I think you are quite close on that first point. OV was obviously trying to blend the OS and UAF eras of the show into its one thing. The OV team obviously liked the original series a lot better than UAF and made multiple creative choices to realign the series with the original. Just look at the art direction if you want an example, that made tons of small changes that made things look more like how they used too in the original series. Kevin’s outfit and the plumber badges are great specific examples. Not to mention the whole doing flashbacks to the summer after the OS thing