I get the stuff about Winona Ryder being over the top but then, she did play a mother who has just lost her son (or at least, it seems like that). I think there's many a mother in real life who would be exactly like that if the same thing happened to them.
Regardless, it didn't really affect the quality of the show, there's so much to like about it, that it's a minor issue, if it is one at all.