I've not yet made it to season 4, but I'm not at all surprised. I think the show lost its bite, though not its way, after season 1. Sounds as if it's lost its way now too - which is a shame, since it was really head-and-shoulders above the rest of the current offering.
In season 1, you felt anything could happen. Earth could be destroyed, Mars could be destroyed, the heroes could utterly, utterly lose, anyone could die. They lined up the shots and then they pulled the trigger.
SEASON 3 SPOILERS BELOW
In season 2 & 3, they kept the tone and feel of an "anyone can die" series, while lacking the writerly courage, finally becoming as wedded as Star Trek to the dramatic status quo. When, at the end of 3, they spent an entire episode saying goodbye to Drummer, who was given a satisfying, complete and redemptive death, only for her to pop back up the next episode, and when, in the next episode, they brought back Miller too, the most meaningful death in the whole arc, I lost my respect for the writers as drama-makers. Man in the High Castle, by the bye, has done exactly the same thing. Nothing ever actually happens. I'll keep watching, because it's a fun space opera. But if you thought it was going to have the sheer narrative guts of a Farscape, well, you, like me, have been proved sadly mistaken.
Watch Farscape, by the way!
In season 1, you felt anything could happen. Earth could be destroyed, Mars could be destroyed, the heroes could utterly, utterly lose, anyone could die. They lined up the shots and then they pulled the trigger.
SEASON 3 SPOILERS BELOW
In season 2 & 3, they kept the tone and feel of an "anyone can die" series, while lacking the writerly courage, finally becoming as wedded as Star Trek to the dramatic status quo. When, at the end of 3, they spent an entire episode saying goodbye to Drummer, who was given a satisfying, complete and redemptive death, only for her to pop back up the next episode, and when, in the next episode, they brought back Miller too, the most meaningful death in the whole arc, I lost my respect for the writers as drama-makers. Man in the High Castle, by the bye, has done exactly the same thing. Nothing ever actually happens. I'll keep watching, because it's a fun space opera. But if you thought it was going to have the sheer narrative guts of a Farscape, well, you, like me, have been proved sadly mistaken.
Watch Farscape, by the way!