I think it's 4 seasons in total.
That's not an unfair tl;dr of my post, but I think the plot has advanced further than people give it credit for. I think the friction is that people expected a sci-fi epic and instead got post-apocalyptic slice of life for the most part so far. I've seen frequent criticism of the Bond fantasy scene in particular, but I think it contrasted nicely with a later scene where Koumba was genuinely delighted by Carol's avocado toast. He's been fucking any supermodel (or old maid) he wants for the last two weeks, but a novel breakfast demonstrated by a real person had a sincere effect on him.
Comparing this show to Kubrick is both undeservedly generous to this show and massively insulting to Stanley Kubrick.
That's not a fair comparison. I'm fine with movies having a few scenes like that, the problem with this show is that the extreme majority of scenes are like this. And the cinematography isn't good enough to warrant so much wankery.
This was all layed out in the first two episodes, besides HDP there has been zero plot progression about the hive. And there has been extremely minimal character progression on the part of Carol, Diabate or Manousos. I agree they established the plot well, but they're doing nothing with it. I don't even need people to sit together and exposit like Matrix 3. There's plenty to do with characterization through action but there's none of it happening when they waste 10-15 minutes per scene on wide shots and nice vistas.
It's suffering from the same disease plaguing every other streaming show, the events in the show is more like the plot of two or three episodes stretched into an entire season, it's insane how little that actually happens in modern tv shows
Only if you assume that the hive is benevolent. To me, it seems pretty obvious that its purpose is to replicate and spread at all costs (it is a virus, after all), but perhaps also to drive whatever advanced society it has infected to extinction, possibly to make the planet available for unchallenged colonisation. It needs living bodies around to carry out that purpose, so having them eat their own dead keeps them alive long enough to build whatever structure it needs to pass its signal on, but it wants them dead in the long term. The "can't cause harm" issue prevents it directly assaulting any immune as a side effect, but it clearly desires to subsume them; perhaps to prevent any possible threat against is own primary goals, or to prevent even the slightest possibility of survivors, or just because it is driven to consume all life. It distracts them however it can while it seeks a "non-harmful" way to assimilate them.
I've seen some argue that the hive isn't but only appears to be. With the exception of Carol and Manousos, the hive basically keeps the immune in check by keeping them content with whatever vice they want. Even with the last episode, they came back to Carol only when she broke down emotionally. They knew she was lonely (and sad) way before that so it's not out of empathy they came back.
