I've had a similar experience, especially with skin tones. The out of camera jpegs can be a little aggressive in making skin and grass colors "pop", but they still beat Darktable (even with significant tinkering).
I totally agree, after hours of editing, i still wouldn't match the JPEGs by the camera, while in light room you start with thr same look as the JPEG even if it s a RAW file, And I would reach my desired looks in few minutes.
