he was a first time live action director. And I didn't even realize that until seeing the second episode (different director.) The pacing in the first episode, and some of the comedy (specifially Sanz and Posehn like you mentioned) felt a bit off and more fitting of an animated show like Filoni is used to directing.

I absolutely have faith that he'll improve - both the Clone Wars and Rebels started out a bit eh, and the first episode of the Mandalorian was WAY better than early episodes of both of those shows.