Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Richard Massey returns home from Chile after having hunted down Isaiah Haden, a Satanist cult leader that murdered Massey's daughter Lucy after his public comments disparaging both God and Satan. Massey remains a stolid man of science and only wants to see Haden punished by his crime, but the whole ordeal will prove harder than expected due to Haden's influence from prison and the reach of his cult.
Meanwhile, Catholic nun Josepha Montafiore, member of a wealthy traditionalist organization that operates without support from the Vatican, visits the bedise of a girl rendered comatose by being struck twice by lightning. Montafiore feels something really big is coming after the girl starts mumbling Bible verses in Latin and drawing cryptic drawings.
The girl's visions lead Josepha to Richard, who form an improbable duo to document and unravel signs of the End of the Days, which Haden's followers are trying to bring about, all while hot on the trail of a child who may be able to save them all.
Though not lacking in TV awards, it was cancelled after one season, leaving the story unfinished.
Tropes found in this work
- Agent Mulder: Massey always tries to seek scientific explanations for everything.
- Agent Scully: Montafiore, a Catholic nun, is firmly convinced of the visions being an act from God.
- Ambiguously Human: Haden is all but stated to be actually one of the Satanic spirits in human form described by Bugenhagen.
- Be Yourself: This is how Haden eventually attracts the other prisoners to his cult, by telling them that "his god" (Satan) loves them how they are and for all their actions, both good and bad.
- Big Bad: Isaiah Haden, the Satanic cult leader, although it's implied he is following orders from above (or rather from below).
- Artistic License – Medicine: According to the prison warden, Haden, a master of meditation, demonstrates biofeedback abilities powerful enough to fool the polygraph, which can be Truth in Television. However, he also claims that Haden boasted he only needs to breath once per minute when entering trance, which does sets Haden as a long-term meditator but is actually very far from impressive (any yoga mom with decent experience in sama vritti should be able to go under two breaths per minute).
- Dark Messiah: Haden pictures himself as the true savior of mankind.
- Enlightened Antagonist: Haden is a spiritual person, practicing meditation and claiming to be a servant of mankind.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Being a charismatic, wheelchair-bound physics professor who gives pop culture lectures, Jonah Lampley seems to be trying to evoke Stephen Hawking.
- Psychic Powers: Haden has telepathic abilities which he powers by meditation.
- Shout-Out:
- The Posthumous Character of Anatol Bugenhagen and his seven Enochian daggers are references to Seltzer's other and more famous The Omen (1976).
- Possibly although not likely accidentally, there is a Cardinal named Laveigh, which sounds like Anton Lavey, the real life founder of the Church of Satan.
- Sinister Minister: Haden accuses the prison's priest of having some "disgusting secrets", and the latter's expression implies it is definitely the case.
