Dig

All the scripture and trinkets add up to a lifeless series that’s more puzzle than narrative.

There’s plenty of action, but it comes across as muddled and at least so far is failing to serve the intrigue.

Tim Kring (“Heroes”) and Gideon Raff (“Homeland”) teamed to create this 10-episode miniseries, and while they’re smart enough to acknowledge their debt to “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” they aren’t able to match their source material.

The problem arises when these plots become so intricate, and lurk so far beneath the surface, that many viewers will just put down the shovel and decide it’s not worth the effort to follow them.

Dig is a conspiracy theorist's treasure trove, and scary, to boot. Whether it has a chance on an already drama-packed Thursday probably depends on how much space is left on your DVR.

It's sure to make for addictive viewing for the Dan Brown faithful. The rest of us will make a lot of snack runs.

It's one crazy mess of a TV "event series" that doesn't make much effort to clarify what it's about in the early going, plopping viewers into two concurrent plots that will presumably intersect at some point.

As for the story, it's so murky and convoluted that following it requires a lot of work--far too much work for something so flat-out ridiculous.

Dig bears the telltale scars of hack TV assembly--a little of this, a little of that, all of it meant to tie together eventually for the viewer who can endure all the hammy setup and self-seriousness (and stale ideas) seen in the first few episodes.

Beyond its handsome locations (shooting extensively in Israel) and impressive list of players, Dig keeps referencing the grand forces at work, but also does little to divulge what they are. And while that might be fine for those determined to hunker down for this entire 10-episode event, it can feel a bit tiresome to others still debating whether the show merits such a commitment.

Dig spends too much time building ominous atmosphere, and hinting at vast schemes that may change the course of history--that again--and not enough time giving us a reason to stay tuned as he convoluted plot unfolds.

There’s little rhyme or reason to the way the series jumps between locales and doles out its prevalent plot twists, and that kills most of the desire to see how these disparate narrative threads will eventually converge.

USA’s new international thriller is fun to watch and makes almost no sense whatsoever.