Thoughts on The Lost Symbol
So finally finished watching The Lost Symbol. Ultimately I think it was a disappointment despite a solid cast. Fundamentally, I think The Lost Symbol is one of the weaker, if not the weakest of the Langdon books, so I was always a little wary of this story being adapted. As a story, it has far less intrigue compared to The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and Inferno. And it makes sense why The Lost Symbol got passed over for a movie adaptation while the other three got made into movies.
The show basically only keeps the barebones of the book, with the basic character elements. Unfortunately it doesn't fill it with much else. The show started off quite well and I think it picked up towards the end. But a good stretch of 4-5 episodes felt like they were treading water. For a show that is supposed to be a bit of a puzzle box, it got boring quite fast. That's also part of the problem with the book. The books based on European history take into account very well known European figures and history whereas a lot of what is present in The Lost Symbol is knowledge that only the characters really know about. It also doesn't help is that the final reveal is fundamentally designed to be underwhelming.
The cast is what saves it in my opinion. Ashley Zuckerman is excellent as young Langdon. Very appropriately nerdy, but his eyes seem to show a wisdom behind them. You can't go wrong with Eddie Izzard, though he was definitely wasted in the first half of the season. Valorie Curry is excellent as Katherine and she and Ashley have excellent chemistry. Beau Knapp as Ma'lakh is appropriately menacing and villainous, though the backstory is still not very clear to me. How did he go from point A to point B still seems a bit drastic. Rick Gonsalez was good but his character seemed like he was there to just be a bit of a sidekick and provide Langdon and Katherine some muscle. Montano as Sato was also solid.
All in all, a little disappointing. The show does end the season, teasing a new mystery. It doesn't sound like they are following any other Langdon books just from what they described. I am curious if they keep new characters with Langdon or they keep finding ways for Katherine, Nunez, Peter etc... to be involved. The books always have a completely new set of characters for Langdon to be interacting with.
