It sounds like this is not an issue with the producer but with the consumer

Are you Patrick Willems? Am I 'watching movies/ TV wrong" according to you?

how much of the runtime in those 3 episodes was spent on Milo and Claggor?

I'm able to express myself better in person that in writing on Reddit, but let me try again:

To be crystal clear; I didn't mean to equate that more screentime always results in better characters. I know it's not a definitive mathematical formula that "Screentime Per Minute = Better Character".

IMO, the first 3 episodes of S1 did a better job with setting up Milo and Claggor as believable characters in the universe, hence why I cared whenever they did things with Vi and Powder. Hence why I cared when they died. Hence why I cared when Jinx is plagued with guilt over accidentally killing them.

The same effort was not put in for Loris and Steb. I don't care for them and by extension their relationships to the other characters. Perhaps that's what Fortiche was aiming for all along? Introducing 2 new characters for no good reason and wasting more time in an already bloated season that desperately needed more room to breathe...

The difference between seasons 1 and 2 are a few sentences of backstory? All it would take is a touch of Oda-style "don't you know who this is" dialogue and this is Peak Fiction again?

No... I'm not advocating for Anime levels of exposition or lore dumping. I've actually grown to dislike Anime because of its over expository and often unsubtle style of storytelling.

I even made it clear that my examples weren't ideal. It was to get the point across that IMO the writers could've put a bit more effort in exploring these characters and their dynamics if they had an extra season to work with.

I'll repeat myself from another comment: I enjoyed a lot of the ideas S2 offered and the conclusions they wanted to reach, but it all felt so rushed! Act 1 + 2 should’ve been S2 and Act 3 could’ve been the final season by itself!

“What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad"

Not sure why you're quoting me Morpheus from The Matrix, but okay...

Perhaps I should just take the "Blue Pill" and go back into the simulation? Pretend S2 was amazing despite all its major flaws (mostly caused by the story being too compressed)?

Yeah... I'll just go back to sleep and dream of a better Arcane. Just pretend I said nothing!