They Are Always Watching: The Path

As news of Hannibal’s demise permeated the Internet and my still-in-denial brain tried to process it, news of a new TV series with Hugh Dancy was announced. The Path, also starring Michelle Monaghan and Aaron Paul, appeared to be a show about a new age cult and what happens when things go south, as they always do with these kinds of things. The love triangle between Cal (Dancy), Eddie (Paul), and Sarah (Monaghan), also seemed intriguing. It’s not a big secret that I’m mildly obsessed with cults (to say nothing of the possibility of Hugh Dancy as a charismatic, yet villainous character0, so The Path was not a hard sell.

“What The Fire Throws” is a promising first episode but not what I expected. The Path, as we come to find out throughout the course of the episode, seems to be a religion that isn’t based on any Christian religion, despite allegedly being based on The Way, but feels an awful lot like Scientology, as members ascend levels or “rungs of a ladder” to reach enlightenment. 

This comes across as alarming to an agnostic and practically atheist Catholic like I am, but the way that all the members of the group are overshadowed by the symbol of The Path – a giant open eye – is even more disturbing. The image is on wall hangings, jewelry, T-shirts, bracelets, even the natural bath products that the group makes and distributes. It’s not that much different from Christians wearing crosses, but then again, those crosses aren’t constantly watching you, either, to say nothing of your fellow cult members who seem paranoid and suspicious, ready to accuse other for “transgressing” at a moment’s notice.

The main thrust of this episode is the fallout from Eddie’s trip to Peru, his attempt to attain what is referred to as 6R. It’s one of the rungs in The Path and it’s worth noting that both Sarah, who was born into the cult, and Cal, who came into the cult as a child, are both 8R.

It’s immediately obvious that all is not right with Eddie and although Sarah and fellow cult member Gab suspect that Eddie might have had an affair in Peru, it’s far more potentially damaging than that. Eddie saw some things in Peru – albeit under the influence of an ayuhuasca-induced trip – that made him have serious doubts in the validity of Meyerism, in a segment that shares a lot of the same weird vibes as parts of the film Altered States. We’ve only just met Eddie, yet it’s still unsettling to see his beliefs crumble before us as he tries to come to terms with this knowledge, all the while trying to convince Sarah that he’s not having an affair.

Then there’s Dancy, who might be the most frightening thing about the show so far. Cal displays a healthy yet unhealthy robust confidence, but when he’s not actively trying to “be” Cal, his eyes are hollow. We first notice this when Eddie is talking to a group of trailer park tornado disaster survivors who are being rehabilitated at The Path’s compound. He’s telling them about his past drug addiction and his brother’s suicide and his tearful confessions keep stalling mid-revelation, probably because it’s finally starting to dawn on him that this is all a big charade. Cal watches him like a snake pretending to be dead so it can strike when its prey is least suspicious.

One of the disaster victims, Mary, is also a recovering addict and she immediately latches on to Cal when he shows up in the rubble of the trailer park with a bottle of water. She seems particularly focused on him and so when she shows up in his office late one night, disrobes, and offers herself to him, it’s not a huge surprise. Nor are we surprised when she reveals that her father has prostituted her since she was a teenager. Cal’s expression is unreadable; it could go either way. The fact that he doesn’t immediately tell her to put her clothes on seems to be a giant red flag; then he manipulates the situation into an excuse to proselytize which seems remarkably self-serving. A few nights later, he approaches her in the middle of the night in what we think might be an acceptance of her proffered sexual favors, but which turns out to be something else.

She and Cal arrive at her father’s trailer and Cal tells the angry, drunk man that he needs to beg for Mary’s forgiveness. On his knees, no less. The father is having none of it and starts to fight Cal, who proceeds to viciously pummel him into submission as Mary watches in admiration and awe.

Again, not what I expected, but profoundly intriguing. After identifying with Dancy as Will Graham for so many years, his turn as Cal is complex and creepy. Although the narrative that deals with Eddie and Sarah has definitely piqued my interest, it’s my inability to decide how much of Cal is hero and how much is villain that makes me the most uncomfortable, and that’s what makes me want to watch the next nine episodes of The Path.