They should have stopped after the first season

The first season was perfect but I think ST is one of those shows that would have been great as just a one-time series. It worked so well in part because puberty hadn’t yet slammed them and they were still kids, not the teenagers they are now and they fit into the perfect age range.

Season 2 was okay and a decent extension of the story (excluding the completely pointless episode 7 featuring Eleven’s “sister”) but started to feel a little gimmicky and was nowhere near the quality of the first. The new characters (Max, Billy, Bob) felt more like plot devices than individuals that were vital to the story. In the first season what made the plot so fantastic was the mystery of the upside down and the build-up to uncovering the government lab as well as El’s origin story and the general character development with the Demogorgon as the backdrop which season 2 didn’t have.

Season 3 was even worse and seemed to me to be just a mess that felt more like a fan-made parody than anything else. They could have at least made more effort to develop the mind flayer into an interesting villain and not just something that possesses people and needs to be defeated, yet again. The little girl was super obnoxious and should have stuck to 1-2 scenes in the beginning rather than play such a large role. The singing was also ridiculously cringey and totally unnecessary. I may be overly picky, but I also don’t like when it looks like actors are acting. These kids seemed a lot more natural than when they were younger.

I know loads of people would have a hissy fit if it weren’t renewed but there’s only so many seasons before things starts getting really redundant/contrived and writers run out of good ideas.