I had such situation today.

My opponent starts game playing 2xLaboratory Assistant and Field Researcher. He commits this nice ladies to all stories scoring 3 success in each.

In my turn I get only one character so it leads to the situation when after second turn of my opponent scoring was 2:0 (in stories) and he needs only two success to win last story.

My conclusion was that it is not so hard to win in 2-3 turns - it is matter only of luck in drawing cards rather than playing strategy .

Did you miss the part about the First Player penalty, skipping the entire Story Phase on turn 1? Weenie-rushing can still work though.