It WAS great!
I really like Mars in this series. She's a lot less of a bitch, much more like her manga counterpart. They did a lot of changes to this episode, too! The first full look at Queen Beryl (and she's actually kinda pretty in this series; she looked like a snake in the last one), and the first appearance of Nephrite and Zoicite (much earlier here, or maybe because there were so many less episodes to reach this point).
I thought it interesting how Jadeite seemed so fascinated with Rei. As I recall, wasn't he her former lover in the Moon Kingdom? Because I'm a sucker for the whole forbidden romance thing, I'd LOVE for them to play up on that some more, with him and the other three kings. I have no idea how far they carried that in the manga since I only read like the first four volumes and forget most of it. I suspect this might've been Jadeite's last appearance, though.
One thing I think I'll miss is the little story that happens between Naru and Nephrite. I really liked that mini-arc, and how Nephrite sacrificed himself for her, but given the pace Crystal is moving at, there probably won't be any room for it. It probably wasn't in the manga to begin with.
Really looking forward to episode 4 now. The masquerade!