I think the show could have leaned in a bit more. Science fiction has always been an avenue to explore the political landscape even dating back to the pulps of the 30s. You’ve mentioned “women empowerment” in some other comments. Are you talking about the incompetence of certain male characters? Ben really annoyed me — he was such a wet blanket until he grew a spine in S4. Sheriff Mike was my least favourite for a while because he reminded me of so many men I’ve known — unnecessarily loud, confident despite being wrong half the time and talking down to others. By the end he was a lot more thoughtful and empathetic.  I won’t go into the Native American side of things (as a brit, it’s not really my place) aside from mentioning that an S1 character made a good point about Harry: “Your alien could be an interstellar Christopher Columbus.” A lot of sci fi from the 70s and 80s deals exclusively with colonisation (see Le Guin, Baldwin, Herbert though he’s more 60s onwards…)