... I'm not convinced Season 1 established setting that much better from a story perspective. They're all still just "types" that you'd expect to find in rural Louisiana-- nothing you wouldn't find in a pulp novel about any rural American setting.

It was also an easier task in Season 1, because it was pretty much *all* rural, whereas now he's trying to hop around to a bunch of different, and very specific, California settings. I think he's nailing the settings that I personally know, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear people express disappointment that certain areas they know specifically were reduced to a visual type.

The biggest reason Fukunaga's settings probably felt richer was his eye for visuals, which, even as a big fan of this season to date, was just better. No way around it. He's just an intensely gifted visual director, and his replacements aren't-- not to his level. Fukunaga's colors, his framing-- his pictures just have more *soul.*