Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4224349-20150303215537/@comment-24885964-20150305204538

A lot of people are wondering about how The Return/Jailbreak (which were supposed to be the finale) are airing before all season one episodes air. While none of us can be sure, I'm guessing its because things will return to "normal" by the end of the episode.

Ok, maybe not completely normal, but SU is similar to a lot of other shows in that things tend to return to normal by the end of the episode. We tend to get character development or a piece of the story arch in every episode, but they've never really ended any episode on a cliff hanger. Also, I am well aware that Mirror Gem ended in a cliff hanger, but it was IMMEDIATELY followed by Ocean Gem the first time it aired. Similar to The Return/Jailbreak, Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem was intended to be the season finale before 26 more episodes were ordered for season one.

Steven Universe episodes are very similar to Adventure Time. There is a lot going on that long time fans will recognize and be aware of, but someone who had never seen an episode before could start watching basically anywhere and be fine. Unlike an anime like... say Pokemon where the main characters are constantly catching/evolving and the episodes are meant to be watched in chronological order.

On the OTHER HAND... Rebecca Sugar did say "everyone and everything changes in the second season." While that statement is extremely open-ended, season two could hold big changes for the gems. But I'm guessing it is less extreme than it sounds. I'm guessing the physical appearance (most likely clothing) of the gems will change. But it could also refer to how Steven sees the gems himself... while they are the heroes we still dont know why they left the homeworld and why they can't/don't want to return. I also believe "everything changes" will refer to the fact we will have a clear villain by the start of season two. She also stated there will be new characters, but she didn't say we would have new MAIN characters. This COULD work though because all three gems don't appear in every episode, and the new gem probably wont "join" the team until the first episode of season two.

TL;DR: While pretty much anything could happen in The Return/Jailbreak, the fact the episodes are airing out of order suggests that when the finale is over we will still have Steven and the gems. No one is going to be completely removed from the series, or the three episodes that didn't air wouldn't make sense. We may get a new gem though.