Surprised to hear you guys are finding it depressing/dark. Maybe it's because all the other stuff I watch, but I find watching likeable mostly good people working hard to solve problems the opposite of depressing.

Yea situations get intense and dire, and there's high stakes, but depressing/dark/dour? Not to me. If anything I find the idea of a reality were government cares at least a tiny bit about scientific progress incredibly invigorating, but maybe those elements don't come into play until a bit later.