The ending of Change Your Mind wasn’t “rushed,”
people are just misunderstanding White.
When White finally shows a flaw, it’s a downhill battle, because what she’s been trying to do for so long was maintain perfection. No doubt she was the creator of all Gems, and the one who determined how society would run. She needs to do her best, always, lest things fall apart.
But she hasn’t always been a perfectionist.
This is perfectionism. Shoving yourself inside other Gems so that they can’t think for themselves—so you’re the only one making decisions.
It’s easy to be perfect if nobody can think for themselves.
But she wasn’t always like that. Blue Diamond says so herself—they all used to spend time together, and even laugh. Which doesn’t sound much like the White Diamond we knew, does it?
That’s because White’s perfectionism was a response to Pink’s death.
We’ve seen the other Diamonds’ reactions to Pink’s death. Blue’s is the most obvious:
She became incredibly depressed all the time—so much so that she weaponized her sadness.
Yellow is a slightly more complex Diamond: her response to Pink’s death was to bury everything. Don’t feel anything. Move on like nothing happened. Yes, she’s sad. But she can’t show it.
She’s cold. Calculating. She’s weaponized her anger over Pink’s death.
Which brings us to White. How could a leader, the one Gem who holds Homeworld together, show any sort of emotion? She can’t be angry. She most certainly can’t be sad. What effect would that have on her Gems?
So she keeps everything perfect. Because if everything’s perfect, nothing like Pink’s death will ever happen again.
She weaponizes her perfectionism. She robs other Gems of their being. She extends her will into anyone who shows deviance, because the Empire cannot crack again.
White gets embarrassed, and she shows color—she shows a flaw, for the first time since Pink has died. And the world doesn’t fall apart.
And that makes her realize: if she can blush, and be sad, and flustered, and nothing bad will happen, maybe she can go back to being herself.
So she does. Begrudgingly, but she does.
And she starts her path back to normalcy.
