Because S3 is significantly more consistent in it's quality. Bringing Faith, Trick, and the Mayor is great. Angel actually has a degree of agency. Plus most of the more highly praised episodes take place in S3 ("Graduation Day", "The Prom", "Amends", "Faith, Hope, and Trick", "Homecoming", "Helpless", "Band Candy", "Lovers Walk", "The Wish", "Doppelgangland"). I can safely say it doesn't have a single episode I dislike ("Anne" is the closest, but that's only because too much time is spent with the rest of the Scoobies).
And "Earshot", while maybe not the greatest anti-suicide PSA (if it really was one at all), wasn't really about suicide. It was to hit home that people have problems that they deal with, and you can't expect people to just help you out and give all of their attention to you. You have to ask for help. The entire time, they aren't looking to prevent a suicide, but a mass murder (which turned out to be a psycho lunchlady). It's about needing to talk to people if you need something, and not to just expect them to give you what you want. You see that in the B-plot with Angel and Buffy, wherein Buffy expects Angel to tell her things she wants to know about (specifically how he felt regarding his "betrayal" with Faith in the previous episode, as Buffy was still shaken by it) when she could just ask.
The episode also has some of the funniest moments in the series. Buffy's mind-reading and Willow's interviews are gold.
