Who is more lost, the characters or the viewers?

I love this article, mostly because it gives me the word I've been looking for to describe alternate reality games.

My fear is that this egghead overload is proving to be an oceanic-sized turnoff to uninitiated viewers who might perceive the show to be nothing more than one big, daunting pile of homework.

That's right, the word is "homework." Is this why the first episode this season sucked? Was it lip service to the "egghead overload" and that's why there was no real character interaction? They need to remember that the reason you keep watching episodic TV is the characters and how they interact. Plots come and go, but characters keep you coming back.