Yes, the show has shown increasing deference to Wicca this year. And yes, it sometimes speaks out of both sides of its mouth on the violence issue. But for adult viewers, the show's strengths surpass its surface weaknesses. Taken as a whole, the writing is simply brilliant, mastering metaphor, parable, and actual drama more deftly than any film I saw this year. Good characters succumb to temptation and are forever changed.
All characters learn from their experiences.
The Simpsons' animated neighbors, this show was once hard to figure out. The show seems to be written with an unlikely but successful mix of irony and respect that I imagine can only come from writers who have a Hillish past. All the other TV writers will probably hurt me terribly now. Seriously, though, HBO's overpraised and overhyped series does an amazing job of presenting the futility of trying to live a completely self-pleasing life and expecting it to be peaceful. The darker, scarier, Byzantine sister series of those other Star Trek series finished its run this summer, and I'm sorry to see it go.