Season 3 has not done to me what season 2 did. I really loved season 2. I can't put my finger on why? Can someone else? Is it me or was it not as good?
shareWatching episode 2 of S3 at the moment and I'm a bit bored to be honest. S3 so far seems a bit tame and corny. It's more like a family drama than a comedy. The biggest 'joke' of this episode so far is Ken's red trousers...
shareThe second series is my favourite of the three so far. Taylor Lautner's portrayal of Dale as a sweet and naïve character in contrast to Andy Samberg's more abrasive Cuckoo really worked for me and gave the second series a much warmer feel.
Like you though I can't quite put my finger on why the third series didn't hit the spot in the same way. That said, it did have some great moments and some strong episodes, but on the whole (in my opinion) not quite up there with the second series.
I guess for me the reason for this could be a combination of one or more factors...
It felt like the storyline just kind of lost its way a little bit, the first scene showed great promise with a truly transformed confident and witty Dale, but the writers didn't seem to follow this through, with a different Dale arriving in Lichfield.
I'm not sure that the change in the relationship dynamic between Rachel and Dale really worked, as it wasn't as satisfying as watching Dale yearning for Rachel in series two. Having his heart set on Ling perhaps took some of the tension out of his character and the situation.
Is it my imagination or did Dale have less screen time in this series? If anything I thought he would get more screen time in the third series as Dale's character (and Lautner's portrayal) is a positive comedy gold mine. Tricky to get the balance right though with such a great cast.
This series had a different editor and different Director, but I don't think this really affected the end result (even though some of the edits were obvious), but perhaps subconsciously?
Overall I just think maybe they lost the warm feel of the second series due to the line the story took and the journey the characters went on, but the final episode felt like it really re-captured the feel of the second series, so I have high hopes for series four and five.
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