Halloween 2016: Exorcist: The Series - First 4 Episodes Highlights

Time for another installment of TV Round up. Oh wait, I am only discussing one series. In addition, several weeks of the 2016 - 2017 television series passed us by already. Rather than write one massive round up, I'm splitting my coverage, highlights really, into categories. Furthermore, know what's right around the corner? Why, Halloween. Instead of writing about Halloween all the way into November, my Halloween blogging starts now. What new series from the 2016 -  2017 season fits that bill? Why, Exorcist the Series does like a glove. Here's my thoughts on the first four episodes. Er, helps that only four have aired so far...


Each episode will have spoilers. I also provide what my thoughts were at each particular moment. Some episodes have greater detail than others. Unlike last season, I took notes this time around.




Premiere - never did write down the actual title...

• Father Tomas sees someone shouting yet hears no sound...
• It appears Father Tomas has a bit of an, ahem, illicit relationship with a single mother parishioner of his...
• One priest pulls a gun on another priest! Later on Father Tomas witnesses Father Marcus performing an exorcism as if what I'd assume is some form of astral projection or a dream vision.
• The church where Father Tomas works on, and in all likelihood within the main setting of the series, is run down.
• Actress Geena Davis portrays the mother of a family whom appears haunted. I suspect the father has dementia. When he's having one of his spells he mentions a Father Marcus.
• Some nasty bit of fore-boding as a raven crashes through a window part way.
• We learn the priest performing the exorcism that drew a gun is Father Marcus. Once again, Father Tomas has one of his 'trips' and sees the exorcism fail badly as the boy breaks free and snaps his own neck.
• When Father Tomas visits the haunted family, we discover that the possessed daughter isn't the older daughter whom the episode leads us to believe it is. Instead, it's the younger daughter Casey (Cassie? - next review I should probably check out Wikipedia so I get the name right...).

Lupus in Fabula

• Episode opens with a flashback of a young boy performing an exorcism.
• The possessed daughter doesn't seem aware of things... yet her possessor does as it talks about the mom watching them...
• Father Marcus picks a lock!
• This series would be excellent fodder for horror RPG inspiration! World of Darkness with mortal characters as well as Beyond the Supernatural.
• Pope Sebastian a stand in for Pope Francis?
• The family sees a swarm of centipedes under a pillow.
• While playing a sport, Casey sees a strange man. After getting knocked down, she glares at her attacker whose leg snaps!
• Father Marcus meets up with Father Tomas and informs him he should break it off with the single mother whose name is Jessica.
• As it turns out, the dad of the haunted family suffered head trauma not dementia.
• Holy water drinking bottle!
• After a homeless man says Casey is special, Father Marcus experiences a flashback upon touching him. He's the boy from the opening flashback.
• All demons recognize and are aware of Father Marcus. His attempt to compel one possessing an elderly lady only results in him being laughed and shrugged off.
• After Casey drinks the holy water, she vomits foot long centipedes!
• Afterwards, her father sees her talking to herself. She's talking to the strange man from the game...
• A group of nine homeless individuals stab several people and harvest organs.

Let 'em In

• The episode opens with a flashback to when the older daughter Kat is involved in the accident that killed her friend Julia. They were professing their attraction to each other.
• The Pope's prefect is the man Father Marcus drew a gun on in the premiere!
• The strange man/demon urges Casey to steal an expensive dress.
• While the Pope's retinue, or is it advance retinue, meets in an upscale building in a well-to-do neighborhood of Chicago. A man combusts outside.
• When Marcus and Tomas confront Casey, the demon speaks Aramaic!
• Casey burns herself at the demons urging...
• While on a bus her father passes out. A frat boy comes on very aggressively. After the demon/strange man, ahem, interacts with her, she claws at the frat boys chest rending it into a bloody ruin while frightened passengers gaze on.
• Marcus is excommunicated and sent on a bus trip out of Chicago with a list of names on tickets provided by the Prelate. Could it be people who can help?

The Moveable Feast

• Possessed people while in full-on possession kind act like the zombies from The Walking Dead but that could just be me.
• We discover that Casey is now actively resisting the demon.
• One of the names on the back of the ticket leads to a Mother Bernadette at a convent.
• Nun exorcism circle!
• Marcus meets a couple on a haunted bus tour who seem aware of something nasty is coming. They know of the ritual of Ash which uses harvested organs to summon a demon.
• Mother Bernadette states that while Marcus has been using a method that uses compulsion hers uses patience and forgiveness.
• Marcus tries that approach! Appears to work...
• By threatening the life of a nurse at the hospital that Casey is confined to after the attack on the bus, the demon convinces her to consent to control...
• Her family gets her released.
• However, Marcus has returned and both him and Tomas, whose doing so covertly, prepare family's attic for exorcism.

Overall, Exorcist has been a great series so far. The series has provided justification for continuation passed the initial possession as there are more possessed individuals other there as well as strange groups and other dark forebodings. A fairly superb horror series for broadcast network faire.