Agreed on pretty much all the faults with this latest episode. The plot is meandering and so much doesn't make sense in terms of character behavior and motivation. The Hutts make a big scene, send an assassin, then turn tail to run but take time to explain their actions and leave a gift. The cyberpunks have nice clothes, new speeders, and expensive implants, but can't afford to buy water. Fett is all about weapons, armor, and gadgets, but doesn't have a security system for his fortress, any protection for his bacta tank, or a speeder to get into town. He is super excited to ride a Rancor though. And the rancor keeper guy is part of the gift like a slave? And the Pykes are a huge criminal faction but need public transportation and have to pay for protection? The only characters that were actually interesting and seemed true to form were the Tuskens, and they quickly did away with them.
I could honestly overlook a lot of this stuff, but there are two things I'm really struggling with for this show and honestly the direction of the SW franchise.
#1 - Why in the hell is the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter acting like a sweet grandma running an orphanage? He's soft on the Tuskens, plays nice with the mayor, forgives the assassin, mediates the issue with the water broker and the cyber punks, let's the hutts go, and on and on and on. What are these sad images of him watching his father fly away on Kamino when he should be disintegrating fools left and right? As the Daimyo/mobb boss he has all the ruthlessness of Winnie the Pooh.
#2 - Who the hell at Disney approved all this? The whole show feels like a rough cut draft of some potential plot ideas just kind of slapped together. It feels like a rushed homework essay that maybe had some good ideas, but the writer ran out of time and just had to turn it in before the deadline. I get the Disney influenced skittles colored speeders. I appreciate all the connections back to the OT (Niktos, Tuskens, Trandoshans, Aqualish, Gamorreans, Rancors Klaatuans!) and even the Pykes from the Clone Wars or Black Krrsantan from the comics. The sets and costumes and characters are all there to make this great. But there's no story, no pacing, no rhythm to the show whatsoever. How does someone in charge not see that slow "chase" scene and think, "wow, this looks ridiculous compared to the Endor Speederbike chase...you know, the one using special effects from 40 years ago!" For whatever reason, the whole thing feels rushed to market in comparison to shows like Mandalorian or the Marvel flicks. I'm not even really looking forward to the rest of the series at this point.