So, on to S8.
I had read a review online by one critic who characterized the return something like this: "Yet another unnecessary series update." Overall, I have to agree. I enjoyed the nostalgia of seeing the characters again but the episodes were not up to the standard of the earlier version.
General thoughts:
Since everyone else has commented on Hunt's face, I guess I should get my two cents in. Yes, the marked change in her appearance was distracting. I give credit though for the cold open in the first episode, which I saw as a total meta commentary about the work she had done to her face, which was ballsy to do and brave of Hunt to allow it.
I had noted in my post about S1-7 how much I liked the attention to timelines and continuity. I was hoping that S8 would continue that trend, including respecting the flash forwards and future reveals from the S7 finale "The Final Frontier", but I'm afraid they fell a little short. First off, Mabel was born in 1997, so unless S8 is set in 2014-2015 (with no reason to think it does), they've compressed the timeline by 4-5 years.
I didn't see anything that directly conflicted with any of the flash forwards in TFF, in fact, the troubles that Paul and Jamie ran into in S8 and caused them to start therapy again (in 2019 I presume), could foreshadow the eventual temporary separation that occurs in 2021. On the other hand, the "where are they now" segment that Janeane Garafolo narrated over the closing credits of TFF seemed to be ignored at least in part. It was mentioned that Ira and Marianne had 8 children, 1 from each continent and 2 more from New Jersey (I could've sworn there were 7 continents, but maybe Antarctica doesn't count, unless one of their kids was a penguin). In the S8 episode where he meets his biological son, it is a missed opportunity that there is no mention at all of the other children he raised.
I appreciate that they stayed consistent with the Buchman's purchasing their neighbors' apartment and building a bedroom for Mabel connected through their bathroom (although they maintained the bathroom floorplan from S1-7 as opposed to the updated floorplan revealed during that flash forward in TFF). I'm curious what they did with the rest of the second apartment. Perhaps they walled off Mabel's room from the rest of the apartment and rented it to a different tenant.
Combat pay to Jerry Adler. 90 years old and looking frail. Nice to see him though.
One small continuity issue that may be on the sensitive side, but if we are talking about Helen Hunt's face with impunity, I suppose this is fair game:
With Lisa's reappearance in S8, I was wondering if she would still have breast implants. Not that I am overly obsessed about it, but it was one of the final episodes of S7, where she reveals to Paul and Jamie that she had augmentation, let's them both feel the goods, and leads to Paul having some temporary sexual attraction to his sister-in-law until her usual zaniness quickly cures him of that infatuation. Kind of weird plot element TBH, but in the episode Ramsay's chest was noticeably larger and left we wondering if the actress had actually had the surgery or if it was just a one-off gag for the series using prosthetics. Really, I was just curious. Well, one thing is for sure Lisa in S8 does not have breast implants. In fact, compared to how the actress appeared during S1-7, in looks very much like Ramsay has had her breasts removed at some point in the last 20 years, although she appears otherwise very healthy. Thus, the sensitivity of the initial comment. I did a cursory on line search to see if she had any history of cancer or other mention of mastectomy, and I found nothing. Actually, there is exceedingly little personal information about Anne Ramsay on line. One site that talks about celebrity relationships and family info actually noted that it is presumed she has never been married nor had children, but acknowledged that there is essentially no info as to the actor's relationship status, orientation, or anything else of a personal nature. So as to her appearance in the new episodes, your guess is as good as mine.