It has nothing specific to do with the book they’re adapting, and, through the rest of the three episodes sent to critics, it has nothing to do with their TV show. It’s a clever thing for creators Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie to acknowledge at the beginning of their streaming conspiracy thriller. This, to some not insignificant degree, is the primary legacy of Dan Brown’s wildly popular novels and the infinite conspiracy-baiting fictions they’ve emboldened. He notes that these groups have created or appropriated imagery, gestures and slogans and built QAnon-style movements around misinterpreted and out-of-context clues. At what point, though, do their convictions and your pursuit of happiness become mutually exclusive? When do benign symbols become malignant?”Ĭast: Ashley Zukerman, Valorie Curry, Sumalee Montano, Rick Gonzalez, Eddie Izzard and Beau KnappĬreators: Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie, from the book by Dan Brownįrom there, Langdon goes on to discuss the symbols that bind alt-right groups and fringe conspiracy theorists. He touches briefly and rudimentarily on the power of symbols and continues, “It’s all superstition, but people can believe what they want. Symbologist Robert Langdon ( Succession and Manhattan veteran Ashley Zukerman) is lecturing a Harvard class, and it’s one of those lectures intended to instruct not the gathered group of fictional students, but rather the show’s viewers. Reminiscent of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it's a loved one that prods Langdon into action, forcing him to uncover a rumored ancient portal that leads to unlimited knowledge and power.Within five minutes, Peacock’s Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol does something fairly smart, something that will also immediately alienate much of the show’s intended audience. The mystery Langdon gets embroiled in this time around, involving the disappearance of his mentor, Peter Solomon (Eddie Izzard, once again in Hannibal-style danger), isn't an instantly captivating corker. You want this type of character to be both out of their depth and in their element at the same time, and in this way, Zukerman is a solid, satisfying Langdon. It's sort of the sweet spot for TV snoops, that balance between perceptive and pesky. Zukerman is pleasant and punchy in the role, giving us a detective who's awkward enough to be endearing and driven enough to be obnoxious. It's very much an average, by-the-numbers scavenger hunt.įear Street's Ashley Zukerman plays Harvard University professor Robert Langdon, a boastful brainiac of all things religious iconology and symbology.
And that may very well be the case for The Lost Symbol, but the pilot episode - "As Above, So Below" - doesn't exactly kick off this caper in crackerjack fashion.
Of course, it might be because his books were big screen Tom Hanks projects for a full decade, but Langdon's adventures feel tailor-made for an episodic format. Given how many Lost clones we suffered in the wake of that show's conclusion, it's actually surprising it took this long to get a Dan Brown book adapted for the small screen. The premiere of The Lost Symbol, based on the third book in Dan Brown's best-selling Robert Langdon symbologist series, is an earnest but half-cooked puzzler featuring capable, amiable leads and a clunky clockwork plot that offers few surprises.Īfter ABC's Lost went off the air in 2010, networks scrambled to find the next supernatural mystery box series.