Totally agreed. It felt like an excellent story wearing the straitjacket of a convoluted conspiracy show. I didn't think that the plot was impossible to keep up with, it was just so uninspiring that I didn't feel any need to try. Eight episodes is nowhere near enough time to spin out a vast conspiracy concerning a multitude of differing characters and concentrate on the personal lives of four protagonists simultaneously. There is nothing bad about complexity inherently, but it's definitely bad when you don't have enough screen time to make it truly engaging.

I was in it for the characters, and they were pretty good. Incredible performances from Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams were a particular highlight, even to the point of making up for how terrible Vaughn was. I was genuinely surprised by some of the excellent character-specific plot twists, and they all had suitably tragic histories and grim monologues. Of course, it wasn't perfect. Although I quite like Taylor Kitsch, Woodrough was sort of predictable as a character, and Frank is probably a character that I'd rather leave forgotten. Moreover, the series seemed to be full of Rusts and no Martys. When there's no straight man to call bullshit on the pseudo-philosophical lines it sometimes comes off as a tad melodramatic. This didn't bother me hugely, because I'm a sucker for angst in shows, but I can see how this may have been off-putting for some.

In spite of all that, the characters were compelling enough for me to like the season overall and feel that it was above average. It's just an awful shame that it tripped up so many times and was mired by such an awful overarching mystery plot.