AYART- Characterization has nothing to do with how often a character appears, only that that character acts consistently when he does. When Douglas and Arthur appear, they act consistently with how their characters have been presented so far. Carl, for example, is consistently snarky despite being a minor character. I would say excluding Douglas and Arthur is more unbalanced writing than bad characterization.
I say series 4 is more consistent (to me) because there aren't as many instances of major characters acting in a way that seems unusual for them without good reason; for example, Martin crying in Boston always strikes me as very odd, and later his attempt at strong-arming the TSA agent to the detriment of MJN's business always makes me roll my eyes at the plain stupidity (even for Martin.) Douglas going out of his way in Q to make Martin look like an idiot in public at his job always comes off as a bit needlessly cruel to me, even though it is funny and Martin does need to be taken down a peg or six. These incidents come off as out-of-character to me because although Martin does see himself as more important than he is and Douglas is always teasing Martin about the plethora of things that exist to tease Martin about, these incidents both seem extreme given their established characters. (Martin overcompensates for his insecurities by being rigid and self-important and Douglas is opportunistic and cynical but generally kind.)
And yes, I feel like series 3 and 4 taken together create an arc of character growth for all of the main 4. W was definitely a bit Martin-centric, to its detriment,and this was exacerbated by the "words of one syllable" game that hamstrung the two characters who generally get some of the best dialogue. However, there are examples of episodes that feature other characters: Helsinki comes to mind with Carolyn, and Cremona and the Birling Day episodes arguably put guest characters in the spotlight. I would even argue that the show's weakest writing occurs when any one character is given too much focus in an episode.
With the exception of W I think the other episodes in this series have been pretty well-balanced in terms of how much "screen time" the characters get, or at least no worse than some episodes from previous series. Whereas series 1 has two episodes I really like, one episode I'm "meh" about and three I never listen to, I have found all but one episode of series 4 to be pretty funny and entertaining (that one is W, if you're curious.) So yes, I think series 4 has been more consistent than some other series.
But that's just like, my opinion man. /You have unlocked the Russian Novel Response Achievement!
Re: Your Favorite Series
Characterization has nothing to do with how often a character appears, only that that character acts consistently when he does. When Douglas and Arthur appear, they act consistently with how their characters have been presented so far. Carl, for example, is consistently snarky despite being a minor character. I would say excluding Douglas and Arthur is more unbalanced writing than bad characterization.
I say series 4 is more consistent (to me) because there aren't as many instances of major characters acting in a way that seems unusual for them without good reason; for example, Martin crying in Boston always strikes me as very odd, and later his attempt at strong-arming the TSA agent to the detriment of MJN's business always makes me roll my eyes at the plain stupidity (even for Martin.) Douglas going out of his way in Q to make Martin look like an idiot in public at his job always comes off as a bit needlessly cruel to me, even though it is funny and Martin does need to be taken down a peg or six. These incidents come off as out-of-character to me because although Martin does see himself as more important than he is and Douglas is always teasing Martin about the plethora of things that exist to tease Martin about, these incidents both seem extreme given their established characters. (Martin overcompensates for his insecurities by being rigid and self-important and Douglas is opportunistic and cynical but generally kind.)
And yes, I feel like series 3 and 4 taken together create an arc of character growth for all of the main 4. W was definitely a bit Martin-centric, to its detriment,and this was exacerbated by the "words of one syllable" game that hamstrung the two characters who generally get some of the best dialogue. However, there are examples of episodes that feature other characters: Helsinki comes to mind with Carolyn, and Cremona and the Birling Day episodes arguably put guest characters in the spotlight. I would even argue that the show's weakest writing occurs when any one character is given too much focus in an episode.
With the exception of W I think the other episodes in this series have been pretty well-balanced in terms of how much "screen time" the characters get, or at least no worse than some episodes from previous series. Whereas series 1 has two episodes I really like, one episode I'm "meh" about and three I never listen to, I have found all but one episode of series 4 to be pretty funny and entertaining (that one is W, if you're curious.) So yes, I think series 4 has been more consistent than some other series.
But that's just like, my opinion man.
/You have unlocked the Russian Novel Response Achievement!