Just thinking about how it should’ve been Mike that was taken by Vecna instead of Holly. It would’ve have made such an improvement in the story of Season 5 and upped the tension, angst and stakes.
* Mike being at the Wheeler house when the Demogorgon comes through the portal. Karen and Holly are terrified, and Mike leads them through the house to get them to safety. Standoff still happens in the Wheeler kitchen, but the Demogorgon takes Mike.
* El and Nancy arrive and walk into the scene in the kitchen where Karen and Holly are freaking out. El immediately starts panicking and is beside herself when they all realize Mike is gone.
* Opening episode credits reveal the episode title, The Vanishing of… Mike Wheeler.
* Instead of trying to keep Mike happy in his mind prison, like Holly and the other kids, Henry/Vecna torments Mike with visions of his loved ones saying awful things to him (El saying she doesn’t love him, The Party saying they never needed him, Karen saying he’s a disappointment) to feed into his insecurities and break him emotionally.
* Mike finds Max in Henry’s mind prison and they work together to go through Mike’s memories to escape (with Max being a bystander watching the first “Goodbye, Mike” scene from Season 1)
* Nancy and El team up and lead the rescue mission.
* During the obligatory Running Up that Hill scene, it’s El giving the motivational speech (paralleling Mike’s I love you speech from Season 4, where she says he knows the real her and he’s always understood her and he’s her hero) is the push Mike needs to run towards the gate/portal
* Very emotional and angsty El/Mike reunion and they survive destroying the Upside Down. El had previously told Hopper about the pregnant women and blackmails Dr. Kay to scare her into leaving El alone forever.
* Mike and El are living peacefully in the epilogue and go to prom together.
There was so much potential for the final season that was just… wasted.
