Dig – The Well of Souls – Recap & Review

Six of 10 parts into this series, this is when the show started to drag for me. With the mystery of what’s behind the conspiracy pretty much laid out at this point, and Debbie having made it safely out of the compound, we seem to be in an in-between state of the high tension from earlier in the series and the inevitable confrontation, as the warring sides converge in the final few episodes.

To be honest, I had trouble making it through the whole episode, but I’m glad I did, because there was a surprise at the end. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, be warned – it’s a pretty major spoiler, which I will be discussing below.

The Recap …

A good part of the focus was on the break-up of Peter and Det. Cohen. While the two have been working side by side up to this point to break the case, they split on different paths this week, with Cohen tracking down and arresting a suspect in the murder of Emma Wilson, and Peter following the mystery behind the symbol he found in Emma’s journal, and then again on the tunnel wall.

After two watches, I’m still a little fuzzy on how Cohen got his suspect. There was a fob found at the death scene of Yussef Khalid (they’ve figured out it’s a suicide), and I’m assuming that was traced to the suspect, who Peter has fingered as a patsy. Peter, a little too enthusiastically, tries to warn off the suspect, whom he believes is being set up, and get him to confide in him.  He attempts this by tricking Cohen into leaving the interrogation room and blocking the door. That move gets him finally thrown off the case by Lynn and sent packing back to the US.

Peter, meanwhile, has the drawing of the symbol traced and finds a connection to a man in a mental hospital. The man had the symbol carved onto his chest.  The symbol, we saw in the last episode, matches the shape of the Pastor Billingham’s compound.  Peter’s given a key by the man’s girlfriend – to what is unclear. He hands that key off to Cohen before preparing to leave Israel, but arrives back in his hotel room to find a beaten up Emma Wilson, asking for his help.

Meanwhile, Avram begins to question the company he’s keeping, as the bald man who took the place of the conspirator that was supposed to accompany Avram on the next leg of his journey performs a creepy ritual while he has Avram in an ice bath. Avram sneaks out during the night to call Rabbi Lev and is told by Lev that the man is dangerous and is probably from the Sons of Light sect, which we had previously learned was a religious group trying to keep the stones hidden to prevent the second coming.

Lev tells Avram to kill the bald man, but Avram hesitates and the man takes his knife. However, he doesn’t kill Avram when he has the chance.

In New Mexico, Debbie and Charlie are holding Josh at a motel as they flee from Billingham. One of the key moments from this scene is Debbie finally voicing what has implied through references to scripture, but hasn't been stated up until this point – that this is all about the second coming and Armageddon.  Debbie takes pity on Josh and removes the chain from his leg. She awakes to find Josh missing, but he’s not far. He's found some coins and is using them to try to get a toy from a dispenser at the motel. The two have what feels like the most honest and normal conversation this boy has had in young life, about God, and it gives me hope that he may be redeemable.

Somehow, though, Billingham has found them and arrives as Debbie and Josh hide outside the motel. I'm hoping we don't find out that Josh had called him. Charlie is captured, but Debbie and Josh escape and make it as far as a local FBI office, but there are spies in even the local FBI. Debbie, while waiting to talk to an agent, receives a threatening call from Billingham, telling her to walk away from the FBI or Charlie will die. She does.

Thoughts

As I said earlier, parts of this episode felt a little clunky and slow moving to me. Cohen fell onto a suspect too quickly and seemed to be lacking his previous good instincts that should have led him to question his luck. I’m also not sure how exactly how he became so certain that this man was their killer. Peter, a little too conveniently, was connected to a man who is looks to be an important key to unraveling the mystery.

I'm also finding it a little hard to believe that this conspiracy has spies everywhere. When Debbie first escaped and we learned that the local law enforcement officer was corrupted, that seemed reasonable because the compound is probably well established and powerful in the area.  That the ambassador is also taking part in the conspiracy seems more unlikely, but I can accept that there are going to be a few surprise moles.  Now we learn that even the local FBI office has a spy.  I'm struggling to understand why so many people would risk everything to end the world as they know it.  Maybe learning more about their motivations would help.

On the positive side, there was the reappearance of Emma. While it’s not totally a surprise – I guessed that she might be alive after watching the pilot because there were so many hints that she was targeting Peter for some reason – I’m glad to see her back because this should open the story in a new direction.

What does her reappearance mean?  On the one hand she looks frightened and beaten up. On the other, the fact that she was presumed dead and seemed to be purposely copying Peter’s daughter hints that she’s been setting him up for some role. The question is, what? If he was targeted, why? Does the suicide of his daughter have anything to do with it? Are there other players around him or elsewhere in the story involved?

So what do you think of it so far?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

About the Author - Chris684

Chris is a New Englander with a background in print and digital media, who currently earns a living by making web and technology products easier to use. She has a weakness for TV characters who are 'dark and twisty' (to quote Meredith Grey) and reviews The Walking Dead, Legends, Halt and Catch Fire, and Dig for SpoilerTV.

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