Help diagnosing extraction on a drip coffee maker

Long short I'm trying to figure out why a particular pot of coffee that had uneven extraction came out tasting so good. When I pulled the basket after brewing I noticed some dry patches and the coffee bed obviously wasn't fully saturated. I didn't expect much from the coffee itself, but it was delicious! Not as bold as I like, but it was surprisingly well balanced and flavorful.

I brewed 3 more pots with these beans, one at the same dose with a finer grind setting, one at a lower dose and the same grind setting, and one at a higher dose and the same grind setting. All 3 tasted over extracted. The finer grind setting was the worst, the lower dose was a distant 2nd, and the higher dose was 3rd. None of them had the balance or flavor of the first, unevenly extracted brew.

What's going on here? How could that first pot, with obvious uneven extraction, come out tasting so good? And did it have lower extraction than the others? It would seem like it beings that the finer grind setting tasted the worst, and the other two leaned in that direction as well.