I did like S3, but there's not enough Methos in it for me. Before he showed up, I found the show entertaining, but I didn't think about it more than the hour it took to watch. Methos got inside my head and made me a fan, not just a viewer.
I also really loved when the series started to get into the big themes of moral ambiguity in seasons four and five. The Kalas story was a bit too black and white for me (even though he was a great villain). My favorite episodes are stuff like The Valkyrie, where there are no easy answers. (And of course, Comes a Horseman/Revelation 6:8, where Methos gets to be so delightfully ambiguous.)
I agree with all your criticisms of five and six, though. It got cheesier and cheesier (and it was even more disappointing because we knew it could do better). S6 is just unspeakable--I'm glad I missed most of those eps.
I watched about five minutes of The Raven once and wanted to gag. And Endgame--ugh. It's really too bad.
Re: Season 3 is my favourite
I also really loved when the series started to get into the big themes of moral ambiguity in seasons four and five. The Kalas story was a bit too black and white for me (even though he was a great villain). My favorite episodes are stuff like The Valkyrie, where there are no easy answers. (And of course, Comes a Horseman/Revelation 6:8, where Methos gets to be so delightfully ambiguous.)
I agree with all your criticisms of five and six, though. It got cheesier and cheesier (and it was even more disappointing because we knew it could do better). S6 is just unspeakable--I'm glad I missed most of those eps.
I watched about five minutes of The Raven once and wanted to gag. And Endgame--ugh. It's really too bad.