About a week and a half ago, I finished Season 3; loved every moment of it. Then just a short while ago I watched the DVD commentary, and a couple of things struck me as odd.
1) Sybil - The commentary in episode 5 seemed to indicate that people either didn't like Sybil overall, or that the people making the games thought she was a boring character, and this is why she came off as so obnoxious or something like that. This surprised me because Sybil was one of my favourite characters and I loved seeing how she'd be involved with the episodes in Season 1 and 2, even if she was largely in the background most of the time.
I remember hearing her voice in the beginning of episode 5 and I'm all "OMG yes, they brought back Sybil!" and then I'm all "OMG what the hell did they do to Sybil?!" partly cause I thought she looked very little like she had in the first two seasons. Her hair seemed really glossy and fake (like she was wearing a plastic wig), and the fact that she suddenly had huge breasts was kinda disturbing. Oddly enough, the fact she was huge from being pregnant didn't bother me so much cause she's petite and I've seen what happen to women like that who get pregnant.
Sorry, off track there. I was basically confused as to why the developers would have thought that people didn't like Sybil or why her puzzle seemed to have, in their words "overly misogynistic" undertones. Maybe I'm having a bit of a kneejerk reaction cause I liked her character, although I certainly found some of the jokes about her size (and the bit with the pennies) to be quite amusing.
2) Killed Off - It seems to me that they went out of their way to kill off or remove many characters over the season. Stinky, Sal, Bosco, Bluster Blaster, and Grandpa Stinky (or at least his body). I really liked Sal and was sad to see him go. Likewise, why was Bluster Blaster back to his shouting personality? That was never explained and feels like an oversight. It also seemed to indicate that he was going to end up trapped in space, too. Obviously Stinky, Grandpa Stinky's body, and Skunkape were all on the ship when Max blew it up, so they're all most likely dead. Oh, and Bosco went to Vegas, which I was fine with, at least they explained that. Momma Bosco was a wonderful replacement as I liked her sassy attitude.
I'm not saying these are all necessarily bad, or that it was poorly written. In fact I had little issue with what was going on at the time I was playing cause I was too engrossed and caught up in the story and the characters. It wasn't until afterwards that the "fridge logic" would start kicking in and I'd begin to think and pick apart stuff to fill in cracks of details or simply to let everything settle into place so I could fully appreciate what I'd seen.
It simply seemed a bit of a waste to kill off or write-out some of the characters. I do understand that when you can't think of something else for them to do, or they've outlived their usefulness, characters are typically written out or relegated to the background. I just don't always agree with the methodology I've seen employed by people.
3) Sameth & Maximus - All right, I KNOW why they went with those names, but gods do they sound inappropriate for the era the episode is supposed to be taking place in. I hear those names and I think of Rome or Greece. I kept thinking the entire episode that Samual & Maximillian would have been better cause they'd fit the time and place. However, I do realize they're several syllables longer and that's not always acceptable to have lengthy names. It's just something that's bugged me, and I thought I'd mention it.
4) Mandatory Commentary - Kind of unrelated to the game itself, but I was very disappointed to see that you couldn't choose to watch the episodes on the DVD without commentary. I liked that I could pop in Seasons 1 & 2, and watch the episodes' cutscenes while say.. eating lunch, or picking up around the house. It was also fun for my mother who can't exactly sit around and play the games, but found the characters and storylines interesting.
With Season 3, this is no longer possible as you cannot disable commentary. As I'd mentioned in another thread (the lack of TDP on Xbox) I cannot play this at home and therefore have limited access to replay the game. If I want to sit down and enjoy the story, I have to play the DVD on my DVD player. With commentary always over the scenes, however, I cannot get the same enjoyment that I did previously.
I dunno, it just.. kind of sits wrong with me to not include it.
Anyways, yeah, these were just some thoughts I had. By and large I loved season 3 and had very few issues with it. I'd love to see more seasons, but I know that's either up in the air or being put aside until current projects are finished.