Part 1: Beyond the Zero

Gravity's Rainbow has traditionally been broken into numbered episodes based on the novel's unnamed sections that are divided by lines of seven squares. Episode 1 of part 1 takes place on December 18, 1944, with Pirate Prentice watching a German V-2 rocket approach London. Pirate makes a “Banana Breakfast” for his troops and goes to receive a message from his superiors in Greenwich. In episode 3, Teddy Bloat photographs the desk of American Tyrone Slothrop in ACHTUNG headquarters (a special operations unit of the British military), interested in a map of London with stars marking Slothrop's sexual escapades. Episode 4 describes Slothrop's girl-chasing in London, his childhood, and his Puritan ancestry.

Roger Mexico and Jessica Swanlake reveal their love and attend a séance in episode 5. The perspective then shifts to describe Pirate's memories of his service in the Persian Gulf and of a woman he loved and lost...