The series builds recurringly on earlier episodes, every time widening the social and political scale, inventing a future while commenting on the present day by presenting various social and political structures on a galactic scale that occur on a country-level scale in the present day. At the same time, it explores it from the perspective of the various crew members and other main characters, and explores those characters in the various contexts. A complex and worthwhile series. Will read again. I watched the TV series first. Also good.