Wacky fun in a sibling universe to BoJack Horsemen. A show that, like its predecessory, manages to tackle big truthful issues while being off-the-wall funny in a striking balance.

WTF. This season busted out of the gate as a real contender. Lizzy Caplan creates a fascinating and at times sympathetic portrait of mental illness in her rendition of an early Annie Wilkes (from Misery), and her layered relationship with her daughter forms a really fascinating center of the show. But then, it takes a 90 degree turn and sidelines that whole story for some hokey sci-fi bullshit that is not only less interesting, but makes Annie’s presence feel completely irrelevant. They tried to connect them a bit at the end, but it fell flat for me, and was up there with Rise of Skywalker for biggest mid-story disappointment of the year.

The second season felt at the same time more ambitious AND more safe. It built a strong, satisfying big narrative over 14 episodes that rarely felt like filler or misstep. But at the same time, the narrative was mostly retreading frequently tread Star Trek ground, like AI and time travel. It was impressive, fun, but not super innovative or fresh. Which is fine, but S1 I felt was trying to set a bar that this would not be your dad’s Star Trek show, and this season moved away from that a bit.

I wanted to rate it lower, as a childish reaction to the world’s consensus for how amazing this show is. It’s currently ranked at #2 among critics, which seems way too high to me. They say it’s Shakespearean. Sure, but frequently and VERY CLEARLY referencing Shakespeare does not a great show make. Others say it’s not even a drama, it’s a comedy. Sure, it’s funny, but it’s not THAT funny. And it’s clearly taking itself too seriously to be a comedy. It wants to delight us in the excesses and ghoulishness of its horrible, self-absorbed characters while at the same time _kinda_ making fun of them? It’s weird, because it’s too invested in making us care about the bonds and relationships between these characters to be able to say it’s skewering them. It’s basically like Arrested Development, but less funny, and with a Soderbergh handicam treatment. Anyway, while its point of view is crazy muddled, it is entertaining in a cheesy, soapy way. But so was most of Shakespeare.

Felt like the Vegas trip was a step in the wrong direction after a great second season. They backed off a bit from the strong character work they were doing to focus on more of how they could shake things up. There were still some strong moments, I just didn’t enjoy this season as much.

A cool, fun premise that results in two, at odds, Paul Rudds. The first four eps are classic, binge-worthy, edge of your seat romps that give a fresh take on a lived-in premise. The complications that come after that are hit-and-miss (though I was glad for the much-needed detour in Ep 5), and the ending felt just a bit clunky. But I liked that it was asking the questions it did, that it was smart, and well-paced, and that it exists.

While there was still a lot to love about the second season, the turns didn’t feel as fresh or earned as in the stunning first season.

A fun, painful finale for a fun, painful show.

A great send off for a great show.

Huh! There were some REALLY GREAT episodes in this, the final season. I liked that they tried something different with the finale, even though I didn’t really feel like it completely worked. Dom 4 eva.

I’m a little bit sick of the Hollywood insider humor, but this show managed to surprise. It was at times hilarious, and other times really quite empathetic about the effect Hollywood culture can have on people.

Afraid I have to have another thing about artist vs. art. As problematic as he was, I felt the lack of Louie CK in this season. I think Pamela Adlon has a strong voice, and she creates great slice-of-life tableaus that are raw and real. But Louie often balanced that with these transcendent moments of pathos that felt both unexpected and natural and earned. They were some of the strongest moments of both Louie and Better Things. Now, TV is a collaborative medium, and it is pure speculation to pick out one artist’s contribution to a work, but based on the data, it feels like a correlation to me. That said, it was a good, but not great, season.

A bit of sophomore-itis, but still very moving.

The lies were bigger and littler! Meryl! Not as great as the first season.

Super bingeable, just a couple shaky steps on the landing.

Much like Better Things, this first-half arc of the final season didn’t have those one or two big, risky episodes that made previous seasons stand out. That said, I appreciate the direction of the show, and what it has to say about the complicated nature of trauma and change. One could see the cynicism present in past seasons and predict that it will double-down on it in the final arc next year, but I’m going to go out on a limb and predict it will end on a note of positivity. If not, I’ll come back to this rating and dump its ass.

Bold choices. Wonderful musical numbers. Buttloads of attitude and creativity. Just a lot of fun.

IT’S OVER!!! I AM FREE OF THIS SELF-MADE PRISON OF MEDIOCRITY!!!

(I found the finale’s title fitting: The Stockholm Syndrome)

I wonder if they had to pay Ronald Moore for borrowing his character. A couple interesting ideas surrounded by a sea of sci-fi cliches.

Sigh. Talk about ending with a whimper.

Not as fun as it looked.

It wasn’t terrible, but what a weird meta ending.

Andrew Scott was the lone high point.

I thought the beginning was fun, unique, and full of potential, but then it tanked into a nonsensical mess.

More of the same.

A reaction to Lost. Mystery box show focused on answering the questions quickly. The other edge of that sword is that they keep having to come up with new boxes every 4 episodes, which prevented any feeling of momentum. That said, it is a pretty inventive, family-centered series with likeable characters.

An interesting arc, but the slow pacing continues to prevent the humor from sparking.

There were a few things to like about the final season, despite how horribly rushed it was, and how it failed to stick the landing in any believable way.

It’s silly fun. Best part was singing The Neverending Story.

There is a big, Rick-shaped hole in the show. It feels scattered and unfocused. The Whisperers are cool at times, but the show just falls back on unearned shocks and the thinnest character beats.

Absurdist sketch comedy at its finest.

The show might’ve been better off ending after its superb first season, but this was not a terrible time spent with a cool character. Its highs were not as high, though its lows were not as low (Kilgrave support group). At least it seemed like it knew it would be ending, and didn’t leave us on some cliffhanger.

Felt like a re-tread of Watchmen (the comic), Kickass, and Preacher to start, but started to find its own beat in the second half. Not as clever as it thinks it is.

Past seasons have had better guest stars, but Spencer built a fun, imaginative arc for our heroes this season, and Dan got to play TWO characters.

Enjoyable. The story pivots in the last couple eps in ways that felt rushed and unmotivated, but all-in-all, it’s an interesting world with fun adventures.

While it was an interesting and thought-provoking diversion, the main arc this season was yet ANOTHER diversion from the story it’s been teasing since episode ONE, and I’m growing frustrated. I also found the intimate conversations from Season One to be more compellingly watchable than the investigation of Season Two.

Though it did find some meaty threads toward the end, I found myself frequently wishing for Jemaine and Taika to be in front of the camera instead of behind it.

With the notable exception of a handful of quieter scenes, usually centered on family, I found the dialogue to be painfully flat and perfunctory. In stark contrast to Game of Thrones or this year’s Watchmen, the world-building was often rushed and bludgeoning, and I rarely felt like these were real people inhabiting it. If not for the marvelously paced and written finale, I was just about ready to write this version off entirely, even as a fan of the original books.

A lovable agent of chaos.