Can we talk about Paul Mescal in Gladiator 2?

I adore After Sun and have a soft spot for Normal People. I also like Paul Mescal a lot. I feel this was the sentiment going into gladiator 2. So much that I dont think people dwelled on his performance.

Now time has cleared can we maybe talk about how out of his depth he felt. I know the script wasnt good and Scotts direction was probably interesting, but Mescal was pretty bad