The gradual build in quality, the most impressive aspect of which has been balancing several different point-of-view characters across multiple episodes lately, isn’t astonishing; however, it is noticeable and worth appreciating.
The problem in this case is that this is an episode of DVD that needed to be completely focused on Leonardo’s trip into the Vault of Heaven.
Like the series it just replaced in the Starz line-up, Black Sails, DVD has a huge world to explore. Naturally, it would make sense that more episodes would mean a fuller exploration of that world.
For as much fun as Da Vinci’s Demons is sometimes capable of being, there hasn’t really been a moment in its early run that’s been moving–a scene that has executed a payoff after building emotional attachment either to a character or situation.