diff --git a/server/api/review.ts b/server/api/review.ts
index 1f5d36e..2f66f57 100644
--- a/server/api/review.ts
+++ b/server/api/review.ts
@@ -229,6 +229,10 @@ app.get("/pipeline", (c) => {
 	const db = getDb();
 	const jellyfinUrl = getConfig("jellyfin_url") ?? "";
 
+	// Cap the review column to keep the page snappy at scale; pipelines
+	// with thousands of pending items would otherwise ship 10k+ rows on
+	// every refresh and re-render every card.
+	const REVIEW_LIMIT = 500;
 	const review = db
 		.prepare(`
 		SELECT rp.*, mi.name, mi.series_name, mi.series_jellyfin_id,
@@ -242,8 +246,12 @@ app.get("/pipeline", (c) => {
 			CASE rp.confidence WHEN 'high' THEN 0 ELSE 1 END,
 			COALESCE(mi.series_name, mi.name),
 			mi.season_number, mi.episode_number
+		LIMIT ${REVIEW_LIMIT}
 	`)
 		.all();
+	const reviewTotal = (
+		db.prepare("SELECT COUNT(*) as n FROM review_plans WHERE status = 'pending' AND is_noop = 0").get() as { n: number }
+	).n;
 
 	const queued = db
 		.prepare(`
@@ -281,17 +289,15 @@ app.get("/pipeline", (c) => {
 	`)
 		.all();
 
-	// "Done" = files that are already in the desired end state. Two ways
-	// to get there: (a) the analyzer says nothing to do (is_noop=1), or
-	// (b) we ran a job that finished. Both count toward the same total.
-	const doneCount = (
-		db
-			.prepare(`
-		SELECT COUNT(*) as count FROM review_plans
-		WHERE is_noop = 1 OR status = 'done'
-	`)
-			.get() as { count: number }
-	).count;
+	// "Done" = files already in the desired end state. Either the analyzer
+	// says nothing to do (is_noop=1) or a job finished. Use two indexable
+	// counts and add — the OR form (is_noop=1 OR status='done') can't use
+	// our single-column indexes and gets slow on large libraries.
+	const noopRow = db.prepare("SELECT COUNT(*) as n FROM review_plans WHERE is_noop = 1").get() as { n: number };
+	const doneRow = db.prepare("SELECT COUNT(*) as n FROM review_plans WHERE status = 'done' AND is_noop = 0").get() as {
+		n: number;
+	};
+	const doneCount = noopRow.n + doneRow.n;
 
 	// Batch transcode reasons for all review plans in one query (avoids N+1)
 	const planIds = (review as { id: number }[]).map((r) => r.id);
@@ -315,7 +321,7 @@ app.get("/pipeline", (c) => {
 		item.transcode_reasons = reasonsByPlan.get(item.id) ?? [];
 	}
 
-	return c.json({ review, queued, processing, done, doneCount, jellyfinUrl });
+	return c.json({ review, reviewTotal, queued, processing, done, doneCount, jellyfinUrl });
 });
 
 // ─── List ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
diff --git a/src/features/pipeline/PipelinePage.tsx b/src/features/pipeline/PipelinePage.tsx
index bffe943..490f90d 100644
--- a/src/features/pipeline/PipelinePage.tsx
+++ b/src/features/pipeline/PipelinePage.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from "react";
+import { useCallback, useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { api } from "~/shared/lib/api";
 import { DoneColumn } from "./DoneColumn";
 import { ProcessingColumn } from "./ProcessingColumn";
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { ScheduleControls } from "./ScheduleControls";
 
 interface PipelineData {
 	review: any[];
+	reviewTotal: number;
 	queued: any[];
 	processing: any[];
 	done: any[];
@@ -55,17 +56,30 @@ export function PipelinePage() {
 		load();
 	}, [load]);
 
-	// SSE for live updates
+	// SSE for live updates. job_update fires on every status change and per-line
+	// stdout flush of the running job — without coalescing, the pipeline endpoint
+	// (a 500-row review query + counts) would re-run several times per second.
+	const reloadTimer = useRef<ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | null>(null);
 	useEffect(() => {
+		const scheduleReload = () => {
+			if (reloadTimer.current) return;
+			reloadTimer.current = setTimeout(() => {
+				reloadTimer.current = null;
+				load();
+			}, 1000);
+		};
 		const es = new EventSource("/api/execute/events");
-		es.addEventListener("job_update", () => load());
+		es.addEventListener("job_update", scheduleReload);
 		es.addEventListener("job_progress", (e) => {
 			setProgress(JSON.parse((e as MessageEvent).data));
 		});
 		es.addEventListener("queue_status", (e) => {
 			setQueueStatus(JSON.parse((e as MessageEvent).data));
 		});
-		return () => es.close();
+		return () => {
+			es.close();
+			if (reloadTimer.current) clearTimeout(reloadTimer.current);
+		};
 	}, [load]);
 
 	if (loading || !data) return <div className="p-6 text-gray-500">Loading pipeline...</div>;
@@ -80,7 +94,7 @@ export function PipelinePage() {
 				</div>
 			</div>
 			<div className="flex flex-1 gap-4 p-4 overflow-x-auto overflow-y-hidden min-h-0">
-				<ReviewColumn items={data.review} jellyfinUrl={data.jellyfinUrl} onMutate={load} />
+				<ReviewColumn items={data.review} total={data.reviewTotal} jellyfinUrl={data.jellyfinUrl} onMutate={load} />
 				<QueueColumn items={data.queued} />
 				<ProcessingColumn items={data.processing} progress={progress} queueStatus={queueStatus} />
 				<DoneColumn items={data.done} />
diff --git a/src/features/pipeline/ReviewColumn.tsx b/src/features/pipeline/ReviewColumn.tsx
index b0492fe..e4170ac 100644
--- a/src/features/pipeline/ReviewColumn.tsx
+++ b/src/features/pipeline/ReviewColumn.tsx
@@ -4,11 +4,13 @@ import { SeriesCard } from "./SeriesCard";
 
 interface ReviewColumnProps {
 	items: any[];
+	total: number;
 	jellyfinUrl: string;
 	onMutate: () => void;
 }
 
-export function ReviewColumn({ items, jellyfinUrl, onMutate }: ReviewColumnProps) {
+export function ReviewColumn({ items, total, jellyfinUrl, onMutate }: ReviewColumnProps) {
+	const truncated = total > items.length;
 	// Group by series (movies are standalone)
 	const movies = items.filter((i: any) => i.type === "Movie");
 	const seriesMap = new Map<string, { name: string; key: string; jellyfinId: string | null; episodes: any[] }>();
@@ -45,7 +47,7 @@ export function ReviewColumn({ items, jellyfinUrl, onMutate }: ReviewColumnProps
 	return (
 		<div className="flex flex-col w-96 min-w-96 min-h-0 bg-gray-50 rounded-lg">
 			<div className="px-3 py-2 border-b font-medium text-sm">
-				Review <span className="text-gray-400">({items.length})</span>
+				Review <span className="text-gray-400">({truncated ? `${items.length} of ${total}` : total})</span>
 			</div>
 			<div className="flex-1 overflow-y-auto p-2 space-y-2">
 				{allItems.map((entry) => {
@@ -78,6 +80,11 @@ export function ReviewColumn({ items, jellyfinUrl, onMutate }: ReviewColumnProps
 					}
 				})}
 				{allItems.length === 0 && <p className="text-sm text-gray-400 text-center py-8">No items to review</p>}
+				{truncated && (
+					<p className="text-xs text-gray-400 text-center py-3 border-t mt-2">
+						Showing first {items.length} of {total}. Approve some to see the rest.
+					</p>
+				)}
 			</div>
 		</div>
 	);