Without a doubt the first episode grabs you by the short hairs and doesn't let go: the big speech from the colonel when they're heading into battle, the music, the action, all of it had me sitting up straight.
Two episodes into the season and I'm all in, great cast (how the hell did they get David Tenant??) great characters, and definitely room for a great story.
But that great story doesn't show up, at least not entirely.
They needed to spend a few more episodes (or at least ONE) giving some details on the Union. The faceless evil shtick felt incredibly lazy given how much work they put into world building. Just basic things like who they are and where they come from would have been enough (I initially thought they were aliens).
Extra episodes would also have helped to flesh out some of the background characters, the walking-tank-thing pilots for example, because I found it kind of sad that I ended up not invested in them at all by the end of the season.
More screen time for Miranda Worth (Dakota Fanning's character) in particular would have been appreciated, especially considering how heavily she was featured in the first couple episodes. Point of fact, I thought she was the main character at first.
All in all, good western mecha show, but not enough episodes to tell the whole story.
7/10 Stars
