‘Stranger Things’ Turned Steve Harrington Into Buffy The Vampire Slayer

We’re just a week away from the season finale of Stranger Things – AKA VH1’s I Love The ‘80s But With Monsters. Everybody’s favorite character it seems – apart from Scott the mustachioed middle school science teacher – is Steve Harrington. There are obviously a lot of reasons why fans gravitate to Steve; his magnificent hair, selfless bravery, and our sympathies for the fact that he’s clearly a 30-year-old man still being forced to pretend to be a teenager. 

But another explanation for why pop-culture audiences may be primed to love Steve: he’s the Buffy Summers of Stranger Things.

Think about it: both Steve and Buffy are introduced in their respective universes in similar fashions; when we meet her in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy is a spoiled rich kid who’s only into fashion, boys, and has killed precisely zero nosferatu. And Steve is a preppy schmuck who thinks mostly of himself, and even breaks Jonathan’s camera after discovering that he’s … secretly been taking pictures of him and Nancy? Yeah, that actually seems like a pretty reasonable reaction in retrospect.

But both characters become heroes when they clue into the horrifying paranormal truths of the world, and end up battling the forces of evil with a scrappy gang of nerds. 

Not to mention that Steve now has a lesbian best friend and genius sidekick, Robin – à la Buffy’s pal Willow.

This path continues post-high school, with the tragicomedy of their lives: While they turn into much better people, becoming outright heroes, their personal lives keep getting progressively worse to outside observers to the point that both end up stuck at dead-end fast-food jobs they hate with comically embarrassing hats.

Which could foretell an unpleasant fate for Steve; some fans are worried that Steve will die in a “heroic sacrifice” during the season finale – which is exactly what happened to Buffy. 

Although, presumably, all of his friends will just resurrect him next season using the dark, Satanic arts – which, as we all know, is where playing Dungeons & Dragons eventually lead anyway.

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Top Image: 20th Television/Netflix