hear me out, okay. I dont necessarily like the way the Duffers have closed the story, but, if this was always the route they planned on taking, then, i have some notes.

Joyce’s character this season has ultimately been quite usless. And Winona’s ties with the show are also rather flaky (she hasn’t really been promoting the season, not present at any press junkets)… so, the way i see it, they should’ve just ended season 4 rasing the stakes, giving the ICONIC Joyce byers a big send off (instead of just side-linning her and making her stand there without contribuiting to the plot)… also, this would’ve made this season’s writing more compelling. Some examples I’ve thought of:

the Byers staying at the Wheeler residence for 18 full months — if Joyce had passed, then it would make sense for Will and Jonathan to stay with Karen and Ted. Ted would still be annoyed, but at least Karen’s reasoning for letting them stay would’ve made the audience side with her. I mean, they just lost their mother, what is Karen supposed to do? kick them out?…. Instead you have a 50-year-old unemployed Joyce Byers eating breakfast with them, who later goes to the woods to watch El and Hopper train… You kinda get why Ted (who is unaware anything supernatural is going on) would want them to move out.

Joyce doesn’t care about Jonathan — well, she does, obviously, but it really seems like she doesn’t mind if he gets hurt, as long as Will is safe. The thing is, we’ve seen her play overprotective mother before, so this felt quite repetitive. If Joyce wasn’t there, then it could’ve been Jonathan the one to prevent Will from contributing to the team, it could’ve been him volunteering himself and putting himself at risk in order to protect Will. “No, you’re not going. I’m going. I can’t lose you like I lost mom” kinda vibe. Again, I feel like this would make for a more compelling motive — better than Joyce sending Jonathan to do all the dangerous things she doesnt want Will doing…

Jonathan-Hopper bonding. Omggggg… everytime Hopper and Joyce talked about how they were both being overbearing to their respective children i YAWNED. Instead, imagine if we got to see Jonathan (daddy issues) and Hopper learning to let El and Will trace their own path and make their own mistakes. They could both bond over being scared about losing them the same way they lost Joyce, about how they feel like the kids are the only family they have left…. and then being there for eachother and realizing that they ALSO have one another, maybe Hopper could’ve acted like a mentor/father to Jonathan, who lacks that connection with his own father

Hopper Kamikaze — classic Hopper, always the hero, strapping a bomb to his chest so that, if he were to find Vecna, he could just blow himself up and take the villain with him. Okay, again, i dont want to sound repetitive, but his suicid4l missions would’ve made more sense if he really felt like he had no-one left, only El… i dunno…

Will’s coming out scene — BIG sigh. not getting too much into it…. BUT the way it was framed… Will coming out because ‘’Vecna knows his secrets’’… felt a bit black-maily (at least to me). Instead you could have Will with the big realization that his mom died without knowing the real him. He never got a chance to tell her… and he regrets it. And now, all the people he loves are about to embark on a dangerous heist and he isn’t sure who is going to make it out alive… so he HAS to tell them. Not because of Vecna, but because of him, he can’t bear the thought of losing Jonathan, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Max, El… and them not knowing who he really is.

Also, i feel like it would have been sooo much better if the conversation had been a one-on-one, just Will and Jonathan. Will would’ve told him he was gay and mentioned who much he regrets not telling Joyce, how their mom passed without seeing him for who he truly is. Then, Jonathan could’ve comforted him (maybe with a story about their childhood) and assured him that even if he never got the chance to tell Joyce how he really felt… she knew… because they had a special bond and mothers always seem to know… even when they don’t really know for sure, they know.

Sooooooooo, this is kinda it. I love Joyce as a character but she has been heavily under used this season, which just made me wonder if we would’ve gotten a better story had she been writen off at the end of season 4…. she could have haunted the Will-Jonathan-Hopper narrative the way Eddie has been haunting the Steve-Dustin storylines.

Anyways im sooo excited for the finale. let me know what you think about this!!