One of the main things that I dislike about the show being revolved ENTIRELY around Steven’s view is that dramatic irony and tension just can’t happen sometimes.
Like imagine if at the end of That Will Be All, we get a cutaway just for a few seconds of the Diamonds telling two silhouetted gems that their mission is to retrieve the listen humans from Earth. Or at the end of Gem Drill we cut away for a few seconds, a slow zoom in on a crack in the ground. Jasper’s hand reaches out suddenly and the episode ends. TENSION IS CREATED because we now KNOW that Jasper is out there somewhere plotting something. What if we saw Sugilite realise that Pearl had left her behind, and see her RIGHTLY get mad about it. The audience knowing things that the characters dont works GREAT sometimes. Like Gravity Falls, when we had that whole episode where Dipper and Mabel question Stan’s trust, and finally come to the conclusion that they’re just paranoid and nothing’s up. Then we see Stan opening a secret door in the Mystery Shack and disappearing. THAT was a great moment because WE knew that Stan was up to something, but Dipper and Mabel didn’t. Dramatic irony, it works.
When the whole show revolves around Steven, we can’t see anything but his view. If something happens and he’s not there, we don’t see it. It’s not the worst narrative choice in the world, but it would really pay off if we just didn’t have to focus on Steven ALL THE TIME. We could have episodes that explore the dynamic of characters without Steven being there. Like, what if Reformed just focused on Garnet and Amethyst and didn’t include Steven at all? It’d be better imo, ‘cause really what purpose did Steven serve in that episode?? None. At all. What if Gem Hunt focussed on Connie and Pearl without Steven there?
I dunno like, even just a cutaway at times could work wonders.
