I don't know if there's any point in replying with this, but the first five pages or so of this thread were exactly what I needed in this mood. I'm obviously not happy that this has happened, but I'm still glad how I'm not the only one to have felt quite fatigued during and after this season. I didn't quite feel the same excitement and catharsis that accompanied the previous two for me, and I've struggled for quite a while how to put it in words, but seeing the replies in the first half of this thread helped me organize my thoughts.
There are two reasons, really, and I'm glad that the others have touched upon both. First, there's how the writers seem to consistently bow down to the loudest of criticism from the internet, constantly retooling and backpedaling, which of course risks that they'll lose what made Discovery unique in the process, and I'm already dreading what good elements will be toned down next season when they inevitably throw the baby out with the bathwater. They are playing it increasingly safe, the "dangerous, wild, post-apocalyptic frontier" quality of the new setting evaporated instantly upon rejoining the Federation, even though the HQ was implied to be a bit of an ivory tower at a disconnect with what's really out there... but now, every factor's currently in place that would allow Discovery to be just sent out on basically a 5-year mission of disconnected planet-of-the-week adventures, and this really worries me. They could've done much more interesting things with the setting, but in the end, we have a Federation that feels exactly the same, just smaller. It didn't bother me much when the focus was on the different independent planets, on Georgiou or on Su'Kal, but in retrospect it does seem uninspired with the possible exception of who exactly Kovich is. I seem to be in the minority though with my opinion that they managed to stick the landing with the Burn, but even then, with the dilithium planet being secured by the Federation, another obstacle was removed from the way of rebuilding everything exactly the way that it was, which would be yet another missed opportunity if they decided to go that way for the sake of playing it safe. Long story short, despite the numerous episodes I've highly enjoyed by themselves, this season was the weakest of three for me and I'm no longer as optimistic for the future as I was after the first two seasons.
As for the second reason, at first I thought there was no point at all in touching upon it, as it felt like merely woe-is-me whining about online discussions not being about what I'd like, but I was quite relieved to find I'm not alone in noticing how discussions of Discovery have become overwhelmingly negative over the course of the last year. Everywhere I go, there's either the constant, merciless nitpicking about every single thing imaginable or the complete culture war special, full with all the usual grievances about how [insert bogeyman here] has ruined one's childhood. Of course, they both have been a part of the experience from the beginning, but the volume now seems much larger, the criticism much harsher, the language much coarser and the tempers much shorter, probably because of the pandemic, but still. It kind of seems to have drowned out everything else by now. I don't even remember the last time Discovery was discussed in positive terms. Hyperbole? Perhaps, but it does often feel that way.
