define: filler episode
filler episodes are episodes that are made when a regularly scheduled series that’s based off of something else (usually an anime based on a manga, but series such as Game of Thrones have filler as well) gets further ahead than its source material and needs time for the source material to update so they can follow. the biggest example i can think of is the entire orange island season of pokemon, when the indigo anime was finished but gold and silver weren’t out yet so they had to make up some shit to pass the time.
an episode doesn’t have to be plot heavy to be a legitimate episode. in fact, another notable example of filler, the entire second half of the black butler anime, is all VERY plot heavy, but was pretty much all retconned in later black butler adaptations because they strayed too far from the source material for it to make sense within series canon.
shows like gravity falls and steven universe are not based on any other source material, therefore they don’t have filler episodes. having episodes that focus on the characters and allow them to develop instead of rushing into the story immediately is not filler. That’s just good writing.
