so... my issue with its evolution....

I understand and respect what you liked about it. I liked it too. I liked it more in the context of the new show, where it was that old stuff with, yes some flashy action and story. What can I say, I like that stuff. I love the story of season 3.

I think you're selling the the latter part of season two and beyond unfairly short here! The 'darkness' and violence of seasons three and four weren't just for the sake of being dark and violent, but served to create a prescient and intelligent allegory about the growing dangers of an increasingly connected digital world. If Reboot had remained the same 'safe' cartoon it started out as, with episodic plots strung together by clever but ultimately shallow computer-geek in-jokes, it wouldn't have been nearly as enduring or worthy of attention as it became when it matured and focused more on the philosophical aspects of computing and information exchange.

For instance, isn't it interesting that the innocent little Enzo, exposed without guidance to the net, "grows" up much more quickly and cynically than he should have--or that constant exposure to violent games turned him into a violent person? Not so much unlike what we fear for our children here in the real world?

Isn't it interesting that Internet "pirates" become in a sense the couriers and saviors of culture in delivering Matrix and AndrAIa (along with their knowledge and experience of other systems/cultures) to an isolated society, in order to save it?

Or that the individualistic and idealistic Bob is made the victim of identity theft, which has parallels not only in the anonymous, financial, credit card sense, but also in the more malicious, personal sense utilized by bullies and smear artists to manipulate and terrorize people? Or even the simple idea of having multiple identities or versions of yourself (Kid Enzo vs. Matrix) floating around digitally, not so much unlike our various profiles and message board identities and so forth?

Isn't it interesting too that some "viruses" (Like Hex) and "hackers" (like Mouse or the codemasters), despite being painted as ambiguously evil or untrustworthy, turn out to be more just and noble than those who condemn and attempt to destroy them?

Or, probably most notably of all, that Daemon's seemingly benign but ultimately monopolistic desire to control the entire web, what goes on it and how we access it, echoes disturbingly of modern efforts by tech monstrosities like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple to do pretty much the same thing?

These are some important and sophisticated issues that the Reboot creative minds were examining before they had really entered the popular consciousness. This isn't to say they were the first to do so, but considering where the show began, and what it grew into, and the subtlety with which they incorporated and ruminated on the themes they did, is, to me, absolutely striking. I suppose I can understand why some might enjoy the more playful first half of the series more than the second half, particularly if you're more oriented toward the tech-side of the industry rather than the philosophical side. But to me, the philosophical aspects are far more engaging, and I would never be convinced that that seasons three and four aren't exceptionally better and more important, artistically-speaking, than the cartoony seasons that preceded them. I enjoy seasons one and two for what they are, and Reboot wouldn't quite be Reboot without them, but it's the maturity of the final seasons that makes this series worth returning to again and again.