Steve in Stranger Things season 5: the radio, the ladder, the tower and the spring of 1989
Steve · November 1987 · Season 5
On November 3, 1987, he wants to fix the tower alone, then he drives the crawl. The BMW serves as a tracker, then as a ram. Then come the ladder, the bean plan, the fall, and the job of 1989.
In November 1987, Steve has no powers: he fixes, he drives, he suggests, he climbs. Eighteen months later, in the spring of 1989, he is on a baseball field.
The essentials
- November 3, 1987: The tower. The manual “might as well be in Greek”. He drives that night
- BMW: Tracker, then ram. “Steve's beamer is stuck”, right after the crash
- Ladder: A hole in a stairwell. It crashes several floors down
- Plan: A flashlight for the tower, a Slinky for the bridge. On screen: “beanstalk”
- The fall: Jonathan catches him. “Owe you one.”
- 1989: Youth baseball, sex education, Kristen. No school named
- Radio: Local radio station. Robin on the mic, Steve on sound
Contents
The tower, the wheel, the signal
On November 3, 1987, the WSQK signal breaks up during the show. Steve calls Dustin: “Henderson, you copy?” Dustin suspects the “remote radio head” and tells him to read the manual. For Steve, that manual “might as well be in Greek”.
He claims the tower for himself. “AKA job for good old Steve Harrington.” Jonathan offers: “I'm like one quarter monkey, dude.” Steve: “I got this, Byers. Don't sweat it.” Jonathan climbs anyway and throws Steve's words back at him. While they climb, Robin asks Nancy what her presence brings out in them: “What is it about your presence that brings out their inner Neanderthal?” At the top, each of them shouts “I fixed it!”
Murray delivers the Boppers. Steve: “Boppers! God, I missed these things.” At the meeting, his job for the night: follow Hopper to the signal. At a red light: “I'll blow through.” Nancy: “Only if there's no MPs around.” He wonders if the field is already won: “a battlefield that we already, like, won?”
Dustin, beaten up at Eddie's grave, misses the crawl. “how am I supposed to monitor this and drive without Henderson?” Joyce sends Jonathan to the back. Steve: “Or you want me to get you a pillow?” During the crawl, a Demogorgon attacks the convoy. Robin on the mic, Steve on sound.
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November 3, 1987 The tower
Two repairs, each on his own side.
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That same night The crawl
Him at the wheel, someone else on the signal.
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Chapter 2 The breakdown
A passerby, a sister, some no-shows.
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Chapter 3 The BMW
The tracker moves onto his car.
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Chapter 4 The wall
The Boppers, then the crash.
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Chapters 5 and 6 The lab
The fight, then the ladder.
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Chapters 7 and 8 The bean
The plan, the tower, the fall.
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Spring 1989 The field
Coach, teacher, Kristen.
1 309-piece set: white building with red trim, red doors and windows, gray lattice tower, red ladder, platform with railings. The set suggests a radio tower.
In the shopWSQK radio station to build 1309 pieces189,90 €See the product
The BMW, then the wall
That same night, the van's battery dies. Jessica agrees to help them out. Steve fears it was him she recognized: “I think she might have placed me.” He stood her sister up: “Stood up her sister. Multiple occasions.” During the recharge, Jonathan accuses him of competing for Nancy's attention. When Dustin arrives, his face bruised and swollen, Steve scolds him for missing the crawl.
He empties the station van: “A lighter van is a faster van.” Dustin would rather put the tracker on the BMW, “the Beamer”. Steve: “Henderson… Don't you touch her.” That night, he mans the “Trackers” post. Derek serves as bait, and the Demogorgon makes off with a tracker. During the chase: “You said right!”
His theory: “Gates are like Peanut Butter Boppers, right?” Crunchy outside, soft inside. “the beamer can punch a hole into the gate”. Jonathan: “We won't be able to follow anything if we crash!” Nancy: “Do it.” In Sorcerer, the BMW crosses into the Upside Down. Following the Demogorgon through the Roane cemetery, it slams into the wall. Over the radio, Dustin sums it up: “Steve's beamer is stuck”.
Hopper asks what the wall is like. Steve: “Smells like Henderson's armpit.” Hopper then talks about a solution. Steve suggests ignoring “the old man” and looking for a gate. Jonathan: “maybe you shouldn't be making the calls from now on.” Nancy: “It was not just his call.” Then: “I agree with Steve.” Dustin works out that the wall forms a circle. The drive, as she sees it, is in Nancy in season 5.
The fight, then the ladder
Steve asks in vain to change the teams. He goes down with Dustin. The argument between Steve and Dustin, this time, far from the radio, is about a choice. He says Eddie “wanted to play hero, and he made a dumb call”. Dustin hits him. Steve: “You know what, man? I'm done. I'm done.”
After the wave, Dustin admits his mistake: “I was terribly, catastrophically wrong.” It was not a shield generator, but “exotic matter”. Steve goes up to look for the other two: “All the more reason to speed up.” He wants to use a ladder to cross a hole that has opened in a stairwell. Dustin, in tears, stops him: “You always try to get yourself killed”, “I can't deal with it again.” The ladder crashes several floors down.
When they finally free the other two, Dustin says “Antenna snapped.” Each points at the other: “His fault.”
The flashlight, the Slinky, the bean
Henry wants to bring the Abyss closer, and Lucas thinks it will be that night. The context is in The Bridge. Hopper suggests a helicopter. If a “magic bean” exists, he is listening. Steve repeats “Magic bean…”, then: “We got a beanstalk right here.”
The demonstration: “this flashlight is the Squawk radio tower”, “this Slinky… is the bridge”. When the tower crosses a rift, Eleven enters the mind and stops the spell. “All we gotta do is climb up it into the Abyss.”
Erica: “I like it.” Mike: “It's not totally insane.” Steve: “Thank you.” Eleven is too far away. Nancy suggests bringing her closer by way of the lab in the Upside Down. It is Eleven who names the bath: “The bath.” Kali wants to come. Steve: “Sisters kill their brother. We rescue the kiddos, come home heroes.” Dustin adds a bomb, to be planted near the exotic matter on the way out, to bring down the bridge.
English Wikipedia calls it “Operation Beanstalk”. On screen, Steve says “beanstalk”. On this blog, the plan is called Operation Magic Bean. Before they leave, Nancy: “Have you handled one of these before?” Steve: “BB guns, air rifles… Duck Hunt.” Dustin: “He is remarkably good at it.” Dustin gives him spears instead, then they apologize to each other.
Blue brick van, green, red and yellow stripes, round porthole, gray dish on the roof.
In the shopWSQK van to build 325 pieces64,90 €See the product
At the top, the fall
At the top, the tower's needle does not line up with the rift. Mike: “This tower's going down.” Steve: “That's great. That's just great.”
The tower sways under the Abyss. Steve rolls into the void. Robin and Dustin shout his name. Jonathan: “Just hold on! I got you.” Dustin: “Shit, I thought you were toast.” Then Steve helps Dustin across: “Okay, easy. Easy. I got you, man.” That night is in The Rightside Up.
In the Abyss, Steve: “Thought I was a goner back there. Owe you one.” Jonathan: “just because I don't like you”, “doesn't mean I want you dead”. Steve: “I can be a real prick sometimes.” Jonathan admits that his problems with Nancy were not Steve's doing. At the end, Jonathan: “I still don't like you, though.” Steve: “I wouldn't want it any other way.”
Steve does not understand the “Hit points”. He echoes “For Eddie!” after Dustin. With Dustin, he attacks the creature from below, with spears. Then Steve reassures Derek: “You're safe, bud, okay? We're here to get you home.” Back in Hawkins, Dr. Kay's soldiers arrest them.
Spring 1989, from Steve's side
Eighteen months later, in the spring of 1989. Robin, on the air, says her “partner in crime” ditched her, for a good reason: “My partner in crime ditched me.” Steve is on a field: “Let's go, boys! Baseball ready!” A youth team. Derek is on it.
At the graduation, he shouts “Yeah, buddy!” for Dustin. Dustin, valedictorian of his class, gives the speech. That evening, Steve, Robin, Nancy and Jonathan meet up on the roof of the station. When New York is praised: “How much is rent?” He asks whether they don't miss the woods, the quarry, Family Video and the Hawk.
At Forest Hills, “this rad place”, not yet within his reach, but almost: “And that is on a coach's salary.” Robin: “Don't forget sex ed teacher.” Steve: “It's part of the gig.” “I have a strict A policy.” “B, if you're a real knucklehead.” “To nothing ever keeping us apart.” “I think Kristen might be the one.” Nancy brings up Dawn, Robin brings up Margaret, Nancy brings up Julie. Steve: “She was drama from the start.”
Acrylic keychain, blue background, HARRINGTON at the top, sunglasses, gray jacket, black bag straps.
In the shopHarrington card keychain12,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
What does Steve do in season 5?
He fixes, he drives, he climbs, he explains the bean, he nearly falls off the tower, and in the spring of 1989, he coaches a youth baseball team.
Where does Steve work in 1987?
At WSQK, the local radio station, on sound. Robin is on the mic.
How does Steve explain his plan?
A flashlight for the tower, a Slinky for the bridge. On screen he says “beanstalk”. The site says Operation Magic Bean.
What does Steve say to Jonathan after the fall?
“Owe you one.” Jonathan answers that he does not want to see him dead. Then Steve: “I can be a real prick sometimes.”
Who saves Steve on the tower?
Jonathan. “Just hold on! I got you.” Steve rolls into the void when the tower sways under the Abyss.
What becomes of Steve in 1989?
Coach of a youth baseball team, and sex education teacher. No school is named.
Who is Kristen?
He talks about her on the roof: “I think Kristen might be the one”. She is not seen. Dawn, Margaret and Julie are brought up by the others.
