Steven Hyde
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Steven Hyde (born c. 1959 or 1960) is a fictional character from FOX Networks That '70s Show, played by Danny Masterson. He is Eric Forman's (Topher Grace) best friend. He isn't a typical best friend at best; he is very critical of Eric and holds his friend in very low regard, as opposed to the more common agreeable best friends that act more like sidekicks than actual friends in many other shows. He likes to smoke marijuana and enjoys a good conspiracy theory, especially if it is 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. Most of his wiseacre jokes deal with things that are none of his business.
Hyde is a curious mixture of Holden Caulfield and Jughead Jones in the sense that he despises authority and is rarely interested in getting into a serious relationship. But it is also shown he enjoyed having a steady girlfriend. Though he may seem sarcastic and careless, over the course of the series we have seen a more mellow, lovable side of Hyde through his show 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.
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. The Formans took him in afterwards; he currently lives in a room in their basement. Red actually treats Hyde better than he treats his own son, Eric. He worked at the Foto Hut with his burned out hippie boss Leo (Tommy Chong), until Leo suddenly left town, because he remembered 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. 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.
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, the writers revisited a plotline that they used a few years prior and decided to pair him with Jackie Burkhart. Despite initially loathing Jackie for all that she represents (brainless, spoiled, fashion-obsessed, 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 Pinciotti (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.
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. When Eric bailed out on Donna the day before her wedding, the friend she turns to for sympathy is Hyde, although she does 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.However, it is shown that Hyde cares about her in season 2, in the episode after Kelso and Jackie break up and in "Jackie bags Hyde".
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 decided to break up with Jackie, but she refused to let him. Jackie made it clear that she wanted to be with Hyde but she would probably always have leftover feelings for Kelso on the basis that he was her first boyfriend; Hyde would just have to deal with it and accept it. 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 going at it on the couch, he got mad and cheated on Jackie with a hot nurse, only to find out later that he hadn't seen what he thought he saw. He immediately confessed to Jackie what he'd done, and she broke up with him, even though he said it would never happen again, which 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 happy 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.
In season 7 it was established that the man that Hyde thought was his father was not, due to a typical sitcom mix-up (or because Hyde's mother was known to sleep around). Tim Reid (of WKRP in Cincinnati) was brought on in a recurring role as William Barnett, Hyde's true father, who is black. Hyde says this explains his "righteous afro and hatred of the Man". His father owns a chain of record stores called 'Grooves' and Hyde runs the shop that is in Point Place, Wisconsin, the setting of the show. Hyde also has a half-sister named Angie who slept with Michael Kelso.
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. 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 one of the final episodes, 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. In addition, his father grants him sole ownership of the record store. He had no significant other in the final episode.
He has worn many t-shirts with musicians on them such as Pink Floyd, John Lee Hooker, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Ted Nugent, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, AC/DC and Jethro Tull that became part of his character's signature wardrobe along with the sunglasses his character almost always wears even when indoors. To contrast with his tough guy exterior, Hyde was once caught on videotape dancing to Frank Sinatra singing.
[edit] Trivia
- The real Stephen Hyde is a Seattle-based filmmaker.
- Though Hyde is reputed to be a marijuana enthusiast, the actor who plays him, Danny Masterson, claims to have never smoked pot.
- 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 one of the later episodes, Hyde gives up smoking marijuana and looks to have been a changed man for the 80's. However it is his friends that pull him back into his old habits, further proving that Hyde has been wrongfully accused of being a bad influence.
- Hyde is part black and has a black father and sister. He made a joke saying "Surprised I came out white".
- In the final season, Hyde once remarks that "his mother went to Lake Michigan, and all he got was a lousy half-brother" (parodying the common "lousy T-shirt" phrase). However, due to the nature of the remark, it is unknown if he was serious or just joking. No other mention of Hyde having a brother is ever made in the series.
- In the episode "Hey Hey What Can I Do" we learn that Hyde is a Sagittarius, placing his birthday in November or December of 1959 (as he turns 18 in an episode set in 1977).
| That '70s Show |
|---|
| Characters |
| Jackie Burkhart | Fez | Eric Forman | Kitty Forman | Laurie Forman | Red Forman | Steven Hyde | Casey Kelso | Michael Kelso | Leo | Randy Pearson | Midge and Bob Pinciotti | Donna Pinciotti | Recurring characters |
| Other topics |
| List of episodes | Point Place | That '80s Show |
