I recently bingewatched Steven Universe and I honestly don't understand the hate S1 gets.

Half of season 2 was filler, and not the fun kind like in S1. Obviously the plot picked up, but we didnt even get to fucking SEE Malachite other than Chille Tid. Season 1 as a journey is way more properly paced, and just makes for a better show. Nothing in S2 beats the Return/Jailbreak payoff or the sheer hype of Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem. I feel like Season 3 got its footing back, but a lot of 2 just feels...rushed to me.

The best parts of S2 to me are the Sardonyx arc and Peridot redemption stuff. I can barely remember anything else. Meanwhile all of the most iconic and memorable episodes are S1.

And finally, Season 2 simply isnt funny to me. There are filler episodes in S1 that I will just watch when I'm feelong bored for some cute fun. I can't do that with S2 because the filler is either just depressing like Sadie's Song or fucking nothing like Love Letters. I do like that the show finally adressed how absolutely hot Garnet is though There was a charm to the humor in S1 that could make me laugh, even when the joke wasn't even that funny. That just felt kind of dead in S2. Too reddit and self aware for me.

I'm not gonna judge 4 yet, but there have only been 2 good episodes.