I'm going to be patient with this show because Lee Pace. Also, I have often come to love shows that began slowly, over time.
The whole thing with the bird reminded me of the episode from the MTV show, The Maxx, where young Julie Winters brings home a badly injured rabbit, and her mother dispatches it with a shovel: http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-maxx-episode-12/1613210/playlist.jhtml