Friday's episode in "The Exorcist" series views the notion of Evil through a completely innovative viewpoint. Marcus and Tomas take up a new case in "Unclean" but it appears not to be like their typical ones. This kind of evil they are facing will reveal the multiple facets of human nature. At the same time, the situation in the Foster House gets eerier and more dangerous as each second passes by. Wicked things keep on happening around our foster family, which overwhelms Andrew and convinces Shelby that evil forces are taking over the island.
An evil force like any other
But let's dig deeper into the demonic issue that our priests are dealing with. A little girl seems to be the host of a demonic force. Beside her, a loving mother who is on the border of insanity is pleading for help. She has no clue how to help her daughter and so she calls for the priests' assistance. The girl manifests all the symptoms of a possession - weak physique, unpredictable behavior, abnormal sudden strength and some more pieces of evidence that the mother presents to the priests. However, "The Exorcist" serves a different plate to the audience, showing how a mother probably having Munchausen syndrome by proxy, detains her daughter in a constant state of sickness.
The mother's illness is real while her little girl's is fictional. Nonetheless, kudos to the mother for staging such a meticulously thought-out plan to convince Marcus and Tomas of her daughter state.
The moral of the story
This episode comes as a lesson for Tomas and his belief that his gift is infallible. Marcus has a far more critical mind and ultimately saves the little girl from the hands of the mentally ill mother.
In this way, "The Exorcist" showcases a wider range of humanity and points out how demons are not the only problems on this planet. The second season is not an anthology of jump scares and horror cliches. It dives under the surface and deals with psychological issues of trust, belief, truth and above, all how evil is a human trait that people choose to embrace or not.
An evil spirit is an expected threat in "The Exorcist" but the fights within us are the ones defining our souls.The episodes to come will focus more on the foster house as all the signs point out. The battles will be challenging for all of our characters. They will discover their limits and test their spiritual stamina.
Let's not forget the most exciting new character of the episode, a female exorcist who goes by the name of Mouse. She is an element that the series needed to be the most unconventional horror series of the fall. Women can also hunt down demons and if we are to judge by Mouse's achievement in this episode, I would say she is rather impressive.
Until next week, check out the little girl's struggle from Friday's episode and see for yourselves that nothing is what it seems.