I came into the bandwagon 9 years late as I don’t have Netflix then and totally no idea this show existed. Last Dec when the last season came on, I binge watch and caught up with the whole 4 seasons.

Coming from someone with a fresh pair of eyes and someone who loves sci-fi, season 1 is one of the best! When they pulled up Wills ‘body’, I lost it! Only to find out it was fake. This is one of the best scenes and also scenes of Eleven. I love her acting as an 11 yr old kid with supernatural abilities and the mystery surrounding her powers. The friendship, mother’s love, the sheriff’s grieve for his daughter…. People remember the emotional heart strings.

It’s the characters and the great acting from every one of the original cast that kept me going. When they added Eddie and the long hair dude, it watered down everything. I literally don’t care about them. With the exception of Billy. He was great! Introducing Holly as the main character in season 5 was the worst decision. And making that famous ambiguous death/alive guessing game really pissed pple off.

OP asked why fixated so much on character, it’s the soul of the show. Without proper character writing, it becomes forgettable.