Worth finishing? Decide before you pay

Price the whole thing, not the next step

Twelve tokens feels like nothing, which is exactly why it should not be the number you consider. After the free pair, the real figure is 36 tokens on a five episode series, 48 on a six episode run like Kiss My Enemy and 60 on Isabella's Revelation, at list price. Check whether a promotion has lowered it. Then ask whether you would agree to that sum all at once. If the answer is no, paying one episode at a time is only a slower way of finding out.

Three questions, in this order

• Do you want to know how it ends? Curiosity about the outcome is a different thing from having enjoyed the opener, and only the first one pays off later.
• Did the second episode move? If it restated the tension of the first, assume nothing about what comes next, but do not assume improvement either.
• Is this the show you would pick again? Other series on the finder carry the same bill, so the true cost includes whichever of them you would then skip.

Our opinion, for what it is worth

We think the second free episode deserves more weight than the first. Openers are built to catch you, and at 48 to 91 seconds they do not have long to fail. The follow up has less excuse. We also think the longer series need a stronger yes, because Isabella's Revelation leaves five of its seven episodes unseen when the free part stops. That is a matter of arithmetic and says nothing about its quality, which we leave to you.

Stopping is a fine result

Sacrificing tokens to finish something merely because you began it is the oldest error in bookkeeping. What you have already watched was free, so walking away after episode 2 costs you exactly nothing. Partway up the ladder, the tokens you spent are gone whichever way you go, so count only what remains: 12 for each episode left at list price. If you stop, leave it there and return to another free pair on a different title.