For sure, I’d take this style of storytelling over the handholding we get in many other shows any day. I just typically look for a show to exemplify its own strengths early on, which includes its ability to pay off things it’s built up.

The best case for me is when a story weaves a smaller version of its larger arc within the first episode, giving us a taste of what the show is aiming for, be that twists and turns of intrigue, cathartic payoff of some tension it’s built up, or the solution to a mystery. Obviously it won’t hit as hard as later events will, but it proves that a show is capable of following through on its promises. (which helps spot shows like Lost, who keep promising and never deliver)

And it can be fun to watch characters and try to figure out what their motivations are, but it would be nice to get a bit of something for any of our characters, even if it’s incomplete or even false, because as it is I feel a bit adrift in the story without anything to hold onto.

But I’m still hopefully my issues with the show get resolved soon. I do want to trust Bones on this one, even though the premiere didn’t wow me.