- Title: The Lost Symbol – As Above, So Below
- IMDb: link
Adapted from Dan Brown’s 2009 novel of the same name, the opening episode of The Lost Symbol might be the most Dan Brown thing ever captured on film. As seen in The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and Inferno, Professor Robert Langdon (played here by Ashley Zukerman) is pulled into a bizarre mystery where his knowledge of history, symbology, art, cryptography, and obscure religious trivia will be put to the test against a secret cult (what else) determined to find secrets buried hundreds of years ago. The first episode focuses on Langdon being lured to Washington, D.C. to discover his mentor Peter Solomon (Eddie Izzard) has been kidnapped by a shadowy conspiracy hoping to force Langdon into discovering the location of their prize.
The episode involves Langdon’s discovery of his mentor’s disappearance, and his severed hand literally pointing the way to the professor’s new adventure, along with uncovering a hidden artifact in catacombs underneath the Capitol complete with hidden doors and death traps. Because, sure, why not? Valorie Curry co-stars here as the missing mentor’s daughter, and Landon’s former flame, along for the ride. And Beau Knapp plays our boogeyman, the mysterious tattooed Mal’akh, responsible for Solomon’s kidnapping, Langdon’s involvement, and the death of CIA agents who stood between the Langdon fully embracing the mystery. And so the hunt for some mysterious portal, rumored to bestow power to those worthy, gets off to a so-so start featuring our good doctor mansplaining the plot, acting confused, or running for his life (depending on what each individual scene calls for).