Story for Steven

"Story for Steven" is the 5th episode of season two in Steven Universe, and the 54th episode overall.

Synopsis
Greg tells Steven the story of how he met Rose Quartz.

Plot
Steven is hanging out with Greg in his van, playing music. Greg picks up a soda, which has a picture stuck to the bottom. It is a picture of a younger Greg with his manager, Marty. Greg cheerfully states that Marty is dead to him, and Steven asks what the deal is. Greg explains that Marty was actually a part of how he got together with Rose, and Steven asks for the full story.

A flashback occurs where Greg is singing a song (Like a Comet) at his concert.

As Greg stops playing, he looks out into an empty audience - except for Rose. She claps and comes over to his table full of his albums, where he goes and offers her a free T-shirt along with an album. He goes to the van and finds Martyand Vidalia jump out from it. Marty forbids Greg from giving anything away, mentioning money and how he gets 75% of the profits.

Greg then turns and sees that Rose has gone. Later,depressed, he walks away in a random direction towards the Crystal Temple's wire fence. He sees an purple owl perched on the fence and asks it if it knew about Rose. The owl (to his surprise,was Amethyst shapeshifted as the owl) then replies that if she DID tell him about her, she would have to kill him, then flies back to the temple. (At this time the house front had yet to be built.) Greg, eager to know more, climbs the wire fence and goes straight to the temple. Amethyst reports to Pearl about Greg, saying how a human just talked to her. Amethyst then spots him and points him out to Pearl. Pearl is unsure of what to do until Garnet warps in and threatens to throw Greg over the fence. However, Rose appears and tells Garnet to stop. Garnet blushes,quickly dropping him.Rose asked if he was OK,he gives Rose the shirt as Rose shows it to the Crystal Gems,Amethyst requested Greg to sing,Garnet states that it's supposed to be good(she summons a gauntlet).Greg then realizes that it was late and rushes back.Then Pearl says that she can sing too,The gems laugh at her(including Rose).

Marty is about to bring Greg to Empire City. However, Greg wanted to be with Rose,Marty,on the other hand(whom cares about money more than Greg's feelings)forces Greg to go with him whether he likes it or not. He goes back to Beach City and goes to the Temple. He has had enough and kicks him out of his van and drives back.After arriving at the flooded temple,he steps on the Warp Pad,singing his song for Rose.Rose appears from her room,she tells Greg that(even though he is awfully cute),He should go away and pursue what he wants,Because she doesn't want to take away his happiness away from him,but Greg refuses and says that it's going to be a problem,since what he pursues was Rose. Rose, stunned, becomes starry-eyed and begins to laugh, shedding a tear into the flood by the warp pad.

Greg ends the story,seeing a happy Steven,he asks what he's smiling about.Steven teases Greg that Greg loved Rose, to which Greg begins to noogie Steven. Steven then comments on how mean Marty was. Greg responds by admitting that if it wasn't for Marty, he wouldn't have able been able to pursue Rose. The episode ends with Greg placing his picture with Marty,next to his picture with Rose and a picture of Steven.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Greg
 * Rose Quartz
 * Marty (debut)
 * Vidalia (debut)
 * Amethyst
 * Pearl
 * Garnet

Objects

 * Greg's Van
 * Greg's Guitar

Locations

 * Beach City
 * Crystal Temple (Flashback)
 * It's A Wash
 * Empire City (Mentioned)
 * Rose's Room

Production Notes

 * While originally slated as the 50th episode of season one, it was moved into season two's rotation, due to StevenBomb premiering season two prematurely.

Songs

 * Like a Comet
 * Rose's Theme
 * Young Gems
 * What Are You Doing Here

Trivia

 * This is the fifth time that a flashback/story was shown/told, the first being "An Indirect Kiss" about the venture to Rose's Fountain.
 * The second was about Beach City Explorer's Club in the Lighthouse in the episode "Horror Club."
 * The third was Steven's flashbacks on the cliff in "Full Disclosure" about the events of "The Return" and "Jail Break."
 * The fourth was in the song "Lapis Lazuli."
 * The Crystal Gems' outfit don't have stars yet at that time, but Garnet's gauntlets still have stars on them and Rose has a star-shaped cut-out in her dress. It may signify that they didn't rebel against home world, or that they were facing problems deciding to do it.
 * Greg used to have a manager named Marty, but left him on the side of the road after he became too demanding and admitted to caring more about money than Greg's feelings.
 * This episode was also the first time Marty appeared (along with Vidalia).
 * It's revealed that Rose Quartz walks barefooted.
 * It also reveals that she had feet.
 * Amethyst originally had short hair, until she saw Greg's hair and was inspired to keep it long.
 * This is the first time Garnet is seen blushing.
 * Greg sang his fourth song in this episode, "Like a Comet."
 * His first song was Let Me Drive My Van into Your Heart, his second was Dear Old Dad, and his third was Wailing Stone. This does not count "Lapis Lazuli, where Greg had one line before Steven took over.
 * But for his career, this is most likely his second song.
 * The episode's title is raining like in the present of the episode.
 * Just before Greg ditches Marty in his van, a large box of red shirts with stars on them just like the ones Steven wears can be seen in the back. It is safe to assume that these were originally intended to be given away at Greg's next concert, but were all given to Steven to wear instead.
 * It is also to be noted that Greg's shirt bears a star, which has been the symbol of the Crystal Gems. There may be some further connection between Greg (possibly Marty) and the Crystal Gems.
 * The Crystal Gems, excluding Rose, were much more critical and cautious around humans in this episode (since Steven wasn't born yet).
 * The Gems appear a lot younger, especially Amethyst, which is odd due to the fact that they are thousands of years old.
 * Most of this is due to their younger personalities rather than appearance; especially Amethyst acting very childlike and rather like a wild animal.
 * It is shown that Rose can display the same star shaped irises that Steven has at times the same happens along with her laugh.
 * This is the first episode where Greg is the main character.
 * This is the second episode where Steven is a minor character (the first being Garnet's Universe).
 * It is implied that Pearl is a bad singer.
 * Dispite the fact she was singing well in "Coach Steven". She may have gained a better singing abilty after the time passed.

Cultural References

 * The owl shape that Amethyst takes in this episode is reminiscent of Noctowl from the Pokémon series.
 * Marty, portrayed by guest voice actor Jon Wurster, is somewhat reminiscent of the many seedy/creepy characters he portrays on Tom Scharpling's The Best Show.

Continuity

 * This episode revolves around the time Greg first met Rose Quartz. This exact moment is mentioned in "Laser Light Cannon."
 * In his van, Greg has three pictures; they are:
 * The picture of Rose and himself in the ocean frame Amethyst gave him in "Maximum Capacity".
 * A picture of Steven with cat fingers from "Cat Fingers" taken by Ronaldo.
 * And his picture with of himself and Marty. (Added at the end of the episode)
 * The fence around the Crystal Temple's beach, previously mentioned by Pearl in "Full Disclosure ", appears in Greg's story before he runs it over with his van.
 * Pearl mentions having a singing ability.
 * This references/foreshadows Pearl's singing in the song "Strong In The Real Way."
 * Pearl's outfit in this episode was seen very briefly as a silhouette when she regenerated in "Steven the Sword Fighter."
 * The "Mr. Universe" t-shirt that Greg gives Rose was also seen in "Lion 3: Straight to Video" inside Lion's mane.
 * The Big Donut did not exist at the time of this episode, although Fish Stew Pizza did.
 * Based on their physical appearance being very similar, as well as Valdia's onion-themed name, it is hinted that Marty is Sour Cream's biological father and Vidalia is his (and Onion's) biological mother and that their short fling during the episode resulted in Sour Cream's conception.
 * It would also mean that Vidalia is the current wife of Yellowtail, assuming she's still alive.

Errors

 * While Greg is playing the electric guitar, when he reaches out his hand, the guitar pick he was holding dissapears.
 * When Marty was talking to Greg, we can see Marty's face overlapping Greg's hair.
 * When Greg is talking to Amethyst when she is an Owl, her Gem is briefly of the same cut as Rose's Gem, it then reverts back to her cut when she flies away.
 * When Rose laughs near the end of the episode, there is a frame where her mouth overlaps a curl of her hair.

Transcript
View the episode's transcript here.

Videos
pt-br: