Review: Steven Universe “Bubble Buddies”

Spoilers Below

Steven goes for a bike ride, in the sand, to see this girl. After trying to get the girl’s attention by talking about his bike, he falls over just as the girl sees him. He runs off embarrassed. He gets questioned by the Gems, where Amethyst pounces at the opportunity to state the obvious. Out of all the ideas, the best came from Garnet surprisingly, and that was “Just talk to her.” He picks up a bracelet out of the freezer, and runs off. As he’s rehearsing his intro to her, the ground quakes, causing a rock to fall. Steven protects Connie by getting a bubble to form from his gem. After trying to zorb up to the house, Steven decides to go to the donut shop to get help from Lars and Sadie, but that went nowhere.

Going to the marina to shoot it with a harpoon gun didn’t work, and neither did going to an amusement park. I guess Steven had Action Park in mind when he said, “Yeah! Tons of horrible accidents happen here everyday!” After getting launched into the ocean by a roller coaster, they land in the ocean. Connie has never swam before, so she’s very nervous. They zorb into a worm, which has been causing the quakes. This causes Connie to snap, because she hasn’t made a friend. Steven shows up with the bracelet she dropped at the boardwalk parade last year, and hands it back to her. As they’re having a friendly, somewhat romantic moment, the bubble pops. Steven gets Connie to swim to the surface. Steven and Connie get attacked by the worm, who is after Connie’s bracelet. Steven takes the bracelet, and manages to get the worm tied up in a dock. That crashes onto the worm, causing it to poof away. Connie is in awe of Steven. Even Amethyst and Pearl screwing with Steven’s funky flow can’t stop that.

I noticed something when we were finally introduced to Connie. They did a HEAVY redesign of her. She didn’t have the over-sized, floppy hat, and her hair was shorter, kept together better, and less wavy. Little known fact for y’all, right there. Also, Action Park was one of the least safe parks ever, and was also the most fun because of said danger.

The episode was cool, mainly because we get some advancement in the universe with the introduction of possible girlfriend material. Connie seems to be Steven’s polar opposite, and that’s good. While she isn’t a complete cynic and pessimist, it’s good to add some realism to Steven’s overabundance of hope and positivity. I know that it’s probably because I am still waiting for a big, bad, overarching villain for the show, but I found the worm a little underwhelming.

As for the Gems, I love how they switch from parents, to Pearl and Amethyst being the snoopy sisters and Garnet telling them to scram when Steven’s with Connie. This was nailed perfectly. I am really glad that this show has a huge female flare about itself, because it separates itself greatly from Adventure Time. Anyone who is watching this expecting the same old thing from Rebecca and the gang will be sorely mistaken at first, then pleasantly surprised at how well the show actually is.