Score: A-

I was feeling good about this show going into the season and it definitely lived up to that. The story of an agent that leaves her organization to find a shred of happiness for herself gave one solid first episode to us. Chloe had a good first episode where we both got an understanding of her skill level and her motivations. Her motivations needed to be strong enough to leave her organization and flea across multiple national borders. We don’t get all the answers in this episode of course. But it’s more than enough to get the ball rolling.

What a start of her new life

The newly forged Victoria had quite the eventual start to her new life! I’m sure her plans were to keep things simple, keep quiet, and just enjoy her freedom. And then she immediately picks up a poor abandoned child, adopts her, and meets her love interest for this series! There goes all those intentions! But the nice thing is that it all shows what kind of person she is at her core. Victoria has many faces and many talents. But in the end she couldn’t turn her back on a child that reminded her of herself. In Victoria’s case clearly she was picked up by questionable people and forged into a tool of that organization. But Nonna has so much more going for her. She may still end up with questionable skills, but it won’t be for the sake of living as an assassin or agent.

Very thorough

No surprise that old habits die hard as well. We could see how much skill Victoria has both with her escape and her first days of freedom. She really had a thorough plan for running. She made sure witnesses saw her at those cliffs, left physical evidence that she “fell”, made sure witnesses on the carriage wouldn’t be able to really identify her, and then took up the identify of a missing person from a neighboring country. It was quite the well planned escape. The person she’s impersonating is presumably dead and isn’t from either the nation she’s running from or the one she’s running to. It’ll make it all the more difficult for either nation to really pick up on her intentions.

But it just shows how hard it’ll be for her to completely break free. Her first step upon settling in for the night was to jam a chair up against the door and leaving traps that would let her know if anyone invaded her room. Completely fair in the sense that people may end up looking for her. But maybe a bit over the top since she was very thorough in her escape plan. There’s no real reason for anyone to have caught up to her that fast! Part of me gets the value in her teaching Nonna skills to take care of herself…but maybe keep it within reason!

I like him

Now it makes total sense why she’s trying to avoid her love interest at this early point in the story. Victoria is trying to keep a low profile and enjoy her freedom. Getting attention to a captain with a good deal of authority could be risky. And she is living a lie to a degree. The more time she spends with anyone the more chances there are for her stories to fall apart. At the same time though…Jeffrey is a good guy and a caring person in his own right. The guy felt bad that he didn’t consider their food situation before leaving them the night before! Even taking the two to a restaurant at which he’s a regular. That’s a pretty bold move since people are going to talk when he walks in with a young woman and a child. Not that he’s the type to care.

There are plenty of reasons for Victoria to stay on guard. But…clearly there are plenty of reasons to lower her guard a bit too. All three of Victoria, Nonna, and Jeffrey are clearly good people at heart. Victoria may have sought peace and freedom, but she can also have attachments and love as well. For the time being she’s going to try and keep her distance and report her situation without even telling Jeffrey where she is. But…obviously the story won’t allow that for too long!

This guy isn’t going to quit…

This was just a really solid first episode. You can get that Victoria felt utterly betrayed by this Lancome guy. I presume he killed her family to erase any ties that could be used against her as an agent? Or at the very least he presumably hid that her family was dead. Someone that would go that far and believes in her abilities so completely…isn’t going to give up. He’d much rather believe she’s alive and running away then accept her “death.” Sooner or later her past is going to catch up and then the battle to protect her happiness will begin.