Plus, the fact that she went to every pawn shop in Metropolis to find that watch does a lot toward rehabilitating her beahvior in the episode

I do agree with this, and actually, I think this action -- her finding and returning the watch -- was a much better instance of her trying (and actually *succeeding*) at simply being there for Clark than what she was doing in the first scene. And it did make me feel better about her at the end of the episode.