Fox’s The Exorcist
Season 2, Episode 10: “Unworthy”
Directed by Jason Ensler
Written by Jeremy Slater

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “Ritual & Repetition” – click here
Father Bennett (Kurt Egyiawan) wakes to see his sister at his bedside. It’s been “22 years” since they’ve seen one another. He doesn’t believe it’s her. She wishes he hadn’t left, that he returned to them back home. Hard to imagine what sort of tragedy befell her, his family.
But of course Bennett is still in a coma, hooked to machines. A couple priests are there, monitoring him. They need him to pull through. He’s another pawn in the game of the Roman Cathoic Church. Underneath Bennett, the priests have placed a bowl, one we’ve seen before used in the vocare pulvere ritual, the ceremony of ash. This is not good.
Back in Washington, in the woods on that island, Marcus (Ben Daniels) comes face to face with his old friend Mouse (Zuleikha Robinson), who found Father Tomas (Alfonso Herrera) at the house. Mouse explains what happened to Bennett, involving Maria Walters. She explains what the church is doing, infiltrated by demons and hunting down exorcists. The reunion of Marcus and Mouse is not a happy one, she is angry that he left her. He believes he “wasn‘t fit” to help, not that he ran off; he accepted defeat.
“What a lovely day for an exorcism”
On a boat heading away from the island, Rose (Li Jun Li) and the kids have narrowly escaped tragedy. Hopefully it’s not still going to get them. In the meantime, Marcus watches proudly as his two apprentices battle the powerful demon within Andy (John Cho). Three of them come together, working as one. But it is tough. The whole cabin starts breaking apart, Andy’s body levitates, the demon screams.
Then it stops. Just for a laugh, though. There are choppers in the sky, people looking for them. Mouse figures it’s time to be done: “Kill the host, kill the demon.” However, Marcus will not allow that. The demon talks a bit of shit, reminding the renegade priest of things he’s done himself. Just another way to try poisoning minds. Marcus won’t listen to that nonsense, will he? Even with the demon talking in the voice of his father? Nah. Although he admits the demon speaks truths.
Now Tomas starts talking about offering up “bait.” A better host. Himself. This doesn’t sit well with his mentor, he believes Tomas will get lost if he lets it in. The younger priest already did that and it nearly drove him mad. This demon is very powerful. He may be sacrificing himself.
Tomas allows himself to be drawn inside that hellish dreamscape. He’s back in the foster home. It’s dark, so he picks up a flashlight, heading upstairs. Noises are everywhere, like voices speaking, some light guttural spirits breathing, other terrifying shit. From nowhere, Andy comes out and swings a baseball bat through an apparition. They go to the bedroom together, hiding. Andy can’t kill it, the force returns stronger each time. No escape.
The harder Tomas tries, the worse things seem to get. All the paintings of the children on the walls begin bleeding, onto the floor in a pool. They become Nikki (Alicia Witt), the demon herself. Tomas offers himself to her, so she accepts. She puts her mouth to his, feeding off him.
Marcus sees his friend slipping away. Andy tells Marcus: “Shoot her.” And so the exorcist shoots Andy, killing him, thus returning Tomas. Oh, man. That’s a brutal turn, as well as extremely unfortunate because it’s murder, too. Puts the exorcists in a real predicament. On top demonic shit, Rose is left with having to talk to police about what Andy supposedly did, the murder, the assault, so on.
The kids are looking at being sent to new homes, Rose must move on herself. Tomas relays the last words to them all. An emotional moment for everybody. Andy was overtaken by a demonic entity; he, as a man, was good, kind, a near perfect father despite not being blood related to any of those children. “You will always be part of me,” Andy tells his kids via the priest.
When Tomas and Mouse are ready to get going, it appears Marcus does not want to go. He feels he’s not worthy, that he is a murderer; “a mortal sin.” Despite his renegade exorcist lifestyle, Marcus lives by the rules of religion, that’s how the whole deal works in the first place. Is he imposing exile on himself? He feels he is far from God, lost. For now, he and Tomas part ways, leaving the latter to fully take on his role as exorcist, not merely an apprentice like before. Marcus likewise says goodbye to his “little church Mouse,” properly this time.
Mouse believes in Tomas, hoping he’ll continue the work that needs doing, both together. Apprentices becoming the masters. They must fight what’s going on in the Roman Catholic Church. Or else terrible things will happen.
They’re already underway. Poor Bennett is being infiltrated, he’s a perfect host; he’s right on the inside of the exorcist wing of the Vatican. We get an AMAZING visual, homage to The Exorcist III and the Gemini Killer after he’s possessed; nasty, wicked stuff! One of my favourite jump scares of all-time, Jeremy Slater and Co. have truly replicated it well here.
Meanwhile, Rose is taking Truck (Cyrus Arnold), Verity (Brianna Hildebrand), Shelby (Alex Barima), Caleb (Hunter Dillon), and Harper (Beatrice Kitsos) into her house, at least for as long as possible, carrying on the good work Nikki and Andy were doing before all the evil was visited upon their foster home.
What will Marcus do now? Will he wander the land like Cain? Or, will God finally speak to him again? Or… will something else speak to him? Months later, he’s hearing a call, and he’ll surely have to, hopefully, locate his former apprentices all over again.
Damn. This is one of the best series on television! Lord, they’d better not fuck this all up with the latest Disney buy-up. I swear, if this show gets axed because of all that, and I hope it won’t, I’ll go nuts. This needs several more seasons. As many as Slater can handle. Great finale, setting up an interesting start for Season 3.