Watched the first episode. Agreed with Eddie. This was really fantastic, especially how seamlessly you wove together the first three episodes. I never felt once like anything was missing. It’s also pretty great how you joined episodes 4 and 6. Making Sanctuary more of a interlude that sets up the emotional stakes involved in removing Mando’s helmet helps reinforce the helmet references in episode 6. It flows really well. All of the transitions were clean. I only caught one that seemed a little off and that was the shot of the Razor Crest bridging episodes 4 and 6. The music seemed to suddenly switch. Other than that, this was beautifully done.

My only narrative issue was that it did seem like two arcs joined together. Your skill in grouping episodes 1-3 and 4-6 together seemed to create two distinct episodes. The first half deals with Mando finding Grogu and having a crisis of conscience. It sets up the main emotional arc of the show beautifully, even ending with the first instance of Mando handing the ship part to Grogu. The second half feels like a transition chapter with Mando’s helmet and his sense of identity being discussed. It also deepens the Mando-Grogu relationship, ending with the second instance of Mando handing the ship part to Grogu.

Since you seem to be viewing this more with television pacing rather than film pacing, one possible suggestion could be to split the two halves into two episodes. The first half really feels like a knockout series premiere and both halves already have mirrored endings. This would also add some breathing room between Mando’s initial relationship with Grogu in episode 3 and their very warm relationship in episode 4. That’s just a possibility though. It still currently works nicely as a episodic movie.

I really enjoyed this and it’ll be hard to go back to the originals now. I’m looking forward to watching the rest.