Let’s Talk About Steve Harrington’s Journey in ‘Stranger Things’ Season 4

Steve Harrington is my favorite character and is the only one ever in a close race with my love for Jim Hopper. They’re the two I tune in for and the two I love the most, and so Steve’s arc throughout Stranger Things 4 was an interesting one to track. With rumors and theories of his demise and a fear looming that my good boy might not make it through the season, it put a lot of what Steve was saying and experiencing into perspective, so it’s easy to fall in love even further with Joe Keery’s portrayal of Steve after watching this season.

Let’s talk a bit about Steve’s fate in season 4 and where it takes us in his journey as a character.

**Spoilers for Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 lie ahead.**

First of all, he’s fine. Let’s get that out of the way now. All of you theorizers online making my life a living hell for the last month were wrong. My boy is fine and dandy, and he’d better stay that way throughout the rest of the series. What I want to talk about is how much Steve has grown throughout the years on Stranger Things and how season 4 really uses that to its advantage.

Many fans thought that Steve would meet his demise this season because he was starting to figure his stuff out, but luckily, the show is going to seemingly let him still try to have his own happy ending. The season starts with Steve working at the movie store with Robin while she’s still in high school, and he’s been done with school and trying to figure out his next steps, but obviously having a “heroic” death would have sadly fit with the arc they were setting up.

Instead, Steve “The Hair” Harrington sort of took a step back from the hero duties as Eddie took the brunt of it. Now, that being said, there’s a part of Steve’s storyline that I really love and one that I hope he gets by the end of season 5, and it starts with a conversation that he has with Nancy.

The journey of Steve and Nancy

When Steve is driving the team to get their weapons, he’s talking with Nancy, who is in the front seat. He tells her this dream he has of having six kids and taking the Harrington family out to see the world every summer in a Winnebago, and when Nancy teases him about six kids, he makes a quip about how he has practice—a lovely nod to the fact that we all call Steve the dad of the group. He takes care of everyone and makes sure his “kids” are safe and protected, even if he doesn’t look out for himself.

That then leads to Steve having a very honest conversation with Nancy about his future and his life and the “dream” that he has. As they’re walking through the Upside Down, Nancy and Steve are left alone when Robin goes running off, and the two are talking about their past together. Steve thanks Nancy for giving him the “thump” on the head that he needed and says how he wonders, if they met now, if they’d make it as a couple.

But he also admits to her that the dream he had of traveling the country with his family always included Nancy there alongside him. As someone who … doesn’t like Jonathan Byers, this delights me because Nancy both deserves better than what she’s gotten in Hawkins and deserves to see what her life with Steve could be like. They were torn apart by everything happening around them, and maybe another chance would be good for them.

I just want Steve’s happiness

What this boils down to is a need, for me, to see Steve be genuinely happy. I think he loves hanging out with his best friend Robin and loves being in Hawkins, but he’s grown past the city and everything bringing him down. He’s bigger than the high school star, and he deserves to find his own happiness and success by the end of this series.

What do I hope happens for Steve? I hope we see him driving off in a Winnebago with maybe one kid by the end of the series, or whatever actually ends up making Steve Harrington happy because I love him so much, and I just want to see Joe Keery smile as Steve a lot more in season 5.

(featured image: Netflix)