and mega letdowns midway through, but it gets better in the end
I think the letdowns are only letdowns if you are watching one episode at a time. I quit watching during the beginning of episode 2 (as it was airing) because they dragged out everything for too long, but just last month, when watching on DVD in big blocks, I didn't mind at all.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
[youtube=425,350]O-DRpqTM9p4[/youtube]
spoiler (click to show/hide)