I agree. I guess some people think that only because a program is packed and busy that it's good. Skaters with mediocre skating skills tend to pack their programs to get good scores. Skaters with very good skating skills can do less and the audience in the arena and the judges always see the difference, it's not always so recognizable on video. Skating is about gliding. When I think about it - I'm missing the spiral sequence for the ladies. Never thought that I would write that ... I'm fed up with those short spirals used as transitions between elements that almost all of the female skaters do nowadays. I didn't like poor spirals sequences, but I think I like promising looking too short spirals even less.Kostner has higher transition scores because she checked all the boxes. The quality is top shelf with a lot of speed. Clear edge. For example, just look at the linking element before and after the loop. It's so efficient and clean with the highest quality.
You can do a lot of basic transitions with lower quality and will not score as high.