As morbid as this is, I like the depiction of a sort of courageous last stand against the massive Abyssal fleet. "Do not go gentle into that good night"
Yet those were the most loved of the episodes, while all the action based scene was what people consider made it bad.
They should have stuck to more moeness, rather than try to be serious.
Part of the problem with the war side of the show is that it lacked the necessary worldbuilding. It's hard for the audience to care about a conflict when there's no real indication of what the stakes are, what the strategic situation is, or what goal the heroes are trying to advance beyond the immediate operation. The Abyssals didn't make for interesting enemies because there was so little information about them. No origin, no goal, no real characterization beyond trying to shoot the heroes...