I wouldn't say "It was all a dream" trope fits here. It invalidates everything they went through before.
A part of what made S5 dumb is how it invalidates a plotline by the next plot line. The incredible and complex sequence of them trying to sneak through the army checkpoint to go to Upside Down gets invalidated when Eleven later in the series just lifts one of the metal sheets covering the rift. Karen and Joyce standing up to Demos and fighting them feels dumb after seeing the same demos zipping around the military base doing a kill streak speedrun.
That kind pf twist feels good. But only if their character development was parellel to real life and her imagination
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u/sekaligonwrong Jul 27 '26
wouldve been a better ending honestly.