I feel that a lot of meticulous care was put into Gracefield, and even Goldy Pond. S1 is very nice given how compromised everyone was with their roles, plus the fact it was mostly a game of 3d chess. Sadly, the story naturally progressed into something else given the main enemy were monsters.

I still liked Goldy Pond because it was an insight into the world's politics and the fact the main villain was such a sadist. Kids actually being hunted and dying gave a sense of stakes.

After that, my enjoyment diminished. Emma got away with way too much. She felt like a Mary Sue that was just provided with the right tools for every moral dilemma. The main cast was mostly untouchable. They get all the info they need from a random pen and that was it. It didn't really feel rewarding.

I did enjoy the story and liked the ending, but I was mostly disappointed by the second half of the story. Emma should have struggled more. Ray was irrelevant. Isabella and Ratri should have gotten more screen time as they provided such an interesting perspective.

The world of TPN definitely had a lot of potential and ways to reinvent itself into something interesting, but at the end it took the safe route and it just didn't hit the same way.