The Diamonds were always going to be kind of a tough needle to thread and i have to wonder if the crew regretted making them so evil early on. The weaker parts of Change Your Mind are when they’re trying to emotionally pay off on Yellow and Blue in a way that they had laid the groundwork to potentially earn, but hadn’t actually had the chance to earn.
Also the show being from Steven’s POV is a fascinating idea that results in some cool surprises and moments, but it’s partly to blame for some of the more awkward storytelling bits too. Like, that’s why plot elements get tossed on the back burner for many episodes and brought back seemingly arbitrarily. We can’t check in with Malachite or the Cluster or Jasper etc. unless Steven personally encounters them or does some mind melding shenanigans
Personally i found season 4 to be the weakest one. It feels sorta like they’re trying to fill time and rearrange plot elements in between Steven Bombs, especially before the Zoo arc. The Cluster are an obvious plot device but so is Aquamarine and her ridiculously OP wand, it feels like she shows up to shove the idiot ball into Steven’s hands and force him into going to Homeworld alone. Maybe i’d feel differently about that if the Lars of the Stars stuff got a little more payoff (another example of “we can’t see how these established characters are doing so they’re just lost in space until the finale”)
S4 also has the highest concentration of episodes i don’t care for, like Future Boy Zoltron and Onion Gang. S3 does a lot of fucking around and boardie episodes but i just enjoy those episodes more