Hulu’s intense psychological drama wraps up its first season confidently, setting up much more manipulation to come

“You can’t fake belief, you know.”

As The Path closes the door on its first season, it can’t help but feel reminiscent of how it began, with a strong foot forward and a smug wink to the audience. This is a show that enraptured many of us with its thought-provoking pilot. However, it’s one thing to tell the start of a compelling story, but another skill entirely to be able to stick the landing and bring it all together. Granted, The Path’s story is far from over, but with a very clear arc having been put to bed here with the end of the tenth episode, it’s fair to look at how this first season of the manipulating drama came together.

Perhaps what’s most fascinating with this show over the course of its inaugural season is how it dissects the idea of faith endlessly, showing how dangerous of an idea it can be. We see the concept invading people in a number of different ways, whether it’s providing them a security blanket for when they need help, being used as a tool to take advantage of someone, or just a constant in life that is turned to when you’re feeling melancholy. On the other hand, the series also does a fantastic job exploring what it feels like to have your significant other be endlessly devoted to something that you’re afraid of. We see the many different facets of Meyerism throughout the course of the season, with the larger questions of delusion and blind allegiance acting as the sort of thematic center to it all. There’s a scene early on in the series where the Meyerists’ de facto leader, Cal, spits out at an affluent skeptic, “Because I don’t give a shit about your million dollars. I want your faith.” That really says it all right there. This is a series where belief is currency and watching that fluctuate amongst this sect of survivors is continually fascinating.

Ultimately this season comes down to the battle between Cal (Hugh Dancy) and Eddie (Aaron Paul) as their separate struggles with faith under the Meyerism blanket pull the cult-like collective to adversely extreme places. It’s magical how the show eventually bubbles to the point that you’re nervous and tense whenever the two of them are occupying a scene together. It also doesn’t hurt that both of these actors’ previous homes, Hannibal and Breaking Bad, saw them undergoing mental trauma of the highest order. Re-appropriating this dynamic with them still being apart of some twisted puppet master relationship continues to work for them in The Path, and if anything is even more effective because of both actors’ previous baggage. It’s very interesting that both of these people, deep down, don’t believe in what Meyerism is preaching yet they go about this in completely opposite ways. Eddie’s struggle is your typical Hero’s Journey but it’s gutting to see his family so deeply entrenched in this system and being pulled apart, too. All he wants is the truth and it’s gripping how something so simple can be constantly eluding you.

The other extreme here happens in the season’s eighth episode, “The Shore,” which might also be the season’s best installment. Here we get a laid back entry that devotes most of its time to a pseudo-exiled Eddie and Hawk wandering the land. It’s kind of beautiful and all sorts of touching to see Eddie de-Movementing when he and his son reach Coney Island. Watching him remember what the real world is like, and then seeing it again for the first time through his son is extremely fulfilling. Seeing these two finally be able to put all of the bullshit aside and just be themselves and enjoy a clam roll is such a high.

The revelation of how much Hawk’s journey this season connects is something that comes as a big surprise. It’s just as satisfying—if not more so—than any one else’s story, but it carries even more impact due to how it affects everyone else. Hawk’s decisions down the road with his girlfriend form a strong schism between Eddie and Sarah (Michelle Monaghan) that shines a light on how fundamentally different these two are at the end of the day, Meyerism aside. This rift eventually explodes into the two of them arguing over whether the Movement makes sense or not, which is really what this show is all about. And how for some people it can already be too late for them when they reach this conclusion.

Meanwhile, Cal is willing to go to literally any means necessary to maintain his power and spread the word of this ballooning lie to anyone within earshot. He introduces the very frightening aspect of the Movement (and one that I’m sure is a factor in many real life “cults”) where they’re basically kidnapping civilians and “solving” their problems, with their allegiance and mouth service to the Ladder acting as payment. You know, kind of like Fascism. Cal also displays his faith in the form of doubling down on delusion. He forms such a narrative around Stephen, the Movement’s founder, yet it’s an ever-growing trick to everyone. He says that he wants to preserve the Ladder, but he really just wants to preserve his power supply. He’s never not using people as his tools, whether it’s through him working out his power issues through the impressionable Mary, or him finally shifting his efforts to Sarah. The character feels so desperate and grimy by the end of the season, and it’s an incredible transformation.

There’s also a moment where we get to see what Cal’s life with his family back home is like, and it’s an enlightening piece to his puzzle. It goes far to humanize the character and show how he’s just as lost and repression-happy as everyone else. There’s much more of a rags-to-riches mentality going on with Cal being determined to rise above his meager beginnings, almost like he’s fulfilling some prophecy. This backstory hardly redeems the character for the horrible things that he does over the course of the season, but it does help show that he is a victim of being entrenched in a system, too.

Part of the sweeping feeling of dread that this season takes its time building to is via all of these psychological landmines that Cal has implanted in so many people. Much like how Hawk’s story resonates to a surprising degree, the same can be said with Mary (Emma Greenwell). There’s a lot of tragedy coursing through this show but Mary might be the one that gets the brunt of it. We’re very much in her eyes through a lot of this, as much of a newcomer to Meyerism as she is, with her story very much being that of a classical victim’s. She goes through the wringer endlessly as she tries to find acceptance and feel at peace, which highlights the real dangers of self-altering institutions like this. She bounces between sexual dependency and an LSD addiction as means of coping, with Cal continually preying upon her. In spite of all of this manipulation that Mary is put through, her relationship with Sean turns into something so honest and genuine. It’s really beautiful and it might end up being the most real relationship in this show, even if it was predicated by such lies.

After putting all of these impressionable lives aside, the bigger questions that The Path digs into involve Cal working to secretly expand The Movement, with this push towards “mainstreaming” it going to lead to absolute problems for the group. The show knows how to pace itself well and it’s nice to see these elements of growth not dragging their feet. If anything, the progression of Meyerism should take time, but thankfully Cal’s impulsive nature pushing it ahead of schedule not only makes sense for the character, but is exciting television. There’s such a “crash and burn” aspect hanging over the final few episodes of the season, and it’s wonderful.

Any rough patches throughout the season come in the form of certain beats in Eddie and Sarah, and Hawk and Ashley’s respective relationships feeling repetitive at times. This is more so about treating these stories with the weight that they deserve. The payoffs mean all the more. While Sarah also seems to be coming around to Eddie’s side by the end of things, having the two of them be separated could be an even more interesting dynamic for next season (which, thank goodness, has been confirmed).

The component to the season that I thought was the other most interesting aspect to this show is it’s way of playing with your mind as much as the people within the show. A number of signs and visions begin happening within the series, particularly to Eddie, insinuating that he could be some sort of Messiah. The show wisely plays it both ways where he could be having a psychotic break or actually experiencing some divine intervention. It raises the compelling idea that even if everyone is misusing Meyerism, that doesn’t mean that there still isn’t truth to it underneath all of this. The season dangles everything so close to coming to the surface, yet not quite pulling the trigger on anything either. The final beat is such a gratuitous cliffhanger, but one that’s completely earned by the journey that it’s put Eddie (and the audience) on. It’s a moment that’s perfect, huge, and will completely dismantle the status quo even further next year.

The Path is a series that just when you think you have things figured out it pulls the rug out from under you, and with a show like this you hope that rug never ends.

The Path’s finale airs Wednesday May 25th, exclusively on Hulu.