Steve Urkel - Character Development

Character Development

Steve Urkel first appeared on the twelfth episode of the first season, "Laura's First Date", as a nerdy young boy who took the character of Laura Winslow out on a date, where he appeared as being madly in love with her, but in an example of unrequited love, Laura did not return these feelings because of Steve's nerdy, infuriating personality. Although intended to only appear once, White's portrayal was very popular for his humorous, geeky antics. After appearing on other episodes, he joined the main cast. All throughout the course of the series, Steve maintains his extreme infatuation with Laura and regularly invites himself over for unwanted visits to her house, much to the annoyance of the Winslows. Among Steve's other famed character traits include his exceptional scientific skills, crafting devices that would be impossible to construct in reality, his absurdly destructive clumsiness, and his kind heart.

Steve is commonly known and respected by other characters for his kindness to others, his never-ending love and loyalty for those he holds dear, and, alongside with Harriette, his position as a voice of reason and source of wisdom for the often bickering members of the Winslow family, all of which are the redeeming qualities for his generally unwelcome or tolerated presence. He always cares for and means well for other people, but is often the misunderstood victim of the Winslows' anger and rejection, especially of Carl, Eddie and Laura, who all struggle to see through his clumsiness and annoying behavior and to understand and appreciate him for his positive traits.

Although he is often portrayed positively for being a kind and virtuous person among other characters who must learn from their mistakes, Steve is not a flawless character. While he is indeed kind and seemingly means well for others, Steve tends to be needy, overbearing, and often demonstrates very poor empathy, understanding, and consideration of other people's feelings, especially when they feel negatively towards him (whether those feelings are justifiable or not). He shows little regard or respect for Laura's choice to not reciprocate Steve's affections. And one example of Steve's lack of consideration for others is when he accidentally caused Carl and Eddie to fall off of their roof, only to demand an apology from Carl for unintentionally landing on top of Steve, and even going so far as to fight back when Carl subsequently banished him from the Winslow house.

Nonetheless, Steve is kind, bears no hatred for anyone, and is extremely loyal to the Winslow family, whom he is always ready to be there for. He would always be ready to forgive the Winslows when they take advantage of him, behave coldly towards him, harshly reject him and then learn that they hurt his feelings. Steve loves the Winslows like they were his real family, and whether through kindness, persistence or force, he works tirelessly to become as much a part of their lives as a genuine family member.