Why did Season 3 lose love compared to the other seasons?

Yup! It's my favorite season of the series. Said it plenty of times on this board, the season took on a beautifully claustrophobic tone, the lack of humor only made way for an even greater level of poignancy and depth, it was extremely cohesive, I could go on and on.

All in all, I think that the series reached a creative peak in Season 3, with Nate and Lisa's brooding storyline being the piece that really brought it to another level. I find it fantastically impossible to watch Season 3 back without having a looming sense of dread and anxiety, knowing where the season takes Nate and Lisa.

I often see people call the third season boring or lackluster, but I see this season as something of a slow burn, where the show loses some of the extravagance and grandiosity in favor of smaller developments and movements. Everything about the storytelling of this season seems so tremendously planned and calculated.

i really liked season 3 too. when lisa went missing i had like an empty pit in my stomach for all the episodes till she was found, i was so empathetic to nate even though i've never experienced a missing person in my life and hope i never have to!

the only storyline that kinda irked me was the ridiculous relationship between ruth and arthur. i know they were going for quirky but i thought it was a bit cheesy.

season 4 was good, i was a little bored with vanessa and rico's storyline. after he and sophia quit seeing each other, the events leading up to their separation were interesting, i always watch the scene when vanessa and anjelica take a bat to sophia's car.

I love season 3. It is very different than the first two though.

I believe people like it less than the others because of Lisa. Good portion of the season revolves around her character, the whole dynamic changes A LOT, the pace is slower, tone is darker, there's the build-up for the finale of the season, which kind of sneaks up on you. A lot of people hate Lisa, maybe understandably so, but I actually like her/feel sorry for her/appreciate how her character showed different levels to all the others, especially Nate.

I think it's fairly easy why season three was less popular among fans: It has less humor than the first two seasons and most of the characters are stuck in their own unhappiness...Nate in his marriage to Lisa, David and Keith in their couple therapy, Brenda trying to creep up from the bottom that was season two, Rico with his depressed wife. There's just less stuff to lighten the mood.

I thought season three was great though. In fact, only season four was slightly subpar, because it didn't really have a direction, but then again I loved Lisa. I might be a little bit biased when it comes to season three.

I loved season 3 because it was such a breath of fresh air after season 2. That season was so dark and grim that I felt sick by the end of it, but season 3 brought back a lot of the humor from season 1 and somehow felt more artistic to me and less stifling than season 2.