The Chosen One!

I have no idea where this is going, but Jonah Hill and Emma Stone have sold me on the series already. Rock solid acting by both who are playing against type. I like that this science fiction series is rooted in character and small technological changes. Its world could very easily be our world. No over the top gadgets, just subtle differences. Looking forward to episode 2.

Having eventually watched the entire series after being put off by the first episode, I really struggled to understand why I thought the first episode was so bad; so I watched it again.

This episode is all story, that's the first mistake.

The second mistake is that there's way too much information and none of it will make sense for a first time viewer.

Now if you have watched the whole series and then watch this episode again, like me, then it'll actually make sense and will make some interesting viewing, but it's definitely the weakest episode.

Netflix needs to stop doing this. They did it with Altered Carbon and sense 8, which are my favourite shows. Even when I watch the first episodes of those shows I cringe at how bad they are compared to the rest of the series .

Wanted to like it, but it is just to wiered, slow and boring!

This episode is slow and boring, however, it's somewhat necessary in order to build up the audiences relationship with Owen (Jonah Hill), yes it could've been paced a lot better but I think the writers and Fukunaga are trying to accurately represent Owen's state of mind through this episode. The show DOES pick up and gets a lot more exciting with a unique and compelling emotional story, please stick with it - it's worth it

I have to say that this was the most off putting first episode of a series I've seen in a while. In fact, I had to give it two tries. The first go, I knew nothing of the show, but wanted to check it out because Emma Stone is great in everything. But 15 minutes in, the story was expanding and expanding introducing non-related elements in each scene, and was so clunky and nonsensical that I shut it off. Then I found out Fukunaga was the director of the series and gave it a second go. Unfortunately the episode wasn't any clearer the second time around, but I could appreciate the craftmanship in filmmaking and details put into the world. And I simply loved the retro futurism. I think I'm the target audience for this quirky, mind-bender kind of show, because I love things like Brazil/Memento/Eternal Sunshine. I love stories that start as a jumble of pieces and later you have to figure out what it means. At this point, however, I'm not even sure if I'm looking at a a puzzle. I'm also not sure of the tone, it keeps bouncing from serious to silly. But it feels like there's so much potential here. I'll give it a shot.