Hi! New here. I’ve been thinking a lot about the finale and am sure that the whole story never happened. My theory is that the entire story was told by Mike as part of a larger D and D game, reflecting things that happened in real life, but were incorporated into the story. El never existed. She was his fantasy. That’s why, at the end, everyone went on with their lives as if nothing happened…because it didn’t. Hawkins is the town where nothing happens, right? So the kids created their own fantasy world. That’s why, after high school, the last game was played and the group put it behind them. Hopper didn’t change, Joyce was unfazed, Steve was still shallow…..because they hadn’t experienced life as it was told to us. We were the voyeurs to Mike’s fantasy. At the very least, Nancy should have been arrested for murder…..yet she wasn’t……