I buy it.

It struck me (and I'm speculating here) that TV now is produced/green-lit mostly on a season to season basis with each season being produced like a Lord of the Rings Trilogy ... ~10 hrs of screen time, all written at once and then filmed at once.

Under such constraints, I don't think there is any room for the show, its story and its characters to breath, and I think I've been feeling this.

Some may say that we're getting longer arc now and that that its better. But I'm not sure I'm convinced. I think we're getting longer arcs in an MCU sense where the characters aren't invested in as much compared to the broader "universe" (eg, how many decent villains has the MCU actually had ... Endgame's success being a clue as to when they got the villain right). We're also getting shorter screen times and less organic/chaotic episodic writing (because so much screen time used to be produced) ... that allowed characters to be understood and filled out.

It feels like everything is trying to be a hit and more like a film and the feeling of organically getting to know a world and its character has been lost.

I can't help but think of season 8 of Game of Thrones. It had twists and drama and "subverted expectations" but felt dumb and unearned compared to the foundation of the fandom developed in the more meandering and character developing early seasons.