The thing that pisses me off most about the Duffer brothers El finale explanation is, it’s just so, so, so written by a man. No, El isn’t just a representation of the magic of childhood for the boys, or a manifestation of Hopper’s guilt. Her character is a person, a young woman, who endured a lot of abuse, and grew up with the rest of the kids. She, along with Will, were the center of everything, her choices driving our story forward. And reducing her to something that “had to disappear so the boys could grow up” instead of ending a cycle of abuse is just so disappointing.















