As I said, I didn't find an alternative, ended up just going back to regular Microsoft VSCode, I'll poke around VSCodium again and see if I can get Python to work as I'm expecting it to.
I suppose there is PyCharm Community Edition but I haven't really used it enough to recommend. It also feels like Jetbrains IDEs end up being heavier than Electron, somehow. Depending on your use it might be overkill.
I also know there's that super hyped Rust based one called Zed that's supposed to be really lightweight and fast, but who knows if they're even focusing on that anymore given their whole homepage is now AI AI AI...