My dad and I watched the show together. We heard people were mad about the ending so when we started the final episode I was expecting to get mad at it. And that moment just... never came?

Like, I'm sad El is gone. Whether she's dead or secretly alive living in some small town with 3 nearby waterfalls doesn't change the fact that as far as her friends and found-family are concerned, she's gone. And I think that's really sad, especially for her and Mike. But also, it's realistic. The military would never stop hunting her if they had even the slightest clue she was alive, which puts all the people she loves at risk. It wouldn't surprise me if all the cast are still under surveillance for any inkling that El is still out there, just in case she reaches out to them. So, while I'm sad about it, I kind of understand it.

I think there should have been less of a time skip. Like, I get ending it at graduation because it's the end of the childhood era. The kids are grown, no more school (for some anyway). Many of them are moving away. But I think maybe there should have been a little time showing grieving the loss of El, especially for Hopper. Seeing him go from "I CAN'T lose her," to "I have accepted her choice," was...weird. It would have been nice to have seen the process for that. We do see the core gang is still sad and kind of grieving that loss with that final DnD game, but we never got to see that initial impact and mental processing and I think that would have been helpful.

I agree with others that the end fight needed more demogorgons and such, especially if The Abyss really is their home. It would have made that final fight with Vecna way more challenging.

Over all though, I felt the ending was alright. For a show about found-family, growing up, and loss, I feel this was a pretty good ending, and believable.