"The Essex Serpent."

Wherein the Two Episode Test is given to the Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston series for Apple TV+ based on a very successful book. And a thing happened.

It’s not unusual for a curiously appealing show to pull you in and then, almost without seeing its own troublesome twist, reveal something that makes the more astute viewer have a serious pause. As in, “I just spent two hours seeing if I liked this show, which I kind of sort of did, then you went and did that.”

Unfortunately, when the storytelling decision in question isn’t an obvious dealbreaker — which would be a lot easier — you’re left to wonder if you want to keep going and, using my own history as a guide, you generally do. That historic guide also suggests that somewhere around 75 percent of the time you’ve just made a decision you’ll regret later.

Why? Because when you see a flag — and it doesn’t have to be a red one — you’re usually seeing it for a reason. Your critical faculties are telling you something is off. Proceed with caution. Ah, but if you’re reading this Substack then you know our mantra is, “I’m drowning in choices and I don’t have endless hours to waste trying to find out if this show is going to drag me to the bottom or not.” (I mean, if that’s not our mantra, it damned well should be).

I saw that flag in the closing minutes of “The Essex Serpent,” which just dropped its first two (of six) episodes on Apple TV+, which, to its credit, has been on quite the creative roll lately, another data point that might lead you to keep going even if you, too, see that flag.