Btw, I decided against reviewing episodes this season. I really haven't felt like writing episode reviews lately and I assumed forcing myself to would end up with lesser reviews.

I really loved this season. I don't understand the hate at all. I read through some of it and it's mostly just "this isn't as action packed as season 3!!" or "rushed" which just doesn't compute for me. Every character comes to a natural and deserved conclusion, along with every plotline and other aspect of the show. And it all comes in a neatly packaged, tightly written, 8 episode season, that is one of the most concise and well-thought-out seasons I've ever seen. It isn't as memorable as season 3, but it's smarter. You can tell the writers have gotten smarter and smarter as the show has gone on (with a few missteps along the way) and the end result is this. If the whole show were on this level of writing it would be one of the all-time greats.

The writing decision to make Hood give up on finding Job works really well. s3 completely breaks him. He's always been a rather fragile character deep down and it works wonders towards his arc to finally have a breaking point as detrimental as this one. He loses Shiv, then his friends almost die because of him, then Gordon dies because of him, then Job gets kidnapped and sent to a nearly unfindable location. If anything was gonna make Hood crack, it would be season 3. He goes away to live in the woods for 20 months or something and in that time, he and Rebecca grow fonder of each other. She gave him the house he's been staying in and they help each other out with random shit for a few months until he gets her pregnant and then she gets murdered soon after. It's supposed to be a big mystery. I think Rebecca's death is one of the aspects the season failed and succeeded in. Her dying like she did is super good for pretty much every character arc in the show and sets a great pace for the season going forward, however, it really wasn't a mystery who killed her. I called it was Burt right after I watched the first episode. Shit, I called Burt would kill her back in s2. The serial killer thing complicated my theory but it was pretty easy to call that he covered it up as someone else's murder, being the meticulous guy that he is. I don't think this is me being some genius or anything; I just think it was pretty poorly hidden. They spent a LOT of s3 setting up Burt and Rebecca's dynamic, only for her to randomly end up dead at the start of s4? If Burt didn't kill her that'd just be a wasted opportunity.

Hood's arc is pretty straightforward. He spends the season almost repeating the trauma of his past, but narrowly avoids it. He learns to move on from his past and Banshee as a whole. He moves past Shiv with the help of Veronica, he moves past Procter by putting Rebecca's murder to rest, he moves past Banshee by realizing Deva is going to be okay, and he moves past most else that troubled him, because of his ability to let go of everything else. It's not like he doesn't still retain some of his trauma, but I think he's learned to move past at least most of it, which is shown by him finally deciding to leave Banshee for good.

Veronica was a super welcome character here. I do wish they paid off her drug addiction in some way (like if Hood helped her move past it while she helped him move past Shiv or something), but it seems like she has her own pocket story that we unfortunately don't get to see. It's as if she's from another show, visiting this one for a season, only to leave again. I think it works, especially for the shortened season. She's really likeable and her dynamic with Hood works wonders for his arc. She's also constantly progressing the plot, which is nice.

Brock's arc was really well-done. He learns that Hood was a criminal, and that he was never the sheriff, in one of the best scenes of the show. He doesn't take down Procter himself, but lets others do it for him, rising above Procter in a sense. He remains with the belief that sometimes you have to use violence to govern, and honestly, I think his arc is a semi sad one. He never gets to be the sheriff he once wanted to be, and with this, it seems as though he never will be. It's tragic that the one character who was truly lawful and good back in s1 got corrupted to this degree. He also passes on Hood's "teachings" to his deputy, Bunker, showing Hood's affect has not only been strong on him, but strong on the entire department, and his legacy of brutality will most likely be passed on through the generations of new sheriffs after him. Sheriff Brock Lotus's arc is a slow, natural one. It's probably the most fleshed out arc in the entire show, and that's not meant to downplay how well fleshed out Hood is.

Ana's arc was okay. Doakes as her therapist was fun asf. Him telling her to just finish whatever she was doing was surprising. She finishes her business with Proctor in a pretty satisfying way. She says goodbye to Hood, and as prolonged as it was, it was pretty well-done. I loved the delivery of the line "this was the last time". She didn't even respond back when Job questions her on the validity of it, as if she's entirely sure that she's finally satisfied with retirement. The one moment of actually impressive acting from Ivana Miličević.

Sugar's conclusion was okay. They completely shoved him aside this season. I'm really glad they decided to do so, with him being by far the least interesting main character in the show and all. He retires being a bartender which was pretty satisfying and he gets his money back from Job. It begs the question, if Job is such a brilliant hacker, couldn't he get as much money as he wants? Why did he rely so much on their petty little missions when he could just hack trillions of dollars from random governments across the world? Idk just something to think about. 

Speaking of Job, his arc was solid. I thought it was weird that they found him so quickly after Hood returned from his 20 month detour. Him giving up was supposed to feel monumentally important, but with them finding him like they did, it sorta makes him leaving have zero impact on them finding Job. If he didn't leave, they probably would've found him at the exact same time. It just lessens the impact for me. They needed to bring him back the way they did tho because he had a decent amount to go through this season. I really love Job's arc here. He's portrayed as this super confident person in s1-3, and this season really tests that. But even through all of the horrific shit he had to go through. The torture and the abuse, he still managed to break through it all and remain the confident, witty person that he is. It speaks a lot to his mental fortitude as a character, which was an aspect they never really delved into before this. Him starting to dress confidently again was a super satisfying moment. Perfect way to conclude one of my favorite characters in the show. Also him swapping his identity with the dude who put him in jail was a crazy clever way to conclude that dynamic.

The serial killer plotline was great. Really intriguing and contributed to a ton of the season. It concluded perfectly. Proctor joining the cartels was also a great way to escalate his business, and again, concluded perfectly. I can't think of anything else on the top of my head. Pretty much every aspect of this season was absurdly tight-knit and well done.

If I had any complaints outside of the few I've already listed, it would be the last 10ish minutes. My god did they feel slow. It's one of those finales that just drags and drags itself out until you've lost all sentimentality for the show ending. I was emotionally invested in pretty much every scene up until the ones right after Hood's goodbye to Veronica. I don't care about Ana X Hood and I never have. It was definitely an earned scene though so I won't fault it for existing. However, I will fault the 10 times Sugar said goodbye to Hood. I will fault Job looking into the camera and saying his catchphrase like it's a Marvel movie. I'm making it seem like it's a bigger deal than it is, but it did really bother me. The episode is still a 9/10 but I just can't stand when shows have a perfect ending and then decide to stretch it out and out and out and out and out until you're begging it to end already (Snowfall).

Overall I have a great impression of this season and show. Really glad I watched it. Thanks @Daevy for recommending it to me 🙏❤️