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80s nostalgia, a small town full of secrets, and a sprinkle of the supernatural all combine to make up Stranger Things, one of Netflix’s most popular original series. The show premiered in 2016, and it’s been a staple of the streaming service ever since. Production on season 4 has already begun. The show follows a group of middle-schoolers in small-town Indiana in the 1980s when one of their best friends goes missing. While searching for him, they run into a girl named Eleven, whose telekinetic powers and mysterious past may be the key to finding Will, the missing friend. Each season follows some kind of lurking supernatural threat, but the core of the story is the friendship between the kids and El, who never had friends or a family due to her childhood of being experimented on in an isolated lab.
While El’s unique powers and Dustin’s funny one-liners make them fan favorites, it’s one of the teenage characters, Steve Harrington, who won most of the viewers’ hearts. The former king of Hawkins High School undergoes the most palpable character growth and development over the course of the show’s three seasons. Steve goes from popular jerk to protective friend of the kids. He avoids the trap of becoming a one-dimensional character gradually, and by the time you realize you may have misjudged him, he’s off to save the day yet again. While he starts off the show as a typical ’80s jock, Steve Harrington manages to flip the script and turn from bully to one of the most beloved characters in all of Hawkins.
From Cliche To Clever Writing
When we first meet Steve Harrington, he’s locking lips in the school bathroom with Nancy Wheeler. He’s dressed like a 1983 L.L. Bean catalog model, he’s smooth-talking, and he radiates the kind of energy only high school jerks ever could. For most of season one, he only displays negative character traits. After he and Nancy sleep together for the first time and she tries to wake him up to say goodbye, he ignores her and keeps sleeping. When she expresses concern over her friend who went missing after his party, his only concern is getting in trouble for underage drinking. And the cherry on top is him letting his equally mean friends spray-painting that his girlfriend is a slut on the marquee of the town theater, and he tells Will’s brother Jonathan that it’s no surprise Will went missing since his whole family is full of screw-ups.
But in the season finale, he makes a decision that makes you ask, ‘wait, Steve did that?’ Nancy and Jonathan hatch a plan to catch the Demogorgon (the monster wreaking havoc in town) in Jonathan’s house. Steve comes over to apologize for the fight, but he turns from remorseful to shocked at what he finds inside. Both Nancy and Jonathan yell at him to leave, and he dashes back to his car. But before he starts the engine, he looks back at the house. Right before the Demogorgon eats Jonathan for dinner, Steve’s back, this time armed with a spiked baseball bat, and helps the other teens take the monster down.
From what the audience has seen of Steve Harrington so far, this choice comes as a shock. Sure, it’s shown that he’s the one who wipes away the misogynistic graffiti his friends wrote about Nancy. But seeing him make such a heroic and dangerous choice in order to save two people he’s hurt prior to this episode is shocking but welcome. For most of season 1, Steve Harrington is a walking cliché, the second coming of Biff Tannen and Johnny Lawrence and all the other 80s movie bullies that were jerks for the sake of being jerks. But Steve’s act of selflessness raises doubts about whether or not he’s got any more goodness inside of him. It hints that there’s more to him than meets the eyes. The seed of Steve’s redemption arc plants itself here, and it will only be watered and cultivated further in the next two seasons.
A Redemption Arc That’s Earned
Redemption arcs being all the rage in media nowadays is what I like to call ‘the Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender effect.’ Everyone likes a good villain, but liking a character who goes from the ultimate big bad to a hero is even more rewarding. That character gets more rigorous growth and screen time, an engaging narrative, and gets a second chance in life. While Zuko remains the blueprint for redemption arcs done right, not many other characters have come close to such organic, positive character development. In a media landscape chock full of half-baked redemption arcs, Steve Harrington manages to not only stick out but feel earned.
Season 2 shows him facing repercussions for his abysmal behavior. Nancy breaks up with him and even drunkenly tells him she doesn’t love him even after almost a year of dating. The arrival of new kid Billy Hargrove knocks him off from the top of the Hawkins High food chain. After telling off his friends last season for what they did to Nancy, he doesn’t have anyone else in his corner anymore. He’s completely alone, which gives him time to reflect on his mistakes and try and make things right, just like he tried to do with Jonathan in season 1. He even admits to Nancy in the season 2 finale that he wasn’t a good boyfriend to her.
This reflection continues into season 3 when his coworker and classmate Robin tell him he was a real jerk, and he agrees. Steve never makes excuses for his bad choices and poor behavior. Instead, he actively works on becoming a better person. Redemption arcs only work when the character actively recognizes their mistakes and why what they did was wrong, sincerely apologizes for what they did, and consciously works to better themselves. It’s why Zuko’s arc worked, and it’s why Steve’s does as well. He earns his redemption through both physical acts and emotional realizations. Steve easily could’ve swept his errors under the rug and blamed others for the consequences of his actions. But he subverts expectations by taking accountability and improving himself, two very mature and unexpected moves for a teenager to take.
The Lost Member Of The Babysitter’s Club
Move over Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacy; there’s a new best fictional babysitter in town, and his name is Steve Harrington. In season 2, Steve’s assisting of Dustin and the other kids in their hunt for Dart, Dustin’s lost pet, turns into a night of horrors. They set a trap for the pet in the junkyard, but it only lures a pack of demodogs to the scene. When Steve realizes the creatures won’t take the bait, he offers himself up, fights them off, and keeps them away from the kids. Putting himself on the line to protect the kids by physically getting between them and the danger mirrors his hero moment in the season 1 finale. These moments of bravery prove to be a pattern rather than a fluke.
When bad boy Billy comes to the Byers house to physically attack Lucas for hanging out with his stepsister, Steve fights Billy in order to save Lucas. The end result is Steve getting beat up so viciously that he falls unconscious. Later in the same episode, despite the injuries he’s sustained, he still takes the kids into the tunnels underground to try and lure the demo dogs away from El and the laboratory she’s heading to. He leads the way in and makes sure they all get out before he does.
The care Steve Harrington has for the ragtag middle schoolers doesn’t end with physical acts of protection. He tells Dustin the secret to his luscious locks: Farah Fawcett hairspray, a fact he’s never divulged to anyone else. In the season 2 finale, Dustin uses that very same product in his hair for the Snow-Ball school dance. But he does more for his new best friend than just dole out hair care tips. Steve drives Dustin to that very dance, eagerly welcomes him back to Hawkins with their secret handshake when Dustin returns from summer camp in season 3, and continuously talks to him about girls, growing up, and what the heck is happening in Hawkins. Steve cares deeply about Dustin, treating him as the little brother he never had. Dustin returns the sentiment, going so far as telling Steve “if you die, I die” in season 3 (( Stranger Things. “The Sauna Test.” Netflix video, 41:07. July 4th, 2019. )).
The middle school nerd and high school jock’s friendship remains one of the most beloved and popular amongst fans, and for a good reason. They’re one of the closest relationships on the entire show, and the unlikely pair is proof that thinking out of the box can be rewarding. On paper, this friendship shouldn’t work. Even with the growth, Steve showed up to the point where they met; the writers could’ve had Steve brush off Dustin’s request for help, or worse, ignore him all together. While his ideal afternoon isn’t leaving a trail of raw meat through Hawkins in order to lure a lost pet in, he does it for Dustin and even helps Dustin when he sees how much the kid’s struggling with his crush. Steve Harrington once again turns tropes on their heads by becoming an older sibling to a lost kid battling growing pains and the supernatural all at once, even though he and the kid couldn’t be more different.
Big Hair, Bigger Heart
In season 3, hints of a budding romance between Steve and his snarky, smart coworker at the Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor Robin get planted continuously. In episode 7, when he finally confesses his feelings for her, she comes out to him as a lesbian. Instead of getting angry by her rejection, or worse, homophobic, Steve tries to make Robin laugh and cracks jokes about her subpar taste in girls to break the tension between them. He’s nothing but supportive of her, and he doesn’t let her rejection and confession cloud the way he views her. Their friendship remains steadfast and strong. They even apply for a new job together in the season finale, and Robin gets him hired alongside her because it’s clear she doesn’t want to work without her new best buddy Steve.
Seeing a male character handle rejection from a female one in such a positive manner, and be nothing but accepting of her sexuality, is such a rare occurrence on television. Seeing it on a top-rated Netflix show is vital. Steve Harrington handling romantic rejection gracefully and accepting Robin’s sexuality is what any decent human being would do, but that doesn’t negate the positive impact it has on both the show and its viewers. Season 1 Steve freaked when he saw Nancy talking to another guy in her room, and to him, his pride and ego were more important than whatever Nancy had to say about it. Steve even made a homophobic remark to Jonathan that same season. By the end of season 3, Steve Harrington has turned over a new leaf after new leaf. His good deeds don’t erase the bad ones, of course. But his growth manifests in multiple ways, showing just how much he’s changed in such a short time.
It isn’t just Robin he extends his kindness towards. Yes, he gets in between the kids and danger in a vast majority of episodes, and his selfless behavior manifests in both physical and emotional ways. But the way he treats his ex-girlfriend, Nancy Wheeler, also shows his true character. In the season 2 finale, Nancy debates whether she should go with Jonathan to help Will or stay with Steve and the other kids on their mission. Steve’s the one who encourages her to go with Jonathan, knowing she has feelings for the other boy and that she and him are truly over. When she protests, he tells her, “It’s okay, Nance” (( Stranger Things. “The Gate.” Netflix video, 09:52. October 27, 2017 .)). In season three, when Robin comments that Nancy seems too prissy, Steve defends her. Their relationship ended less than idly for him, yet he never speaks ill of Nancy to others. Even though they’re no longer together, he still cares about her. Steve Harrington, upon first glance, isn’t the kind of character whose heart would be bigger than his luscious 80s hair. But once again, he flips the script for the better.
Street Smarts That Pay Off
Steve Harrington’s grades aren’t exactly anything to write home about. In season 3, he reveals he didn’t get accepted to the college he applied to and that he spent class talking with friends instead of taking notes. While grades don’t determine one’s intelligence, it’s clear that academics aren’t Steve’s strong suit. But he does have street smarts that help him and his new friends make progress on their supernatural quests. He figures out that the demodogs need fresh bait in the junkyard. In season 3, he recognizes where the background noise on a mysterious recording Dustin intercepts is coming from. When he, Dustin, Robin, and Erica flee an elevator with a rapidly closing door, Steve uses a tube to prop up the door and buy the group more time to escape.
The show could’ve further pushed the ‘dumb jock’ trope onto Steve, but instead, it respects his intelligence. Steve Harrington isn’t stupid, and while he has his moments of not-so-bright thinking, he’s never treated like an idiot. It’s clear the nerdy bunch of middle schoolers could definitely beat him in trivia or even a written exam, but when high-stakes situations unfold, it’s Steve who has the moments of clear and calculated thinking that often leads to lives being saved. His street smarts help save whatever group of people he’s with multiple times. He may not have been accepted into college, but he’s gotten the kids and other teens out of numerous life-threatening situations using his brain, and occasionally, his brawn.
It Is What’s On The Inside That Counts, Right?
Steve Harrington is a rare example of a character subverting expectations for the better. While he starts as a walking cliche, he gradually grows into a kind, caring, and brave young man. By actively choosing to redeem Steve Harrington, the writing allows him to avoid falling into the trap of overdone tropes and blossom into the beloved babysitter fans of the show know and love. He still messes up at times, but the Steve in season 3 is more mature and more protective of others than the character he was back in the show’s first few episodes. His internal transformation makes him so widely adored by the fanbase.
And yes, tropes prevail through decades for reasons. Everyone loves a good enemies-to-lovers romance or a powerful chosen one story. Not all cliches are inherently bad. But when it comes to crafting characters that will transcend the confines of their own show, adding layers and depth to the ones least likely to have either proves to be powerful and help make the story more engaging. Trying to picture Stranger Things without Steve is a difficult task. He’s left his mark on the show already, and with more seasons on the horizon, his story is far from over. Seasons 1-3 of Stranger Things is now streaming on Netflix.