Oof.
To be clear, IMO, even the very best version of this story wouldn't be all that compelling. I just don't care about any of it at all.
That said, I do actually think it would have been much better had they simply told the story in chronological order, "reveals" and all, as there was zero need for this faux mystery backstory bull***** There's a difference between an actual mystery/whodunit… and simply telling the story out of order/needlessly obfuscating information.
Imagine the audience having all the knowledge we have now, but at the end of the first episode, had they just combined all the flashbacks into a single pilot of sorts. Then, in subsequent "present day" episodes, with the audience already knowing the lie that Sol & co told Osha, everything would have held so much more tension, the hunt for Mae would have been more interesting, as would their eventual switch, etc.
Instead, we were kept in the dark because… reasons… with no emotional connection to any of it, now once again wondering how the hell they're going to wrap up yet another season of a Star Wars series in just one episode.
I'm just genuinely shocked at how inept the storytelling continues to be, both in this show and under Disney as a whole.
Honestly, I think I respect The Book of Boba Fett more at this point.