This is part 1 of a two-part series on John Law and the Mississippi Bubble. Law was a Scottish murderer, gambler, economist, banker and author who, while under sentence of death in Britain, rose to become the most powerful man in France, before falling from grace and fleeing after the financial system he had put in place imploded dramatically. This episode deals with his adventures before he achieved power and was able to put his ideas into practice, and with his rise to power.