First things first: Meyerism is a philanthropic religion.
To illustrate this, the series opens with the survivors of a brutal New Hampshire tornado.
Luckily for them, a cadre of Meyerist trucks roll in.
Credit: Hulu
There is one spirit whose name is Truth.
The next day, Sarah meets up with her old friend Cal Roberts (Hugh Dancy).
Cal, Sarah, and Eddie go way back, apparently.
Hes now the de facto leader of Meyerism in the absence of its founder.
Meanwhile, Eddie drops off their son Hawk at high school.
High school sucks for everybody.
A self-described novice approaches her and notices she seems sick.
He fetches a doctor, who gives Mary some morphine to help with her drug withdrawal.
Were going to bring you back to the self you once were, the doctor tells Mary.
At school, Hawk and his Meyerist friends suffer some bullying during their pre-lunch prayers.
Its not all bad, though: A girl named Ashley Fields wont stop staring at Hawk.
His friends think shes plotting some more bullying, but it sure doesnt seem like it.
Who needs a sexless priests life when girls look at you like that?
Flash to another quick scene, where a woman named Alison observes an older couple.
Before she can say anything to them, three men approach her, wanting to talk.
She quickly (and mysteriously) drives away.
Sarah tries teaching Mary some of the basic ideas about Meyerism.
Like real-life Scientology, it provides an outlet for followers to process their past traumas.
Everyone has pain, but we try not to carry it with us, as Sarah says.
Sarah was born into the sect, but that wasnt the case for everyone.
Cal, for example, came to the organization as a young boy and climbed up the ranks.
Meanwhile, Eddie is telling a group of people how he came into the church.
He had a rough early upbringing, with only his older brother for company and protection.
One day, however, he came home to find his brother had committed suicide.
Later that night, Mary hits up Cal.
Hes right; she admits her dad used to sell her to his friends.
Cal says they can help her make it better.
Theyre not the only ones up to something that night.
Eddie sneaks out, and Sarah follows up.
This prompts a flashback to three weeks earlier, when Eddie was on the Peru retreat.
Drugs appear to have been involved, judging by Eddies red eyes.
Ghosts of dearly departed siblings are always a buzzkill.
When he returned home, he immediately went to the public library and googled is Meyerism real?
Apparently Meyerism either forbids the internet, or Sarah keeps a strict eye on everyones search history.
Scenes from earlier in the episode are then replayed from Eddies perspective.
Apparently, he was plagued by disturbing visions of his Peru trip all through sex with Sarah.
Cal says that Meyer is finishing up his work transcribing the last three rungs on the ladder.
Eddie asks when the writing will be finished.
The directness of the question affronts Sarah, but Cal seems unperturbed.
He says its not a matter of will, but when the message is done transmitting to Meyer.
That night, Sarah and Eddie talk in the kitchen.
Eddie admits that the Peru trip did not go as well as he initially pretended.
Sarah asks him if he transgressed, a Meyerist byword for cheating.
Eddie maintains he was talking to a possible, a young person interested in joining the organization.
Mad about this supposed cheating, Sarah says I chose you.
You mean over Cal, Eddie asks?
That comes off as an escalation too far, and they each back down.
Sarah still thinks somethings wrong; she intuits it.
Well, your intuition is off!
Eddie shouts, in a not-entirely-convincing way.
Something is wrong with Eddie, but its not what Sarah thinks.
In flashback, we finally see who was behind the motel door: Alison.
Eddies vision in Peru apparently showed him something quite disturbing, and hes trying to reckon with it.
Alison, apparently a Meyerist escapee, is trying to help him.
The scene switches back to the present, where Sarah is calling on Cal.
Youd sneak into my bed, your hands were like fire.
I thought this guy could never love a person.
He needs too much.
She thought Eddie could love a person, but now thinks she was wrong.
She tells Cal that Eddie transgressed, and she leaves.
This encounter riles Cal up enough to go wake Mary.
Lets go make it better, he says.
The next morning, Eddie and Sarahs young daughter tumbles into the room, all sunshine and energy.
Eddie apologizes to Sarah for the tone of their previous encounter.
The episode climaxes with a passionate sermon from Cal, a lesson about Platos cave.
The classic philosophical parable tells of a group of people imprisoned in a cave.
All they know about is the images they see projected on the wall in front of them.
Eventually, one of the prisoners breaks loose and turns around, realizing that theres a fire behind them.
People walking in front of the fire is what creates the images everyone sees the shadow of reality.
In PlatosRepublic,this figure is the philosopher; in Cals telling, its him.
As audience members steal furtive glances at each other, the sermon is interspersed with flashbacks.
Mary remembers what happened after Cal woke her up: He had her take him to her dads trailer.
As everyone claps for Cal, Eddie flashes back to his vision in Peru.
The door opened… to reveal Dr. Stephen Meyer.
And there is no light around him; only a gigantic, hissing snake.
