It wasn't bad. It's just cursed to be forever compared to its predecessor, which obviously it can never live up to. If it was released as a different and unrelated neo-noir series, I think it would get good ratings. If you can set aside any biases and comparing it to season 1, I think you'll enjoy it. The main cast was pretty good. You can't go wrong with Colin Farrell. Some people hated Vince Vaughn's acting, but if you put it under the lens of someone who is a try-hard gangster trying to make himself look more intelligent and smart than he really is, I think it makes sense.

My suggestion is to just rewatch season 01, act like it was the only season, and live happily ever after.

It would have been fine if they'd either removed Vince Vaughn or made him the main story.

He was acting like he just saw Jeremy irons in dungeons and dragons and thought he was being too subtle. He had 0 awareness that there were other actors in the show, he made every scene a Shakespeare's soliloquy about how intense he was.

That was the problem, everyone was acting it 15/10 intense, and you can't have every character be s1 rusty, woody actually did a great job as the straight man keeping it from devolving into a huge mess.

I had very high expectations after season 1 that season 2 just didn't live up to. The story was nowhere near as engaging to me, and there was a element of mysticism in the first season that made it highly intriguing. It's like they tried to capture a bit of that in season 2, but it was ultimately a let down. It was good in it's own right, and I probably would have even really liked it as a different tv series, but it just can't compare to the first season. Season 3 is much better than season 2 in that regard, but still lives in the shadow of the original.

I found season 2 very memorable but season 1 was much better. Season 3 was quite good too.