It was far better than I expected, as well. Not terribly impressed with the female Cylon, and there wasn't much backround info except 'There was a Cylon war before, and --- oh damn, they're back from wherever they went, and just killed most of our fleet.'.
I'm looking forward to the next episode, and hope it will have more of the traditional-looking Cylons, the ones we saw for a few seconds in the first scene of the premiere.
Female Starbuck doesn't look to be a bad decision, either.