exorcist-1-5The exorcism exposes fault lines in all those caught up in it…

Setting aside the revelation at the end of the episode (which I’ll discuss in the review of next episode, as it’s such a huge spoiler – and do not look at Wikipedia before watching this episode if you want to remain unspoiled!), this is a key episode for the series. You might have expected that we’d jump straight into FathersTomas and Marcus in combat with the demon inside Casey, but instead we see it from oblique angles for much of the episode – the effect that the constant screaming and torment has on Casey’s parents and sister, let alone the two priests.

For obvious reasons, this is the episode that most resembles elements of the feature film version of Blatty’s story, and those who have been waiting for Casey’s demon to unleash her venom on the priests won’t be disappointed. There are plenty of other voices and personalities who appear as part of the exorcism, trying to put the priests off their task – and in the case of Tomas, seeming to break him so that he succumbs to the temptation that Marcus feared he would from the start.

Alan Ruck does more to show a sense of impending doom just standing there silently watching Geena Davis than any amount of dialogue could and his repeated question about lying becomes the theme of the episode. Brianne Howey’s Katherine ends up doing the wrong thing for all the right reasons setting up the second half of the season as Casey ends up outside anyone’s control…

Verdict: Unsettling and engrossing. 9/10

Paul Simpson