Tag: Michelle Monaghan

The Path: Why We Source – Pressure (Recap/Review)

Aaron Paul in The Path

The Path “Why We Source” increases the pressure on all the main players and at least one peripheral character gets thrown out of the movement. After Cal learns that a mole for the FBI  is in their midst he calls upon Abe, to help him sniff out the informer.

Sarah’s refusal to drop the water issue results in Hawk being arrested for domestic terrorism and Eddie comes to the rescue. Cal is not happy at this turn of events and later, when he asks Sarah about her meeting with Eddie she lies about her feelings.

In Juvenile Detention Hawk is accepted into another group of black inmates led by one of his cellmates. He also gets into a fight with a lad who crawls into his bunk.

Abe plants a burner phone in Shelby’s examination office to throw suspicion away from himself. It works brilliantly and the doctor is thrown out of the community.

Eddie gets together with Sarah to confront Libby, who will not return Sarah’s calls, and he puts DeKaan’s son Brendon on the phone to talk to her. This, and Sarah’s promise to stop testing the water, prompts the woman to drop the charges against Hawk.

Mary and Sean blackmail Cal into getting them a new fridge and the Meyerist leader learns that the baby Mary is carrying could be his. Sean is not, it seems, overly pleased with his part in the blackmail process and it seems that this action could have long term repercussions for the couple.

Cal lies to Richard, by omission, during the interrogations taking place in the movement. The pressure of his guilt, not just about the murder of Sarah’s mentor but of his writing the last three rungs of the Ladder, are taking their  toll on the leader.

Eddie and Sarah get together and have sex. Afterward they talk and he reveals that he is seeing Chloe. Sarah tells Eddie, when he asks, that she and Cal are not seeing one another. “I can’t see him that way,” she says.

Hawk is released from jail and when Eddie goes to meet him the teenager tells his father that they should have left him inside rather than call off the water testing.

Sarah goes to see the farmer with the sick cows. The man’s favorite cow is dying and he sticks the dying animal with a knife. The fluid that sprays over Sarah is black, not the color of blood at all. “It is poison,” says the farmer and Sarah screams her outrage as the scene fades to black.

Things are heating up in The Path. Abe shows that he believes the entire group to be corrupt. He also reveals to his boss that he wants to win. He cold-bloodedly sacrifices the movement’s medico in order to protect his cover and it seems clear at this point that he will do whatever is necessary to put Cal and Sarah away.

Eddie and Sarah’s continued contact will not end well for either of them. Sarah, who is already in a position of authority, much to Richard’s chagrin, will be punished severely she and Eddie do not stop breaking the group’s rules.

Cal is under the most suspicion and pressure, Kodiak is certain that their leader killed Steve, and when he breaks someone else could die, just as Silas did.

The Path airs Wednesdays on Hulu. As the second season progresses the movement is faltering without its comatose leader. Tune in and see what happens next to the cult of the light.

Cast:

Guest starring Allison Layman as Shelby and Molly Price as Libby DeKaan

The Path: The Red Wall – They’re Listening (Review)

Aaron Paul in The Path

The big climatic points in this episode of The Path “The Red Wall” had to do with Sarah pretty much selling her soul to get the needed funds to help the people of Clark and Eddie finally admitting that he was part of a cult.  Amazingly, Cal moves back a step to normal, but that is only after a check comes in to take the pressure off.

The sting operation fails because, as Abe points out, Lisa Jackson (their ace in the hole) was not properly vetted. Despite the Meyerist’s claiming to be all good and promoting a blameless life in the “light” they tape all the “unburdening” sessions.

Turns out that Lisa joined the cult, way back when, after killing a kid in a hit and run accident that she never reported. Rather than help the Feds to bust Cal, and Sarah, she folds when Lane starts to play the incriminating tape. Lisa passes on a note, “They’re listening.” This stops Sarah’s act of blackmail cold and ends the short meeting.

As a result the movement does not get that badly needed  tax exempt status and Cal now knows that they have an outsider in the organization. This will place Abe in jeopardy and could result in more unraveling of the group’s hierarchy.

Eddie’s arc continues to be the most interesting, followed closely by Mary’s and Sarah’s. For someone who realized, belatedly, that “there is no light” while still having visions of Steve and the late leader’s realization that Cal was the wrong choice to lead in his absence, Eddie is still one of the best members of the group in terms of guidance.

When Sean comes to see him, after the revelation from Mary that the child she is carrying is most likely not his, Eddie calms the distraught young man and helps him to return to his wife and profess his love for her and the unborn child.

Mary is still torn, presumably, between her infatuation with Cal and her new “love” for Sean. She is, self-admittedly, a damaged person who hurts those around her. Her struggle, however, has now become Sean’s as well but it may just be a matter of time before she succumbs to Cal’s pull again.

Sarah, without Eddie in her life, is taking a darker path. Cal Robert’s opening up and showing her Silas’ body has affected her deeply and she is reacting accordingly. She still loves Eddie but her place and fractured belief in the movement is tearing her apart.

In the meantime, Hawk is getting ever deeper into the spiritual side of the movement although he is not spending as much time with Cal as before. The boy is still, however, fascinated and attracted to the older woman in his life, Noa.

As this season plays out, it looks like Eddie may be the only one to come through in one piece while his family, the movement and Cal may fall completely apart. The big concern is for Abe as he looks to be dangerously close to losing whatever momentum he gained by going undercover.

The Path airs Wednesdays on Hulu.

Cast:

Guest starring Megan Byrne as Lisa Jackson

The Path: Liminal Twilight and Dead Moon – The Burning of the Light (Review)

Hulu The Path

Things have gotten decidedly weirder and darker in The Path. Season two started with a two episode premiere. “Liminal Twilight” and “Dead Moon” take the storyline deeper than before and in many aspects the whole Steven Meyer plot has become convoluted and a tad confusing.

Eddie still wears the mantle of “Denier,” Sarah and he are still uneasily sharing time with their kids and Cal has gotten that little bit more out of control. Abe is now in Rung One training (undercover) and Steven Meyer woke up only to die. He was apparently pushed off the cliff by either Eddie or Cal.

(Eddie in the visionary state or Cal in real-life.)

In the first of two episodes we  re-live Eddie’s vision of Meyer. So far so good. However, the movement leaders, which includes Richard, are shown Steven’s body. He appears to have fallen off the mountain and died.

But…

A local deaf man drew a picture of Meyer’s fall and it looks like another white man pushed him. Richard believes it is Eddie. It could have been Cal, after all, the fractured and mentally unbalanced leader did visit Steve.

Or, did the deaf man actually see “spirit” Eddie arguing with spirit Steve? It is all a bit confusing. What is not, however, is the steady deterioration of Cal Roberts.  The self-made leader is getting out of control and despite asking Sarah to lead with him, Cal is struggling to maintain the reins of control.

In the first episode, he wildly overbids for a building he wants for the movement. By the end of this segment, he shows Sarah Silas’ body. She makes him dig her old mentor up and Cal then lies and tells Lane that the man’s death was an accident.

In the meantime, Eddie and Hawk are drifting further apart as evidenced by the boy’s indifference and hostility towards his father at each “illegal” visit. Summer, on the other hand, enjoys the time she spends with dad.

Sarah is visibly shaken by the truth of Silas’ death and it is this guilty knowledge of Cal’s murderous act that comes across as “leakage” when she has a session with Richard.

Abe continues to work undercover in the organization to bring Cal down and it is his efforts that keep the Meyerist’s from gaining tax exemption as a religion. This forfeiture of a religious tax status causes more problems and Cal insists that Mary and Sarah accompany him to a fund raising get together.

Once there, Cal blows it by simultaneously asking for money while denigrating the party members’ lifestyle and monetary worth. Sarah comes close to having sex with an invited guest and Cal punches the man in the stomach after he acts like a boor.

Out in the woods Hawk’s new friend (played by Hunters actress Britne Oldford) confesses that she fears the dark. After opening up, the two connect in a deep and meaningful way and the second episode ends with Hawk apparently levitating. (Or in the parlance of the Meyerist movement, floating up to the next rung of the ladder.)

Eddie sleeps with his dead brother’s wife. She does not notice the new “tree-like” red veins extending up his back and it looks like Lane may now have a new woman in his life. Cal is still somewhat obsessed with Sarah who may be warming up despite the fact that he killed Silas.

The Path has managed to shift gears and take things to another level.  It is now difficult to understand who killed Steven. The visions of him choosing Eddie to “be his son” intermingled with his protestations on the vision mountaintop, are confusing.

The Hawk levitation brings back a certain amount of mysticism but at the end of the day, we do not know whether the young Lane really lifted up into the air or whether he imagined it.

Clearly things are going to be heading south even faster now that leaders of the movement believe that Eddie went to Peru to kill Steven. Cal’s meltdown is also accelerating as is Sarah’s loss of calm. With Abe, hiding in the group in plain site, season two could turn out to be explosive.

The Path airs Wednesdays on Hulu.

Cast:

Guest starring Britne Oldford as Meyerist novice.

The Path: The Miracle – Game Changer (Review)

Aaron Paul as Eddie Lane in The Path

“The Path” follows Eddie’s journey as the rest of the movement freeze him out. Only Sarah keeps him from being expunged from the group completely, an act that will keep him from seeing his children.  Lane visits Abe at the hospital and prays for his daughter to heal naturally and to not need the surgery.  The infant is healed and does not need the operation, is this a miracle?

There are a number of miracles in this series.  Alison Kemp walking across the frozen pond/lake with stones in her pockets does not die, although the ice should have broken. This could be classed as another miracle. She really wanted to die after Sarah gave her Jason’s journal.

Eddie is having visions, or hallucinatory flashbacks, and it leads him to seek answers.  Heading to Peru he goes to Steve Meyer’s room and finds the dying man gone from his bed and standing. Alive, awake and very aware, Dr. Meyer has “returned from the dead” (so to speak) and this too could be classed as a miracle.

Cal has nurtured  the lie of Steve writing the last three rungs, which Sarah has discovered is not true,  and after telling the compound that Meyer will be arriving, he has changed it to Steve’s essence is there.

Mary recognizes the damage in Cal; the darkness, and the two finally have sex. Mary is drawn to the bad part of Roberts and always will be; just as he is drawn to her.

Sarah tells Cal that their relationship will always be on a professional basis and then starts investigating Silas’ disappearance.  She learns that Roberts lied about his whereabouts and she breaks into his office and laptop. She now knows that Cal wrote the last three rungs on his own.

Roberts marries Mary and Sean, re-inducts Alison Kemp back into the movement and accepts Hawk into the group properly.  Cal tells the group that Steve is now pure light. He also declares Sarah and himself as “Guardian’s of the Light.”

Summer uses her invisible light pen to write messages to her father and one can easily imagine the UV light used with the pen being a huge plot device in very short order. Cal’s murder of Silas guarantees a lot of physical evidence at the crime scene.

Sarah will obviously keep channeling her inner Nancy Drew until she learns the truth about Silas and Cal may be moved to do something desperate to protect his lies.   Roberts and Sarah has declared an uneasy alliance, of sorts, but she has declared war on Cal by letting him know that she will find out what happened to her mentor.

Cal Roberts is a dark and damaged man. His immediate goal is to take over the movement by hook and by crook.  Eddie Lane (Aaron Paul) who has decided that the movement is “fairy tale bulls*t” is having visions and may well be responsible for a miracle.

Abe Gaines (Rockmond Dunbar) is now in an awkward position.  Even while Eddie told him that “The Light” was rubbish, it was his prayer that, presumably, saved Gaines’ daughter from life threatening surgery.  Abe is no longer investigating the movement but he must be torn. 

Now the battle for the Meyerist Movement is between Cal (Hugh Dancy), Sarah (Michelle Monaghan), Eddie and Steve Meyer (Keir Dullea). Meyer, who may just be in remission, is at least cognizant and may be ready to dethrone Roberts. 

(If he is really there in the room at all. Eddie has been hallucinating a lot, is that really “Doc” or is it another vision?)

Cal told the comatose Meyer of his plans. Medical experts have postulated that coma patients can hear everything going on around them. Did Roberts’ news upset Meyer enough that he fought free of his coma, via the light? (Again assuming that Eddie did really see Meyer in the room.)

Roberts is dangerous.  It has been pointed out by elders in the movement. All that remains is to see how the danger will manifest itself when the truth comes out.  The only miracle may well be Sarah surviving her investigation into Cal’s murder of Silas.

“The Path” airs Wednesdays on Hulu.  Tune in and get caught up in the movement.

The Path: The Shore – Cal, Eddie and Hawk (Review)

Cal (Hugh Dancy)

A drunken Cal works to depose of Silas’ body in ‘The Path’ this week. Eddie and Hawk travel together and memories come flooding back for the father as they walk along the shore of the Coney Island boardwalk. Gaines gets a shock when his boss reveals that he is handing the Meyerist case over to the attorney general’s office and Sarah has a damned scary dream that can also be seen as a vision or a portent of bad things to come.

Cal backslides by drinking while he buries Silas and then cleans up. He brings Sean back to the compound for Mary and Nicole is having her baby.  Roberts goes to Sarah for help and she gets too attached.

Before the leader’s return, Sarah finds the Pacamamma idol that Silas brought with him and it is this that she saw in her dream.

Eddie is overwhelmed with memories of his brother as he and Hawk eat clam rolls and talk about  life, the walk and love.  Scrapping up a handful of change, Eddie urges Hawk to call his IS girlfriend.

Gaines (Rockmond Dunbar) is invited to dinner, along with his wife, by the division head and his colleagues believe that Abe is in for a promotion. At the meal with Abe’s boss, the man orders for his guests and then reveals that Gaines is losing the case.  The agent does not react well and after raging at his superior storms out. 

At Coney Island, Eddie sees his dead brother as Hawk talks on the phone with Ashley.

Nicole is having problems with the birth and when the infant is finally delivered the baby girl is not breathing.  Cal freezes but Sarah gives the newborn mouth-to-mouth and the tiny baby girl begins to cry. Sarah then does Cal’s “job” and welcomes this new soul into the world.

Mary (Emma Greenwell) and Sean (Paul James) share a moment of light where he asks about Cal and she tells her lover there was nothing between them.  Before they have sex, she starts to flush the drugs down the toilet but instead takes one, a flake, and puts the container back. 

Cal and Sarah react to their feelings for one another and when Sara wants to stop, Cal tells her that Eddie has been lying to her. She searches for evidence and finds the burner phone with  Alison Kemp’s (Sarah Jones) phone number on it and Eddie has called her a number of times. 

The warning of the Meyerist elder early in the episode was that Cal would destroy the movement through his recklessness. A movement that Silas told Roberts was dead. It may well be that Cal will be the beginning of the end for not just the movement but for Sarah’s family as well.

The walk for Eddie and Hawk is a path of discovery for both of them as Eddie relives his life before the movement and Hawk realizes that he may have to leave in order to be with Ashley.

Abe Gaines will no doubt continue his undercover integration into the movement. This cannot end well for the agent but the little we have seen of Abe shows him to be a “type ‘A'” personality.

The Pacamamma idol of Silas’ cannot bode well for Cal, or the group, and Mary’s keeping the drug and still taking it is another portent of bad things to come. With Sarah’s temper, finding that phone, thanks to Cal, Eddie may not want to return at the end of his walk.

In all likelihood the Cal enforced walk may end early and Eddie, if not Hawk, will return to face the wrath of Sarah. In conversation with Roberts, Sarah tells him that  alcoholism is his “rock to bear.” One wonders what Sarah’s rock is.

She is a complex character, perhaps even more so than Cal, with his rage, impulsiveness and psychosis.  For all her “leadership” qualities in the sect, she does have a deep seated anger and, apparently, a problem with jealousy.  Is this her rock to bear?

‘The Path’ airs Wednesdays on Hulu. Tune in and see where this movement heading.

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