I was fascinated by the tone of season one; it was sometimes cheesy but mostly had a gripping atmosphere somewhere just shy of horror where nothing was explained and things only teased at making sense.

Season two is trash. There are entire filler episodes with sub-characters and side plots that either go nowhere or are just unflinchingly boring. I don't care about cross-species and politically-correct relationships, or romances with humans, or all the other Congregation shenanigans. Discovery is exceedingly weak in these parts because the characters are one dimensional at best and have the worst dialog this side of sparkly vampires. Season two also has several instances of good actors (ie, Goode and Palmer) in talking scenes with counterparts who would be shamed in a high school play. It's awkward, cringeworthy, and has no place tonally.

I'd recommend just reading spoilers for season two to save your time.