Lord of Mysteries – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Review Geek

29-06-2025

The Fool
Episode 1 of Lord of Mysteries starts with us heading into the fifth epoch of the Iron age in 1349. Church bells ring as chaos in this world reigns supreme. With a slick Gothic aesthetic, and some great colouring, a man named Zhou is whisked into a strange world, where he awakens to find blood all over his study, a revolver in his hand and no memory of exactly who he is.
Zhou doesn't recognize his own appearance and it seems he's transmigrated into another individual. That individual is Klein Moretti, a man who happens to be the classmate to a deceased couple nearby, Welch and Naya, and a fresh graduate of history.
This is no ordinary world and while the show doesn't tell us this (beyond some hints and visions in episode 2), Zhou comes from a world closer to our own interpretation of Earth. Here though, this appears to be some sort of parallel world so from now on we'll be referring to Zhou as Klein for clarity's sake.
Welcome to the world of Beyonders, where humans can attain various abilities by taking potions to accomplish the ascension path. There are 22 Pathways in total and the lower that number of sequence, the stronger the Beyonder abilities can be. The most powerful of these abilities mimic that of the Gods. The evolution of this is called the Path of the Divine.
Back to the main mystery, and a couple of officers show up at Welch's place to scout the area. Welch and Naya are both very much dead, and are history graduates of Khoy University. At first glance, it would appear this is a suicide but there's evidence of black divination having been performed, or even something as extreme as a Beyonder sacrifice. An evil force has certainly been awakened and right now we only have echoes of history to try and piece everything together.
It would appear the key to unlocking this comes in the form of Klein's memories, which are fragmented and mixed up with Zhou's as a result of this transmigration. This, coupled with a strange notebook belonging to Klein, could be crucial clues. This notebook also holds scattered thoughts about the past, including the Fourth Epoch, and a rather chilling prophetic message confirming that everyone will die.
For now though, Klein is ripped from his thoughts by Melissa, Klein's younger sister, showing up. The pair live together and she has a good relationship with Klein, but our protagonist is very much in detective mode here. He knows that the revolver used to kill Welch is a pretty loud contraption but somehow Melissa didn't hear it next door.
Klein decides to use a Luck Enhancement Ritual in order to transmigrate back into his original body. He heads out and marvels at the world while gathering the ingredients to do this. The allure of a tarot card reader brings Zhou inside a small tent and just like the title of the episode, Klein draws the Fool card which represents new beginnings.
Klein is not dissuaded from his task though, and he runs his luck-changing ritual when he heads back home, convinced he's being followed. At this point, things do get a bit weird and confusing. Zhou is dragged into a realm with strange ethereal light. Two individuals, Audrey Hall (codename: Justice) and Alger Wilson (codename: The Hanged Man) are summoned here against their Will where Zhou (serving as Klein) questions them for information about this world.
This is where we learn a bit more about beyonders. You have to be part of a church to be a Beyonder, and it seems Alger actually has two Sequence Nine potions as well. One is called the Sailor and the other The Audience.
A knock at the door of Klein's apartment from the police snaps our protagonist free of these visions and he ends the gathering, deciding they should hold these weekly on Mondays at 3pm.
Klein answers the door and finds Leonard Mitchell of Awwa County Police there. He's the same man from earlier who was following Zhou (which he sensed and left hurriedly) but he's joined by Dunn Smith. They're here to do a routine sweep of the house, and question him about the notebook. Evidence seems to point that Klein was there at some point before the deaths of Welchand Naya.
Klein is truthful to the police though, bringing up the failed suicide attempt, but Dunn decides he needs to pass a psychic verification first, which should recover all of his memories. Of course, in doing so this could oust him as a transmigrator too.
Klein seizes his opportunity to flee from the lawmen but in reality, this is all part of this psychic evaluation.
Dunn Smith shows up within this dream sequence and explains that they're (referencing the Beyonders and, specifically, the Nighthawks group) are a lot more powerful at night. Dunn appears to have the power to manipulate dreams, and our psychic, complete with long, slick hair and discoloured lips, arrives and begins whispering in Klein's ear.
The Gray fog does obfuscate some of his memories though, allowing Zhou (as Klein) to pass the psychic test. No traces can be found and Klein definitely shot himself, but she's also never come across anything this tricky. The pair offer a solution though – they offer Klein the chance to become a Beyonder.
The Episode Review
There's fast paced and then there's Lord of Mysteries. And boy does this show pack a lot into its 30 minute opener! This show has a gorgeous aesthetic, an interesting world and a lot of promise but it also feels like it's in an almighty rush to smash through as much of the source material as possible.
The first 30 minutes have an awful lot of exposition dumped to viewers and it's also rather confusing to follow. With no personal knowledge of the source material, many fans are going to be lost here but the general gist of the story does look quite intriguing.
This is basically a mystery isekai, where a Chinese man from Earth has been transported into the body of a man named Klein Moretti who – for reasons still unclear – tried to kill himself after his classmates did the same thing. Why? For what purpose?
These questions are still unclear, but it also feels like one of those shows that it's going to take a few episodes before everything slips into place. Thankfully we do have another episode released today so we don't have too long to wait and find out what happens next!
Next Episode
Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!