Visually it's the best season... but it's also a season of missed opportunities and repetetive threats.
The combination made for a great opportunity to use paranoia. But unfortunately that went nowhere. always acted out of the ordinary so there was never any suspense over who could be one of them. I think if one of the kids were revealed to be them, it would have made for a much more exciting turn of events.
Another issue I had is also connected to tension as the threat never felt like posing a serious danger. I hate the trope where the more powerful bad guy always throws the protagonist around the room for no reason, instead of just killing them. It just feels like lazy action direction and there was a lot of it in this season.
I liked the virus aspect taking over the town. With it, it made it feel like something sexual and relevant for that time period. And as I mentioned before, the fair and the mall, made for a great background for a lot of the scenes. The callbacks are a nice touch. But I think it's well overdone for this show to introduce some more serious stakes. They had almost the right amount of gore but unfortunately none of the scares.
I agree with the rest of your post.
The combination
Another issue I had is also connected to tension as the threat never felt like posing a serious danger. I hate the trope where the more powerful bad guy always throws the protagonist around the room for no reason, instead of just killing them. It just feels like lazy action direction and there was a lot of it in this season.
I liked the virus aspect taking over the town. With it
DUH... Even if it wasn't so obvious, it's also referenced in the show itself.
I agree with the rest of your post.