Oliver salvaged it...
Don't read this if you don't like spoilers. Fair warning. Don't do it, back away, go read some other review if you don't like spoilers...
So, I'll start this off with I'm a *really* harsh critic of entertainment...for reasons. I recognize this about myself, and generally give an extra star than I originally plan to because I'm just a picky bitch that way and I know it. Anyway, when it comes to entertainment, I want a character I can care about right off the bat, and unfortunately I didn't get that here except for brief snippets of Oliver. Most of the episode was focused on Lina Fox, who I literally give two shits about. (Very hard to make people care about con artists, especially in such a limited amount of time, and literally no effort was made to make us care about the con artist's victims as an alternative, so that fell flat too. We were just...listening to Lina do shit, which I found incredibly mind-numbingly boring.) I probably would have shut it off had it not been for the initial glimpse into Oliver's childhood and the final scene with him and his 'manager', which salvaged it in my mind. Entertainment-value-wise, I feel like introducing Lina as the lead-in to the series was a poor choice in an otherwise stellar production. It would've made a good flashback or a good Part 2 or even a good kill-your-darlings moment altogether, to be shown from Oliver's or his 'manager's' POV later. The hook of Oliver's existence and (I'm assuming) trek towards Lina's little town makes it interesting enough that I'm looking forward to the next one. However, I feel like it could have been done better, with having to listen to less stuff I don't care about (temperance, whether or not a mill will be built in town, Lina's ambition) and focusing more on (what I assume) is to be the main protag of the series, Oliver and his future clash with Lina (guessing). Spending literally like 40 of the 45 minutes of the first episode (the hook) on an unlikeable antagonist was, in my view, a mistake. But I'm interested enough to listen to the next one. Four stars because the production quality was mesmerizing and Oliver's character was pretty awesome, and the voice actors were amazing. I think the Lina stuff could've been cut, easy, and people would like it more.