5.03.2015

dig (on usa!) #9: i can't even.

Oh, Golan. I will miss your hot headed self and
sarcastic detective asides. 
Y'all. I can't even. I mean, I've slept on it for three days. And I'm still...I'm still...I can't even.

Well, let's just deal with it. Because I've done talk therapy, I know the best thing to do with emotions that are overwhelming you is to just face them head on and deal with them. Talk about them. So let's do that first, Internet:

1-ONE EPISODE IS LEFT. You guys! There is only ONE EPISODE LEFT. What the hell am I going to DO with myself?? What will I look forward to on Thursday nights at 10 PM U.S. Eastern Standard Time? What will I over analyze? What excuses will I have to ask Jason Isaacs weird questions on Twitter? More than all of that: WHAT WILL I RESEARCH??!! I really have to stop and take deep breaths when I think about all of this.

FYI/side note: I did put a demand out in the Universe/Twittersphere, to let them know there MUST be a Season 2 for DIG. Universal Cable Products favorited it, and that felt like God saying, "Yes, my child." But I also know (from personal experience) how God can be--sometimes God just likes to fuck with people. (I submit the entire book of Job from the Bible as evidence.) 

2-Golan's death. I'll be honest with you: I'm still not okay. I AM NOT OKAY. Listen: I had a whole thing cooked up for the DIG writers, about how Peter and Golan could go to Russia next and fight Putin. Because I think someone like Putin just needs to be taken down by a gay person. It was such a perfect plan--Peter was going to be the emotionally wrecked wing man in DIG Season 2 who gets beat up and smacked around, and Golan was going to be the hothead who saves the world (sorry, Jason). And then I was going to ask Jason and Ori where they'd like to go for Season 3, and I was going to have Anne Heche beat up all the bad guys and save the world, and Jason and Ori were going to do paperwork and get beat up by the bad guys now and then. But in a location they both really wanted to be in, because I'm just really thoughtful about things like that.

But no. NO!! The DIG writers did it again. They killed a darling. With another cut to the throat, but this time far crueler and gorier. That cut was right through the trachea, I'm told. As opposed to Debbie's slit throat, which was sacrificial in nature, a cruel-but-kind gentle death almost. Golan had to, like, literally drown in his own blood, knowing who did it and what was happening. Horrific. And my particular brain can't handle gore or thinking of people having to KNOW they're dying slowly but surely in graphic ways, especially when this is done to characters I've become emotionally invested in, who I've grown to love a lot. (What I'm saying is: this is going to stay with me awhile.)

Also I tweeted this to Ori Pfeffer, and I actually meant it: he's a big talent, and I think he deserves an Emmy for that death scene alone. I wish someone would put me in charge of the Emmys--I would so make that happen for him. (I also wish someone would put me in charge of Congress and the Department of Education. I have some good ideas for them, too.)

(sigh) It's okay DIG writers. I still love you. I'm totally aghast with you (and, I'll be honest, I'm slightly afraid of you), but I'm still head over heels for you. Because I have a hard time getting rid of adverbs; you guys are offing whole characters, left and right! (THIS is what good writing is, you all...they are master storytellers, the DIG writers. Sorry if you're a TV critic and didn't notice that after the first episode--just for that, I hope your bosses make you write about--and, worse, watch--American Idol season XXVVIIIXXIIIVV.)

Okay. That's done. I am done. I'll be okay eventually. Let's move on to DIG #9, Jehoshaphat. (If you haven't read the research I did on Jehoshaphat, you can if you have time--because I think Tad & Co. are heading to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Or the Dome of the Rock with a bunch of bombs hidden in some books. So go educate yourself on Gog and Magog/Armageddon...Valley of Jehoshaphat is where that starts.)

1-Avram. DIG writers: DO NOT KILL HIM. I forbid it! I forbid it. Avram has a pure, sweet heart. And also: somebody's got to take care of Red the Cow. (On Twitter, Jason told everyone that show creator/writer/producer Gideon Raff bought all the show's cows--so the real Red and her compatriots are somewhere safe now. You will never, ever eat any of them at McDonald's. Which you shouldn't be eating at anyway, since they clean their meat with bleach and are part of the problem not the solution.)

2-Shem the Essene. DIG writers: DO NOT KILL HIM. I forbid it! I forbid it. Shem is bad ass, and I would like him to be in charge (if I can't be). He told Peter that if Peter could solve this mess, he'd heal himself and the world. And who the heck doesn't want to do THAT?! Win-win. And he stopped Avram from making a stupid mistake.

[Edit/Update: I forgot to mention that what the Essenes are doing, as they bury their dead, is saying the Mourner's Kaddish. I wrote about that in one of my geeky researcher entries: HERE...if you're interested in knowing about it.]

3-Lynn. DIG writers: DO NOT KILL HER. I forbid it! I forbid it. She got clocked on the head by that FBI clerk and her accomplice, but I don't think she's dead. I think Lynn is somewhere, just unconscious. Lynn trusted Liat, the FBI girl who is always looking up things on her computer (kind of like me--except I'M trustworthy) (mostly), and asked her to get all the airplane manifestos to find out who Ruth the evil Ambassador had coming into Israel. But hey, Lynn: when the FBI puts beautiful women in your office? That's usually an indication they're double agents. It's what the KGB and the CIA do, too. And probably Scotland Yard. It's how secret agents like to work. I think. At least in show biz.

At any rate--Ruth walked in to Lynn's office, just to mess with Lynn. She knew exactly why Lynn had Liat sitting in her office. She knew. Because Ruth had already put out a hit on Lynn, and Liat was in charge of it. Evil people, I tell ya. You have to stay 2 steps ahead of them.

4-Emma. DIG writers: You can kill Emma. Please kill Emma! (sorry, Alison.) You have my blessing, writers. Kill away. Make it nasty.

Because I knew it! I KNEW IT! That chick is a femme fatale. A Jezebel. The whore of Babylon. (No, for real: the whore of Babylon is in the book of Revelations, as part of the Christian End of Days. She's associated with the Antichrist and the Beast; she's an idolatress who is part of the Apocalypse.) 

5-And Peter! Peter!!! You just HAD to go and have shower sex with the Whore of Babylon, didn't you? Didn't you! And then phone your wife. (Do you ever notice that Peter does this, every time he has sex with someone he's not married to, coworker or idolatress? Peter cheats, then phones home. And he keeps his wedding ring on. Lands. You are a friggin' mess, Peter C.) (and I've given up trying to figure out the chest scar--I think it's just one of those character development things...sometimes when I write stories I give my characters background that never actually makes it in the actual story. Maybe this is one of those things.) (OR! There can be a Season 2 of DIG and the pilot can be titled THE SCAR.)

He talks to his wife about their dead daughter Vicky, seminary, how lost he is. (Seriously, this woman has the patience of a saint.) Peter had a girlfriend in seminary school (red flag #1), and he was just amazed when he held baby Vicky for the first time. Then Peter's wife says, "She came to us for a reason." (That's a clue--I'll tell you what I think his wife meant in just a minute.)

Before calling his saintly wife, Peter does a thing that, when I still believed Jesus is magic and went to church, I used to like to do: plays Bible roulette. It's where you get the Bible (actually, any holy text will do), close your eyes, and shuffle the pages to see where God lands you. Like spiritual Magic 8 Ball (which actually does work, you guys--go find a Magic 8 Ball and try it. Magic 8 Ball knows EVERYTHING, I'm not kidding) (whatever--I see you out there, rolling your eyes at me...a Magic 8 Ball told me I'd move to Georgia. BOOM! Stick that in your skeptic file).

Peter lands on a verse in the book of 1 Peter (of course!) specifically chapter 4, which basically tells him to be on the lookout--Satan's on the prowl. (Here, I will assert that, while not religious, I am spiritual...and so I watch shows like DIG and scenes like this and go: this is where the Divine intervenes to love and protect. Happens all the time--at some point, remind me, and I'll tell you about the time the Divine rescued me from being sold into sex slavery from a Mexican pool hall.)(No, seriously.)

Then Golan comes and makes his annoyed but loving Golan jokes about Peter keeping his peter in his pants.

6-Josh. DIG writers: You can kill Josh. Please kill Josh! (sorry, Zen.) You have my blessing.

Ruth Ridell is a religious crazy. She kisses Josh's hand like he's the King of England or the Pope. (Note to self: start having 2nd graders kiss my hand--establish a classroom hierarchy.) There are ginormous boxes of Tad Billingham's books in the airport warehouse they land at. (How the hell does Tad Billingham get published so easily? I can't get anyone to even read my wattpad.com short story.) Personally, I think the books are hiding explosives...explosives that will be sent to the Temple Mount to blow things up after Red has been burned up. Or maybe Tad just really, really hopes people in Israel will read his book and join his cult. (I'm kidding...the books are a front.)

7-Emma is a femme fatale. She kills Golan. She's a bad guy. Bad girl. A devil's advocate. A Jezebel gone wild. No longer in my tribe--kicked out! 

I loved the camera work--another example of how the creators are playing with lighting, color, scenery, camera angles, etc and so forth to tell their story. Emma's true nature is revealed in Golan's dying pupil......

................................

I'm sorry. I'm back. I had to take sobbing/grief break. (it's okay! I'll be okay--please, no flowers. Just donate to a literacy or childhood poverty program in Golan's name, okay?)

At any rate, Emma's vicious. And probably another religious crazy--she tells Peter as she's wiping up blood that she thinks it's kind of nice when people want to die for their beliefs. (Remember when she said John Donaldson's room at the convent was crazy? Pot, meet kettle.) 

My theory is that she's Peter's daughter's twin. I think Peter and his wife adopted Vicky--or were given Vicky to raise in some way. (Remember? "She came to us for a reason.") And I think Emma MAY be related to Vicky? Maybe. I could be wrong. But I feel strongly I am NOT wrong about Vicky being adopted by Peter and saintly, patient wife. There's just something weird about Emma, and about Peter's daughter. I've heard a theory about cloning--maybe. Maybe Emma/Vicky were cloned in the creepy New Mexico compound. And one was given to Peter/wife and the other to John Donaldson/wife. Because girls can't be high priests. 

(But then, why wouldn't they have just offed those baby girls? But maybe the high priest and the baby girls were supposed to breed the Messiah...I don't know I don't know!! It's hard to know when dealing with religious crazies.)

At any rate, I also wonder if EMMA was the child left alone for 3 days with the bodies of her dead parents (the retired detective tells Golan this at his house in the Negev desert--he asks him to imagine what that would do to a child. Oh, I don't know, retired, grizzly Israeli detective? Turn them into a cold-blooded assassin? Maybe?)

Okay. Some other things to address in Dig #9:

--Margrove. That weasel got Peter to go to the Dig site. He's so wrong. DIG writers, you have my blessing to kill him off, too. (Sorry, Richard.)

--Gregory. He tells Golan everything. But then Golan takes it to the grave (of course). So he's not as crazy as he appears--I think he's being drugged on purpose, to keep him quiet I think. And I'm wondering if--now that Golan undrugged him--Gregory's going to pull it together, escape from the asylum, and come to Peter's rescue.

--Avram unpurifies Red by spray painting her. He also tries to kill Rabbi Lev, but is stopped by Essene Shem. And Shem tells him: that's not who you kill. You kill the High Priest. (Take out the queen...I know someone told me here in the comments that the chess piece was a bishop, but I'm wondering if it's actually the queen. In the pictures I looked up on chess, the piece portrayed in the show actually looks more like a queen piece. And--because I teach 2nd grade and we do insect life cycles and so I just happen to know this--there's a mythology that says if the queen bee dies, the entire colony drops dead. It actually doesn't; they just make themselves a new queen and start over, but I think that's interesting, if the chess piece is a queen.)

And one more thing before I go:

There's a mystic part of Judaism called Kabbalah. It's far too comprehensive for me to research it, but I'd love to learn a lot about it because mysticism is my kind of thing. Madonna the singer likes Kabbalah, but her version of it is watered down and feel good. The real Kabbalah is far more mystical than anything Madonna wants to practice.

In Kabbalah, numbers are uber important. In the show so far, we've seen how the number 19 is important. The numbers 7 and 13 are also big in Kabbalah, and have played into the show but not as prominently as 19. Another big number is 36.

In Kabbalah, there's a thing about something called "Righteous Souls." There are 36 of these souls on our planet (right now! as you read this!), and they don't even know who they are. God has a job for them to complete, and once they complete it, they're good. They go back to their lives none the wiser. In Hebrew, they're called Tzadikim Nistarim "hidden righteous ones"), and if Peter is one of the 36 hidden righteous ones, in Hebrew he'd be a Lamed Vav Tzadikim. The two Hebrew letters for the number 36 are lamed and vav, 30 + 6. The concept is based on a Talmudic statement that every generation has 36 righteous souls, who are there to greet the Divine Presence, or the Shechinah, which means "where God dwells."

Mystical Hasidic Judaism believes these 36 people are there to prove to God why He ought to keep us all around still, why He shouldn't just erase us and start all over. They are there to prevent disasters and the like, and once they prevent these disasters, they just....go back to their regular lives. They don't know each other, they aren't even aware of what they're doing, and they are spread all over the world. And, quite frankly, if someone ever walks up to you and goes, "Hi there...I'm here to save the world because I'm a Lamed Vav Tzadikim," then you'll know you're dealing with a fake. They are humble and sincere about what they're doing. They're just...trying to help. (I do this ALL the time, and usually make things worse. I'm hoping there's another set of 36, numbers 37-72 Lamed Vav Tzadikim, the loose cannon ones.)

More important? They are the WHOLE reason God keeps us all around. As long as there are 36 people who don't know they're saints running around, God's pretty good with us and we're safe. No destructive floods and crap. (Unless you're in Nepal--I hope you've texted some money to them.)

Anyway, that's who I think Peter is--he's a righteous soul who doesn't know it. But I bet Shem the Essene has his suspicions, which would be why he told Peter to fix this effed up Tad Billingham/Rabbi Lev situation, and he'd heal himself. Peter can go back to his saintly, patient wife and they can pick up the pieces.

Maybe.

Because NO!! No, USA Network!! You need to send Peter on another mission. He's one of the planet's 36 Righteous Souls, here to save us all!! And there's a girl in Atlanta, Georgia who needs stuff to research and write about. Okay? The planet's a humongous mess; there's plenty of healing for Peter to do for this crazy rock of ours. SEASONS of material. And more darlings for the DIG writers to kill off. 

I don't know if my heart can take it though--I'm the walking wounded here, in Georgia, about Golan. Just as I finished moving through the 7 stages of grief with Debbie, BAM. Now I'm back at square one. 

Story of my life: And then she was back at square one.

6 comments:

  1. First of all, I've got to say I totally love the way you write out your reactions. You combine the humor and over-the-top outrage most successfully.

    Down to the facts:

    1) You are totally right about the books. They totally contain explosives. I do though wonder why the Pastor didn't take them with him. Perhaps this preliminary "Jehosaphat" thing doesn't need the boom,

    2) Great call on the Emma Wilson too. I never did trust her ever since the whole "glass on the inside" thing. She also seems to be a new faction in the game as she doesn't seem to have ties to either Rabbi Lev or the Essenes. I can see it going one of 2-3 ways:

    a) Emma Wilson is acting on her own. I think you've alluded to this in your analysis, but Emma Wilson and Greogry Donaldson could totally be brother and sister -- both adopted after their parents (Prof. Donaldson and his wife) were murdered. Emma could be playing some long con to get revenge for the Order of Moriah killing her father. This would also explain the chess piece that Emma picks up in John's office and sends Gregory. It's a sort of "heads up -- revenge is finally at hand" message. It's the "simple explanation" and could wrap things up with no second season. This still doesn't quite explain why Golan had to die, or what the nature of revenge she expects.

    b) Emma is working with a few other like Margrove to double-cross the Order of Moriah. This is mainly based on Margrove's call to Peter. It seems a little convenient timing, perhaps perfectly designed to separate Peter from Golan. Once Emma and Margrove discover the "find of the century", they no longer need the Order, and are calling in the authorities (in the form of Peter) to shut them down. Solves Margrove, but I still don't quite understand the need to kill Golan, except perhaps to cover their tracks.

    c) Emma is part of some hitherto unmentioned group and there is a larger, (prophetic?) plan going on. This mainly works if they want to include the possibility of a second season. Remember the car crash that rescued Khalid back in the first episode? It seems remarkably like the black car that runs over Golan. Also, the fact that Khalid knew to look in Peter's pocket for the stone that Emma put there is telling. In this scenario, Emma was working with Khalid (an ex-Essene?) toward some third, deeper purpose, one which Peter is being carefully steered into. The next episode will stop the blowing up of the temple (main storyline in this season), but the agents and purpose of the "true" prophecy will only then become revealed.

    Personally I'm hoping for the third option if only because it means we get a second season.


    3) Random nitpick on the whole "bible roulette" thing, Golan's brother is Jewish, so it seems a little odd that there would be a New-Testament on his bookshelf.

    4) Still no new clues on Jehoshaphat, though the fact that Peter quotes Joel (if he is correct in his assumption) implies that we're talking about some sort of "judgement" in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. It's right down the hill where the Temple Mount is, so a good staging area for Armageddon. We'll just have see.


    Until next week,
    --- Josh

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    Replies
    1. Oh, thank you, Josh! I'm so glad someone enjoys my rambling inanities. I did worry about that when I put this blog out there to the DIG fan community. :-)

      Here's my latest theory (thinking about this in the shower this morning--THAT'S how obsessive I can get):

      I actually do think Emma is acting on her own. And there's definitely a connection between Emma & Gregory Donaldson. And Emma was NOT happy Peter/Golan were trying to talk to him/get info out of him. I think Emma had Margrove call Peter to get him to go to the dig site--so she could eliminate Golan (*sob*). She doesn't want to kill Peter--for some reason, they are keeping Peter around (it's why Khalid didn't kill him in the apartment) and I can't figure out WHY. But she had to remove Peter so she could get rid of Golan (sob!). (STAY TOGETHER IN SCARY SITUATIONS.)

      I think you're absolutely right with your (C) propositions--Khalid and Emma knew each other...that's how he knew exactly which pocket Emma slipped the stone into, why he was in the apartment, and he didn't kill Peter because Peter's there for some other purpose. I can't for the life of me imagine what that purpose is, though. I think the Essene believes Peter is one of the 36 Hidden Righteous Ones, but that doesn't explain why the bad guys aren't pulling out all the stops to kill him.

      Emma is a hired assassin. She's part of the Rabbi L, Tad B., Ruth Ridell trifecta. And, really, I think it'll be revealed she's part of Tad B's cult. Maybe even one of their genetically engineered science experiments.

      I do think Vicky was adopted, and I will not be surprised to find out Vicky came to Peter/wife under highly suspect and unusual circumstances...I think it has something to do with the genetic human engineering+high priest manufacturing going on at the cult. But I can't think up a WHY for that, either.

      Oh, I didn't realize that was a New Testament. That does seem odd...but these are super smart writers, so I'm sure they had a reason. I've also seen people on the Internet talk about the mix up in the Urim/Thummim--the Hebrew word INNOCENT on the black stone, but Josh says "guilty" when he holds it up. Gideon Raff seems like a detail-oriented writer/showrunner, a big brained kind of guy, so I think it may have been a twist? Or a background piece to keep the audience guessing. Maybe the Why will come out later, maybe it won't. Like Peter's chest scar--he got it from somewhere, but no one's saying where...it's just a big mystery. But it's there. Does that make sense? I think the story creators/writers wanted to leave audiences with some mysteries, even as they answered questions--keep us wondering about little details, even after the story's over.

      I love stories like that, but I've been in writing classes with people who don't care for it. Just one of those to each his/her own things. :-)

      Yes, the Valley of Jehoshaphat is in the Book of Joel, Joel 3:2 and Joel 3:12. It's the spot the Bible says God will gather all the nations of the world to pass judgement on them. It's where the Armageddon process is supposed to begin. From what I researched, I think the process sort of goes like this: red cow ashy paste, Dome of Rock blown up, Temple #3 built, God destroys all the unpure nations, The Messiah comes and then the world can be a perfect place (even though everybody may be dead...maybe that's the point).

      The problem with Tad & Co.'s plan, if Kabbalistic mysticism is true, is that God isn't allowed to destroy His creation while his 36 Hidden Righteous Ones are on it...their existence is God's promise to us that God will not smite us. (Apparently, He must really want to. God knows I don't blame Him, especially on Monday mornings.)

      Okay, that's all I got. Brain. Fried. See you next week, Josh! :-)

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    2. ack, I meant I *don't* think Emma's acting on her own--she's been hired by her religious crazy friends to help them bring about the end of the world. My brain--after 11 PM--is the wild west. (I hope people have better reading comprehension than I do, in those instances.) :-)

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    3. The only reason I don't think Emma is connected to Billingham/Lev/Ridell is because the main thing we've seen her do is bring Peter into the picture. We've seen Lev and Ridell try to get rid of Peter onscreen, so unless there is some schism in their cabal Emma going to such lengths to ensure Peter stays in the picture just doesn't fit. That's the main reason I think Emma is working for some third group. Some group that doesn't want the B/L/R cabal to succeed, yet apparently not part of the Essenes (or else why kill Golan).

      So who else knows about the prophecy, and what motivation would they have to mess with the Cabal?

      1) Gregory Donaldson obviously knows what's going down, so he must have gotten the information somewhere. Occam's Razor says this is from the stuff his father left him.

      2) Emma being connected to this third group combined with her probable sending of the chess piece to Gregory implies that she has some hidden connection to Gregory's father. This is why I suspect Emma and Gregory are brother and sister. If this is the case, then they were both orphaned when the B/L/R cabal killed their father, giving Emma plenty of motive to bring Peter into the picture to try and mess with their prophecy.

      3) The only thing this doesn't explain is the Emma-Khalid connection. Since we've seen Khalid following Rabbi Lev's orders, the only way we can make such a connection is to assume that Khalid was playing some sort of double-agent role. I've commented in the past that Khalid's prayer patterns seem to indicate that he has Essene connections, so I wonder if he was an Essene plant in Rabbi Lev's group who decided to help Emma as part of disrupting the B/L/R cabal's plan or if there is something deeper going on.

      4) Finally, if they want to have a second season in any form (doubting it a bit now since Golan was written off), having Peter realizing that everyone was being played by some third shadowy party in this season's finale makes for a good hook into setting up the plot for the next season.

      Josh

      P.S.

      FWIW, I think that the flaw with B/L/R's plan is simply that they are trying to solve the prophecy "by force", instead of letting the pieces fall into place by some divine machinations (think of the metaphor of solving a jigsaw puzzle by banging random pieces in with a hammer. Yes, you'll get a "completed" puzzle, but it won't really be solved).

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    4. Well, I don't think Khalid would've been an Essene plant--they didn't take life, we're vefans, etc. Life & Nature were sacred to them. But he COULD'VE been an ex-Essene, a rogue, a fallen angel.

      I think you're onto something about a 3rd party orchestrating things in the background. Maybe Emma & the Donaldsons are connected to that 3rd part, and John D's death/crazy&suicidal freak out were tied to it.

      Since I want there to be a Season 2, I sincerely heart your #4 thought. And yes! About the flaw in the evil trifecta's plan...the Infinite doesnt ever really seem to be that impressed with us whenever we try to hurry It along or do Its work for It.

      High five, Josh! You're smart!

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    5. *vegan. ....I have NO idea what a "vefan" is. Maybe a fan of ve. Which is a fruit pretending it's a vegetable. (I'm kidding.)

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