There’s a lot of really interesting plot threads in here, and the world building seems pretty extensive, but it felt like the pacing was really off to me. I like in medias res, but it always felt like they were holding back on explaining too many things. I think it would have paid off if they’d taken their time to build up our understanding of Belle’s current status quo and her relationship with Sian, and waited until next episode to tear them apart. My guess is the novels do a lot of this better, since they can utilize internal monologue, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like those are translated. I might check back in later in the season to see how people are liking this, but for now the storytelling is frustrating enough for me to give up on it.

Overall, I give this premiere a mixed 3/5