As of yesterday, Born to the Blade is five episodes into its eleven-episode season. The first plot arc concluded with “The Gauntlet” last week, written by Michael R. Underwood; this week Malka Older enters the arena, meaning that everyone on the writing team has now done at least one ep. So if you want to try the story out without committing to the full season, this is a good, solid, representative chunk — and I believe the way Serial Box handles things, if you buy episodically at first and then decide partway through to go for the whole thing, they pro-rate your season purchase to account for what you already own.

Next Wednesday I’ll take the field again with the sixth episode, “Spiraling.” I’ll also be in France when that happens, so I may not be as on top of things as I normally would. So mark your calendars now!