that leave you feeling great by igniting the pleasure centers of the brain.
- These chemicals include oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin, which can make you feel euphoric and encourage feelings of affection and bonding. It also lowers your cortisol (stress hormone) levels. Steven must've been under some serious stress until Connie's kiss took place.
This tumblr post mentions that "Steven's Birthday" actually provided a fair amount of Foreshadowing to helping Steven get through his big predicament; when Steven turned back into a baby, stuck in a body that he didn't know how to control, the solution wasn't to cheer him up the same way you'd cheer up a baby (like how Greg and the Gems tried to), but for somebody (who was Connie) to let him hear that they'd want to be there for him no matter what, no matter how strange his new form was.

The Future

This may or may not be intentional, but Steven making homemade Cookie Cats is a lovely symbolic way of bringing the story full circle. Steven bemoaning the cookie cats were being discontinued represents his helplessness and/or dependency. Now that he can make them homemade, he doesn't have to rely on someone else to provide them. It beautifully signifies he can take care of himself now.
Building on the above, it becomes Fridge-Heartwarming when one bears in mind what Steven said in "Growing Pains". He said his trauma specifically started with Cookie Cats being discontinued. One gets the feeling he's remedying his first trauma in a way that's within his power (by baking them himself on occasion).
Someone on twitter pointed out that this version of America only having 39 states instead of 50 may not entirely be a coincidence, given how 11 of them are Confederate states.
Steven giving Bismuth the most enduring symbol of the Crystal Gems (their flag) is even more powerful since she has consistently filled an unglamorous yet necessary role in the Crystal Gems: their main voice of dissent. She was willing to fight for her ideals even if it went against the group (though it did get violent) yet was humble enough to change her goals after finding evidence that her plan wouldn't have worked. And in another instance, her discomfort with negotiating with the Diamond Authority put her in just the right position to bail out the others after the initial plan went south. She is not only a true Crystal Gem, but the truest Crystal Gem for staying true to herself in the face of higher authority on both sides of the war.

Fridge Horror