"Safe as Houses" is a transitory episode that gives a happy closure to the first possession case of the second season of "The Exorcist." Concurrently, it gives us more background to the main plot of the season revolving around the foster home on the isolated island. Thankfully, Father Bennett makes his first appearance in this season. Being the true fighter that he is, he is still striving to save the Catholic Church and the world from the wicked forces. Nonetheless, the unholy powers keep on infiltrating the Vatican hierarchy.
He has very few allies anymore.
Most of them are dead, captured or hunted. Therefore, he has to cover his tracks extremely well and protect Father Marcus and the other rebels that fight against evil. At the same time, the mystery around the foster house thickens and the signs that something is seriously wrong becomes apparent to more than one child. However, no one can imagine the root of the problem yet. Shelby expresses his feeling that there is a danger lurking by saying to Andy that there is something in the woods.
Evil and its disrupting plans
In this episode of "The Exorcist," the series focuses on the different relationship issues and the influence of the evil forces on them. Tomas's recklessness and Caleb's lie are suggestive of the ways that the demons infiltrate in their mentalities.
In Tomas's case, he is viewing himself as the Messiah who has the power to heal the possessed ones by dealing with the demons, face to face. However, his impetuous confidence in his power will likely lead him to underestimate the evil spirits and thus expose himself to their darkness.
An indication that this scenario will probably happen is the vision where he is in the confessional and the demon is whispering to him "He is afraid of you, Tomas.
He is afraid of what you can do." Therefore, the demon, by strengthening his ego and planting the seeds of jealousy and vanity, intends to disrupt Tomas' relationship with Marcus. The other traces that the demon left behind on last Friday's episode was Caleb's lie which made Andy lose Verity's trust. Andy is confused regarding what is happening to the children and feels like something is terribly wrong.
Caleb's lie is the first obvious proof that the spirit is taking over his consciousness since Caleb wouldn't deceive Andy to hurt Verity and create havoc in their house.
A season full of challenges is ahead
Clearly, the residents of the foster house will need to gather their mental strength to battle with what lies ahead. Father Tomas and Marcus relationship will be challenged and their faith in each other will be tested possibly to the point of separation. Hopefully, Tomas will realize that his power can be seen as a gift and a weakness considering it can be easily exploited by the demons. The third episode of "The Exorcist" could be the link between our priests and the foster house storyline.
Feel free to take a look at one of the many debates to come in this season between Marcus and Tomas. Tomas's power could be a gift but also a curse. We'll just have to wait and see which, of the two, will be for him...
