Rewatching Foundation season one and realizing it would have worked much better if it hadn’t been told as a jumble of flashbacks and “35 years earlier”. The material is too dense, and early scenes make references to things the viewer would not understand yet because they haven’t been revealed.
There’s nothing wrong with a linear narrative. It’s especially annoying when non-linear is used as a crutch to add mystery when it’s not needed. Seems to be a fad in the past couple of years.
Re-watching is the point. The series is amazing from the get-go, but it’s only fully revealed if you re-watch it (or if you remember absolutely everything and re-assemble it yourself, which is nigh-impossible.)
You’re not wrong : it would be great if told in a linear fashion, but it wouldn’t work the same if they did that. It works the way it was done, it’s just a bit taxing to watch because it’s somewhat dense.