I think they bit off a bit more than they could chew in the end. The show wanted to talk about... everything, from abuse to transgenderism, from sexual assault to lack of accessibility options for the disabled, from religion and its role in modern society to performance anxiety in men.
These are all important topics but none of them received sufficient focus to feel anything other than rushed and oversimplified - or in the worst cases, preachy. And the hurry to get the message out meant that characters were too often reduced to nothing but "delivery devices" as opposed to being actual characters in their own right. And the humour of the first couple of seasons was sort of gone, resurfacing only every once in a while.
It still had some excellent episodes and enjoyable arcs but it should have been a bit more focused I think.
I'd find it hard to disagree with your post, I think it's all pretty accurate... but I still enjoyed it. I definitely agree it was the weakest season, I don't think it was unwatchable by any stretch of the imagination but I agree with the "bit off more than they could chew" angle - they wanted to do A LOT, and most of the issues discussed in these 8 episodes could have easily been fleshed out over a couple of seasons. I totally get the rationale from the writers, I know the show has been important for certain communities, and they had an established platform and probably felt like it was their last chance to use it to get certain things across... but the message delivery, in drama, only works efficiently when it flows organically through storytelling, and not when the audience feels like the storytelling is being tailored for the message delivery.
It still worked ok for me because I was pretty invested in the characters by this point, and I enjoy seeing some of the new characters that aren't usually represented in the mainstream culture get such representation. My highs:
- Eric was a wonderful character over the seasons, and I don't feel his inner battle with religion was particularly rushed, it was one of the few that felt really fleshed out over the season; his conclusion is quite cute
- Otis and Maeve and their bittersweet conclusion
- always been a big fan of Rubi and felt she got time to shine
- Adam has to be one of the saddest characters in a TV show in a long time, and while his arc was a bit too meandering over the course of the season, I liked the resolution, his finally accepting and being open about who he is, and his reconciliation with his father (if I'd been told early on in season 1 I'd cry a bit for a hug between those 2, I would have been quite surprised)
- Cal and Jackson in general, I really liked their characters and the actors - never really took to Viv, and her story arc about the abusive relationship really required more fleshing out, that felt criminally rushed
- the music being as good as ever
The less good:
- Jean and her sister's storyline(s) felt a bit tagged on and rushed
- really didn't like O's character or that storyline
- the fact that so many issues really deserved more screen time but just got pushed through out of necessity, which gave a grotesque/caricatural feeling to some of them (Maeve's relationship with her professor, the accessibility story, Aimee's resolution...)
I however felt that its saving grace was that the message of kindness being the most important thing (for yourself and for others), which has been prevalent across the seasons, still remained at the core of the show. It has a lot of heart, probably so much in this season that it's about a storyline away from having a coronary, but it's more than can be said about a lot of shows.