mike, lucas, dustin, and el are in a weird sci-fi coming of age story where the group of plucky misfit kids solve the mystery and test their friendship along the way

nancy and jonathan are in a horror movie where the teenagers have to kill the monster set against a backdrop of high school drama and romance

joyce and hopper are in a conspiracy thriller where the adults have to figure out what shady stuff the government is up to while also dealing with the difficulties of their personal lives

Like, don’t just say “he’s a pedophile” and move on. That should be enough, but it’s not. It’s implied that he actively looked around public places like malls and schools for children to prey on (one girl he picked up this way was 16, he found her while she was working at a mall as a frickin’ Santa’s Helper), and this was when he was already in his 30s and older.