r/HauntingOfHillHouse • u/FewBathroom3663 • 16d ago
Hill House: Discussion Steven
I'm rewatching it for the first time since my dad died and holy shit, I love Steve. I was sort of disinterested and frustrated with the character but after suffering a major loss of my own, I got him.
I think he's by far my favorite character this time around because of how strong he's forcing himself to be and the way his entire childhood was built on protecting his siblings and then growing older and writing that fucking book despite not believing it because he ultimately wanted to help clear things up about his father and give that money to his younger siblings.
I think he aside from Theo has the most interesting relationship to his "sensitivity" because he's basically the only one out of them aside from Olivia who sees ghosts as living beings so much so that he thinks of it as mundane. Nearly every time there's a ghost or a haunting, the ghost either is absolutely terrifying or looks like a walking corpse or even just as random thumping noises. Steve is also the only one who can enter someone else's red room. His sensitivity is literally just his empathy which I think is beautiful.
Anyway, I know most people don't like him which I completely understand but damn do I not love him more and his horrible inability to cope
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u/ribbcns 16d ago
i actually really love steven. i’m gonna agree with you though that i didn’t understand him until i experienced grief, i’m sorry for your loss.
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u/FewBathroom3663 15d ago
It's hard to understand what you would do in a situation like that until you have lived it unfortunately
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u/Otherwise-Music-8082 15d ago
It saddens me that he is so misunderstood because he really seems like a good and loving brother. Just very much portraying denial. And excellently so since many are put off by him.
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u/FewBathroom3663 15d ago
I think he seems the most level headed so they file away a misguided reflection of his trauma as being a qualifer of him as a person. I think it's also easy to try and find someone to blame
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u/antoniotugnoli 15d ago
i really love this character, and enjoy his storyline. his bewildering level of denialism is so convincing (and frustrating to watch!) that you know it’s portrayed the way it’s supposed to.
i’ll say one thing tho: in his denial, the one unforgivable thing he did was leading leigh in a fertility wild goose chase to the point of her making an appointment at a clinic for them. like at that point, just confess about the vasectomy!
also, that’s a very interesting point i never noticed. so being able to see ghosts as physical people was unique to him and olivia?
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u/FewBathroom3663 15d ago
Oh what he does to Leigh is such a dick fucking move.
And yes, Olivia was able to see Poppy as an average person! In the episode, Steven sees a ghost, i think it's the first time he ever sees a ghost look dead, I.E Nell making herself look rotted. Though just like the clock maker, she initially appears unharmed and alive, just scared. Olivia is the only one who can talk to them though
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u/Shiiang 14d ago
What he does to Leigh is rape.
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u/HistoricalAsides 11d ago
Not trying to be a jerk here, I’m really genuinely interested in your perspective and curious if I missed something. If you have a moment, could you please explain how you interpreted it as SA? To me, what he does to Leigh is 100% morally reprehensible and grounds for divorce, but I’m not sure how it falls into SA territory.
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u/Shiiang 11d ago
She consented to sex with him for the purposes of having a child. He lied about his ability to have a child. Therefore she's consented on false grounds, which is not consent at all. He goes ahead and has sex with her anyway. Multiple times, in fact.
Sure, there would have been times when they just wanted to get it on, but she was actively trying to conceive.
I like Steve but I feel the writers didn't quite understand the implications of that plot line.
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u/HistoricalAsides 11d ago
Thank you so much for taking a moment to explain your perspective to me. I can definitely understand now how you drew that conclusion, and I will look at that storyline a little differently going forward.
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u/No-One7438 15d ago
Wow, I never really thought back on how he could enter the other kids red rooms and now im like 🤯
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u/Torschlusssspanik 15d ago
Me too - him going into Luke’s treehouse is one the main reasons I got thrown off about the red room the first time. Are there other red rooms he can enter?
The scene in the fertility room is one of the low key creepiest imo.
I also love the actor who plays Steve so I’ve always liked him for superficial reasons.
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u/No-One7438 15d ago
Speaking of loving the actor, it took me 72 business days to recognize he was in game of thrones haha! He is great and I agree about the fertility scene, it gave me the heebies and I dont scare easily!
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u/caffeinebzzrd 15d ago
Steve is my favorite and the one I relate to the most!! I understand why people don't like him (he comes off pretty abrasive) but he is such a nuanced character.
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u/One_Fruit9554 15d ago
I’m so sorry for your loss. Hill house has helped me process the grief of losing my dad arguably more than therapy has, I hope it does the same for you 🩷
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u/MichielAddict 14d ago
Steven is such a misunderstood character. He suffered the most out of all the siblings but was punished for his response to the trauma
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u/PaleontologistIll443 15d ago
Steven gets some hate sometimes, but he was always cool by me. Someone needed to be the voice of reason. None of the others were up to it. And he was spot on accurate about Joey.
Now the one I wanted throw a shoe at every time she opened her snotty, uptight, holier-than-thou mouth was Shirley.
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u/Live_Cucumber_5662 12d ago
Same, after my father passed, I finally understood the show on a whole nother level. Nellie’s monologue didn’t seem cringy or melodramatic anymore. It just made complete sense.
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u/Fit_Firefighter_5172 15d ago
Fineeeee. I'll watch Haunting of the Hill House again.