At times this was painful watching, but by the end of season 1 it finally seemed to find its feet.

The Good: As many other have said, the visuals of this show are gorgeous. The sets/costumes/effects are all top notch (although the alien planet could have perhaps been a bit more "alien"). The robot is cool, and its backstory is intriguing.

The Bad: I found it hard to keep watching at times. All the cool stuff (the robot, exploring the alien world, space ships etc) seems to take a backseat to family drama. When they aren't bickering among themselves, the family are going straight from one crisis to another. It becomes pretty gruelling after a while, I had to take frequent breaks from watching. The writing feels a bit closer to fantasy than to science-fiction, with the resolutions to each crisis feeling lazy/lucky rather than smart.

Overall: By the end of the season, it finally felt like "lost in space" - the roster of characters match the original line-up, and they truly are lost. I'm excited to see where that story leads, but would like to hope that the mistakes of season 1 aren't repeated - there needs to be a balance of discovery and cool moments, as well as danger.

Regarding Dr. Smith, I think she comes across as devious, manipulative, and self-interested, with a little streak of humanity that is glimpsed occasionally. So actually pretty on point. Her motivation/goals are never really explored though, she just seems to want to cause maximum chaos without any sort of plan.