The Path centers around a cult in upstate New York known as the Meyerist movement. The most impressive thing about the show is the way Jessica Goldberg (who wrote about her creative process in an article entitled How I Lost My Religion and Created a New One) builds an impressively intricate religious world view for her characters from the ground up through weaving together a number of existing mythologies and religious practices. In Meyerism, there's a ladder and rungs and "the light" and a lot that seems hokey from an outside perspective. Then again, most religions seem pretty hokey to outsiders (part of the point here).
Those who might admire the complexity of the show's religious infrastructure might be disappointed by the fact that it's not really a show about religion and inner spiritualism. For that, you might want to get Frank Capra's "Lost Horizon" or "Razor's Edge" or Martin Scorsese's "Silence" or even the Robert Zemeckis sci-fi film "Contact".
The show might have started in that vein and does feature characters who are trying to find spiritualism, but it's primarily about the follies of the "kingdom of man" than the "kingdom of god" as some medieval saint I learned about in history class (and since have forgotten) put it. It's more interested about the politics of a religious organization that is already positioned as the antagonistic force. As a result, it's hard for the show to really enter into unbiased discourse about how to be spiritual when the characters that are evolving towards Meyerism are painted as either rubes or enablers of corruption from the start.
The show is also heavily about scandal with a capital "s" and three exclamation marks. There's a practice called unburdening where people confess everything to each other and are supposed to feel good about it. This is supposed to be ironic because nearly everyone on screen is having a lot of clandestine sex with people they're not supposed to be having sex with. There are more sex scenes here than nearly any other show I've seen in recent memory (even "Masters of Sex" didn't master having sex as frequently as these people). The camera is particularly interested in Michelle Monaghan getting hot and heavy, either to make some grand thematic statement or because some writer or producer just finds Monaghan hot and wants to see a lot of her. In short, it's a show that places A LOT of its eggs in the "Scandal!!!" basket.
At the center of the Meyerist movement is a family torn by various levels of devotion and a leader (Cal, played by Hugh Dancy) who ranks somewhere in the middle echelon of corrupt characters on TV. Part of the the theme is that corruption and shortcuts are hard to avoid when trying to build a big movement under the veneer of behaving with good morals. In this fashion, the show isn't just a political snipe at Scientology (that would be kind of easy) but a richer more universal commentary about all religious organizations and how they can blind people to abuse of power: If you stand for good, is it that wrong to throw a little bad into the mix in service of the end goal?
The family consists of Eddie (Aaron Paul, who throws himself into the role admirably) who's beginning to actively rebel against Meyerism, wife Sarah (Michelle Monaghan) who's veering closer to the center of the religious power structure, and son Hawk (Kyle Miller) who's oscillating between the two ends. They also have a daughter but as of yet (halfway through season 2) she serves no discernible function (maybe Ray Romano served as a producer here?). Again, it is a situation that can be topically applied to a great many religions where intermarriage is a problem.
The use of side characters is also pretty well-placed: Emma Greenwell plays a former drug addict who's going in a journey of the opposite direction of Eddie and trying to rediscover herself in cult life. Similarly, Ali Ahn stands out as Sarah's sister-in-law who slowly pushes for power for her husband in the second season because, supposedly, he's less scandalous.
I didn't find it in the upper echelon of the most engaging things on TV but, for me, it was certainly watchable enough to stick with (it gets significantly more exciting in the second season). Enough ingredients are in place that it could really be someone's cup of tea.
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