Article first published as THE PATH Review on Seat42F.
This week, Hulu
presents THE PATH. The producers insist it does not depict scientology,
but what it does show is a new-ish belief system that brings people in
through a cult-like manner and encourages them to climb the rungs of a
ladder for salvation. So yeah, at least, superficially, it does present
another take on scientology.
It has
become popular to dis on scientology lately, but really, what THE PATH
shows could apply to basically all religions, at least when they first
start, before they are changed by millions of people getting little bits
of power and influence over time. It’s fresh and exciting, and the
early adopters buy in whole-heartedly. There are skeptics, of course,
and even for those within the faith, there are varying levels of faith.
The
protagonist to root for in THE PATH is Eddie Lane (Aaron Paul, Breaking
Bad). After a retreat, Eddie’s eyes are opened, or so he thinks, and he
starts to doubt the legitimacy of THE PATH. He doesn’t know what to do
about it, though. His wife, Sarah Lane (Michelle Monaghan, True
Detective), was born into the group and embraces their doxology fully,
so he can’t talk to her about it. And because of Sarah’s closeness to
Cal Robertson (Hugh Dancy, Hannibal), the face of the leadership,
Eddie’s place becomes tenuous. Eddie wants to question things, but can
he without losing his family, whom he cares about, and the life that
they have?
The question is, how
dangerous is THE PATH? Were it a harmless group whose members could join
or leave at will, then Eddie’s lack of faith wouldn’t matter. This
applies mainly to old religions, though, that have been around for
centuries or millennia (with some exception). Instead, Eddie even
wavering presents a threat to the group that must be stopped, lest the
fragile, fledging structure fall apart, hence where the drama picks up.
Eddie senses this, and while he does deny infidelity when the notion is
raised, he doesn’t exactly come clean, either, which tells us something.
It’s
hard to tell what kind of leader Cal is. He doesn’t set forth the
rules, but he enforces them. There is a moment in the pilot where Cal’s
morality is tested, and he must choose between the high ground and
betraying his stance, which he sort of does correctly. Even within the
hour, though, there is some question as to whether he is as pious as he
claims to be. And his actions in this situation, while different than
Eddie’s, are probably the best indicator of how he will treat the
wandering member of the flock.
Plus, Cal has a thing for Eddie’s wife, who chose Eddie over Cal, so that will surely play into how Cal handles the situation.
THE
PATH is inherently creepy, but again, I’d say that most looks at newer
religions are. It takes a certain type of personality to believe that
someone in our lifetime has figured out the secrets of life, and to
follow them. Religion needs followers to grow, and so it must protect
itself fiercely when it hasn’t yet achieved the reach and viability to
survive past the first couple of generations. The older religions have
really bizarre beliefs, too, but over time, we’re grown immune to the
oddities. Not so with the new.
Despite
the themes being old, it makes for compelling television to look at it
from a modern perspective, which most people don’t do unless it’s
pointed out to them explicitly, as has been done in a handful or shows
and movies recently. This series accomplishes that, and with some really
terrific lead actors, I look forward to seeing if this is just an
action show that tells a story, which would be fine, or if it asks the
audience to hold a mirror up to their own beliefs, which would be
better.
THE PATH premieres tomorrow on Hulu.
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