The Araf
Episode 2 of The Lost Symbol begins with Langdon being urged to toss his phone. With Katherine by his side, the pair follow the clues to “Pass the Wayfarer”, slipping down into a hidden passageway where Warren, Peter Solomon’s close friend, happens to be waiting for them. Langdon is understandably wary and suspicious of this guy, but he apparently used to be with the State Department. He was in charge of every building within the Capital Complex and as such, knows all the ins and outs of these buildings – including hidden passageways and rooms. He takes them to an underground room safe from prying eyes, where they can discuss what’s transpired thus far. They also check out the contents of the envelope Langdon found but we’ll get to that in a second. For now, Langdon shows Warren the pyramid. He’s as much in the dark as they are, needing to find the capstone but with no clues as to where it may be. Meanwhile, the CIA try to work out the connection with the shooters, linking back to a symbol of Triskelion potentially holding a clue to this given it was scrawled in blood on the wall of the Turkish cell. For now though, they focus on finding Langdon. Down in the basement, Langdon question Warren about what he’s hiding. Eventually he divulges a crucial clue, confirming that the pyramid is actually a map. When the pyramid and capstone are brought together, they allegedly reveal the location of a portal. That’s the oath that Peter and Warren have both taken, with the former wiling to die to keep this a secret. The only person able to decipher this code on the pyramid though is Peter. However, the trio deduce that Peter’s ring could help point in the right direction. The only trouble is, it’s in the Capitol building. Recovering from his injuries in hospital, Langdon and Katherine show up to see Nunez. They take the bumbling security guard outside, enlisting his help to obtain the ring. He manages to break it out the building without a hitch, handing it over to Langdon and Katherine. Back at the library, Langdon and Katherine meet back up with Warren and begin looking over the ring’s engravings. Now, given it includes the symbol for Pi, Langdon begins writing out the numbers (he actually knows the first 417 by heart) and uses this to circle letters from the scripture found in Solomon’s safe. Now, the contents off this envelope (which were revealed he had earlier but which makes more sense to divulge here) happens to be Chapter 3 of the Old Testament, the “First Kings, the Judgment of Solomon.” The letters don’t make much sense on their own, with Warren despairing and claiming it’s all a jumble. However, they could well need to be unscrambled to uncover the truth. The group are rudely interrupted by Detective Sato though, who rings and warns Langdon that he’s going to get someone hurt. They know where he is and they’re going to bring him in for questioning. Realizing that their time is up, Langdon and Katherine scramble out before the police can find them. They use an old conveyor that bridges the buildings together. It’s pretty claustrophobic and when the belt breaks down midway through the tunnels, Langdon starts to panic. Katherine manages to calm him down though, as the pair scramble out to the other side, breathing a sigh of relief. Despite making it to safety, Mal’akh rings Langdon and reminds him he needs to work alone. He needs to cut Katherine loose. Now, throughout the episode we’ve seen glimmers of Peter escaping his torturous ordeal but here, the truth is finally unveiled. It turns out al of this has been a hallucination and in reality, Peter’s body is partially submerged in a tank of water. According to Mal-akh, Peter is in Araf, thee borderline between Heaven and Hell. Whether he makes it back alive or not depends on Langdon’s actions.
The Episode Review
The Lost Symbol returns this week with a pretty good follow-up chapter, one that slows the pace ever-so-slightly to allow our characters some breathing room. Langdon is still quite awkward and not a very convincing main character butt the story is at least enticing enough to stick with for the time being. This plot is the main driving force of The Lost Symbol though and seeing all these different puzzle pieces come together in a compelling way is the one stand-out element of this. There are still a few contrivances though, like Nunez just randomly able to waltz into the Capitol building and take the ring out without a hitch, but for the most part this has been an enjoyable thriller. We’ll have to wait and see where this one goes next but the urgency in the story is just starting to ramp up a bit now.
