Reception
In his book, Super Aussie Soaps, Andrew Mercado describes the moment Steven decides to marry Selina as a scandal because she was his student. In her book "Soapbox", Hilary Kingsley brands Steven the quietest foster child of Pippa and Tom. In the book "Home and Away: behind the scenes", James Oram comments on Steven's young heart-throb status, stating: "Those who concern themselves with such matters as heart-throbs suggest he is well on his way to joining that select circle. He could be the youngest heart-throb in history, or at least since Romeo caused Juliet's heart to flutter." He also added that whilst the serial followed the tradition of many other soaps, through Steven and Frank they portrayed many real issues. Jan Moir writing for the Evening Times states: "He was orphaned when his parents were killed in a fire and is fast becoming the problem kid on the block." The Birmingham Post observed Steven's relationship with Selina as a "tale of twists" becoming more "twisted" with time. A columnist for The Newcastle Herald chose Steven and Selina's 1998 return episode as one of their "TV Highlights".
Analysing Steven's early characterisation, a columnist for Inside Soap said "once the school swat and a bit of a square, he grew up into a egghead who couldn't get a girl. Duller than one of Alf Stewart's bowling club cheese and wine parties, quiet Steven Matheson seemed destined to stay single." They opined that upon his return in 1995, Steven no longer had trouble finding a partner but had a "problem" finding one his own age. Their colleague opined that Steven was the "brightest foster kid" that Pippa had ever fostered. While another opined that "there was never any doubt that the quiet and studious Steven would end up at uni - even if a passionate fling with an older woman made him think twice about going. Steven passed his HSC with flying colours."
Read more about this topic: Steven Matheson
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)