The Lost Symbol Review: Diophantine Pseudonym (Season 1 Episode 6)
The team is divided on Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol Season 1 Episode 6, “Diophantine Pseudonym.” However, they all still manage to make some significant breakthroughs.
It’s actually nice to see Peter and Langdon work together. We’ve only seen their rapport through flashbacks. Yes, we know how much Langdon cares for him. He dropped everything to give a fake speech and then go on this mission to save Peter’s life.
But, “Diophantine Pseudonym” shows us more of what they are like working together, although it would have been nice to see more of Peter’s mind at work. It’s mainly Langdon catching Peter up on everything, and then Peter chimes in with some Masonic knowledge towards the end.
One thing that bothers me a bit about Peter is how shocked he gets when Langdon asks him to help decode this latest puzzle. Peter acts as if he will never ever give any information up, but buddy, where have you been?
Mal’akh has already chopped off your hand and kidnapped Langdon to figure this out. You can’t really think that Langdon would just shrug his shoulders and say “okay, that’s fine” after your protest?
What would have been better is if we saw Peter look conflicted for a beat and do like some deep sigh or some indication that he is making his peace with betraying his masonic brotherhood and then tell Langdon what he needs to know. Peter is clearly a smart guy, and his outright refusal to help given the situation he’s in doesn’t make sense.
We’ve seen Katherine working with both Nunez and Sato before, so watching them work together is nothing new. One thing The Lost Symbol Season 1 Episode 6 does well is showing how each of them contributes something different and essential to the task at hand.
No one is coasting, letting the others figure things out for them. Katherine, Nunez, and Sato each have something to bring to the table, and it results in them getting to Mal’akh’s compound just in the nick of time.
We all knew that Katherine finding out about Sato’s connection to Zachary was coming, and it was obvious she was not going to be happy about this piece of news. So, there’s nothing particularly exciting that comes out of that conversation.
However, now that we know that Mal’akh is actually Zachary, it’ll actually be interesting to see how everyone copes, including Sato.
Each passing episode further proves that this show would’ve worked better as a binge, or at least releasing a couple of episodes at a time, similar to how Peacock is releasing One of Us is Lying. At least this episode ends with the bombshell that Mal’akh is Zachary, so there’s a bit of anticipation as we wait for the next episode to be released.
However, most of the time there’s not a big bombshell. It’s simply Langdon putting together another piece of the puzzle. It’s not much to keep us heavily invested, counting down the days until the new episode arrives. Do you agree?
What did you think of this episode of The Lost Symbol? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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New episodes of The Lost Symbol premiere Thursdays on Peacock.
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Allison Nichols
Allison is in a love affair with television that doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Slightly damaged fictional characters are her weakness. She loves to spend her free time curled up with a cat and a show to binge-watch. Allison is a Tomatometer-approved critic (Rotten Tomatoes).