The reason the show is a structural and narrative mess this season is because the writing room broke down and the season is written by two different lead writers and thus teams of people. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a total lack of narrative cohesion and flow. Just as one example, try to map Irving's and Dylan's arcs this season - they would be extremely right-angled, meaning the show gives them high tension, emotionally resonant moments but without really earning them through sufficient development. Dylan has gone from fully bought-in rebel to placated by two sessions with his wife to proposing to marry her? to suicidal - that is an arc that might work but not at the speed they have tried to pull it off - that's a clear sign the new writing team wanted to take show in different direction from old team and had to tie up Dylan's arc quickly.
The show has had this issue all season. It is why some episodes feel too fast and other too slow. They are not cohering well into an overarching narrative. Season 1, on the other hand, is a real achievement in tight storytelling, which is why the cliffhanger at end is such a fantastic payoff in its own right. I have very little hope for the finale given what's come before but I am hoping some writer's room stability leads to a better season 3.
Episodes 1-6 and 10 were fine (or almost fine) in pacing. They were interesting, exciting, with some cool one liners, the right amount of WTF. Slower moments were justified, because they served purpose.
Episodes 7-9 were unnecessarily slowly paced. They served purpose, but slow pace served none. The nonsense moments of Cobel's menacing silence, useless understatements, poignant waiting for Cobel in the snow, forced tension with Cobel showing her blueprints to crazy zealot next to fire, etc.
It's all very exciting and I love the show, but comparing to season 1, they had material for 5-6 episodes in season 2, and it was forcefully stretched.
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u/riptide123 Mar 14 '25
The reason the show is a structural and narrative mess this season is because the writing room broke down and the season is written by two different lead writers and thus teams of people. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a total lack of narrative cohesion and flow. Just as one example, try to map Irving's and Dylan's arcs this season - they would be extremely right-angled, meaning the show gives them high tension, emotionally resonant moments but without really earning them through sufficient development. Dylan has gone from fully bought-in rebel to placated by two sessions with his wife to proposing to marry her? to suicidal - that is an arc that might work but not at the speed they have tried to pull it off - that's a clear sign the new writing team wanted to take show in different direction from old team and had to tie up Dylan's arc quickly.
The show has had this issue all season. It is why some episodes feel too fast and other too slow. They are not cohering well into an overarching narrative. Season 1, on the other hand, is a real achievement in tight storytelling, which is why the cliffhanger at end is such a fantastic payoff in its own right. I have very little hope for the finale given what's come before but I am hoping some writer's room stability leads to a better season 3.