I'd probably give it 4 or 5 episodes tbh, let the characters evolve a bit.
Basically the show stands out because it's just straight happiness. It's rarely sad, and when it briefly is it bounces right back immediately. A feel good show through and through, which is so rare these days.
Yeah I feel like this is a job for python and maybe rust bindings for anything really numerically intense.
Anywho, is there no professor in your CS department that could suggest an external? They don't need to be a Rust user, programming is programming.