By the end of season 2, I was of the opinion that SNW has had several good, even very good, episodes, but I was still waiting for it to have its great episode. The one that puts it on the map in the way that Measure of a Man or Duet did for earlier shows. I largely like the look of the show, I largely like its actors, and I felt that it was only a matter of time before it finally found its footing and reached those heights as well.
After season 3... I'm not sure I'm as optimistic. If I had to describe this season, I would say that the writers are writing for characters first and foremost. They decide that it's time for a Spock episode, or a Kirk episode, and they write the character's arc through the episode first, then craft the rest of the episode around that. That's not a wrong way to make an episode, persay, but I think it does lead to the "Strange New Worlds" feeling like an afterthought. I like Star Trek for the interesting scenarios that only a science fiction program can provide, but the show this last season has lost that interesting spark for me. I think even at its worst I like it a hell of a lot more than I liked Discovery or Picard, but with season 4 being filmed already, I suspect the show will continue down this path for the majority of its remaining run.
It's funny, because I love the show. But I have the same observation.
For me, this series might have the highest average quality of any Trek series - like, every other episode is an 8 or a 9 for me.
Part of it sadly is the short seasons, with only 10 episodes, and all being mostly solid. TOS, TNG etc. all have a ton of garbage. But also a ton of good and even great episodes.
Even DIS, which I don't really like, where for me almost every episodes is between a 4 and a 7, has one or two 10s in its run.
On SNW, (almost) every single episode has so much content & is so up to snuff, I'm almost never disappointed. However even the best ones are missing that teeny, tiny, little extra edge, that comes from being a little bit too risky, that often leads to failure. (Which is funny, because the show takes a ton of risks from a Trek purists' perspective).
I love the show. It's great. But maybe it sometimes needs to go that extra mile, to really dig into one single idea, that could be stupid, and really go all in, and not making it "safe" by adding a ton of other, also interesting stuff into the same episode.
Sadly (or gladly?), with season 4 already being filmed & 5 likely being a much more controlled 6 episodes arc - I expect the rest of the series to remain the same - super solid, way above average, but still missing it's absolute stand-out, outlier episodes.
