The battle for Andy’s soul concludes…

It’s not the ending that we as viewers want, it’s not the ending that those in Andy’s immediate orbit want, it’s not the ending that you might well have expected. But it’s quite definitely the right ending for this season of The Exorcist, based on the way that the plot has played out and the characters have developed.

Marcus and Tomas lose their fight. And they lose a great deal else in the process.

And yet, good does triumph: Andy regains enough control to help Tomas when they’re both under attack by the demon, and he has enough of himself remaining to understand why Marcus has to cross a line that he’s previously deemed uncrossable.

It’s a pivotal moment for all of the lead characters – Andy, for obvious reasons; Marcus, because he believes it makes him unworthy (and thus making the end of episode cliffhanger all the more powerful when he has his Garden of Gethsemane moment); Tomas, because it’s the catalyst for him to be separated from his mentor. It’s clear from the dialogue between Mouse and Marcus that Tomas’ gifts that we’ve seen demonstrated clearly this season are going to be pivotal in the war that is coming (and which we really need to see whether it’s on Fox, Netflix or sent out as a DVD to each fan individually on the back of a gold-embossed tortoise!)

Andy’s family gets the ending that they deserve too – the scenes with Rose and Truck, when she takes him to his new home are as heart-warming as the earlier scene where Tomas passes on Andy’s final messages was heart-rending. I’m quite sure I’m not the only one who had more than a lump in their throat for both, and I really hope that there’s some way that we get to see some more of these characters, even in passing, in the seasons to come.

It’s one of those episodes that you watch the first time on the edge of your seat, and then rewatch to catch all the small details (from the 237 on the motel room door that shouts out to The Shining) and admire the work of not just Ben Daniels, Alfonso Herrera and John Cho as well as the other actors, but all those behind the scenes who have brought the threads together carefully over the season. Go back and look at episode 1, and realise just how much was seeded that early on…

Verdict: A fitting and totally appropriate end to The Exorcist’s second season; hopefully we won’t have to wait so long for renewal this time! 10/10

Paul Simpson