All is fair in love and poetry

The absence of him in the first 3 seasons. He fit in SO perfectly with the older 4, we were robbed of what could have been with him fitting into that dynamic. I think that's why fanfics with him mean so much to me, they somewhat fill that void because it's SO easy to imagine him fitting in with that group.

Like don't get me wrong, I feel so hollow since I watched it but that's because it's over and I'll miss it whereas I know a lot of people feel crappy because they thought the ending sucked.

Personally, I thought the epilogue was beautiful with how bittersweet it was. They finally get to be kids/young adults again and move on with their lives, and yes, the reality of that is that some will stay put in Hawkins, some will move on, some will break up, go to college, stay in touch, but some will drift apart etc because at the end of the day, the show has ALWAYS been about the kids and their lives. They have always been the heart of the story so they had to move on with their lives eventually, as sad as that is for us who, for a lot of us, grew up with them.

No, I'm not happy with a lot of the plotholes, not happy with El's ending, or Eddie not coming back (even though I always knew I was delusional with that one) but personally, I wouldn't call it an objectively BAD ending just because it didn't cater to all our personal preferences and theories like byler and Kas etc.