Original airdate: December 2nd, 2013
Production code: 1020-006
The episode begins with Steven riding his bike down the steps of the Gems' home while Pearl discusses a series of earthquakes, theorizing that they are too close together to be natural. After a brief talk with the Gems, Steven heads to the beach where he tries, and fails horribly, to get the attention of a girl sitting on the beach, reading a book. After knocking it over and running off crying, Steven returns to find the gems have been watching him the whole time, figuring out that Steven has a crush on the girl. Pearl tries setting up a play date but Garnet shoots her down and tells him to just go talk to her, promising not to mess with his "Funky Flow" by watching. Steven then grabs a glowing ring from the freezer and heads out.
As Steven goes to talk to her, another earthquake happens, sending a torrent of rocks down on top of her. Steven dives to save her, accidentally creating a magical protective bubble from his Gem. Steven finally introduces himself to the girl, Connie, and soon fills her in on just who he is and what he does, while Connie reveals her dad's in private beach security, and as such she moves around a lot, and thus is unfamiliar with the city. Steven, unable to disperse his bubble, attempts to have them roll home, but the temple's steep slope prevents them from rolling up and the Gems having promised not to watch means they can't see Steven and Connie's predicament.
Deciding to go another route, Steven heads to the Big Donut to get Lars and Sadie's help. Lars proceeds to tease Steven about Connie and kiss, and for some reason lick, the outside of the bubble while Sadie tries to open it with a hammer, to no avail. Sadie then tries breaking a chair over it, with no effect. Steven tries another plan, this time having Onion fire a harpoon at the bubble, which only results in it destroying a ship Connie happened to like. Steven then tries one last plan: letting a rollercoaster at Funland hit the bubble. Despite how dangerous the plan is, and Connie's misgivings about it, Steven tries it anyway after an earthquake, but after the coaster is abruptly stopped, it sends the bubble flying into the ocean.
Under the sea, Steven and Connie find the source of the earthquakes: A giant worm monster with a gem inside it that eats glowing seaweed. The monster digs its way underground again; the crack created by its passage send Steven and Connie deeper below the surface. Connie finally breaks down, bursting into tears as she explains how no one but her parents will miss her when they die at the bottom of the sea due to her having no friends. Steven promptly pulls out the glowing ring from before, a bracelet, and gives it to her, offering to be her friend and explaining he saw her drop it a year ago at a parade. Touched by the action, Connie admits she had a great time... just as the bubble finally pops. The two quickly swim to the surface and arrive back on shore... as does the worm monster, attracted by the glow of Connie's bracelet. After realizing this, Steven takes it from her and gets the creature to tie itself around the dock, causing the dock to collapse on it, destroying it. The Gems arrive and Connie talks about how amazing Steven was while Garnet collects the beast's gem. Steven returns the bracelet and Amethyst and Pearl start to talk to Connie before Garnet carries them off, telling them not to mess with "his funky flow".
As Connie questions what this means, we Iris Out on an embarrassed Steven.
Tropes:
- Blatant Lies: Lars makes faces against the bubble and teases Steven about Connie being his girlfriend. When Sadie tells him to stop, he exclaims "I'm helping Steven on his date!"
- Breather Episode: After the Darker and Edgier "Frybo" and "Cat Fingers", we get an episode about Steven meeting a girl named Connie and their attempts to get out of the bubble he created.
- Brick Joke: Steven tells the Gems not to watch him talk to Connie because it will mess up his "funky flow". At the episode's end, Amethyst and Pearl start bugging Steven to introduce Connie, but Garnet drags them off and tells them "Don't mess with his Funky Flow."
- Chairman of the Brawl: Sadie goes into the Big Donut and comes out screaming with a stool she smashes on the bubble, to no effect.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The earthquakes, which Pearl says were too frequent to be natural, turn out to be caused by a giant worm monster under the sea.
- The glowing ring Steven takes out of the freezer turns out to be Connie's. It also comes in handy when dealing with the Monster of the Week.
- Comically Missing the Point: Steven's defends his plan to have a roller coaster ram into the bubble to free them.
- Condensation Clue: When Onion doesn't respond to verbal requests for a harpoon gun, Steven fogs up the bubble's inside and tries to make a drawing, which doesn't help. Connie tries the same, except she just writes "harpoon gun", which Onion immediately understands.Connie: It just made more sense.
- Deus Exit Machina: Steven and Connie try to go to the Gems for help getting out of the bubble, but they can't get to the temple because it's up a hill and the Gems aren't looking outside because Steven said not to.
- Die or Fly: Steven creates a bubble shield for the first time to protect himself and Connie from a falling rock.
- Diving Save: Steven tries to save Connie from a falling rock headed toward her, but only manages to land on top of her, putting them both in the rock's way. Luckily, his bubble shield came up, then they introduce themselves.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Connie's absence since Steven first saw her at the parade is explained as her moving constantly for her dad's work. This is never brought up again, and she still lives in the same place multiple in-series years later.
- Epic Fail:
- Steven attempt to impress Connie at the beginning. He tries to ride his bike on sand, which works about as well as you'd expect. Then he starts bragging about said bike, and she doesn't even notice he's talking to her. Finally, he accidentally knocks it over and runs away crying as she stares at him in confusion.
- Onion tries to pop the bubble with a harpoon gun, but the bubble deflects the harpoon into another boat, immediately causing it to sink. Onion gives a thumbs up anyway.
- Fast Tunnelling: The Worm Monster burrows through the seabed almost as fast as it can swim.
- Heroic BSoD: Connie finally snaps at Steven's cheerfulness, bursting into tears and saying she's going to die without ever making any friends. Steven promptly snaps her out of it by revealing he'd saved her bracelet for her from a year ago.
- Hollywood Density: The bubble immediately sinks when it goes into water, despite being airtight and several meters across. That would would require it to be denser than water, and thus weigh something like four tons — far too heavy for two children to move around, even by rolling.
- However, this could be justified in this instance due to Steven's bubble being magical in nature.
- Knotty Tentacles: Steven uses Connie's glowing bracelet to draw the Worm Monster's into chasing him around the underside of the boardwalk. It gets itself tangled around the support beams and brings part of the structure down on top of itself.
- Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: When Amethyst and Pearl barge into Steven and Connie's relationship, Garnet carries them away so they won't mess it up.Garnet: Don't mess with his funky flow.
- The Millstone: Lampshaded. Pearl's first instinct upon seeing Steven near the collapsed dock is to ask "Steven, what did you do?!" Subverted in that while Steven is technically responsible, he did it deliberately to destroy the monster.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Steven and Connie were unable to roll the bubble up a hill while onscreen, but between shots managed to go up a flight of stairs and past several guard rails to get to the Kiddie Coaster.
- Oh, Crap!: Steven and Connie talk Onion into fetching a harpoon gun to pop the shield bubble. Rather than get a handheld one, however, Onion commandeers a ship-mounted one. Both immediately dive out of the way (as much as is possible, anyway).
- Opaque Lenses: Connie's glasses appear as these right before her Heroic BSoD.
- Playing Pictionary: Steven tries to get Onion to pop the bubble with a harpoon gun by drawing a complicated picture. Onion doesn't get it, so Connie just writes the words "harpoon gun" to get the message across.
- Rage Breaking Point: Steven and Connie are trapped in a magic shield for most of the episode with Steven continually assuring her that he'll come up with a plan that works. All of them fail. When they get stuck in an ocean crevice, Connie finally snaps.Steven: I-It's okay, uh...
Connie: IT'S NOT OKAY!! - Really Moves Around: Steven first saw Connie a year ago and wanted to return her bracelet, but she didn't come back to Beach City until now because her family moves around often for her dad's job. No future episode would reference this.
- Ship Tease: While Steven and Connie watch Sadie and Lars argue, Steven claims they're crazy about each other.
- Water Is Air: Connie and Steven roll the bubble around underwater just as easily as they did on land, even though the water resistance and tide should make moving it at all nearly impossible.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Steven's plan to use the Kitty Coaster to break the bubble.Steven: Alright, we just roll down this ramp as the cars are coming at us, and the crash will break us free!
Connie: What happens after the bubble pops?
Steven: Then we'll be free!
[beat]
Connie: Steven, this is a bad idea.
