The following seasons are better with a few exceptions.

Yes.

@DarthonTV Oh man... Let's just say this is not the last time you'll see that face.

To keep it vague, many actors who liked working on Trek and who the show staff liked working with would often come back as either other characters or their popular characters via various means (time travel eps, dreams, etc). Tasha's actress does make several reappearances and Tasha's story does get some continuation/wrap-up story wise (to effect the character is not forgotten by the other characters or the writers after she dies), but the actress never rejoins the cast as a full-time regular.

The actress returns. I'm not gonna tell you any more than that haha. It's a story arc I really liked actually.

And Season 1 is notoriously bad. The show was really struggling to figure out what it wanted to be. Season 2, like around episode 8 is where you start to get into the "holy crap this has no right to be this good" stuff.

@DarthonTV "Skin of Evil" gets a lot of flak for its dodgy special effects, but it's one of my favourite episodes in season 1 (along with "Coming of Age" and "The Big Goodbye"). I love the suddenness and senselessness of Tasha's death, the concept of a race that has cleaved its evil nature into a separate being which it then abandoned, and the holodeck farewell scene, especially the final shot. It's also a really good Troi episode. Lord knows she didn't get a lot of them, especially in the first season.

I've seen the series so many times and I still mourn Tasha! I was so happy to see her briefly for a moment in the last season of Picard.

I tried getting into TNG a few times but always end up skipping first season and a half