#the duffers have definitely fallen off when it comes to ensuring every character gets properly developed every season

[somuchfuckingsalt]

One thing I think the Duffers dropped the ball on is not using Steve in a leadership role within the group dynamic because he 100% has the skillset for it and it would also round out his character arc very nicely without diminishing the roles any other characters play.

And when I say Steve has the skillset I mean he played team sports and was in a leadership role on those teams. As someone who has played team sports before, the best captains are the ones who are not just physically good at playing the game, but also the ones who are able to coach others into improvement without making them feel like idiots, participate in strategizing and communicating those strategies effectively to the team, leading the team in the absence of the coaches, having good sportsmanship, being able to work with opposing teams without causing problems, etcetera.

Which is my long winded way of saying the best leaders are those who are good with people. Of the many characters on the show - particularly the teens/kids - Steve is arguably the most emotionally intelligent and he is genuinely the best with people. I don’t think we see as many examples of it in the show as we could because 1) I think the Duffers don’t see Steve as any form of intelligent because the Everything about how they write their jock and jock-adjacent characters displays a lot of prejudices and biases about the “dumb jock” stereotype and 2) the Duffers have definitely dumbed Steve down even more throughout the seasons to the point where he is The Protector and the Joey Tribbiani, so dumb he’s become comic relief. 

(playing sports also would give Steve a lot of experience with strategy, both preplanning and in making split-second decisions in the moment but being a good leader isn’t contigant on being good at strategy, I just wanted to point out he could and should be good at it)

Narratively, season 2 would have been an excellent starting point for building Steve’s leadership role since he spends the back half of the season in charge of the Party and, essentially, leading them. That would build through season 3, settle in season 4 as this is the role he has (especially since they were operating without Joyce or Hopper), and then be able to expand on his capabilities in season 5.

In season 4 specifically, Steve insisting Nancy not go alone should’ve been taken as him taking charge in that situation because he was correct, they should not be doing anything alone. I also think doing something small like just inserting a line where he’s asking for ideas on the plan instead of straight jump cut to them going planning how to get supplies would’ve been great.

I also think moments like having Steve’s voice be the voice over leading up to them executing their plan and Steve being the one to be Vecna’d instead of Nancy (which would show that Vecna viewed Steve as integral enough that fucking with his head wold affect the group) would have put an importance to Steve and put him more into that leadership role in to the audience without needing overt displays and adding to run time (since the Duffers tend to cut out a lot of moments where leadership would’ve been evident to save time). By using these 'important’ moments though would’ve been great ways to set up Steve in a genuine, established leadership role in season 5, especially since there’s going to be a time skip. 

I also don’t think that making Steve the leader would be taking anything away from the other characters - at least not the other teens/kids. For starters, Dustin, Lucas, and Max have never been the ‘leaders’ - that’s Mike. Furthermore, the only other person really sitting in that leadership position among the teens is Nancy but she is already academically gifted, the journalist, the detective, etcetera. She also is not the best people person (competent, but it’s not her strongest feature) and she has the tendency to get fixated on things, which isn’t the greatest trait to have as a leader. 

Anyway, I think the Duffer Brothers Joey Tribbiani’d Steve’s charcater and they 100% could have been doing a lot more with him than they are if they weren’t looking at him through biased “dumb jock” glasses.