Through the first three episodes, Fox’s new show The Exorcist has been a big swing and miss. For a horror show about demons, it’s struggling to conjure up the scares. It’s slow, the writing can be laughable, and much of the acting is forgettable (other than the great Alan Ruck of course). It’s just not hitting as a TV show.
Nothing really seemed to happen in the first two episodes other than a whole lot of talking. Sure they threw in some jump scares and paranormal sightings, but it was lacking that true horror feel. While episode three felt the same for much of it, there were a few moments of excitement. The episode starts with Kat and Julia in a car talking love, just like young women do (or so I assume). All of a sudden a man appears in the middle of the road causing Kat to crash the car and Julia is dead.
Fast-forward several months. Casey is shopping for a dress to wear at Julia’s memorial service where an older and very creepy gentleman (the one from last week) appears and helps her. As we learn later, this guy can only be seen by Casey and seems to be the thing possessing her. One second she is Casey, and the next she will be a manly sounding devil child capable of murder. Casey then goes all hormonal towards Kat and her friends at the service for Julia and storms out.
The best part of this episode came at the very end. Casey is on the train with her father who is trying to get to the bottom of her “odd”behavior. Suddenly he passes out and the train fills with people. Some sleazy guy starts to grope and harass her, and that’s when he appears again, the old man. It seems when he makes an appearance Casey goes into full possessed mode because next thing we see is Casey covered in blood, clawing this guy’s skin off. It’s an interesting scene, to say the least.
As for our other characters, nothing really happened. Just a bunch of talking. Father Marcus gets kicked out of Chicago because he wants to perform an exorcism but the Church isn’t having it, and Father Tomas gets a fat check from a donor for the church. Like I said, pretty boring.
Overall, The Exorcist continued its poor start, but this time with a little more action. I just don’t think this story transitions well to a full series. It might pick up a bit but I don’t have high hopes for the rest of the season. If there was one positive from this episode it was Geena Davis only had like one line. For some reason, she has been really bad in this series so far. Anyways, The Exorcist continues its slow and fright-less start for another week.
Score: 6/10
