I Try To Understand My Sense of Humor

I wouldn't say "So Many Birthdays" is my favorite Steven Universe episode. It's probably in the top 10, but beyond that, I couldn't say. It is, however, the episode that makes me laugh the most. Maybe it's futile to try and talk about why I find something funny, but what the hell.

It has a lot of great lines in it, but still, this is an episode where Steven's attempt to throw birthday parties for the Gems (who don't really age, and therefore don't understand the point) causes him to become aware that he's growing older. He gets hung up on not acting childish, and his gem reacts, aging him out of control until he nearly dies, while the Gems argue helplessly among themselves. A lot of it seems to come from presenting something familiar to us, to characters who aren't familiar with it. Making the audience step back a little and think about how it looks from a different perspective.

The first half, the unsuccessful parties, shows us Steven doesn't grasp what it means the Gems don't age, or place any particular emphasis on the passage of time with regards to their growth. Gems are supposed to emerge fully-formed and with a specific function they're ready to perform. They are capable of growth and change, but it isn't related to aging. These parties to celebrate that, especially the particular activities Steven chooses, we see how strange it all is to them*. If Steven had candy for Amethyst, why hide if in a paper donkey? Why is Steven wearing a wig and makeup, and why did he hit himself in the face with a pie**? What's the deal with cars that could only be driven by babies ('Which way to the Baby War?') So we watch the Gems go from trying to humor Steven, to trying to hurry things along, to finally just outright telling him they don't get what he's trying to accomplish here, but it isn't working.

The second half, as Steven begins to age out of control, is seeing Steven's perception of what growing up means. The humor is in the hopefully mistaken impressions he has. His responses are those of a kid who has a notion of what getting older entails, but only vaguely. He thinks you get jobs by picking a t-shirt with a title on it ('Love Doctor? I'm too squeamish.') That basically, you can't enjoy anything, certainly can't allow anyone to see you enjoying anything. That growing up is a dull, flavorless existence devoid of joy or friends ('I'll have to eat nothing but oatmeal, and it'll be sugar-free! Sugar-free!'), as you await the cold embrace of Death. Which, I'm not going to say I haven't found my thoughts traveling similar lines at times, but it doesn't have to be the case.

Maybe I laugh at that part as a way of whistling past the graveyard.

The whole sequence with Lars and Sadie plays off what we understand versus what they know. We know this strange old man is Steven, having an existential crisis. They think he's just some random old man ('I'm! Old! Yeah, and nuts!') who seems to know them and asks them to help him into his Birthday Suit. And so they react with caution, concern, and then Sadie chases him out while brandishing a stool.

The episode concludes with a decrepit Steven being brought to the Gems, who have no idea how to help him. They try reminding him of things from the parties, but they still don't get what the parties represented, so it doesn't do anything. Well, Pearl trying to reenact the pie in the face gag, only to burst into tears made me laugh (Amethyst's outraged, 'Are you trying to kill him faster?!' puts it over the top), but it doesn't help Steven.

Even the normally calm and composed Garnet loses it, resorting to shaking Steven frantically ('I thought. . . violence would be the answer.'), as though he's stuck and that'll jar him loose into his normal form. That part plays more upon audience expectations, I think. We haven't seen Garnet really rattled up to this point, so to see her reduced to that makes me laugh, even if she's losing her cool because Steven looks seconds away from reenacting Donovan's death in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Which is a dire situation, the main character's impending death, and yet, I was laughing. It's serious in the context of the plot, but in terms of Garnet's character, it's more silly.

The episode ultimately takes a common fear people have, puts Steven as far through it as he can go and still come back, and uses a lot of misunderstanding and exaggeration to good effect. As an audience we can laugh at the Gems bewilderment at these parties, identify with Steven's fears about aging, while still laughing at his level of overreaction to the whole thing. 

* It's a pretty time-tested approach to comedy. Yotsuba! as one example, does this as well, although it leans more toward "Look how cool and/or beautiful this thing is."

** In the Gems' defense, Steven forgot the rule Krusty the Clown taught long ago. People want to see a person with dignity get a pie in the face, not a schlub begging to be hit.