But anyway, I would have liked to see one but I can’t really blame Steven for not showing a ton of affection towards Spinel. I think it’s super easy to see why he wasn’t so loving towards her when she was rejuvenated, because she was overly clingy, childish, and distracting when Steven was racing against the clock to restore his family’s memories and save the Earth (which was entirely Spinel’s fault, mind you). While Spinel did not have the ability to read the situation.

I do think he started to care about her when they went to the garden together and he learned of her tragic past. Though it might seem that Steven was insensitive by prodding her about if she got her memories back, you gotta remember that the clock was ticking. He NEEDED Spinel to remember so she could deactivate the Injector before it injected enough poison to kill him and all organic life on Earth. It actually did look like he was going to show affection towards her when she did revert into her current form, but got shoved away when Spinel lashed out at him. Then they sang “Found”, and while some have said that Steven was singing about Spinel finding someone, but not him, I’m not so sure. I do believe that Steven would have been totally okay with befriending Spinel and helping her make new friends on Earth once he completed his tasks. Because this is Steven we’re talking about. I mean they did hold hands and Steven was being extremely caring and careful around someone who tried to kill him earlier.

Then, when Steven accidentally caused Spinel to believe that she was only being used to turn off her injector, and was being abandoned again, I don’t think Steven actually was planning on abandoning her. Nor do I think he was faking kindness to manipulate her to fulfill his task. He can both be concerned about his needs and hers. It’s just that Steven still had to get Garnet’s memories back and start getting everything back to normal, and this justifiably has higher priority than Steven and Spinel becoming friends. Also, Spinel simply didn’t know how to be a friend. She only know how to cling onto someone (understandable because of her trauma) and constantly entertain them. Also, Steven was exhausted. He was stripped of his powers by Spinel and had to work extra hard. The fact that he and Greg managed to fuse and not separate prematurely was a miracle. Plus, Steven was 16 at the time. 16 year olds aren’t exactly the most graceful when it comes to social skills. Sure, it would have been better if Steven reassured Spinel that he wasn’t leaving and maybe asked for her help in getting Garnet back to normal.

Also, the rejuvenator thing was simply a mistake from Steven. He should never have had it in his pocket. He should have either left it at the Beach House, or destroyed it. He was never gonna hit Spinel with the weapon again, even if Spinel believed otherwise. And he ended up destroying it anyway when they began fighting again, when he easily could have poofed Spinel again while she was unarmed.

But when they did fight on the injector, Steven realized that he needed to change and had the power to. He began to resent his mother for leaving a bunch of her sins for him to fix. But he also seemed to resent Pink for abandoning Spinel when he apologized on her behalf in the Garden. When the two did fight (at this point the injector released all the poison into the ground), Steven’s objective became to save Spinel from herself, by getting her to realize that, like himself, that she had the power to change. And by constantly shielding himself upon getting his powers back and not putting up offense, he managed to talk Spinel down, get her to lose the will to fight. and got her to come to her senses. She broke down in tears because she felt deep regret for wanting to hurt Steven. She expressed sorrow at not being able to be a friend; by not being Steven’s friend. Right before the injector exploded, Steven did appear to show concern about her. If the injector wasn’t about to explode, I have zero doubt that Steven would have embraced Spinel, comforted her and told her he held no grudge toward her for what she did. Steven’s an extremely empathetic kid. We’ve seen him befriend an extremely unstable Lapis and then forgive her despite the fact she nearly drowned him to death. He became close friends with Peridot, another former foe who wanted him dead for the crimes his mother didn’t commit. He even was friendly with Jasper. And the diabolical and genocidal Diamonds went from wanting him dead to loving him like a grandson. Also, Steven not only protected himself from the explosion, but also Spinel when he grabbed her and bubbled them both. He absolutely did not have to do this.