I remember during the dark ages when most shows were 40 minutes long (+20m commercials), and of that 40 minutes 2-3 would be the series A plot line, and the other 37 minutes would be the B filler plot.

Amongst other things, it allowed TV show runners to have a 30 second what you missed montage at the beginning of an episode, because they didn’t have to recap that much A plot.

I’d hoped that style of story telling died with cable tv.

Sapochnik departed as showrunner after the first season, leaving Condal to serve as the sole showrunner for the second season.

Maybe this change in tone is due to the change in show runner?