Curate, connect, and discover
Okay okay HOLD UP!
In season 1, last episode, Nancy gives Johnathan a camera for Christmas. Cuts to Steve asking “Did you give it to him?”
Am I the last to know? Am I the last to like, give this a really hard thought and, well, connect the dots?
Was it Steve who actually gave him the camera?
I feel like this has already been widely acknowledged and I’m just making a fool of myself, but I don’t really give a damn because Steve is now second on the list of best character development (Zuko continues to hold first place but he had more time).
I mean, listen, this young boy, who was raised in a shitty family with no affection and so he learned that the only way to be loved is to be generally likable, and so he learned that he’s of no worth unless people tell him he’s popular and cool, this young boy decided HIMSELF to grow. This young boy, who cares about his friends so much that he gives them his food when they mess up theirs, treated another boy in a way that didn’t sit right with him and said: “I have to make this right immediately.”
He acknowledged his mistakes, he apologized for them, and he did his best to prove to himself and others that he can do better. On his own. Because he wanted to.
Now, I’m a firm believer that Johnathan taking pictures of Nancy and Steve while they were both clothes down was horrible and actually deserved to be called out, but this just makes it even more powerful. Steve thought: “I went too far. Even if it hurt me, I shouldn’t ever hurt back.”
We see this in season 2, 3, and 4 as his thing later. Nancy hurts him and he goes to apologize, eventually letting her gently go. Robin turns him down and he tries to make it easier for her. (Sure, Billy got punched, but in this case Steve was protecting children. And again, these children were kind of mean to him, still he went to bleed for them.)
In season 4, he goes to the Upside Down first, putting his life on the line for others.
He remembers when he used to do things he would regret, and now he would rather die than have to sit with these regrets again.
I love him. Please let him have a nice life. Please let him and Robin get an apartment and laugh while watching Full House and Friends and make margaritas on Friday evenings.