Anyone else feel like Ferguson was overdone? (Spoilers)

First off, Joan Ferguson was an incredible character. One of my favorite villains ever, and Pamela Rabe’s performance was awe inspiring. However, after season 3 I found myself very fatigued with the character. The clever maneuvering from Seasons 2 and 3 turned into very contrived ways of getting out of trouble. The two seasons of her being a prisoner while starting off strong ended up being stretched out far too long. The plot line of her as top dog was just… not very good. I feel like the writing ended up becoming quite lazy and while Pamela Rabe carried the character I feel like again, it all seemed incredibly drawn out and I found myself wishing her plot line finally ended. I was happy when she “died” at the end of season 5 and was beyond annoyed at the fact that they decided to retcon it (despite finding a dead body that looked exactly like her). I did think it was kind of cool to tease with Ferguson being alive only to find she’s dead and everyone’s just paranoid. I wish they hadn’t retconned it.

Season 8 having her psyche actually broken down was actually cool but should have been done in season 4 maybe if at all. It went from her being incredibly well written to very contrived ways of her escaping trouble no matter how fucked she seems, even being buried alive won’t kill her. As annoying as it was I was happy with how her arc ended in the series finale but again it shouldn’t have been drawn out so long.

Is this an unpopular take? I know the Freak is a popular character and believe me I love/despise her too, but does anyone else feel this way?