I wrapped it up over the weekend. I kind of echo most of Gary's sentiment here.
To me it felt like the writers sat down and said "Here's a checklist of the 10 most heated social arguments/debates in public eye right now. We need to find a way to work every one of these in". I actually don't oppose any of the causes the show decided to touch on, but it all felt like filler content to me some how. That arcs about the dress codes based on gender and Casey being privileged took up so much time and ultimately added nothing to the story or her as a character. It just felt like time wasted on something someone wanted to preach to me about. It felt very forced, and the show went from being about Sam and a family dealing with his condition to a show about a family that has an autistic member in it.
I have to disagree with Gary though on the trip to Antarctica being lame. I think given Sam's point in life and capabilities, getting there would have been a heck of an achievement. It was a good, realistic goal. One that would likely be possible or believable for someone like him. I think it was less about him going to Antarctica specifically, and more about him finding something in life he's truly passionate about. So much so he set a goal to see it for himself. He got out his comfort zone and raised money, planned, etc..
I don't have a lot to say about Zahid's ball. It was weird. I think the writers were trying to give us a moment or an event that shifted Sam's focus. We saw Sam completely tuning out the news because he was so focused on Edison, only to realize it later and drop everything to go be the best friend he could. I saw it almost as a moment of maturity for Sam.
This seems like a classic case of Netflix getting to season 3 and having no clue what to do from there. Again, I didn't dislike the final season. It was just the weakest of the four because it strayed too far from what the show started as. I liked the show for what it was overall, and I'll probably give it a fresh watch a few years down the road.
Random: Remember the scene when Sam and Casey were in the industrial freezer training for the cold? Did either of you feel like that scene was supposed to set up something with Paige that ended up getting left out in the editing room? Earlier in the episode, Paige is in there rearranging all the boxes. Her manager makes a comment about how it's all different and she makes a case why it's better and more efficient or something. Later on, Sam and Casey are in there, and they made it a point to highlight Sam moving boxes in front of the fans, Casey questioning it, and then Sam explaining that he was purposefully blocking the cold air. I thought for sure we were going to see something like everything in the cooler thawing out because of Sam's repositioning, and Paige getting the blame because she was in there earlier. It was a lot of setup that didn't really lead to anything.