My two cents...
Is was really great to see Tim back, such a lovely guy. But during the entire show he seemed constantly nervous and sometimes very emotional. (His testosterone level must be very low lol.)
Heidi was her usual self, overconfident. On a side note her finale dress was really tooooo much, cheap. All I wanted to do was pierce those boobs so they would deflate a bit lol.
It was very obvious from the beginning which designers were good and which were mediocre. It seemed like a mix of Project Runway and Next in Fashion contestants. During the whole show I found Sander to be the best designer with the most interesting ideas, but his finale was very disappointing because he did an almost 180 U-turn. His finale pieces were too simple, dated and not fashion forward. His previous designs were so much better with some elegance, something new etc. I think he can really benefit from someone who will guide/coach him while designing.
Esther creates great outfits but it was very soon obvious that sticking to black won't make you a global brand, but only niche. Also, she is very literal the brand, too much imo. What she is wearing she is selling. You can only conquer the world if you use color besides black.
I would have ditched Jonny before the final. All his designs look just a tad dated, aren't fashion forward, everything he designs you've seen before. But it was very obvious that Amazon/Making the Cut was looking for a designer with generic designs a la H&M/Zara and he fits that bill perfectly. I don't expect to hear much from him after Making the Cut, I expect him to blend in in a team of designers like behind H&M/Zara. The winner of the last Project Runway, Geoffrey Mac, was better and more interesting than the top 3 of Making the Cut.
I found it weird that Carine was a judge in the beginning and suddenly disappeared with a one-line explanation by Heidi that Carine was too busy with other runway shows. She probably cashed her generous payment and quit? Also, the recurring moment 'did any of the judges change their minds?' was annoying, didn't contribute anything to the show. Naomi's comments were good, she didn't disappoint.
They filmed in Paris, Tokyo and New York and the winner won one million dollars, but the series didn't feel in comparison very high end/expensive, probably due to the fact that it's Amazon.
Seamstresses sewing at night was a weird element, just let them work during the day with the designer.
I think Making the Cut fits in between Project Runway on the lower side and Next in Fashion at the higher side. Basically, they are searching for a designer designing fast fashion generic outfits that are on the cheap side. I like high end fashion and therefore Next in Fashion tops Making the Cut.