Sadly, my expectations are not high given the studio it is with and their track record.

Oh, is there something solid about a studio? I thought we were just speculating Amazon because Prime has been on a bit of a SFF binge.

In terms of taking lessons from some other adaptations ...

I think the fan base generally understands a TV adaptation has to be streamlined. That's OK, it's going to happen. But if you're going to add significant arcs of new non-book material, it had better 1) clearly do something for the narrative or characterization that the cut stuff didn't work at 2) be done well.  An example of done well would be The Expanse bringing in Avasarala from the start - that introduced one of the fan-favourite characters earlier than in the books, but had her doing things around the book events that largely made sense for what her job would have entailed even if unseen on page. An example of doing additions poorly would be whatever the hell the suicidal warder arc in wheel of time was going for - that bogged down a lot of run time for some exposition that wasn't terribly urgent and could have been covered in a short dialog.

Most especially don't edit fan-favourite protagonists to make them much less likeable so they don't overshadow the producers' favourite characters, or to add unearned "gritty" (again, wheel of time).

There was a WOJ about he's done with surprise family relations as of Thomas, Eb and Maggie.

Anything could have been one of the necessary lies to protect a narrative surprise, but that seems like an odd one to actively mislead on rather than just evade.

They have done well with The Expanse, but have diverted some from the novels.. However that might be because one of the actors wanted to leave.

That was picking up an existing show that already had three seasons of faithful book adaptation on another network, though, not original.

And specifically, he got fired for metoo stuff.

Cats can be very fast, however I'm surprised that he didn't toy with any of them first.

Makes me wonder about the theory someone mentioned of Mister being a malk scion in service to Lea as an explanation for his unusual size and continuing vitality in old age. That would certainly account for him being smart like that.

Possible, but I'm not convinced the smell of brimstone was even so external as anything still riding in Harry's passenger seat.

Soulfire and Hellfire are two sides of the same coin - I think that was Harry on the verge of corrupting Uriel's gift simply out of his own wrath and Winter's influence over how to express it, and the Knights were deployed to get him to step back from that brink.

Pretty sure something 'cheated' to arrange Harry's failure to get a shield up and Rudolph's semi-accidental trigger finger in order to provoke him to such a reaction, too. That might have given Uriel the leeway to move pieces to save Harry's soul.

I'm trying to think when Mouse would have had access to Cowl's scent...
In DB, Cowl was outside in the rain with Harry and Kumori went in to get Bob... while Butters was "taking cover" with Mouse. 
Mouse was at the museum, but is left out of the narrative after that, I don't remember him going to the college...
I don't think there was any opportunity there for Mouse to get his scent, was there any other time that mouse and Cowl were in the same location?
Mouse wasn't with the rescue team in WN at the battle in the Deeps...

It was heavily alluded in the zoo short story segment from Mouse' POV that Cowl and Kumori were the ones who stole the litter of foo puppies from the monastery in the first place.

I've been trying to get "would Mouse still recognize them by scent and hold a grudge?" into an AMA since then, mainly because his lack of hostility toward Elaine in WN might exonerate her if so.

I'm not sure the "James Bond" thing was meant so much for a battle form as what Lasciel would have augmented him into the rest of the time, in social situations and such.

In terms of combat, presumably she would have been trying to build on what he already is, instead of turn a caster into a primarily physical fighter.  So count on supercharging his spells with Hellfire, and otherwise mostly focusing on improving his survivability.  It's not a form, but she probably could have taught him to improve the defensive enchantments on his clothes to something commensurate with Eb's, that gives a sort of force field even over what's not covered. Likely augmenting that with the same protective smoke around him that she was doing with Hannah.

I doubt Harry and Lasciel as a pair would have gone heavy on the shapeshifting - maybe toughened skin around the vitals and arms for fighting anything with claws, and some extra muscle in a pinch. But I'd guess down that path Harry probably still would have preferred in the longer term to do extreme exercise and use the Fallen to accelerate recovery between sessions - basically what he's doing with the Winter Knight path, only primarily for fight-preparedness instead of as strategy to keep the mantle tired.

It would have been an interesting arc, if the story had gone that way, between Lasciel teaching him enough advanced magic and going along with supporting workouts that the decision to pick up the coin seems rewarded, but vastly preferring improvements like the smoke and shapeshifting that push him deeper into dependency. Vs Harry knowing that's her game, and being way more interested in learning new spells that he can then use on his own, and putting on his own muscle even if she's helping.