They were also very clearly inspired by the cult culture of the 70s, the "attack therapy" is right out of cult playbooks. Designed to break people and then bring them in. What's crazy is we even saw it begin to have that effect in the short time it was going on during S2 without it being as bad as it can be. I was super stoked for them to carry through but I think they felt it got too dark and didn't know how to adjust, leading to chaos and insanity.
It was genuinely creative and I believe would have paid off ultimately, to be remembered fondly once they got through the tunnel back into the light but... rose tinted glasses are certainly involved here and the wiggers would probably never have met my expectations which were optimistic regarding the plot.