I understand the logic of why Merrick drops his cover in the new edit, but I still think it feels too sudden to a first time viewer. The way his line is delivered, it definitely doesn’t feel like the big reveal moment that it now has to act as. It’s almost a blink-and-you-miss-it “wait, he’s a bad guy now?” It also creates a blocking continuity error, because we see Satine between Obi-Wan and the window in one shot, but in the next shot she is by the door with Merrick; there is no explanation as to how she was taken past Obi-Wan.

I agree that some of it was redundant, and maybe you shouldn’t add all of it back, but I would definitely be more conservative with which parts get cut, especially when it creates awkward cut transitions like at 5:11, and also contextual information like the fact that their oxygen is dwindling (which makes the scene of them waiting outside the pod make more sense).