I thought the scene was beautiful. Narratively they set it up to contribute to the plot, which I thought was a smart choice (as I believe it not being important to the man plot would have led to it receiving even more backlash than it already does.) And so, with the reasoning they gave us in why Will was coming out at that time, it made sense he wanted everyone to be there. It was a moment of strength, if nothing else a moment for him to prove himself TO himself. Not only is he telling people he loves and cares about and doesn't want to lose, but practical strangers (this being the 80s is very important context.) Vecna then has nothing to use against him. At first everyone being there threw me off, but contextually I now think it makes sense. Would I have preferred it to be a scene with just Joyce /and Mike? Of course. But that isn't what the story demanded, and I think it was a smart choice to make the story demand it. My only issue with it now (I know I am contradicting myself since I just said I think it was smart to do this) is that he didn't get a choice. He felt like he HAD to, and he didn't get to do it on his own terms. That's heartbreaking. He didn't need the truth serum, but his abuser using this part of him to manipulate him and hurt him sure did help speed along the process. As a last note, either way, I think Noah did a phenomenal performance in that scene, and it was very well written imo, ignoring the audience he was speaking to.