It may not be as bad as made out to be but neither season 2 & 3 can escape the shadow of the first season. The first captured something that I’m still not 100% sure I can put my finger on, it was like watching ghost/haunting docu specials on a cool night in October, eerie in a way that you felt like you were watching the discovery of something big and deeply terrifying.

I would say give the others a shot and make up your own mind, but I’m not a fan of either

It wasn't bad. It's just cursed to be forever compared to its predecessor, which obviously it can never live up to. If it was released as a different and unrelated neo-noir series, I think it would get good ratings. If you can set aside any biases and comparing it to season 1, I think you'll enjoy it. The main cast was pretty good. You can't go wrong with Colin Farrell. Some people hated Vince Vaughn's acting, but if you put it under the lens of someone who is a try-hard gangster trying to make himself look more intelligent and smart than he really is, I think it makes sense.

My suggestion is to just rewatch season 01, act like it was the only season, and live happily ever after.

I had very high expectations after season 1 that season 2 just didn't live up to. The story was nowhere near as engaging to me, and there was a element of mysticism in the first season that made it highly intriguing. It's like they tried to capture a bit of that in season 2, but it was ultimately a let down. It was good in it's own right, and I probably would have even really liked it as a different tv series, but it just can't compare to the first season. Season 3 is much better than season 2 in that regard, but still lives in the shadow of the original.

Didn't think season 2 was bad at all, it isn't great like the first and the third is a bit better than it, but it's still better than most tv shows

It would have been fine if they'd either removed Vince Vaughn or made him the main story.

He was acting like he just saw Jeremy irons in dungeons and dragons and thought he was being too subtle. He had 0 awareness that there were other actors in the show, he made every scene a Shakespeare's soliloquy about how intense he was.

That was the problem, everyone was acting it 15/10 intense, and you can't have every character be s1 rusty, woody actually did a great job as the straight man keeping it from devolving into a huge mess.

I found season 2 very memorable but season 1 was much better. Season 3 was quite good too.

I must be an outlier because I found the conclusion of season one to be a huge letdown. To be sure the build up was great, but that ending was so predictable and disappointing that I haven’t bothered with subsequent seasons.

Not as much of a let down as season eight of GoT, but it still tainted the whole season and show for me.

Season 2 wasn't bad. Even season 1 doesn't measure up to the idea of season 1. I tried to rewatch it but couldn't get far. The dialogue is kind of cringe. I enjoyed it once, but it didn't go anywhere too interesting and in hindsight the self important dialogue isn't earned.

I watched half of season two and just couldn’t keep going, I found it very boring. I ended up picking back up on the series when season three came back and I really enjoyed it.

Same for Band Of Brothers and the Pacific. Shame.

It has individual good moments but I think it's problem is that it tried to tackle too many plot lines all at once without all of them feeling totally connected.

If it was just about the vinci corruption or just about Vince Vaughns mob, or just about the dealings with the girls being taken to the parties, it would have been a much stronger show. Or just drop one of the storylines and find stronger connections between them. The ensemble cast is good, the forced romance was pretty bad.

The biggest problem in my opinion, and echoed by many others, is that every main character is trying to be Rust. Extremely smart, depressed and just way too philosophical about everything. There was no straight man to cut through the highbrow musings, so every character felt majorly up their own ass. Woody harrelsons character was an important grounding point.

Season 3 goes a different direction and is much stronger for it. It feels closer to season 1 but different enough so it doesn't feel like it's retreading old ground.