Steven and Spinel Analysis

I was bored and decided to do an analysis on Spinel, a character I fell in love with (not literally) after seeing the film, and her relationship with Steven as portrayed in said movie.


Some have said that Steven was a jerk towards Spinel in the film. Some have pointed out that they never hugged. I myself would have liked to see one, since Spinel was in so much emotional pain and had every right to be with what Pink did to her, but I can’t really blame him for not showing a ton of affection towards Spinel (early on at least). I think it’s super easy to see why Steven wasn’t so loving towards her when she was rejuvenated. She was overly clingy, childish, and distracting when he was racing against the clock to restore his family’s memories and save the Earth (which was entirely Spinel’s fault, mind you). Spinel did not have the ability to read the situation. She was more focused on playing tag and being silly instead of seeing the bigger picture and how dire it was. But it’s not as if Steven was a total ass to her; he did commend her for her puzzle analogy, and overall wasn’t really mean to her. It is easy to see why he was way more affectionate towards Amethyst than Spinel once Amethyst got her memories back. Amethyst is basically Steven’s loving older sister. We know how deep their bond is. This would be like if a cure was found for Alzheimer’s or dementia, and you got to see a loving grandparent instantly get their memories back and go back to normal. Of course you’d give tons of affection to them over the friendly nurse you only met an hour ago. Steven only knew Spinel for a few hours at most, and this Spinel was completely different than the one that initially came to Earth intending to burn everything to the ground! We also shouldn’t forget that Spinel’s attack was still fresh on his mind.

I do think he started to care about her when they went to the garden together, where Steven learned of Spinel’s 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 desperately NEEDED Spinel to remember so she could deactivate the Injector before, basically, the apocalypse. It did appear that Steven was going to show affection towards Spinel when he reached an arm out following her regaining her memories and reverting back to her current form, but he got shoved away when Spinel lashed out at him. Steven did offer her the chance to save the Earth and make new friends. Not because he was manipulating her, but because he was basically killing two birds with one stone. We also saw Steven show understanding of the situation, basically apologizing for his mom’s actions and also not being surprised at all that Pink left her. When the two duet on “Found”,  Steven promises to not abandon Spinel, and pledges to make up for his mother’s mistakes. Steven wouldn’t make a promise like that if he truly did not care about Spinel. 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 happily befriended Spinel and helped her make new friends in Beach City/Little Homeworld once he completed his tasks. Because this is Steven we’re talking about. I truly do not believe he truly referred to “someone” as “anyone *except* him”.  I mean, they did hold hands, with Steven initiating this, showing he was being caring and considerate to someone as sensitive and unstable as Spinel. Some have also pointed out how Steven let go of Spinel’s hand during their song, but this absolutely does not mean Steven was being rude. Besides, they held hands again going down the stairs from Steven’s bedroom following their return from the garden. And we did see Steven reassure and encourage her when Spinel showed fear and insecurity in how she would be perceived by Amethyst, Pearl, and eventually, Connie and Greg (Garnet was still “reset” so I didn’t include her).

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 at the same time. 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 knew to cling onto someone (understandable because of her trauma) and constantly entertain them due to her programming and purpose as a Spinel. Also, Steven was *exhausted*. He was stripped of his powers by Spinel and had to work extra hard just to get to this point. The fact that he and Greg managed to fuse and not separate prematurely was a miracle. Steven looked like he was on the verge of death. Plus, he 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 gently reassured Spinel that he wasn’t leaving and maybe asked for her help in getting Garnet back to normal. But he didn’t. And it’s easy to see why he made this mistake with the amount of stress he was in.

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 once Garnet finally regained her memories. Steven (now with Garnet back to her old self) could have easily overpowered an unarmed Spinel and hit her with the rejuvenator (though it’s possible Spinel was goading Steven to hit her with it, as though she was suicidal), making her forget this ever happened. But he didn’t.

When they did meet up on top of the injector, Steven told Spinel he wanted to talk it out. Not only to save his own ass, but to get both prove to Spinel that he was never going to abandon her, and so he could get her to see the complete error in her thoughts in actions. He only screamed at her about this “not being a game” because he was desperate at this point. This resulted in him initially failing (which ended up with Steven getting punched not once, but twice in the face with such force, he ended up bleeding out of his nose; no other villain before Spinel made Steven bleed), ended up hanging on for dear life as Spinel, now wanting to kill him even more, was about to let him fall to his death (while insulting Steven about how someone so weak could possibly be the savior of the galaxy). Steven began to resent his mother for leaving her sins on him to fix. It was then that Steven realized why he couldn’t get his powers back: his obsession with his “happily ever after” left him resistant to the notion of growth and change. It was then *he* realized that he needed to change and remembered he had the power to, which gave him back his powers. When he realizes this, he put all his efforts into convincing Spinel that she too had the ability to change. At this point his objective was not just to save himself, but to also save Spinel as well. Though time was ticking even faster due to Spinel commanding the Injector to release most of its poison into the ground, it can be argued that Steven put more priority into genuinely helping Spinel than he ever did at any point of the movie. When the two fought, Steven’s new objective became to save Spinel from herself, by getting her to realize that, like himself, she had the power to change. His song was him expressing that he believed in her. And it’s not like Steven was lacking empathy; he literally said out loud that he understood that Spinel was in a lot of pain. He never discounted her suffering and the reason for it. He *did* feel for her. And this all worked: Spinel literally tugged on her pigtails and punched herself on the top of the head as a form of self-harm, seemingly punishing herself, hating herself for the path of destruction she brought upon a boy who had nothing to do with the cause of her suffering, plus his family and friends, because she was *finally* starting to see that her actions were wrong. She was finally showing regret. She was *finally* seeing that there’s someone right in front of her trying to help. That despite all the shit she put this kid through, he was still willing to be her friend. She was finally beginning to question herself and why she did all this in the first place. It was a slow process as she was still angry and in denial (“You can’t change the way I feel!”), but her rage was being chipped away by Steven’s compassion. This was aided by Steve in which he. rather than put up offense against Spinel, only put up defense via his shield and bubbling his hands. He let Spinel take her rage and frustration out on him. You can see the heartbreak in her eyes as Steven, after being thrown into the air and pursued, continues to make his case to Spinel, before she gets angry. At this point, it becomes clear that Spinel’s rage is no longer at Steven. It is at herself for basically becoming a monster. Then, 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. Spinel feels, unlike Steven, she changes for the worse. We all saw how she agonizingly screamed about not being good enough; not being good enough for Pink. She broke down in tears from deep regret she felt for wanting to hurt Steven (“It’s funny. At least you found me entertaining, right? What am I doing? Why do I wanna hurt you so bad?”). She expressed sorrow at not being able to be a friend; by not being Steven’s friend (“I’m supposed to be a friend. I just wanna be a friend.”*). Right before the injector exploded, Steven did appear to show true concern for her. If the injector wasn’t about to explode, I have zero doubt that Steven would have embraced Spinel in that damn hug we all wanted to see, comforted her and told her he held no grudge toward her for what she did. Steven’s an extremely empathetic, loving kid. It’s part of why we love Steven as the protagonist of this wild wide we’ve been on for a good part of a decade so much. Even if we began seeing a bitter, frustrated side to him that has gotten worse over the course of Future. We’ve seen him befriend an extremely unstable Lapis and then forgive her despite the fact she nearly drowned him to death. He still found Pearl “pretty great” in spite of the fact that she nearly let Steven fall to his death when she was resenting him for Rose’s/Pink’s death and hugged her. 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, the ones that nearly blew the Earth up with a cluster of corrupted gems forcibly fused together, 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. He easily could have saved himself. And note that he didn’t save her to punish her.

Moving on to the film’s conclusion, Steven *still* showed signs of caring for her well being. He helped Spinel off the ground by extending a hand, and held no grudge for her ruining his supposed “happily ever after” when Spinel expressed shame for putting an end to it (“There’s no such thing as a happily every after. I’ll always have work to do.”). He reassured Spinel that he would come back before he left to reunite and comfort his own friends and family (who went through a lot thanks to Spinel’s actions). Hell, he never even demanded she help clean up Beach City. Obviously Steven will prioritize Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Connie, Greg, Lapis, Peridot, Bismuth, Sadie, Lars, the Cool Kids, and so on who all had to either be saved from or be forced to help clean up Spinel’s mess. Steven*did* come back for her and verbally acknowledged this when Spinel was walking away, but Spinel in the end acknowledged that she “messed up bad” with him as much as Steven makes he wanna try, and wanted a new start with someone new rather than with him, his family, and his friends. As much as she probably wanted to be friends with Steven deep down, Spinel probably felt too uncomfortable around him due to her shame; Steven and the heavily damaged Beach City serving as a reminder. It’s also reasonable to assume that Spinel would have a much more difficult time earning the trust of Steven’s friends and family, as well as the population of Beach City than she would with Steven himself (though I’m sure some of them would be accepting, maybe Garnet? Or Lapis, who also went through very deep pain and trauma herself?). Spinel was probably gonna go somewhere far away from Beach City on Earth. Maybe this was another time they could have hugged, but it would have made more sense for Spinel to hug (or initiate one with) Steven in this situation than the other way around.

When the Diamonds showed up, Steven didn’t simply hand her over to get them both off his back. He simply saw this as an opportunity for Spinel to get the fresh start she wanted and needed. It also might be better for Spinel to go with them, since because of the damage to the area, Steven and his companions would probably be too busy to provide Spinel the love and affection someone like her would need. The Diamonds can provide this. Heck, Steven even asked Spinel if she was *sure* if she wants to go with them, as he would then state that they’re a lot to handle. This makes it seem like Steven would *still* be open to having Spinel live with him on Earth. In the end, Spinel decided to go to Homeworld over staying. And Steven smiled as they Diamonds lifted her away. Not because he was glad she was going away, but because he was happy that she found someone that will love her, and those she will love again. I do kinda wish that she stayed on earth in order to not only try being friends with Steven again, but to also begin a path to redemption like Peridot went on (which in my opinion was done masterfully) and to work hard to earn the love and trust of Steven’s inner circle and Beach City in general, but oh well. Maybe she could have offered to help clean up the city. I don’t know. I also would have liked to see Steven offer an invitation back to Earth when she wants or feels ready to, but it is what it is. For all we know, maybe Spinel has visited Steven on Earth in the time between the movie and the start of SUF. Maybe Steven has visited her on Homeworld. Maybe they’ve kept in touch ever since the movie, all of this happening off-screen. Who knows?

Steven had zero obligation to be friends with Spinel or help her in any way, but he did anyway.  Because Steven is a very caring kid with a big heart. And he probably would have gladly befriended her anyway if things didn’t happen the way they did. I truly believe that if this show wasn’t ending so soon, we would have seen the two develop a very close bond with one another, similar to Steven and the development of his close friendship with Peridot. They can relate to each other (especially regarding Pink), are both going through a lot of pain and depression, and both are fun loving and energetic. Steven would probably love Spinel’s energy and would find her to be a ton of fun (but this would work better than before, as Spinel wouldn’t be nearly overwhelming and childish as her rejuvenated self). Spinel certainly wouldn’t be cruel towards him. Whenever she wasn’t irrationally angry, we saw that Spinel (the current one) was actually pretty friendly, and was concerned for those other than herself. She was just really shy, awkward and self-conscious. And he would be there for her when she needed a shoulder to cry on (and he would need to be; trauma and abandonment issues don’t get fixed in a day or a week). While Steven had no obligation to help her, he probably would have been happy to once the crisis she brought upon ended and he didn’t have this giant priority he needed to tackle (though he wouldn’t do the work for her; he would definitely want Spinel to put in the work to get better, while being her biggest fan to cheer her on and nudge her in the right direction as Steven has a life of his own to live). Had Steven not have fucked up after Spinel initially deactivated her war machine, her befriending Steven probably would have been just the thing she needed. Hell, she probably would have eventually become a Crystal Gem (though at some point the CGs are gonna have to stop accepting members because membership is getting kinda crowded, and they can’t just let every evil gem who gets redeemed join lol). I can see their bond being very similar to the one Steven shares with Lapis. It is a shame that we won’t get to see this due to how close we are to the series finale, but I really do hope they reunite before the show ends and finally hug. I’d love to see Spinel play a big part in the finale (especially if the rumors about where Steven is going with his own bad mental state in the final episodes), but I won’t be upset if this doesn’t happen.

Yes, Spinel’s actions were very wrong (she wanted to kill him in spite of her being aware that he and Pink aren’t the same; again, she even made Steven *bleed*). Yes, Rebecca Sugar is correct in that Spinel is toxic. But this does not mean she is irredeemable. And a person being toxic does not mean they are also evil. Of course, things would be completely different if Spinel’s actions led to death or serious injuries, but thankfully neither of these things happened (maybe the poison burning Greg’s arm is an exception, but this was not a direct action toward him, and Steven was able to heal him, anyway).

In my mind, Steven handled the situation in as mature away as he could have, showing Steven’s growth from the happy-go-lucky kid to an older teen close to adulthood. He identified how Spinel acted and felt

tl;dr Steven was not a jerk to Spinel and anyone who says he never cared about her is full of shit. Steven showed a lot of love and compassion towards someone who personally wanted to kill him and his friends and family. Even though he had to prioritize saving Beach City, himself, and his companions from destruction, this does not mean he did not have the ability to also care about Spinel’s situation and well-being at the same time.

*Note: while subtitles and apparently the official script say that Spinel said “a” friend in both sentences, I am still not 100% sure as to whether or not she said “your” instead of “a”. In the second sentence, I heard “your” and her mouth movements, to me, made it appear she said “your”. I don’t know. Was Spinel expressing sorrow over wanting to be “a” friend to no one specifically? Or was she sad that she wasn’t able to be Steven’s friend in particular? I would say she implied both, but as of now I don’t know.