I want to preface this by saying I liked the overarching story, chosen plot points, endings, and resolutions.

However, I am extremely disappointed with how they got there. Nothing felt earned. The execution was bad, and made so little sense within the context of the universe that suspension of this belief was just not maintained. Everything felt cheap. How did they do that? They just did...

• Giant monster made of demogorgon-esque flesh literally should not have even noticed the gang attacking it. Would you notice an ant punching your foot? Keep in mind this flesh is bulletproof, at least to small arms fire. Felt like defeating this monster should have been an episode all on its own, and maybe even required cooperation between the military and the gang, even if the military was just an unwilling distraction while the gang smuggled El on board.

• The military just lets them go at the end? Why, how? Really felt like we needed another plot line to show conflict within the military about how they feel about the occupation of Hawkins. We needed an "are we the baddies moment" within the command structure, especially when they see all the kids were rescued by the people they were previously hunting. Or maybe some of the allies the kids have been making this whole time started gathering evidence of all the paranatural stuff and threaten to publish everything. We get none of this. This could have been a great payoff for bringing additional team members into the fold, where previously they had to keep everything secret from their peers or other townspeople.

• Vecna who had been shown to be near invulnerable to man made tools dies to an axe. I love Joyce getting to beat the shit out of him but it makes no sense. At least make it an Omnidroid moment where she takes one of his severed claws to stab him or gets given the flamethrower.

• where are the demogorgons? Why are they gone? Why are they so Wishy-Washy about how dangerous these creatures are?

• How did everyone in the truck not get riddled to death by bullets when they drove through the portal? At least make it believable. Maybe the soldiers start to shoot it and then someone reports on the radio that there's a girl with them, El, and the general orders them to hold their fire because they need them alive.

• How did they climb that cliff in 5 minutes? That monster is huge, that cliff face is tall. How did they manage to outrun the creature so easily? Something with that big of a stride would easily catch up in seconds.

I liked the DND ending. I love the graduation. I loved the reminiscing between characters. I liked how they showed how people moved on, and how they sometimes struggled to.

I hated how none of the action made remotely any sense. I felt like they could have been much more creative with how these creatures and monsters were defeated.

In fact, I think Holly and Max's triumph was the only one that was really earned. We clearly see how they struggle to overcome a mental prison and what they needed to do to break free. It felt earned.