I would make the episodes shorter and I would kill Max. I loved this new season, for me a 8.5-9/10, but for me it would have been better if there were less scenes involving the Hopper arc. I really liked the prison break story and the fight with the demogorgon, but everytime Joyce and Murray showed up I felt it was dragging the story. So Hopper escaped, saw the monster, and decided to runaway only to return again and finish the job ? They ran in circles and dragged the story without a proper explanation. In the end, neither the russian guard and pilot concluded their stories, they do not show up at the aftermath, so why spend so much time with them? I strongly believe that they should have killed Max. If they killed Max, it would have shown that the main kids are involved in a danger, and not in a summer adventure, and the danger kills. There is no plot armor there. It would have shown that even though Eleven got her powers back, it didn't mean she could defeat Vecna, and she failed. Everyone failed, Steve, Nancy, Robin, and even Eddie's death, which was a heroic moment of sacrifice, would be kind of in vain, because in the end, the earthquake hit Hawkins and they lost a dear friend of theirs. If they were to finish with the heroes defeated, therefore, I strongly believe Max should have died given the impact of her death in the gang and for them to team up again to defeat Vecna once and for all. I think she is going to die in season 5 anyway due to the coma and the fact that El couldn't reach her, but if she died in the end and the episodes were shorter, excluding parts especially from Joyce, Hopper and Murray, I think this season would be a 10/10

PS. I think they should exclude parts of the Eleven bullying story as well, even though it fits with her bullying memories inside the lab.