"Shantaram."

The new Apple TV+ drama gets put through the Two Episode Test.

I was thinking the other day about what a “preview” does — beyond the obvious which is to spoil things and generally lie.

As you should probably know by now, I hate previews for those reasons but will, like everyone else, watch them on occasion and the result is often either “impression” or “verdict.” How many times have I watched a preview and thought to myself, “I would rather stab a fork in my arm pit than watch that”? Answer: A lot.

So the “verdict” is often no. Hard pass. But sometimes the “verdict” is, “OK, now I know pretty much everything that happens so forget it.” Also a pass, but softer. The flip side of that is the impression that it leaves: “I know what seven random characters will eventually do in future episodes and that’s annoying but I also kind of think maybe I’ll watch that.”

An impression opens the door to watching the pilot.

That’s a victory.

The Two Episode Test has all kinds of ramifications and no hard promises, but it allows me to watch the second episode which you might not have chosen to do and it allows my initial “impression” to form into something a little more helpful for me, you, all of us.

And so it was that I watched the trailer for the new Apple TV+ drama, “Shantaram,” based on the book of the same name by Gregory David Roberts and starring Charlie Hunnam (“Sons Of Anarchy”), about a criminal in Australia with a good heart who breaks out of prison and goes to Bombay to get lost and perhaps discover himself.