If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: Andy’s foster home receives a surprising new addition as he confronts the strange incidents occurring on the island.
Writer: Rebecca Kirsch
Director: So Yong Kim
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 43mins
This episode, still featuring the exorcism-of-the-week formula, brings Father Tomas and Markus to Andy’s orphanage as they release Harper, the young girl exorcised from last week’s episode, into his care. Meanwhile, we pick up Father Bennett and Mouse’s story as they try and devise a plan with what to do with the integrated demon possessing Sister Dolores.
From his first steps onto the island, Father Tomas feels that there is something that is off. He discusses this with Markus towards the end of the episode and Markus ends up revealing that he hasn’t heard God’s voice in some time. He manages to say the words, conduct the rituals, but after that he has been hard pressed to feel God’s presence which has lead him to believe that Tomas is his replacement. Tomas trusts in God and Markus trusts in Tomas and that’s all Markus needs to believe going forward. While at the orphanage, they witness the other children and Andy welcome Harper into the fold. Shelby, a fellow believer, attempts to share his fear of a maleficent presence residing on the island with Tomas but is cut short due to all of the attention on Harper.
Where the larger plot takes a turn for the interesting is with Sister Dolores. The demon integrated inside her tells Mouse and Bennett that exorcists are being targeted and hunted down by demons that have infiltrated their world. The demons have been talking with each other and are very aware of the “Gray lion and his cub,” a reference to Markus and Tomas and their actions last season in Chicago where they managed to exorcise an integrated demon from a girl. Mouse sums up the fight ahead perfectly by stating, “War is here. And we’re losing.”
While the scenes with Dolores were some of the best from this episode, nothing stands out more than two specific moments for being the most jaw-dropping. The first is when Rose is sleeping in the bedroom. There is a dark ominous figure that appears at the foot of her bed and proceeds to crawl up to meet her, but disappears just as she grabs her phone and shines a light on it. Words cannot do this moment justice because as watched Rose calmly reached for a light, I am panicking on my couch I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and even said out loud that I was creeped out. The second great moment is the very last scene involving Andy and Grace. Grace, after seeing that Harper is becoming a member of the house, seeks the attention of Andy and begs him to take her outside to play. It is a happy moment for Andy as he feels responsible in helping Grace overcome her fear of the outdoors. He proceeds to take her upstairs for a nap, but while all of this is happening Verity is secretly watching Andy. The audience is treated to seeing this sequence of events first from Andy’s perspective and then suddenly switching to Verity’s which reveals that Grace is no longer in the house and all of this has been taking place in Andy’s mind.
I was looking forward to this episode ever since last week because it was interesting to see how the storylines of Father Tomas/Markus would meld with Andy and his orphanage and the result did not disappoint. Not only were there creepy moments within the house, but the slow burn of Andy’s escape of reality and retreat into his mind was an excellent moment that played out perfectly at the end of the episode. All while we inched ever closer to a motive for the demons as Mouse and Bennett realize just what the stakes of this spiritual war are in the bigger picture. This was a solid episode delivering on much of the story laid out in the previous episode as well as thrusting the story further towards a place of chaos that is fun to watch develop. Surprisingly, The Exorcist’s second season has not disappointed and I am looking forward to this show from week to week which is rare in this age of TV viewing.
Score: 8/10
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