I've been rewatching the first season of Fringe lately and really enjoying the type of pacing you're talking about here. While the standalone episodes often hav

I've been rewatching the first season of Fringe lately and really enjoying the type of pacing you're talking about here. While the standalone episodes often have some piece tying into the overarching conspiracy, they're also valuable for offering time to build the relationships between the characters. Often in more contemporary shows, with hour-long episodes in 8-12 episode seasons, I feel like the interpersonal relationships rise and conflict abruptly and feel more contrived as a result; these longer seasons make the relationships feel more natural, as they're built on-screen rather than partially between episodes.