TV Review: The Exorcist (Season 1, Episode 4)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

EPISODE: CHAPTER 4: THE MOVEABLE FEAST

THE DISH: Casey gets admitted to the hospital for her fevered demonic possession. Keane and Ortega seek advice from outside council, only to come together and ready for an illegal Rance family exorcism.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW. IF YOU'VE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE, STOP READING HERE!

THE DICE-UP: So friends, as we approach the ever wicked witching hour here on a Friday night, it only seems right we get a fat helping of The Moveable Feast, the 4th Chapter of Fox's well-meaning-but-not-too-terrifying-yet Exorcist rehash. What'd you think? The episode got things cracking with more bat-sh*t-bonkers behavior from Casey, who is growing more and more possessed by the day. At breakfast, she sees a plate of perfectly fine eggs as a bloodbath of unborn chicken fetuses, which her disheveled demon implores her to ingest politely. Casey spasms, and ends up in a psych ward on a 72 hour hold. Angela speed-dials Father Tomas for help. He arrives on scene, but must confess to the Rance's that the church did not approve of him performing an exorcism, but to still retain faith in his ability to help. Worse, he tells them that Marcus cannot perform one either, as he's been excommunicated and is no longer around. Casey meanwhile is tagged with possible schizophrenia, as she seems to have self-inflicted genital burns to go along with her erratic comportment. Typical teen, right?! 

Not remotely. Her lips are cracked, her skin sallow and boiling with abscesses, the nurse can't even find a vein to inject. Poor girls looks like she's partying with Jesse Pinkman for ten days. Her demon there, at her side, whispering sweet nothings into her ever-shriveled ear. She can't eat, can't drink. The sinister presence is deeply rankling. What's her folks to do? After getting the okay from papa Henry to do whatever Father Tomas thinks best, Angela presses matters harder. Tomas visits Maria Walters to see if she can get a meeting with the Cardinal himself instead of being rejected again by the less powerful Father Egan. Maria praises Tomas for being "devious" and tells him to do what he thinks is the moral thing in his heart. Of course, when Tomas nephew finds a moribund bastard growling in Maria's bedroom, he character has come into question. She also knows Ortega isn't all that pure himself. How this plays out in a power struggle going forward should certainly be interesting to see. Ortega further shows his slipping morality when tempted to have sex with his ex-wife, who has since remarried but, in a tiff, is currently staying with Tomas.

All the while, Marcus pays a visit to the Abbess, Mother Bernadette, in order to seek some exorcism advice. When admitted into a secret garden to see her, he witnesses a gaggle of nuns, a scar-faced Abbess among them, performing a makeshift exorcism on a foul and odious ghoul on the attack. He doesn't speak to the Abbess at first, but in one of the more outwardly amusing parts of the episode, Keane takes a tour-ride on the macabre-themed "The Moveable Deceased," where we learn of Chicago's rich history of serial killers. Keane asks if their collective MO was to excise and collect vital organs, like we saw at the end of episode 2. Keane ends up hanging out with the guides, Lester and Cherry Rego, who divulge some info on the history of Chicago exorcisms. Turns out  those organs we saw harvested were for something called Vocare Pulvere, a ceremony of ash, which use various organs to summon a demonic entity. For me, this was by far the most interesting aspect of the episode, as Ben Daniels continues to prove to be the standout star of the show. He's that compelling. Even when he does finally sit-down with Mother Bernadette, he strikes balance of pride and pity when she advises him to get back on his feet after losing a child a year prior and help Casey exorcise the evil.

What's more, the best part of the show hands down was the trial run the Abbess affords Keane at the end. He collides, tussles, and ultimately draws the evil out of some poor aggressive bastard. The thing is, it's violence on behalf of goodness, which makes the scene more interesting than the inversion, shown time and time again with Casey's escalating abuse in the hospital. How Keane will use this, with the aide of Tomas, who we can clearly see is considering performing an illegal exorcism for the Rances, should offer further complication. High drama. The show caps with Tomas admitting he needs Keane, and soon the two begin fortifying the infamous bedroom we've all come to know and forever fear. It's here where the show will show it's face for what it ultimately is. If the multi-episodic exorcism comes off as brutal and relentless as some of the foreshadowing violence has allowed us to believe it will be, then we're in for a treat. If the exorcism itself comes off weak, so too will the final grade. Sounds obvious, I know, but with the first four episodes serving as well intentioned but not overly scary foreplay, we better get the goddamn goods in the end. As Keane whispered it to close out Chapter 4, "Let Us Begin!"

THE EVILDOING:

• The demon continues to inject his evil spirit into the blood and bones of Casey, pinning her down in her hospital bed and suffocating the purity out of her. 
• The demon strangles an orderly, lifts her off her feet, before dropping her to the floor upon Casey's request.

CREEPIEST MOMENT: I found the creepiest moment also the most positive one, when Keane performed an exorcism to get his groove back. The cordon of purple-clad nuns, the violent physicality, the chanting, it all worked!

THE CONFESSIONAL: I must admit, I gave the second frame a ton of shite for giving us little to no explanation for those organ-harvesting sickos at the end of the episode. While not entirely satisfied yet, I do like the notion of Vocare Pulvere, the ceremony of ash used to summon an ethereal being. We definitely need to see how that plays out moving forward.