I've Really Come Around on Season 3
I've been watching a friend play through the whole series for his first time over the past few weeks. We binged Season 3 today. I've only experienced it once for myself and I wasn't very keen; I actually skipped it on my most recent playthrough last October. But my friend's playthrough got me to look at it through fresh eyes.
There were two major factors to this:
1 - I could better appreciate Season 3's strengths compared to those of Season 2. I can see the rewrites at work with Season 2. The story seems anxious to handwave most of its characters out of the story by the end of it, so the result is a bloated cast that's largely reduced to cannon fodder. I felt as if Season 3 was stronger in that most of its characters live longer and therefore get more chances to shine. And the story feels more consistent for it.
2 - My friend did a better job of meeting the characters of Season 3 halfway, particularly David. When I played it, I was incredibly aggressive to many of the characters, killed anyone I got the chance to, and was a perfect stranger to David. My friend had a more brotherly relationship with David, not coddling him, but making more of an effort to find common ground with him, which made his and Javier's arcs seem stronger to me as a viewer. I didn't get that when I played it. Season 3 is definitely not the season which I imagine most people coming off of Season 2 were anticipating, and I feel I took that out on the characters through my choices when I played it. I acted as someone who didn't want to be there.
I'm curious what other people's thoughts on Season 3 are. I feel I also like Season 2 a little less with each revisit, so I might now find myself swapping Seasons 2 and 3 in my estimations going forward.