As someone who writes for a living , poor writing can be defined as because we have to have a story to tell . If you forgo anything , for the sake of telling a story , then you aren ' t writing well enough . Not having characters progress in 10 years so you can have something interesting happen , is poor writing IMO . There are plenty of stories you can tell with a mother and daughter in their 30 ' s and 50 ' s , without having to act like the 30 somethingyearold never progressed past 22 , so you can tell a story . I think the real problem people are having is that Amy seemed hell bent on telling her story that she had planned for the characters ten years ago , instead of letting go and coming up with an idea that fit better with the characters ages . Of course , I ' m not even finished with the series yet , and think the writing is easily the weak part of the show , and keeps it from being a modern classic . It ' s so well cast and acted , the constant character inconsistencies and contrived plot points that end up going nowhere are a real bummer .