Stranger Things was never meant to be Lost or Manifest

A post in the conformity theory sub was saying how all these shannigangs should show producers that there is an audience craving shows that give the opportunity to do some sleuthing, and have fun discussing theories.

And indeed I think this lays the problem. Stranger Things was never meant to be that kind of show. Shows like Lost (which still funked the finale) or Manifest (which was abandoned), which were purposedly designed to give us a complex mistery and would feed alternative theories with each episody to deliberately feed theories and convulted explanations. Shows where every detail was geared to this purpose and which were full of (false) clues, signs, references, coincidences and number games.

ST was never that. It is a light hearted show that started as an 80s-coded gender blend of adventure, horror, sci-fi and coming of age stories. The focus was on the set ups, the emotions conveyed, the characters, the story in the simplest of terms. It was never meant to have the viewer assessing whether a temperature switch was gray or red and from moment one a lot of it did not make sense. As the series progressed, Season 4 introduced a darkness and a more fantasy element, but again, it was never meant to be some kabbala reading exercise.

The new audience the series got as from Season 3 combined with the change of tone in Season 4 I think just gave some people a different feel and different expectations the show was never meant to meet.

Not saying this because I think Season 5 is great, because to me it is the worst of them and the weakest from a narrative perspective. But not because it did not solve the puzzle. If anything, it might have better if it would have remain more focused on the characters, the emotions and the visuals in the spirit of the first three seasons.