Yes, it was a rather meaty episode. For the sake of my edit I was hoping for lots of filler. Not a huge amount that can be cut on first viewing, but that often changes on subsequent viewings. One thing I will say is that this series feels the most cinematic of the D+ shows.
I guess I could cut more by weaving it into episode 5 but it is going to be very difficult to cut this season down to 3h.
Maybe the 7th episode will offer us some more fillers. I feel it in my bones that the next episode will be New Republic-centered.
If you cannot cut it down to 3h, well, c’est la vie 😉 As long as it’s a good, quality content and a coherent, well-paced story, it doesn’t matter if it’s 2.5h or 3.5h 😉