‘The Path’ Recap, Episode 8: Peak Whiteness (And Hand Sex, Too)

What up, Pathheads? This week’s episode is #108, “The Shore.” The title is literal, because Sexy Eddie (Aaron Paul) and Baby Hawk (Kyle Allen) go down the shore (although not the Jersey Shore, sadly.) But it’s metaphorical and shit, also. Or something. I don’t know. A hobo banged on the doors and fences on the block last night at 4 a.m. so suffice to say I’m about as well-rested as Hot Miranda Frank (Minka Kelly) after a week in solitary.

So, Handsome Cal (Hugh Dancy) is stressed, on account of he murdered cult doctor/sculptor/wearer-of-socks-with-Birkenstocks Silas (Steve Mones).

He hangs out with the dead bod, and then decides to schlep it to the woods, as one does. There’s a bit of hilarity when he can’t get the trunk of his car shut because Silas is SO DAMN BIG AND DEAD, and I was wholly entertained. Oh, also? Cal is still drunk from a bender. But he can drive straight, mostly! As he drives out of the gate to Kult Kamp, he encounters the molester-pimp dad of Damaged Mary (Emma Greenwell) and then threatens to kill him. Cal’s on a roll, my friends!

I want to give Steve Mones a shout out for some great Dead Acting in this episode.

Anyway, Brainwashed Sarah (Michelle Monaghan) is having a nice dream that goes bonkers because she envisions Baby Hawk and Little Summer (Aimee Laurence) almost getting hit by a truck! But then instead she sees something that scares her even more – a lady with snakes who is maybe Medusa or maybe some goddess appropriated from one of the many cultures the Meyerism Movement cannibalizes in search of spiritual fulfillment they can convert into a pyramid scheme in a capitalist society!

Damaged Mary is addicted to drugs because her brain is broken because of her abusive dad. She fucks an annoying and unworthy woman because that’s what you do when you need drugs sometimes, or you’re just lonely.

Oh hey look, Shirtless Hugh Dancy is Shirtless!

Okay so Felicia (Tony Award winner Adriane Lenox, ladies and gentlemen!) wants Sarah to lead the Meyerist Movement instead of Cal, because Cal is batshit and Sarah is a True Believer. I mean Felicia is batshit also. Everyone is batshit! Felicia is also smart. She and Handsome Cal are basically the only smart characters on the show. Maybe they’re not ACTUALLY smart…more like smart-adjacent. They live down the street from Smart, perilously close to Idiot Alley.

Baby Hawk and Sexy Eddie wander around. There’s a subplot with FBI Agent Abe (Rockmond Dunbar), America’s husband. Whatever. Cal pukes a bunch. He also wakes up to a Post-It that I acknowledge as a very clear homage to the scene in “Sex and the City” where Berger dumps Carrie. Fuck Berger. But also, Carrie was a nightmare.

I guess the note is that somebody’s having a baby! Let’s go to yet another late-Victorian townhouse refurbished for cult people, shall we?

Now this is where Ali Ahn does The Work.

Sarah’s mother Stupid Gab (hot babe Deirdre O’Connell) is stupid and terrible. She and Sarah ignore Nicole, who’s just trying to give birth to her 18th kid in a fucking tub of water, and like all unwoke White feminists, they fucking SIT BY and talk about their DREAMS while a WOC does actual literal labor FOISTED UPON HER BY A MEDIOCRE WHITE MAN (Sarah’s goofy brother) which is basically what The Path is all about, underneath it all: white people failing at everything except enforcing and promoting Whiteness. And they’re even bad at that.

But really, this moment is Peak Whiteness.

I want to say it’s all conscious because this soap opera is actually pretty smart in spots, and this scene is deliberately really fucking funny, so kudos for that, people who wrote this show. Maybe they were just tired of sincerity by the time they dove into Ep 108. Maybe somebody in the writers room read their old Edward Said from their self-designed cult screenwriting major at Gallatin or whatever the fuck. I don’t know. Lot to unpack here.

Nicole curses Sarah and Stupid Gab out, which is great and so beautiful.

Anyway, Cal shows up and people are all hanging out while this chick gives birth. And then the only moment of the season to genuinely move me happens when Nicole is like, “This baby is all messed up” and everybody is like, “No, listen to us, the baby is fine because everything is fine in our world where we coast on being good-looking and coming from a rigid hierarchy of privilege” and then the baby is NOT FINE. Let’s watch ACTING happen, shall we?

Then Sarah does some kind of weak-ass CPR and the baby, who is like, “Jesus Christ, do I have to fucking do everything my goddamn self ALREADY?” decides to live. And I cried.

Really a nice moment, well done by the cast as per usual.

Alright here’s the rest of what you need to know.

Cal and Sarah have Hand Sex, basically.

They use Dr. Bronner’s because of course they do and I laughed out loud.

Then they finally fucking make out.

Sarah stops it and Cal cries and then he tells her Eddie has been lying to her about Miranda Frank. He neglects to mention that he himself is a murderer. Hiding and lying is all part of his disease, though, so I feel like if he just works a program, maybe in conjunction with some yoga and probably a stay in Malibu, it’ll all be fine.

Meanwhile, back at Coney Island, Eddie sees his hot dead brother and learns the true meaning of family!

Eddie sees some birds hanging out and it means something or whatever. Aaron Paul is such a great actor, seriously. Damn.

The last thing we see is Sarah discovering Eddie’s phone that is probably a burner phone from The Wire because all TV is constantly in conversation with all other TV. She notes that he has a bunch of calls to and from a number she doesn’t recognize. This upsets her!

As we hurtle towards the marvelous conclusion of Season 1 of The Path, let’s remember what’s really important: God is not real and religion is 90% garbage used to manipulate people and steal their finances and 10% good stuff. Except for Unitarians. They seem nice enough.

Til next week, my babies!

[Watch The Path on Hulu]

Sara Benincasa (@SaraJBenincasa) is a comedian and writer. Her books are available at Amazon and your favorite indie bookshop and other book-type places.