Character Analysis: Connie (Part 2)

Part 2: Connie, Steven’s Jam Bud

I’m continuing Connie’s character analysis with Connie’s relationship with Steven. This is because Connie is often defined as relative to Steven. She’s Steven’s Jam Bud, Steven’s Knight, Steven’s Best Friend. Underneath those labels though, I wanted to look at what made Connie different from the usual rendition of these labels, because her behaviour isn’t completely consistent with those categories. 

Connie is an important character because surrounding her perfectly “ordinary” human-ness, Steven discovers new abilities of his that previously he was unaware he even had. When the gems talked about Rose, they never really assumed Steven had her abilities. For instance, they knew that Rose could bubble, and float, and bring plant armies to life, but they don’t mention these things until Steven himself does something similar.

And I think that’s because from a very young age, as we’ve seen in Three Gems and A Baby, the gems have tried not to make Steven into Rose. Up until he started glowing, they were told he was a human baby and nothing more. They know now that isn’t the case, but they decided to err on the side of caution any way and not expect it from Steven. 

Many of the times he’d discovered a new ability though, Connie was present, and in some way instrumental in his experience. This despite trying over and over again in the past to get his powers to work for him. That means there’s something about Connie that creates an environment conducive to learning and mastering his abilities. That’s what I’m going to talk about in this post. 

1. Connie the Bubble Buddy

The first ability Steven discovers when he’s with Connie is the ability to bubble. At this point in the story, we’ve seen the other Crystal Gems bubble things, but it’s never been implied that Steven could bubble. 

But Steven pulls out bubbling early in the episode, and it’s the centre of the events in Bubble Buddies. 

Right away, we’re introduced to Connie as a new character. And right away we see stark contrasts in the way Steven and Connie are portrayed. Initially, Steven was nervous, then happy, then concerned, then determined, then worried, then placating. Each feeling in each moment was evident on his face. That’s the Steven we know. 

On the other hand, Connie was surprisingly calm for someone suddenly trapped indefinitely in a bubble with a complete stranger. Even after a harpoon and a travelling roller coaster failed to destroy the bubble, Connie remained stoic for most of the episode. It was only when we reached the end that Connie revealed how upset she was.

This behaviour is something Connie performs later on in the series as well. In Mindful Education, for instance, Connie is distracted by what she’s done to Jeff, but doesn’t bring it up. She insists on powering through until combat training causes her to have a panic attack. 

So when we look back at how Steven bubbled in the first place, it’s because he wanted to protect Connie from the falling debris of the temple. He jumped in because he felt she was in trouble. After that, Steven couldn’t get the bubble to pop even though the apparent danger was gone.

At this point, it’s likely because there were still two unfinished “threats” that Steven had to deal with. The first was that he hadn’t yet returned Connie’s glow bracelet. The second was that Connie never really felt all right. 

When Connie tells Steven about feeling alone and forgotten and dying without having made a single friend, those aren't a consequence of being in the bubble. Those weren’t feelings she’d developed only that day. It’s more likely that Connie had known for a very long time that she felt lonely because she always moved around and didn't seem too approachable when she stayed. 

Steven saw her reading a book, paying him no mind until he approached her first. Throughout the day, Steven tried to comfort her but she wasn’t really one to show how she felt on her face. So not being very expressive to strangers, she might have come off as rather aloof to her peers. And again, she was putting aside these feelings and trying to go on as though things would fix themselves if she kept her thoughts at bay.

It feels as though Connie didn’t want to open herself up to the possibility of having a new friend, because she was hurt by it before, either from moving away or because things turned sour. 

In that regard, there was a reason the bubble hadn’t yet popped. At the beginning of their relationship, Steven felt as though he had to protect Connie. When he returned her bracelet, he was trying to help her. He was trying to be the hero. 

And “saving” her from loneliness may not have been an explicit problem, but on some level, that’s what Steven sensed. He’s very good at picking up how people might be feeling and I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch for him to see someone alone and wanting to see them smile. As he tells Peedee in Frybo, he gets paid in the smiles on people’s faces. Connie seemed unhappy to Steven, and he wanted to make her happy. In the end, the bubble pops after Connie says, “I’m having fun.” 

But they’re bubble buddies. Steven isn’t just the hero, and Connie isn’t just the damsel in distress. In the episode, Connie is the one who manages to communicate Onion and tell him to use the harpoon; Connie asks what happens after the bubble pops and they’re over a rollercoaster. 

Things took a turn for the worse when the corrupted gem started chasing them on dry land, and Steven gave Connie the opportunity to run for it, in the same way the people of Beach City, in the episodes prior to Bubble Buddies had run away from gem business like Frybo. The Connie from earlier that day might have taken him up on his offer, but Connie stayed until the end. 

Connie wants to protect and help Steven as well. Something that the episode leaves us with is the idea that Steven isn’t saving Connie from anything. Connie and Steven are buddies and they are equals. With Connie, Steven uses his shield with no fuss for the first time in Ocean Gem. He learns he has healing saliva in an Indirect Kiss because Connie prompts him to share his juice box.

Narratively, we’re seeing a significance in Connie’s presence and Steven’s ability to learn new things about himself. That leads me to the next idea.

2. Connie in Fusion