Dig

THE NEW TELEVISION SERIES DIG has been getting some attention in the media. Here are a couple of recent reviews.

Review: On USA’s ‘Dig,’ a Murder Investigation Takes an Apocalyptic Turn. (Mike Hale, NYT).

A red calf is born in Norway, an eerie 12-year-old boy is raised in captivity in New Mexico and a young American archaeologist is murdered in Jerusalem. The connection? Too early to tell, but all signs point to the world being saved 10 weeks from now.

“Dig,” a new series starting Thursday night on USA, is the latest post-“Da Vinci Code” thriller that combines a murder mystery with an ancient-history primer. Conspiracies are afoot, and prophecies are finally coming true. The show, an American-Israeli coproduction, kicks off with a quote from the Torah (“Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect”) and encompasses squads of rabbis, a desert Christian cult, Essenes (kind of like biblical ninjas), tunnels under the Temple Mount and the breastplate of a high priest.

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Apocalypse, Now: Dig's Surprisingly Relevant Doomsday Drama. USA's new outlandish murder-mystery miniseries offers a smart portrayal of religious fanaticism that has real-world resonance. (Katie Kilkenny, The Atlantic). Excerpt:

The question remains whether a conspiracy-theory show airing on a network best-known for its “blue skies” comedies can actually prompt viewers to both enjoy and do their research. I found Dig equally addictive before and after knowing that the Essenes were an apocalyptic, survivalist cult whose numbers have dwindled considerably, or that the Urim and Tummim is an actual, sacred object. And though it engages with the relevant larger themes of fanaticism, the End of Times, and land ownership that are spurring international turmoil at the moment, Dig is cautious when it comes to political commentary. It makes no mention of the Palestinian territories aside from its thinly-sketched villain—nor does it touch on Iran or ISIS.

The URL header to the Atlantic review refers to "the not entirely stupid escapism of Dig," which sounds about right. Although Essenes who are "kind of like biblical ninjas" take us into the realm of the entirely stupid.