It feels a bit like when the Star Wars prequels came out -- the quality just wasn't what we had hoped, but people are afraid to say anything negative.
It's not that this season is bad, it's about average. Right on par with S2. But leagues below what S1 was. I enjoyed S3 more than S2, but S1 was soooooo fresh and appealing, where as S2/S3 just seems like they're rehashing everything beat by beat. It's still entertaining as the kids age-up, but it's still the same thing: the gang vs a monster.
Not only that -- the show literally ends the same exact way for the first six episodes of S3. It's almost comedic.
(shot of bad guy) SMASH TO CREDITS