I agree with you about Nate. It was, what, his LACK of direction which supposedly drove his 'arc'? I'm going to commit, I can't commit, I'm already committed but it sucks, I'm going to commit, I can't commit. I think we were supposed to derive some tragedy from the fact that he was never really himself nor did he ever give himself fully to anyone else: Not his women, not the business, not David, they all just seem to be in Nate's way.
I agree with you about the drama, too. It also seemed like when they'd piled too much and needed to scale back the random background drama to make way for ACTUAL family drama, some of the background plotlines were mysteriously resolved: George Sibley's mental illness, Vanessa's depresses...as soon as the 'main story' gets more interesting (and both of those characters are needed to be stronger by their partners instead of weaker), the plots are dropped.
I think this problem is compounded in the era of binge watching. Had I watched once/week, I think I would've looked forward to each new chapter of Fisher drama and accepted how flawed all these characters are to each other.
But when I guzzled the series whole, the massive amounts of bad luck gave me a drama headache. In addition to "how much can happen to them," I'm also asking "how much can they pile on each other...all without listening to each other at all?" Much of the drama is derived or perpetuated by flawed communication. I'm not saying the Fisher's don't have reasons they're so closed-off and defensive, it's just hard to watch. Especially en masse.
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Good, but uneven
There is no doubt that there is a LOT to love about this series. It was generally well-written, and very consistently well-acted. The series finale is definitely one of the top ten finales of all time, IMO. However, two things made the series good, instead of great. First is the "main" character of Nate. I know it's an ensemble cast, but there's no doubt that his story is what defines the arc of the series. It begins with the start of his story and ends with the end of his story. Unfortunately, it's one of the weakest stories in the series. Nate nevers really changes as a character. He's as clueless as to who he is and what he wants at the end as he is in the beginning. The second factor is one that's a risk with any long-running ensemble-based drama series. Eventually, you start going "Really? How much crap can happen to one family? Really?" Much like with soap operas, you look at everything that happens to these people and starting to wonder how much the universe must hate them, because nothing good ever happens to them. You know that if it seems good, just wait. It will turn to crap. But if those two issues aren't deal breakers for you, this series does earn all of the accolades it gets.