The more compelling part of the show for me was the constant flashbacks to the happier times on the kids side, where characters who were long dead at the present we're having meaningful interactions with each other. It really got to me and you can easily contrast that with the ones in the core shirking their duties of telling kids to go to their death. I think the most hamfisted metaphor was the neural link being an "empathy" test. As someone who's media illiterate I thought the show was unique because it's so rare to find a show with a straightforward depiction of fascism exploiting/sacrificing an out group to sustain it's way of life/treat consumption.

Like you said the story on the front was far more interesting and thats where the show spent a lot of it's time