On this episode of The Exorcist, “Chapter Five: Through My Most Grievous Fault,” the demon gets into Father Tomas’ head, Kat intervenes with disastrous results and Angela makes a shocking confession.
When we last saw Tomas and Marcus, they were just about to start the exorcism. Now, they’ve been hard at work for two days. With the two priests taking a breather, Henry sits with Casey, blotting her face with a damp cloth and reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Casey is quiet aside from some raspy death-like rattle. He kisses her head, but as he leaves, Casey becomes alert and tells her daddy she’s got a secret. We all know Henry’s got brain damage which is the only reason it’s believable that he would return to Casey’s side when she’s so obviously got something wicked planned for him.
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The Demon Speaks to Henry
Casey takes the chain being used to subdue her and wraps it around Henry’s neck. She whispers something unintelligible in his ear in that nasty demon speak, and then uses her tongue to lick his earlobe.
The other members of the Rance household are dealing or not dealing with the stress in their own ways. Kat has taken refuge in her bedroom, looking over keepsakes from her relationship with Jessica. Angela is cleaning while the sounds of the two priests trying to renounce Satan from within her daughter come from the floor above.
As for Henry, the demon put some kind of wicked thoughts into his head because he emerged from that bedroom dazed and somewhat confused. He spots Angela standing on a chair trying to reach a ominous looking stain from the ceiling, and Henry looks like he might be getting ready to capitalize on his wife’s precarious position.
A huge storm rolls in, and Marcus and Tomas continue to try and banish the demon which seems quite at home inside little Casey. Casey begins to speak to Tomas in Spanish impersonating his beloved, dead grandmother. She says she never wanted this for him and urges Tomas to go live his life. Tomas has to fight the urge to let the demon in his head. Marcus orders him to look away.
If Henry was flirting with the idea of pushing his wife off that chair in an attempt to break her neck, he didn’t go through with it. Because he’s not playing with a full deck anyway, it’s hard to tell just how much of his behavior is normal Henry weirdness or the result of Casey’s little secret. Tomas flings some holy water on Casey, but it is the sound of his grandmother crying out in pain that drives him from the room.
It’s time for a pep talk from Marcus. Tomas feels the demon sniffing out his weaknesses and twisting everything good into something horrible. Marcus tells him that is exactly what that thing is doing to Casey.
They hear a scream come from inside Casey’s bedroom and find her being thrown around the room and knocked into walls. Both priests have to duck and cover, and Casey finds her way over to Tomas, promising it will not stop until Casey surrenders her soul.
Angela sorts through tons of family pictures, and Henry lingers in the doorway not speaking and looking kind of ominous, but it appears that Henry not talking is a common enough occurrence to not alarm Angela. Or, she could be assuming that it’s his way of dealing with the craziness going on around him.
Henry plants himself on the couch next to his wife and asks her if she believes in God. He wants to know if she believes that their actions are answerable to consequences from a higher power. Angela quickly changes to subject, concerned that they haven’t eaten and that Henry isn’t taking care of himself.
Henry asks Angela if she’s ever lied to him, and she doesn’t answer. He asks again, and Angela questions where this is coming from. For some reason, she takes Henry’s line of questioning as an accusation that she’s to blame for the demon hell spawn upstairs. He doesn’t come right out and say it, but Henry doesn’t deny it either.
Who Does the Demon Really Want?
As Marcus sits with Casey, stroking her face and offering support and comfort, we see things from Casey’s perspective. She’s still fighting the salesman and questions what he wants from her. He tells her to stop pretending; she knows exactly what she has to do. He orders Casey to “bring her to me.”
Kat emerges from her bedroom to voice her concerns over what is happening with Casey. Kat wonders why they won’t let her see her sister. She doesn’t understand why Angela even let Casey be discharged from the hospital. Kat doesn’t know what’s wrong with Casey, but she is adamant that she needs professional care.
Angela continues her walk down memory lane, finding solace is looking at pictures from the past. But like Henry, Kat won’t leave her mom in peace. She’s not interested in the past, stating that people who obsess about the past are scared of the future. Kat insists that they can’t be afraid, they have to do the right thing.
They are interrupted by Marcus who wants to know how to determine what’s right. He tells Kat that he wishes he’d had an older sister like her when he was growing up. If he had, it would have saved him a world of trouble. A suspicious Kat questions if Marcus really thinks he’s helping. He promises that he would never hurt Casey.
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The Demon Defeats Tomas
Tomas is in the bathroom when there’s a knock at the door. He hears Jessica calling to him. Her voice leads him into Casey’s room where he sees the image of his unrequited love. Tomas begins to pray, but “Jessica” asks what it is about her that scares him so much. She believes he fears losing himself, letting himself love and be loved for once. Tomas responds that she’s a married woman, but Jessica says only in the eyes of God. She promises that with her eyes, he could see so much more.
The demon continues to seduce Tomas, urging him to give in to his desire. Tomas gets down on his knees and buries his face in her stomach. Then the vision of Jessica is replaced with Casey who swears she can make Tomas forget God.
Marcus bursts in before things progress too much further, but I’m left with the distinct impression from Tomas’ moans that he may have been close to rounding third base. Especially since the demon quips “Just as I was getting ahead.”
Marcus knocks Casey to the ground and drags Tomas into the hall. Marcus can’t believe Tomas let the demon compromise him, rendering Tomas useless to him now. (I guess going down on the possessed is a big no-no.)
Kat decides to sneak a peek at her little sis. The demon goes full-on Casey, crying out that she’s being tortured. Marcus pushes Kat away from the door, and a dejected Tomas leaves and goes to see the real Jessica. Her husband is out of town on business. Tomas wastes no time in acting on his impulses.
He is Coming
Marcus is left to deal with Casey on his own, and he wants some answers. He wants to know the demon’s name and its endgame. It swears that an excommunicated priest would be a jewel in “their” crown. Marcus questions if it is Casey’s innocence that excites the demon and accuses the demon of choosing a young girl because it believes her to be weak. The demon promises to release Casey when it gets what it wants, and it tells Marcus to bring her to him.
The demon finally finds a way into Marcus’ head by conjuring up the image of his mother. She tells him life was good until he came along, a mistake. But this isn’t Marcus’ first time, and he’s not going to be manipulated that easily. Marcus pulls out all the stops, as does the demon.
It appears that Marcus may have had a breakthrough, and then the police arrive. Kat took it upon herself to call them. As they make their way upstairs, Marcus reaches for Casey’s hand, believing the demon had been cast out, but Casey whispers “Ipse venit” just as the police burst in and drag Marcus away. The Latin phrase means he is coming. That’s the same phrase on all of the promotional materials advertising the Pope’s impending visit.
Angela begs and pleads with the police to leave them alone, trying to explain that Marcus is a priest. Casey is taken out of the house on a gurney by paramedics as Kat looks on. Casey removes the oxygen mask and gives her sister a sly smile just as the doors close. By the look on Kat’s face, it’s obvious she realizes she may have screwed up.
The Patron Saint of Lost Things
Two nights pass, and Casey is missing. She killed the paramedics and decimated the ambulance. Marcus is in jail, and the Rance’s are on the media’s radar. None of the gory details have emerged. To them, Casey is a sick girl who disappeared after the ambulance crashed. The authorities assure the public they will find Casey.
Things are not going well for the good guys. Father Bennett bails out Marcus who tells him he needs to warn the Pope. Tomas broke his vow of celibacy and is on his knees begging for forgiveness when he notices Angela.
Angela is beginning to lose faith, but Tomas assures her that they’ll find Casey because people just don’t disappear. Angela says that’s the problem, Casey was disappearing long before she was lost.
Lots of secrets starting to bubble to the surface this episode. The whole story about Tomas’ grandmother wanting him to be a priest looks to be a work of fiction written by Tomas himself. And Angela confesses to Tomas that when was young, she had an imaginary friend who could make her do just about anything. She can’t recall a lot of what that was, and the doctor’s blamed it on post-traumatic amnesia. Angela wanted to forget, but her mother saw what her daughter went through as a way to make a buck.
Angela left and reinvented herself. She cut off contact with her mother. She chose the name Angela, believing it could protect her. Angela dreamed she could have a chance at a normal life, but she was wrong. It wasn’t done with her. Angela reveals her real name is Regan MacNeil. Yes, that Regan MacNeil.
The Exorcist was really doing a great job of establishing itself as a solid show that wasn’t relying on the movie for its success. This twist feels like the series is already jumping the shark. There was no need to visit the original characters. I will say this, I never saw it coming.
Are you shocked Tomas slept with Jessica? What do you think of the Angela/Regan twist?
The Exorcist season 1 airs Fridays at 9/8c on FOX. Want more news? Like our Exorcist page on Facebook.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Jennifer has worked as a freelance writer in the entertainment field since 2012. In addition to currently writing feature articles for Screen Rant, Jennifer has contributed content ranging from recaps to listicles to reviews for BuddyTV, PopMatters, TVRage, TVOvermind, and Tell-Tale TV. Links to some of Jennifer’s reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.
