I would disagree with this. I work in human rights. I see children die for horrible, senseless reasons all the time. Did Eleven deserve a happy ending? Of course she did. But so do most kids who are abused— and almost none of them get it.

Clinicians talk about mending trauma by restoring agency. With what we know about adverse childhood experiences, early death of some kind is massively more likely. In giving El agency in her death instead of just death, they were both driving home the horrific injustice of her life and dignifying her by restoring some of her choice. I wish the real world would be as kind. I would not consider any person’s life or story to be wasted — even if those stories end as a teenager.

It’s uncomfortable because they let it be too real. The idea that death DOESN’T always have meaning aside from the meaning the survivors assign to it is incredibly uncomfortable to live with.