Bubble Buddies

"Bubble Buddies" is the seventh episode of season 1 of Steven Universe. It aired on December 2nd, 2013.

Synopsis
Steven forms a magic bubble around himself, but cannot turn the bubble off.

Plot
The story begins with Steven on the beach with a bike. The Gems are confused as to why he'd ride a bike on the beach but he takes off. He stops in front of a girl who's reading a book nearby. Steven tries to impress the girl with the bike, but when he stumbles he panics and retreats into the house to find the Gems were watching. Amethyst realizes that Steven likes the girl and Pearl wants to set up a play date but Garnet stops them by telling Steven to just talk to her and he agrees but only if they don't watch next time, claiming that it will mess up his "funky flow", to which the Gems agree to. Steven grabs a glowing bracelet from the freezer and runs out. As Steven approaches the girl, practicing his greeting for when he talks to the girl, a piece of the cliff crumbles and falls towards her. When Steven jumps to rescue her, his gem activates and encases both of them in a protective bubble that saves them at the last minute.

Steven then introduces himself to the girl. The girl, who reveals herself as Connie, thanks Steven and asks if he can disable the bubble but he can't so they try to get the Gems to help but he remembers that he told them not to watch. They go to the Big Donut for help from Sadie and Lars. Steven says that Big Donut has great donuts, but Connie says her parents won't let her eat donuts since they have trans fat, which shocks Steven. Sadie is trying to break the bubble with a hammer while Lars keeps making fun of Steven being with Connie. Sadie then tells Lars to quit being a jerk and help and then starts arguing with Lars while Steven tells Connie that Sadie and Lars are crazy for each other. Sadie then goes inside the Big Donut, and attempts to break the bubble by smashing it with a chair, but that fails. They then go to the pier and try to get a kid named Onion to help. When Steven's method of telling Onion to use a harpoon gun fails, Connie writes backwards and succeeds. Unfortunately, the harpoon bounces of the bubble and sinks a nearby boat instead. They go to an amusement park so Steven can use a roller coaster to pop the bubble, but when Connie objects, a tremor puts them on the coaster's tracks anyway and instead of popping the bubble, the coaster launches the two into the ocean.

As the two try to roll back to shore, a giant worm (which was causing the tremors earlier) appears, frightening Connie, but Steven tells her it only wants to eat some nearby glowing seaweed. The worm then creates a trench which the kids fall through. After falling through the trench, Steven discovers he accidentally got his foot in Connie's face, and tries to apologize to her, but an upset Connie finally explodes, frustrated that Steven doesn't know what he's doing and that she might die without ever making a friend. Steven shows a crying Connie the glowing bracelet, telling that they can be friends. He reveals that he saw her during a parade the year before but couldn't find her to give back the bracelet so he kept it in case he met her again. Connie reveals she saw him last year too. As the two reconcile, the bubble finally bursts and they make it to shore, but the monster chases them. Steven realizes the monster is chasing Connie because of her glowing bracelet, so he takes and uses it to lure the worm to a nearby pier where he uses the pillars to trap and defeat it. The Gems show up and Garnet disposes of the monster's gem. When Pearl and Amethyst try to introduce themselves, Garnet stops them by telling them not to wreck Steven's "funky flow". As Connie asks what a "funky flow" is, Steven gets embarrassed, and the episode ends.

Characters

 * Steven
 * Connie
 * Pearl
 * Amethyst
 * Garnet
 * Lars
 * Sadie
 * Onion

Goofs

 * Connie seems slightly taller and of a lighter coloring than in the opening theme.

Trivia

 * This episode's name is drastically similar to a Spongebob Squarepants episode, named "Bubble Buddy".
 * A hiatus is expected after this episode, maybe making this the first hiatus in the series so far.
 * Connie's bracelet was first seen in "Gem Glow" inside Steven's freezer. This episode explains why it was there.