IIRC, season 4 was the torture season. It actually laid it on so thick, it became cartoon funny. Pretty sure that season caused some controversy and after that they toned it down a bit.
The first three seasons were amazing. Season four lost my interest after about five episodes. I don't really even know what the plot is in season four. Not sure what happened to the story line.
The last couple seasons are still decent, but because of the on again, off again nature of the series that rollercoaster is quite uncomfortable to ride.
I haven't watched season 4 yet, after the first season it doesn't really fall into 'must see tv' anymore, where I'd bother to tune in on a weekly basis. It must be a minority opinion, but similarly, I hated season 2, and actually thought season 3 was a fun watch. I think viewed as a totally different, and not-so-serious sci-fi action series, it was okay.
It seemed to jump the shark around season 6 (IIRC) when they just turned up the grossness, but became better than ever after that and more or less stayed there.
And if you must watch any season, watch Season 3 as it's them at their peak. (S2 is good, S1 fun but less clear voice as it uses a few Monty Python tricks, and S4 sadly their patchiest as they had guest stars forced on them.)
That's true, though I suppose if they had stuck the landing the relative decline after the end of season four (which I agree with) would have been forgiven.
I really enjoyed this season. Maybe the fact that is 6 episodes long (I spaced them out throughout a couple of weeks) made me spend more time thinking about it, than the first seasons.
I don't think that the quality has slipped. Maybe you are being too critical because it has lost its initial shock factor?
Season 3 was when TOS started to go all to hell. All of the very worst episodes were in Season 3. It was almost a relief when it was cancelled.
Season 3 started right after the Apollo 11 moon landing, when people had got a hint of how difficult and terrifying space travel really was. Aliens with bumpy heads weren't inspiring anymore.
I’m at the other end, I think the show suffered due to its insistence on querulous characters as a means to pathos, but was kept afloat by its wit and humor (much of it indeed “wacky”). That is of course very much a personal preference thing, but I couldn’t connect with much of the darker side of the show, even while I admired much of its execution.
As others have said though, it definitely gets better as the seasons roll on, along both the humor and drama fronts. The final season has many of the funniest and most poignant moments of the show.
There's a bit of a lull after the end of season one, and towards the end of season 2. However, it really starts to pick up after that, and season 4 is something special.
It feels that they really nailed it at that point. The tension, sound, cinematography, etc.
So far I am enjoying season 3 the most, one of the main reasons is the obvious higher production value. The first two seasons had that low-budget cheesy feel to them, which I find slightly distracting.
I think the episodes so far (1-4) are more hard hitting than the rest of them (playtest + shut up and dance, especially), but it might be because they are more recent in my mind.
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