Steven Hyde

Infobox character


colour = #88f
name = Steven Jaye Hyde
first = "That '70s Pilot"
last = "That '70s Finale"
nickname = Hyde, Pudding Pop,
alias =
gender = Male
age = 16-20
born = birth date and age|1959|11|30
death =
occupation = Student, Record Store Manager
title =
callsign =
family = Edna Hyde (Mother)
William Barnett (Father)
Bud Hyde (Step-father)
Angie Barnett (Half-sister)

Half Brother
spouse = Samantha (ex-wife)
relatives =
residence =

Steven Jaye Hyde (born November 30, 1959) is a fictional character from FOX Networks' "That '70s Show", played by Danny Masterson. He is Eric Forman's (Topher Grace) best friend and by the end of season one, his de facto adopted brother. He likes to smoke marijuana and enjoys conspiracy theories, especially ones about The Man overwhelming the people trying to rebel against it. His personal favorite is about a man who built a car that runs on water but "big oil" had it destroyed.

Character

Hyde is a mixture of Holden Caulfield and Jughead Jones, in the sense that he despises authority and is rarely interested in getting into a serious relationship. However, he enjoyed having a steady girlfriend. Though he may seem sarcastic and careless, over the course of the series a more mellow, lovable side of Hyde has revealed itself through his shows of gratitude towards the Formans for taking him in after his mother abandoned him, and his treatment of his significant others in his few relationships. Hyde is potentially the smartest member of the group, hinted at in the episodes "Halloween" and "Eric Gets Suspended," among others, but simply refuses to apply himself.

Steven was abandoned by his mother, Edna Hyde (Katey Sagal, who only appeared in three episodes, two of which only her screeching voice calling from inside Hyde's house is heard). His stepfather, Bud (Robert Hays), had left some years earlier. In the season 6 finale, Kitty discovers that Bud is not Hyde's real father. Subsequently, Hyde meets his biological father, William Bartnett, and is surprised to learn that he is an African-American. A Half Brother was mentioned once in a Season 8 Episode, though not much is known about him. The Formans took him in after Edna abandoned him, and he currently lives in a room in their basement. Red actually treats Hyde better than he treats his own son Eric. Hyde becomes a second son to them when Kitty goes through menopause. Red, when talking to Steven and Eric, refers to it as "the thing thats taken over YOUR mother". Later in the series Hyde finds a job working at the Foto Hut with his burned-out hippie boss Leo (Tommy Chong), until Leo suddenly leaves town, because he remembers he was only supposed to stay in Point Place for a short time yet stayed for eight years, leaving his family behind. Ironically enough, during his tenure in the Foto Hut, he was the more responsible worker between himself and Leo, even telling his own boss off for not doing his job. He gives the money he makes to Red and Kitty to help them pay the bills, although he is obviously uncomfortable admitting that he is acting responsibly. It is evidenced thus that Hyde has a sense of propriety and responsibility to rival that of his friend Eric's, yet is not proud of it as he is more accustomed to his stoner lifestyle.

Relationships

Hyde's first love interest was a proto-punk girl who ultimately left him to start a punk band in New York. In Season 5, he became paired with Jackie Burkhart. In Season 3, there is almost a foresight of their relationship, at the Forman's Veteran's Day BBQ, when Jackie's date Chip calls her a bitch behind her back. Steven responds by punching Chip in the face, knocking him out. Later, that day after talking to Mrs. Forman, Steven takes Jackie out for their first date. Which leads to their first kiss. Despite initially loathing Jackie for all that she represents (brainless, spoiled, shallow, and rich), he has his first real romance of the series with her. When the show started, Eric and Hyde both had feelings for Donna (Laura Prepon), but Donna made it clear that she preferred Eric. Hyde still tried to win Donna, to the point that even Fez began to mock him over his repeated failed attempts. In an early episode, she blows off a "study date" with Hyde at the library to go out with Eric.

During the episode "The Ski Trip," Hyde made a move on Donna while Eric was out trying to rescue Fez, and kissed her. She was furious and promptly slapped him, effectively ending the infatuation. Eric only found out that Hyde had tried to get Donna for his own the next year, when many of the gang's secrets were revealed during Halloween. After the slap however, Donna and Hyde continued to remain good friends, although Hyde's infatuation with her did not end right away. When Eric bailed out on Donna the day before her wedding, the friend she turned to for sympathy was Hyde, although she did accidentally elbow him off the water tower.

Hyde and Jackie's relationship was a very typical 'opposites attract' set up. They came together during the summer when they found themselves bored with just watching "The Price is Right" over and over again.

Early on, the relationship was threatened when Jackie screamed "Get off my boyfriend!" when she saw Annette (guest star Jessica Simpson) kissing Kelso on the couch at the funeral for Kitty's father. To say that Hyde was angry would be an understatement, and he broke up with Jackie, but she begged him to take her back and explained her feelings. Jackie made it clear that she cared about Hyde, but she would always love Kelso because he was her first love and first boyfriend, and she told him that she loved him. Hyde didn't tell Jackie that he loved her as well, he was just silent for a while then asked if that meant they were going to a dance. Hyde eventually forgave Jackie for the slip up, but he remained paranoid for the remainder of the fifth season that the unfinished business between Jackie and Kelso, combined with Kelso's very vocal objections to their relationship, would ultimately come back to bite him in the ass. When he thought he saw Jackie and Kelso kissing on the couch, he got mad and cheated on Jackie with a nurse, only to find out later that Jackie was merely comforting Kelso after Fez had an erotic dream about him. He immediately confessed to Jackie what he'd done, even though he said it would never happen again and that he loved her, she broke it off because that was exactly what Kelso used to say. After going through a bitter period of clashing with both Kelso and Jackie, and even unsuccessfully trying to move on, Kelso eventually backed off and tried to get Hyde and Jackie back together, which is eventually what happened. Although they were together for a while, the relationship was ultimately destroyed by Jackie's innate need to always be in control and, in particular, her need to know that the relationship would head to a wedding, which secretly bothered Hyde just as much as it had Kelso, if not more so, as Hyde was the product of a broken home. When Jackie gets offered a job in Chicago, she offers to turn it down and stay with Steven if he will tell her that they will be married one day, but he can't commit and she has Kelso drive her to Chicago.

In the last season of That '70s Show, Hyde returned from Chicago after witnessing Jackie and Kelso about to have sex. While he was in Vegas, he got drunk and married a stripper named Samantha. Hyde and Samantha begin to fall for each other. In the middle of Season 8, Samantha's real husband shows up unexpectedly, and decides to take Samantha with him back to Vegas. Angry, Hyde suggests that the previous husband should "take a hike and get over it." Samantha then says that she married her previous husband because he promised her many things prior to marriage, and she married Hyde because she was bored. In the midst of the confusion, Hyde, depressed, decides that it would be best for her to go with her previous husband, thus making their existing marriage null and void. In addition, his father grants him sole ownership of the record store. He had no significant other in the final episode.

In a Halloween episode, it is revealed that Hyde is actually a child prodigy, and would have gone on to do great things if not for a frame-up in elementary school where he is blamed for destroying a classmate's science project. He feels that that particular incident altered the course of his whole life, and once he finds out that Eric actually destroyed the presentation, he blames Eric for turning him into the person he is. In the final episode, Hyde is seen trying to give up pot and takes up exercising and cooking to get away from the habit. But his friends pulled him back in, refusing to let him "ruin his life." When he moved in with Eric, he also did several chores around the house to show his gratitude, but ceased once he took responsibility for Eric breaking the television with a bowling ball. This seems to indicate Hyde is truly not a bad person, but is typecast as such by others and subconsciously conforms to this. Later he brought up his first crime was at age five, which he addressed as "Grand Theft Tricycle" which he got three days "in the crib for."

He has worn many t-shirts with musicians on them such as AC/DC, KISS, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Ted Nugent, Rush, Aerosmith, John Lee Hooker, The Allman Brothers Band, Blue Öyster Cult Which he bares a small resembelence to the lead singerEric Bloom, The Sex Pistols, and the Grateful Dead that became part of his character's signature wardrobe along with the sunglasses his character almost always wears, even when indoors. Contrasting with his tough guy exterior, Hyde was once caught on videotape dancing to Frank Sinatra singing. Additionally, following his first breakup with Jackie, he happened to hear B. J. Thomas' "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" and became a fan of country music. He also noted that he likes to watch "Little House on the Prairie", because it "reminds him of a simpler time." He dislikes the music of Pat Boone, Styx (although he did tap his foot to their music), ABBA, Peter Frampton, Andy Gibb, and Little River Band. In fact, he once even broke up with a girl because she liked the Little River Band.