In the first season of Stranger Things, Joe Keery’s character, Steve Harrington, started out as a typical high school jock, who Nancy (Natalia Dyer) falls for. He got his fun out of teasing Jonathan (Charlie Keaton) early on in the show, but after a few ignorant actions, he had a change of heart and set out to be better for Nancy.
Ever since then, Steve has been on a monumental redemption arc, becoming easily one of the fan-favorite characters, which is saying something when up against the heavy hitters in the show. Even though things don’t go to plan with Nancy and Steve, the bond he develops with the kids of the show brought us so many heartfelt, fist-pumping moments, all courtesy of Joe Keery in his breakout role in one of Netflix’s biggest hits. Here are Steve’s best moments throughout the show so far:
10 Finally Winning a Fight
As the show progressed, it essentially became a running theme that Steve couldn’t ever win a fight. After losing to both Jonathan and Billy (Dacre Montgomery), it was safe to say that Steve wouldn’t be the person you’d send in first. However, in Season 3, Steve and the crew found themselves sneaking through a secret Russian base, where Steve was the only one who could stand a chance against the Russian guards.
After charging into the guard, Steve grabs a device from the controls and smacks the guard on the head, knocking him out cold. The silence is hilariously broken by Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) saying to Steve, “Dude! You finally won a fight!” Dustin only adds to what is already one of Steve’s best moments, seeing one of the best characters finally get his moment of glory.
9 Reuniting With Dustin at Scoops Ahoy
After the events of Season 2, Steve decides he needs to get a job in the newly opened Starcourt Mall, at an ice cream parlor called Scoops Ahoy. We start with seeing Steve and his co-worker Robin (Maya Hawke), trying his hardest to flirt with every girl that comes into the parlor. After failing time and time again, it’s clear Steve is getting pretty fed up with being stuck in the mall.
However, during one of his shifts, we see Steve as excited as he could get when he hears Dustin by the counter talking to Robin, he bursts through the door, beaming with energy seeing his best friend. Dustin bounces the energy right back with the two sharing the best handshakes on TV. Seeing Joe Keery so happy with Dustin finally coming back from summer camp makes this easily one of Steve’s most feel-good moments throughout the show.
8 Snapping at His Bully Friends
In Season 1, Steve’s friend group is full of nasty high schoolers who get so much fun out of bullying characters like Jonathan. After losing his fight with Jonathan, Steve’s friends keep talking about what they’re going to do to Jonathan and won’t stop disrespecting Nancy. Steve finally has enough of them, leading him to finally tell them who they really are.
This is one of the most satisfying moments in Steve’s character arc, with it being one of the turning points in his becoming one of the most likable characters in the entire show. Steve’s love for Nancy is also undeniable by this point, as it’s when his friend starts to talk about Nancy that causes him to eventually snap. We knew that deep down Steve has a good heart, and seeing him finally drop the people that were keeping him down was a joy to see.
7 Protecting the Kids From Billy
With Billy trying to find his sister Max (Sadie Sink), he manages to track them down to the Byers household. Being filled with rage as he hates the idea of Max hanging out with the group, Steve deciding to step up to the guy who essentially stole his spot as the top dog at high school is one of his bravest moments throughout the show.
There was almost no way that Steve could beat Billy in a fight, which we quickly find out with Steve being beaten unconscious. It’s not until Max grabs the nail-infused baseball bat and threatens her brother to leave in one of her own best moments. The courage alone and lack of hesitation that Steve had when confronting Billy to protect the kids perfectly displays Steve’s character, in another standout moment from Keery.
6 Freaking Out Seeing Max Driving
After being beaten up by Billy, the group makes their way out of the home. But with Steve out for the count, it’s Max who decides to take the wheel. When Steve eventually regains consciousness, he instantly freaks out when he realizes that Max is driving all of them. Even though the kids try to distract him, nothing is stopping him from losing it.
As he’s still dazed after his pretty one-sided fight with Billy, watching him freak out whilst barely managing to stay awake makes this without a doubt one of the funniest scenes with Steve at the center. His iconic parent role that he’s adopted by this point is also once again on full display, with the last thing he wants to see is a teenager without a license driving a car with three other teenagers for who he feels he’s responsible for.
5 Telling Nancy How He Feels
Throughout Season 4, the feelings that Steve still has from all the way back in Season 1 are right at the surface for his character. Towards the second half of the season, Steve sees himself with Nancy 24/7, making it almost impossible for him not to tell her how he feels.
Earlier on in the season, Steve tells Nancy about his future dream, that being his life after all the chaos is over. However, he missed out on one detail that he later tells Nancy, that she’s always there in his dream future in a bid to reignite the romance they once had. In one of Steve’s most heartfelt moments in the season, it’s completely made by Keery’s sincere emotions, leading to the scene feeling so real.
4 Realizing Max Is In Trouble
Another moment in Season 4 is when Steve’s unmatched gut instincts realize that Max is in trouble. In the most recent season, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) hunting Max is one of the show’s key elements. In the first moment where Vecna almost captures Max, she gets locked into a trance under Vecna’s control.
Max sits by Billy’s grave, reading him a letter she wrote for her to get closure from losing him. After she sits there for a lot longer than she promised, Steve decides that she’s been there long enough and decides to take responsibility once again. As he goes up to her, he sees her eyes rolled right back, almost dead-looking. If Steve didn’t make that decision, they might not have been able to play her favorite song to bring her back.
3 Teaching Dustin His Hair Secrets
One of the defining elements of Steve in general is his iconic layered mullet-type hairstyle. No one in the show has hair quite like Steve, which he’s known for both in the show and in real life for having better hair than anyone. Clearly secretive about how he achieves the iconic look, telling Dustin his unexpected routine was one of the biggest moments for Steve early on in the show.
As well as it being a big moment for him to reveal his secrets, this was also a key moment in showing the bond that Steve built up with Dustin in a pretty short amount of time, which continued to develop into one of the most loved duos in the show. At the end of the second season, this moment is made that much better by Dustin styling his hair just as Steve told him for the Snowball dance.
2 Being the Mom of the Group
With one thing leading to another, Steve finds himself being the only adult in charge of the kids in Season 2. Alongside his iconic bond with Dustin, audiences fell in love with what’s now known as Steve’s “mom” character trait. Throughout almost all of Season 2, Steve keeps the kids in check, trying his best to stop them from doing the crazy ideas they come up with.
His role as the parent of the group becomes so clear when the kids wanted to go out and help with closing the gate in the Season 2 finale, with Steve instantly shutting them down. The reasons why we love Steve’s character so much was also on full display in the scene, as he sticks to his promise to keep the kids safe no matter what.
1 His Perfect Response to Robin
With Steve getting a new job at Scoops Ahoy, which leads to him fighting Russian soldiers that have been under the new mall, his co-worker turned best friend Robin was with him the entire time. With Nancy now in a relationship with Jonathan, Steve struggles to get over her and try and find the one. Steve doesn’t see it at first, but Dustin points out that she’s right in front of him.
In Episode 7 of Season 3, Steve opens up to Robin, sharing the strong feelings he’s developed for her. Whilst opening up to her, Robin’s reaction tells Steve that something’s wrong. Robin then reveals to Steve that she’s lesbian, clearly a massive moment for Robin to tell another person. Instead of being upset, Steve quickly carries on the conversation, turning into a hilarious sarcastic moment. Not only did Steve perfectly comfort Robin after coming out, he won the hearts of audiences around the world with his perfect response.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
