WesternAnimation I applaud the crew for what they set out to do, but twenty episodes was not enough to do it right (slight spoilers)
The main point of Future is to show Steven's Stepford Smiler facade slowly crack as he desperately tries to pretend the very traumatic experiences he went through in the original series and the movie didn't effect him at all. The crew did a wonderful job portraying the lead up to his ultimate breakdown as raw and as real as possible, helped by Zach Calison's fantastic performance.
And that's the exact problem I have with Future.
It's too real. 17, maybe 16 out of 20 episodes are spent hammering in how bad Steven's mental state is, to the point it's just uncomfortable to watch as he keeps drawing inward and lashing out while his very confused and worried friends and family try to help him.
The heavy focus on Steven also causes everyone but the core four to be relegated to background characters at best save maybe one focus episode — the show is set when everything's peaceful, Homeworld is free to do whatever and the Corrupted Gems are healed, but nothing is ever done with them, and established characters show up once or twice if they're lucky before screwing off into the ether, and it sucks because the crew really nails what chemistry and interactions the characters do have. I could go on about this all day if it wasn't for the character count, heh.
It's not all bad, though! The music, songs, animation, and choreography are just as stellar as the original series, maybe even better in some places. Future suffers from its episode count, above all; 20 episodes are not enough to tell a story in a world like this without throwing characters to the wayside or making the audience throw their hands up by the light being so overcome by the dark.
Overall, I give the series a 5, maybe 6 out of 10. For reference, my as-of-writing scores for the original series and the movie are both 8/10, with the former leaning towards an 8.5.
Maybe someday I'll sit down and do a complete rewatch and retrospective on the "trilogy", but not now.
WesternAnimation An interesting look at trauma, but a waste of everything else. (SPOILERS)
The Fandom-Specific Plot of Steven needing therapy finally happens here. The epilogue series does a good job of deconstructing Steven as a character, examining his personality and its flaws. On paper this seems like a decent story, but it fails.
Outside of Steven's trauma, the series wastes a lot of potential.
- The main characters all get a single episode of real focus for themselves at best, sans Amethyst who doesn't even get that. Pearl and Lapis fare best since their episodes explore their development and can help others like them, but Garnet's and Peridot's are just vehicles for Steven's issues, and Bismuth's opens up an interesting idea for her that's never resolved. Hell, this is the only spotlight Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth get despite getting a Promotion to Opening Titles.
- The Diamonds and Spinel have a similar problem. While we get evidence they are changing for the better, and that even Steven isn't fully okay with White, their involvement is left towards the end, and is again a vehicle for Steven's issues.
- Old characters like Nephrite and the uncorrupted Gems are reintroduced but are largely background characters. Newer characters like Cherry Quartz, the Lazuli's, and Volleyball are introduced, and either get a single episode with no proper resolution, or nothing at all.
- Beach City has begun to move on, and so we barely see their cast. My issue wasn't that they existed, its that they distracted from the Homeworld story, yet here they get nothing. Not even Lars gets anything outside a single episode more about Steven being a matchmaker for him and Sadie, and he suddenly leaves at the end with the Off Colors to go star trekking.
- Jasper is the only one who gets anything of note, having to adjust to the war ending and refusing to see Steven as her Diamond, finally giving her respect after Steven shatters her. Even that's wasted since Steven hates how he got it, and the perfect chance for him to show her a new perspective is ignored. She doesn't even help in the final fight, and by the end she's back where she started: dejected and alone.
Steven Universe Future is a lackluster end. Arcs are unresolved, characters are introduced but forgotten about, the main focus requires you ignore Steven's learned this lesson already, and recycles the setup ad nauseum before he finally breaks. Were it not for Pearl, Lapis, and Jasper, I'd have nothing good to say.