Alternate promo
Greg makes Steven "Ice Cream ala Pie" for dinner, relieved Steven's swelling has gone down. Steven is still lost in thought as he has no idea who he is as a being. Greg tells Steven when he was a teen, he had no idea of what he wanted to do until he hit the road and how he spent time watching trucks go by and eating junk food. He suggests that Steven and he go on a road trip for a change in perspective and they head off with Steven carrying his ice cream.
On the road with Greg at the wheel, they have fun while they make a pit stop for Pepe's Burgers, go to a store to try sunglasses on and sing songs. Upon arriving in a neighborhood, Greg tells Steven that he played his first gig in this area. As Steven asks how he became "Mr. Universe" in the first place, Greg decides to show him how that came to be.
Later, the van arrives at a certain house and Greg climbs over the fence. Concerned about how his dad is breaking and entering, Steven follows Greg through a second story window, where Greg struggles to get in while Steven merely jumps and drifts, of an empty home.Greg looks for something certain and Steven goes to write a note for the home owners, trying to make it seem like there was an excuse. Steven finds unopened letters from his father to "Mr. and Mrs. DeMayo", and realizes they are in Greg's childhood home.
Steven becomes excited to be in the house Greg grew up in and was impressed by Greg's old belongings, while the latter thought the opposite. Greg remembered the rough times: curfews, chaperones, and meatloaf every Thursday night for twenty years and not eating a taco until he was "too old". Steven continues to look through the knick knacks, and takes a picture of Greg in his middle school yearbook on his phone. Greg tells Steven about his poor relationship with his parents, who were on their timeshare on Florida Island, and how they made him miserable with their lifestyle and choices for him. On finding his graduation photo, Greg reminisces on his parents made him get a bad haircut for this moment. Steven asks if there were any pictures of that, Greg explained that music was forbidden in this house. Suddenly, Greg remembers and finds what he is looking for in a box in a air vent and tries to go out the window due to "habits", but takes Steven's advice to go through the front door.
Greg gives Steven the keys, as it is his journey, and they head off. He tells Steven how he just did what people, his parents, wanted of him until a friend gave him a CD (the item he was looking for) that inspired him to be who he is. As the CD plays, revealing the inspiration for Greg to change his name to "Mr. Universe", Greg wants to replay the song but Steven angrily turns it off, telling him that he wished that he could have grown up with structure and supervision like his father had. Greg tells Steven that the things he liked were always wrong to his parents and that they forced him to do the things they wanted him to do instead. Steven then begins to glow pink with anger saying that Greg was just like his mother. Still mad, Steven adds that he never did things like going to school and visiting the doctor as other humans have. Despite Greg's objections to Steven's beliefs, Steven rips out the steering wheel, crashing and flipping the van.
After waking up, Greg tries to cheer Steven up, and tells him he is proud of Steven for speaking his mind and telling him off, something he could never do to his own dad. As Greg goes on, however, the audio slowly muffles as Steven doesn't respond and completely ignores his father. Steven looks at his phone and deletes the old picture of his father while sighing in disappointment, showing that he has lost some respect for him.
Tropes:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Greg listing off what he considers the oppressive aspects of his childhood: "Curfew! Chaperones! Meatloaf!" Steven later states that maybe they did those things for a reason.
- Bland-Name Product: Steven and Greg stop at "Uaua", a reference to the Mid-East American convenience store chain Wawa.
- Both Sides Have a Point: The tragedy of Greg and Steven's argument isn't that one of them is truly right over the other, but rather that they fail to fully understand and empathize with the different struggles each of them endured.
- Steven has a point in that the lack of structure in his childhood made things worse for him in the long run. The fact that he never even went to school has made it harder for Steven to connect to humans his own age, or to find a job without qualifications, and since he's part-human, he really should have been seeing a doctor. Greg could have also been stricter about not allowing Steven to go on so many dangerous Gem missions (though he has put his foot down and the Gems were also responsible enough to ground Steven.) Steven's childhood might have had more freedom than Greg's but Steven's childhood also resulted in him having a lot of issues, including PTSD, so naturally, Greg saying that Steven had it so much better than he did would have rubbed him the wrong way.
- However, Greg's reasoning for how he raised Steven is pretty valid given the unique circumstances. He knew that Steven would develop Gem-related powers at some point so keeping him close to the Gems was necessary. Additionally, considering how the letters Greg sent to his parents were never answered or even opened, Greg could not rely on his family for support. While his childhood could've been more structured, much of the situation was the result of outside forces beyond Greg's control and more "traditional" parenting would not've been able to fix that. In fact, his potentially more structured life would've just been shattered harder with the inevitable contact of Homeworld. Greg is also right about how his childhood with strict and controlling parents would not have been any better for Steven, especially considering how Steven is very much like his parents and he even got a taste of what his mother went through when he went to Homeworld for the first time.
- Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: At least from Greg's perspective: Greg's parents are said to have been very strict when raising him. In contrast, Greg gave Steven much more freedom. However, Greg's much more loose parenting ended up creating a whole different set of problems for his child.
- Broken Pedestal: Steven becomes disillusioned with Greg when he learns that his life's worth of traumatic events can be traced back to Greg running away from home as a 20-year-old because he didn't appreciate a stable and average (if monotonous) life in the suburbs. It's even topped off by Steven deleting Greg's yearbook photo from his phone.
- Call-Back: In "The Big Show", Greg mentioned his parents loathed his interest in music and never even came to his shows. In this episode, his childhood is shown in more detail, including how his interest in music was a form of rebellion against them.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Steven angrily tells Greg that he wished he was raised with some kind of normalcy or direction. When Greg responds that he wished he could stand up to his parents like Steven did, Steven just tunes him out completely.
- Casting Gag: The very David Bowie-inspired Kerry Moonbeam is voiced by Jemaine Clement, who played (a hallucination of) Bowie several times on Flight of the Conchords.
- Cerebus Call-Back: A joke in "Gem Harvest" indicated Steven didn't find his surname "Universe" very impressive compared to Greg's original name "DeMayo". Now Steven finds out Greg took the name from a rock song, and is genuinely pissed that his name has such a ridiculous origin.
- Character Name Alias: Greg chose his new surname because of a song titled "Mr. Universe" about how everything in the world is connected like one entity, because of how much said song inspired him. Steven is unimpressed with this reveal, to put it lightly.
- Comfort Food: At the start of the episode, Greg serves Steven what he calls "ice cream à la pie", which is three scoops of ice cream topped with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a small slice of pie.
- Control Freak: The way Greg talks about his parents imply that they were like this, to the point everything in his high school life was something they forced him to do.
- Different States of America: Greg mentions that his parents are now living in Florida Island.
- Disgusting Public Toilet: Implied when Greg steps into a men's room only to walk right back out dismissively.
- Downer Ending: Steven loses respect for his father while Greg seems blissfully ignorant of just how badly his decisions have affected his son, not to mention that the van has been trashed again.
- Dramatically Missing the Point:
- After the van flips over, Greg treats Steven telling him off as just another part of Steven expressing his individuality and that he was proud of him for it. While this would have been heartfelt moment between father and son at any other point in the franchise, it is the last thing Steven needed to hear since their argument was about Greg being an irresponsible parent who provided little structure in his life, having thrown away a stable life out of an act of rebellion even as he reaches his golden years.
- Steven dismisses the song "Mr. Universe" as having little relation with his life. But in a way, it does have some relation to Steven's life at this point: trying to find his place in the universe, even in wake of his surfacing issues.
- Embarrassing Old Photo: Greg is aghast when Steven digs up his high school graduation photo of him with a buzzcut (that his parents made him get).
- Foreshadowing:
- At the start of the episode, Greg gives his son a delicious ice cream dessert to eat…FOR DINNER! While it was a thoughtful treat, it's not exactly the most nutritious meal a responsible parent would give their child. Especially one recovering from trauma. Much of the rest of the episode is showing how Greg may have given Steven too much freedom growing up.
- After Greg puts Steven behind the wheel of the van, he immediately screws up shifting gears. Steven ends up crashing it shortly after.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- Next to the photo of a young Greg with his parents is the photo of Andy's parents that hung up in the barn.
- The letters from Greg to his parents show his hometown is Showne, West Keystone, whereas Greg nowadays uses a P.O. box.
- Generational Trauma: A recurring theme in the series is unresolved emotional baggage being taken out on one's family, particularly those one raises. Here, an older Steven learns that his father is estranged from his own parents, having resented their stifling upbringing and gone his own way as a musician. Greg thus raised Steven in a loose manner where his son could do anything he wanted, not having to attend school or visit the doctor or other responsibilities distracting from his Gem heritage. However, Steven resents this discovery as he feels he was robbed of the chance to live a normal life instead of one constantly in peril from Gem threats.
- Genre Deconstruction: While much of the series had glossed over Greg's laissez-faire presence in his son's life in favor of Slice of Life shenanigans and Science Fantasy adventures, here it is discussed to have had a negative impact on his son's mental well-being and way of life in the long term. When Steven sees how Greg's life was before he met his mom - boring, but otherwise safe and stable - he is quick to resent his dad for continuing to act like a rebellious teenager while he himself has been forced to grow up in the face of monsters, invading Gems, and the sins of his mother.
- Good-Times Montage: We get to see various fun highlights from Steven and Greg's road trip, including eating a burger meal in the back of the van, wearing goofy sunglasses, and singing along to "Dear Old Dad".
- Grass is Greener: Greg moans throughout the episode about how terrible his strict parents were. Steven is frustrated because he was denied any chance of normalcy due to Greg's parenting and the life he did lead as a result gave him PTSD. On the other hand, Steven himself is guilty of this as well, as even though Greg's childhood problems seem comparatively nothing, it was clear that he was still genuinely miserable growing up. As a result, Steven fails to pick up on the numerous implications that for all the 'normalcy' that Greg got to have, he didn't have the unconditional love and support from his parents that Steven received for all his life. He also seems to have forgotten his Uncle Andy's comments regarding what happened to the family after Greg left or how Andy's attitude was a part of it.
- Hidden Depths: Played with. If Greg's high school photo was any indication, he got passing grades, showing he was good in areas other than music. At the same time, he doesn't look happy for it. Just because he was good at other stuff doesn't mean he liked it.
- Hippie Parents: Greg insists that giving Steven freedom was more important than most of the things Greg had growing up. It's suggested that some of the more questionable elements of Steven's upbringing (like never attending school or going to a doctor) were things Greg was responsible for or at least allowed (which he justifies with Steven being different than most children because he's half-Gem).
- Irony:
- Steven dismisses the song "Mr. Universe" as irrelevant despite it summing up his current situation right now.
- As Steven claims that Greg's parents couldn't have been worse than Pink's family, he does the trademark "eye-roll-for-emphasis" tic the Diamonds are shown to do.
- Steven's desire for the family life Greg had (one of stability) ignores the fact that the DeMayos ended up falling to pieces, something that Andy more or less noted and how they all lost contact. Not exactly one of stability.
- I Have No Son!: Implied, as Greg's parents seemingly never tried to get in contact with him after he left and never read his letters. Inverted as well, since Greg has nothing good to say about his parents and never told Steven about them. They may not even know Steven exists.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Steven is upset that he never got a normal childhood, and wishes Greg was more like his own parents who, for all their strictness, gave him a stable home life.
- I Never Got Any Letters: While looking for paper to write an apology note for the owners of the house they just broke into, Steven finds a pile of letters from Greg to his parents in a drawer, left unopened. It's not revealed due to them being The Ghost if they both knew or if one of them was hiding them from the other.
- Internal Deconstruction: Continuing the trend from "Growing Pains", this episode tackles the negative aspects of Steven's Free-Range Children lifestyle up til now. It's revealed here that Greg gave Steven the complete freedom that he felt that he was deprived of as a child, completely oblivious to the fact that the actual structure provided by his upbringing allowed him to make more informed decisions as an adult. By comparison, he left Steven largely in the care of the Gems and free to make any choice that he wanted as a young child. This led to disastrous results now in the present where he's unable to cope with everyday stress and has no idea what is normal for humans.
- Left the Background Music On: Steven's half of "Dear Old Dad" plays as Greg and Steven drive around, seemingly out of universe until it's shown as a track on the car that both start humming along to.
- Manchild: Greg still hates his parents for their strict rules decades after he moved out (though if the stack of unopened letters mean anything, his disdain for them may be rooted in larger issues that are associated with said rules). As such, he can't understand Steven's frustrations with his super carefree and unstructured style of parenting. Greg even considers climbing a tree next to his bedroom window to be the default entrance to his parents' house, as if he were still a rebellious child sneaking in and out.
- Moral Luck: Though Steven has legitimate criticism of his father's parenting, he mixes in a lot trauma from events completely beyond Greg's control or knowledge that would've happened to Steven regardless of how structured his childhood was.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Kerry Moonbeam, the singer of the "Mr. Universe" song, strongly resembles David Bowie, especially his Ziggy Stardust persona (which even has a similar name). He's voiced by Jemaine Clement, who has done David Bowie impressions both for his own show and for other animated works.
- Origins Episode: Although there's no flashback, the latter half of the episode shows Greg's life before moving to Beach City, and why he ultimately left town and changed his name.
- Parents as People:
- For as loving a father as Greg is, it's shown a lot of his Open Minded Parenting is (over)compensating for the strict way his parents treated him, and he practically ignores Steven asking if he should have done otherwise.
- Steven, who grew up with next to no structure from his father, wonders if Greg's parents had a reason for being so strict with him and aren't as bad as Greg paints them to be, though the stack of letters Steven finds hidden away in a drawer implies that Greg tried to contact them only to seemingly be shut out. Due to their lack of a physical appearance, it's never made clear if Greg's parents were simply strict or actually abusive.
- Pubescent Braces: The yearbook photo of Greg showed that he had braces when he attended middle school.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Steven berates Greg for never introducing him to his grandparents and for putting his own free-spirited nature over attempting to provide Steven with a stable and normal childhood.
- The Reveal: Greg took his current surname from a song that inspired him to be a musician.
- Riddle for the Ages: The piled letters Steven finds from Greg to his parents in a drawer. Why were they all unopened, but still kept? Did Greg stop sending letters at a certain point?
- Rule of Symbolism:
- Greg puts Steven behind the wheel of his van, giving him no destination and ignoring Steven's difficulty controlling the vehicle for seemingly the first time. During the drive, Steven chews Greg out for leaving his life directionless, and Steven ends up crashing both literally and metaphorically.
- The promo image, seen above has Steven burning and the edge of the picture also singed. Steven is burning with anger on the inside and it's bleeding out of the edges.
- Shed the Family Name: It has been implied that Greg changing his last name was because he wasn't close to his family as we saw when we met Andy, but here, it's become blatant that he burned his bridges with them pretty well.
- Shout-Out:
- The promo image above is a spoof of the album cover for Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. Fitting the show's gemstone theming and Steven's status as the son of Pink Diamond, that album is bookended by two halves of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
- The CD that Greg shows Steven, Kerry Moonbeam, is a reference to the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie, which was often cited by people who grew up in Britain during the early '70s as a transformative album in their life (to the extent where the Rykodisc reissue in 1990 used it as a selling point). The CD's cover art additionally takes after that for Aladdin Sane, Bowie's loose sequel to Ziggy Stardust.
- "Kerry Moonbeam" might be a reference to the lyrics to the Bing Crosby song "Swinging On A Star"
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- Stating the Simple Solution: After Greg finds the CD he was looking for in his old room, he tries to exit out the window the same way he and Steven came in. Steven asks if they could just go out the front door instead, with Greg apologizing since going out the window was an old habit of his.
- Special Guest: Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords voices Kerry Moonbeam, the singer of the title song "Mr. Universe".
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: "Mr. Universe" opens with the line "Looking for your place in the universe", which ends up playing twice. Despite Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life himself, Steven dismisses the song as irrelevant.
- Traumatic Haircut: Greg's parents made him get a buzz cut for high school graduation (right before he had a musical gig), which wasn't done by force, but the accompanying picture still shows him extremely unhappy about it.
- Tuckerization: One of the people who wrote in Greg's middle school yearbook is named Lauren Hecht, after the show's animation editor (playing off how Greg's original name came from the show's animation director).
