Would the story have been and concluded better if S4 took place in 1987 instead of 1986?
The Duffers screwed up S5. That time skip and just no continuation from that SICK ending of S4 on the hill to start S5 was the start of many problems for S5. Do you all believe, especially with how much time and effort they put into S4, if they just made the kid characters of El, Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin, and Max sophomores in high school in 87 and not freshmen in 86 that the story would’ve flowed better as they wouldn’t feel the need to time jump so much in S5 cause of the younger characters physically changing so much. We could’ve picked up right on the hill, seen Hawkins become a war zone and set this apocalyptic and despair type of vibes for this season, we could’ve had a time skip for finishing the story but not be 18 months but be maybe 8 months and had November 6th, 1987 have even greater significance, Will, Mike, and El would undoubtedly be the main characters of this season and the focus of S5 would be them and all the characters we’ve come to beloved over the years and not throw them all away for Derek (who I loved and the actor played really well) and holly (who the actress played really well). Just my thoughts. Love to hear what yall think.