also, if u ever lived in a small town/contryside u would know the setting felt very real, bc this is exactly how it is, ESPECIALLY if something big like a missing kid or a divorce would happen. Pity they forgot about their own setting later on
hawkins in s1 really feels like its own character, the setting of an oppressive small town where everyone knows each other and is judgmental towards people who don’t fit in was very important for the tone of the series and that totally disappears in later seasons