I’m quite a fan of this show, and even if this character isn’t my first favorite, I think he needs a bit of defense here, because even as unlikable as he can be at times, this show does a great job at writing characters with great development.
Sooo let’s look at the reasons he’s hated:
Rude/Rude to Steven
I agree that Lars can be rude, especially to Steven. This seems to come from the fact that he’s a teenager/adolescent, judging by his appearance and mannerisms, and as many of us know, teenagers can be well…hormonal. Some of us might have had that stage where we just feel jaded with anything that we think doesn’t fit into our worldview, even certain people. Lars and Steven are parallels in that Steven is accepting of most everyone he meets, is open with how he feels, and feels secure around those he knows, like the Crystal Gems, whereas Lars is dismissive and snarky towards most everyone he seems to talk to except for the ‘cool kids’ (who btw have parallel color palettes and appearances to the gems, has anyone noticed? Pearl;Sour Cream, Garnet;Buck Dewey, Amethyst; Jenny), who he gets nervous and awkward around. And because Steven has no major trouble with that sort of stuff, it doesn’t sit well with Lars.
I theorized after watching ‘Lars and the Cool Kids’ that Lars is jealous of Steven, with how easily he was able to befriend the cool kids, just by being himself, whereas Lars was struggling to impress them from square one. He might also be jealous of how Steven is able to be so happy all the time, whereas, he struggles with fitting in. I think a lot of teenagers can relate to that.
And so nobody thinks ‘well, I never acted so mean as a teenager’, I think it’s important to note that how teenagers deal with their feelings and their stresses is very different. Sadie, Lars’ coworker, seems to have her own problems with fitting in, but she deals with them more passively, while Lars handles them with aggression.
And for the record, Lars’ razzing of Steven has seemed to be less hostile as time goes on, to the point where he can maybe hold a decent conversation with him, like in Mirror Gem. And in Ocean Gem, he lets Steven sit on his shoulders (that’s pretty cute, ok?), so he seems to be growing a teeny bit friendlier to hi.
So, yeah, I agree that Lars is a jerk, but it seems to be more of a defense mechanism than anything else, stemming from his insecurities and teenage hormones.
Tries too hard to be cool
I don’t think this is a valid reason to hate someone. Maybe a reason to pity them, but not hate them. Like I had said earlier, Lars seems to be really insecure with himself, and following a rather character-developing moment in “Island Adventure”, he seems to get really lonely, and aside from Sadie, didn’t have any other friends before he met the ‘cool kids’. Yeah, his attempts to be cool, were lame, but I’d feel more sorry for him than hate him for a reason like that.
Doesn’t care for Sadie despite her doing everything for him
This I think could probably be a very valid reason to dislike Lars, except that this predicament seems to have been confronted head on by Sadie in ‘Joking Victim’ where she calls him out on his lack of respect for her. And judging by his ashamed expression following it, it seems as though he realizes how much he’d been taking her for granted, and that he does care about her feelings, he just needs to be made aware that he is being self centered, and that he needs to take her into account as well. And while the status of their relationship after Island Adventure is very vague (and sort of ship-sinking), I think it’s important to note that it’s finally seemed to hit Lars how far Sadie will go to help him, and that she does care for him more than he realizes, and that he needs to actually get his act together if he wants to keep her.
Also. Off topic. Those shippy moments in Island Adventure were killer.
Made fun of Rose Quartz
This is in reference to ‘Lars and the Cool Kids’ where he blamed the moss incident on Steven’s ‘weird mom’, having remembered Steven’s comment that Rose had planted the moss. I would argue that ‘making fun of her’ isn’t exactly proper wording, considering, he didn’t say it out of mockery, more out of frustration and fear that something terrible would happen to his new friends. And he seems to immediately regret it when he sees how much it hurt and angered Steven. We all say things we regret anyway.
Discredits the Crystal Gems
To be fair, nobody seems to be uber-fans of the gems in Beach City aside from Connie. They’re either indifferent, or might be a bit surprised, but they seem to take it as the norm. And Lars seems to just respond like the hormonal jerky teen he is.
Long story short: Lars is an insecure-as-hell teenager with hormonal and emotional problems, but that doesn’t necessarily make him an irredeemable person, since he is able to develop both positively and negatively as a character.