There's a handful of high-profile shows on TV/streaming right now, but I think this is my favorite. It's just so masterfully done, and so precisely what I wanted from the Star Wars universe. Seeing the Imperial bureaucratic culture, with its ambition and arrogance, up close. Watching first-hand as its cut-throat nature both generates some of the sharpest individuals, but also blunts their ability to take the type of action that would have thwarted the rebellion. Seeing the differing motivations and pseudo-factions among the Rebel Alliance. The space communist idealists, the disaffected, the political schemers, and the cast-offs all bound together not by a common vision of what's to come, but by a united hatred of what is currently there. The uncomfortable alliances formed, and the tenuous trust that is slowly built between them. This is masterfully crafted, and I'm very much enjoying it's deliberate pace.
That being said, I do kind of wish I wasn't watching it as it releases. I love slow burns, but most of the slow burns I've watched in recent years have come in a bingeable format. You get all the tension and world-building, but also you don't have to wait weeks at a time for payoff. Shows like GoT/HotD or (the first season of) Westworld allow that weekly delay to be filled with speculation and theory-crafting, and it's honestly part of their charm. But this isn't that type of show, there's not a million dangling elements all at once that the viewer is trying to weave together. Nor is this a mystery, like True Detective or The Night Of. The last time I've been week-to-week on something like this would probably be the last couple seasons of Breaking Bad.
