Yes, indeed, if the author was never literally "one of us," she can be any time she likes. :-)

And yes, no amount of money can guarantee the spark that burned in FK -- the bold genres mix, the outstanding acting, the in-your-face fundamental struggle to know what is right and to do it.

One of the many things I, personally, loved about her essay is that her perspective seemed, to me, very first-season-y. Her essay is very much an ode to characteristics that I feel are most prominent in my favorite season, the first; it's not that those characteristics ever go away, but that I feel I know exactly which shots go with which observations, and they're all first season. That's extra delightful for me, because I often feel alone (at this end of fandom) in appreciating the era in which Lacroix was dead.