The story is a mess, but it had potential

I think Season 1 had a tight story overall and did an excellent job by introducing the characters and culminating in the dichotomy of free will vs. the alien "destiny". But Season 2 was just messy and 3 dropped the ball HARD.

Season 2 made the mistake of just adding more and more stuff without resolving anything. The skins, future Max, that ridiculous gandarium story... the dupes/summit and the Leanna stuff too... nothing got ever resolved. But it had a lot of interesting elements and I'd say is the most important one in terms of backstory.

Season 3 could have resolved the mess, but barring a few episodes it just wasted too much time on silly fluff and new characters like Isabel's lame husband. It was either that or Max's son (ZZZZ). That being said, the ending was as good as it could have possibly been given how messy the story had become. The episode where Tess comes back is probably the best one in the entire season. I also appreciated that they finally got the parents involved in the story. Season 2 especially made it look like these were college kids rather than high school kids.

But still, the destiny/free will theme had a lot of potential, and the aesthetic of aliens/Native Americans made for some stunning scenes and takes. Just a few changes would have made the show coherent, at the very least.

The Tess plot should be different. I know the fandom hated her but making her and Nasedo suddenly 100% totally evil was dumb. She was never evil before or after that, she was just obsessed with her destiny. She should have revealed that she made a deal with the Skins during the summit, and that the deal ensured, as far as she knew, the safety of the other Royal Four in exchange for the Granolith. And then she worked with the Skins/Leanna and mindwarped Alex. That simple adjustment solves half the plotholes of the season. Hell, throw in some mindwarp explanation for future Max while we're at it.

The skins were a huge wasted potential too (the episode where Kivar finally shows up is painfully underwhelming, and god the writing, Michael suddenly remembering random factoids for no reason, give me a break). But as they're written, they are actually sympathetic in a way. The show hints many times that the Royal Four were bad leaders: Nasedo's race was basically enslaved and the Skins seemed to have suffered oppression as well.

That should have been the hook for Season 3. Have the aliens realize that the "destiny" given to them by their fanatics is actually bad for their world, and then make them cling to their human side and try to make amends for the past. That resolves the destiny vs. free will theme, cements the importance of humanity and love, and is consistent with what the story had established.

Instead we got Snapple product placement, some ridiculous Morgan Fairchild/Bob Marley crossover episode, and Isabel being insufferable. Eh... it's an enjoyable show still, but it could have been truly great. What do you think would have "fixed" the story?