I would have much preferred this

The “American “ better not be the sheriff. His send off was well done and fitting.

I might be minority but I didn’t care for this season that much. Hated the billy arc. For me season 1 is still king and this is on par if not slightly below season 2 for me, just felt like everything was super predictable this season. I enjoyed it overall but still a shadow of the original season which was just phenomenal

That’s exactly how I felt

I agree with you that I hope it is not him. However, when a show pulls the old trick of "main char appears dead but we don't see a body" we have to be realistic about what we expect.

Personally, my guess is that the show will reveal "The American" to be someone else (Dr. Brenner is the betting favorite atm) and we will all breathe a sigh of relief because Hopper is dead. But then in Ep2, it will be revealed that Hopper hopped into The Upside Down just before the explosion, so the season will feature him being rescued.

upside down was never open in s3 I thought, just in the process of opening

If I had to guess, he wouldn't have 'done' anything to save his own life. Rather the energy burst would have not actually killed him. Like it teleported him or something.

I think he's not dead, because we didn't see any body and also they played the heroes song, just the same song they played when we thought Will might be dead.

Or blasted him back into the upside down. This is what I thought as soon as the seen happened. It'd be almost too cruel to kill two her love interests in back-to-back seasons, so I bet they bring him back.

Overall I enjoyed the season. Hopper was too erratic for me, at times. Also, the flayer felt too similar to previous monsters. However, I don't t think hopper is dead, however, likely not in the cell.

Also, I agree that the sister was a bad addition to the show. She annoyed the shit out of me