Ah, I hadn't known about either planning to opt out of the series. Given both of the deaths, I liked the way Travis went out better. I think what's turned me off on this time jump is that one of the things I liked out of season 3 and the series as a whole was the time compression. It really felt one scene led to the next and the days and nights we saw were happening in real time. It really pulled me into the series. There weren't any beats or character development we missed, and it felt stronger for it.
Now, I kind of feel like we're watching the misadventures of the Mirror Clarks and its not as powerful. The Nick we see die is the Nick that had those nice scenes with Madison in the stadium, but then there's a disconnect between those Clarks and the ones I just had my heart torn apart with in S3 (Seriously, S3 is so sharp in my mind, this might be having a huge effect on my reaction to S4)
I'm wondering if we're seeing the downfall of the entire Clark family, and the introduction of Morgan and co. are a season long changing of the guard. I wouldn't be surprised if Madison is killed by the midseason finale, and Alicia goes out in the finale. All their characters are really defined by their relationship to each other as a family. The entire introduction of Al as a character could be to record their stories, so that they will live on through the new members of the main cast. I don't want to see it happen this way, I think Madison and Alicia were great characters at the end of last season. But right now they feel like they're being written with bland 'default' personalities again.