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The Path

I must admit I was a bit shocked by third episode of The Path, “A Homecoming.” This is the first episode that didn’t make me want to do consensual sexual things to any of the main characters! Does that mean the show is getting worse, or better, or that I’m just really on a new path of personal growth? Read on to find out!

We open in Cuzco, Peru, where we learn that Dr. Steven Meyer is most definitely dying. He’s got a tumor somewhere (his brain, perhaps?) and it ain’t getting any better. Cal (Hugh Dancy) is all up in there with fellow 10R people, I think, which is the level where you get to know lots of creepy secret shit. And guess who else is there? Fantastic actor/singer and personal Benincasa fave Brian Stokes Mitchell! (Quick aside: Have you heard his Simply Broadway album? It is divine.) Anyway, I’m stoked that Stokes is in the cult and looking like he’s not the biggest fan of Cal…I really hope we see more of him. I wouldn’t be mad if he sang, either, just saying.

Oh hey, guess what? Cal goes to visit his mommy, who is an untreated alcoholic living in an apartment building in a bad neighborhood. We learn that Cal is sober AND his mom Brenda is played by Kathleen Turner! Why did I never see Kathleen Turner’s one-woman show as my beloved journalistic/humor icon Molly Ivins? Honestly, I’m still mad about missing that.

Anyway, she’s drunk and REAL fucked up here. Over the course of the episode, we learn that Cal is sober, that his mom was an unfit parent so his dad had custody, that his dad joined the cult and brought Cal when he was 5, that he then ABANDONED Cal to go back to VI Wardrunksi, and that Cal was raised by Dr. Steven Meyer in The Path. Then Boozessica Rabbit says she’ll go to an assisted living facility only if Cal takes a drink with her, which he does. He ends up yelling that he wants to let her die in the street like a dog! And then he gets wasted! And then he calls Sarah (Michelle Monaghan) back in Cultville and is like, “I got drunk” and she’s like “OMG we will fix this.”

Anyway, Cal ends up telling Sarah that Dr. Steven Meyer decided that Cal is the next president of shit-topia or whatever. It’s a lie, but Sarah believes it completely, because she is a brainwashed cult person. Also, Sarah gets REAL shitty this episode, being super-mean to Miranda Frank (Minka Kelly) who Eddie (Aaron Paul) claims he boned, but who Eddie did NOT in fact bone. Miranda maintains her innocence so The Path tortures her brain a whole lot and tries to make her drink poison juice of some kind.

Back at home, Sarah tries to “connect” with Eddie doing some weird tantric ritual.

Eddie wants to get down but Sarah “isn’t there yet” because she thinks he boned Minka Kelly, who she is now trying to destroy. There’s a bunch of batshit chanting, and then we get to know a little more about FBI Guy back at the compound. He’s shown up claiming he wants to join the group, and Eddie takes him around Cult Town and explains their commitment to environmental sustainability.

By the end of the episode, Eddie has found Miranda Frank maybe/probably dead. Teen dreamboat Hawk has stolen a generator to provide his crush with power now that her mom has stopped paying the electric company. And FBI Guy has bonded with Mr. Cox, the gross pimp dad of Mary Cox, who memorably blew Cal in the last episode.

Anyway, I’m psyched for next episode, when apparently Cal brings Eddie up to the next level of culty whatever.

I legit hope they make out in a shallow grave. Also, we want more Stokes! The people demand it!

See you next week, Pathheads.

[Watch The Path on Hulu]

Sara Benincasa (@SaraJBenincasa) is a comedian and writer. Her books are available at Amazon and your favorite indie bookshop and other book-type places.