that it's overrated. I don't know that I'd dig quite as deep as you did in criticizing all that stuff but I definitely think people overrate it. The other day in GD I ranked the seasons the way I did when I first watched, which was:

3
4
2
1
5

But I think I may have to change that to the below after watching the season 4 marathon:

3
1
2
4
5

I still think S4 is really fucking good, I mean the whole damn series is...I just, like you, found it way less compelling than the first 3 seasons after watching it yesterday. Still love it tho. Lots to be happy about in that season.