Finally saw all of the eps in full resolution - such a 50/50 mixed bag.
Some of the best SW since the OT along with half the eps with bad TV actors and bad TV stories that are weak. I absolutely loved the first two eps and the second last ep (where Ugnolte dies.) Such a feeling of OT mood, menace and mystery, great visuals, great pacing and scene work. Ugnolte really emerged as a great chaarcter.
The rest - some were hard to sit through, even though they had a few fun parts (like the cantina in the otherwise meh gunslinger ep.) Thought the last ep/finale was really kinda weak, especially after the brilliant second last ep, though I loved seeing IG brought back and in action.
The bad eps were fun in a way as they reminded me of 1970s/80s genre show eps - not sure what characteristic made them feel that way, maybe the feeling they were conceived as mid-season filler ("what can Mando get up to now?"), the sense of him doing jobs over and over without much motivation beyond cash for the conveniently broken-again ship like the Falcon. That ep with the ATST and the one with the prison ship break-in jumps out as A-team meets a lesser vintage Trek ep.
Though Esposito was strong and Carl Weathers was good in the early going (though he was way overused toward the end and started to show his limitations as an actor) I thought Gina Carano was so Xena weak - like low-end TV - and she was in the show too much. Not a great character played by a pretty weak actress. Herzog was brilliant - hope his character's not dead.
And we now all know that scout troopers are incoming from HT very soon. And best of all - no difference between Mando troopers and OT troopers.