One of the joys of watching a show mature from season one to season two, season two to season three, and so on is watching unexpected relationships bloom. For instance, if you all knew about Parks and Recreation was what happens in the pilot, the idea that Andy and April hook up would be the funniest thing about the episode. But by season three, when they get married, they’re the best relationship on the show. The same thing happened with two characters on Stranger Things, except it’s less of a romance and more of a (to use a term that didn’t exist in the 1980s) bromance.
Every scene with Dustin and Steve, whether they’re discussing girls or hair or shoving a “demodog” into Joyce’s refrigerator, is a delight. It wasn’t planned this way. “When we went and pitched the season to Netflix, that was never part of it. It’s just something you discover along the way,” co-creator Matt Duffer said. “Steve was kind of getting sidelined because Nancy dropped him for Jonathan, and he didn’t have a lot to do. We wanted Steve to have something more to do. At the same time, Dustin was really abandoned by his friends, and [Steve] could help. Then we just fell in love with the idea of the pairing, because they were both dealing with heartbreak.” The babysitter and his favorite “shithead” had many scenes together in season two, and they’ll have even more next season:
The surprising bromance of Steve (Joe Keery) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) will also get plenty of screen time. “You definitely see more of that,” says Matarazzo. “That’s what I really like about Matt and Ross [Duffer]: They know what fans like and they roll with it.”)
The term “fan service” typically has a negative connotation — it was one of the biggest complaints about the final season of Game of Thrones — but not here: give me ALL the Dustin and Steve. But keep Dustin away from the hair products.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)