I agree that it was certainly not on the level as something like Lost for a pilot, but it feels like it was more or less right around what I was hoping for. From all the reviews I've seen, critics were sent the first 3 episodes, and most said that the second two episodes are better than the pilot, especially the third (that seems to deal almost exclusively with Christopher Eccleston's character).
I mean just from my love of Damon Lindelof alone (he gets way more backlash than he deserves) makes it that, barring just a horrific nosedive along the way, I'm definitely in for the whole 10 episodes. Though I do wonder how long this could go with it being based on just one book. As a series it's not as obvious an adaptation as something like Thrones given its multiple books.
This is a minor thing but I'm just curious, did anyone recognize that woman in the bar immediately as being the mother from the opening scene? I didn't realize it until she gave her answer on where she was "when it happened". Pretty cool to see Emily Meade again, she played Peter & Olivia's daughter in that one sort of alternate future episode of Fringe (and plenty easy on the eyes). For the sake of my teenage niece, please tell me nowhere in America today has that most fucked up version of "spin the bottle" I've ever seen actually been played