Fox’s The Exorcist season one episode four finds Father Tomas and Marcus moving closer to actually performing an exorcism on Casey Rance. The episode titled ‘The Moveable Feast’ starts off with a sleepy Casey (Hannah Kasulka) making her way into the kitchen where her mom, Angela (Geena Davis), is cooking breakfast. Angela cracks open an egg and a dead baby bird appears, but that doesn’t faze her. Casey’s father Henry (Alan Ruck) is perfectly fine, her sister Kat (Brianne Howey) looks healthy and is stretching at the dining room table, and her breakfast is wiggly squiggly. The stranger appears at Casey’s side, slapping her when she won’t eat and vine-like things bind her to the floor. In reality, she’s being strapped to a hospital bed.
Casey’s being held in the hospital on a 72-hour hold because of the incident on the train. The doctor says they’re evaluating her, and her family isn’t allowed to visit her while she’s on a hold. Kat thinks the tests might help Casey, but Angela’s upset about being kept away from her daughter.
The newly excommunicated Marcus Keane (Ben Daniels) visits one of the addresses on the back of the ticket given to him by Father Bennett. It’s a convent and he asks for Mother Bernadette but she’s unavailable.
Father Tomas (Alfonso Herrera) meets with Angela and Henry at the hospital, delivering the bad news that the Church won’t approve an exorcism. Angela says the doctors can’t help her, no one is helping her, and tests aren’t what Casey needs. Father Tomas asks her to have faith in him.
Marcus reads his Bible on a bench when nuns walk by carrying candles, one with injuries on her face.
Casey undergoes an MRI and doesn’t seem to have anything wrong with her, according to that test. What she does have, however, is genital trauma. (Remember in episode three she burned herself with the curling iron.) The doctor believes the burns were self-inflicted, and they’re keeping her comfortable and will run more tests.
Marcus is told to watch the nuns who are gathered in a circle, singing. In the center of the circle is a man who appears possessed. They pray over him and he hits Mother Bernadette (Deanna Dunagan). She simply smiles and continues to try to hold his face. She embraces him and he falls to the floor, calmed but still possessed.
A nurse tells Casey to relax, and the stranger whispers to her that she’s no longer pretty. She’s angry at the stranger for tricking her. The nurse is finally able to find a vein for the IV, while the stranger continues to physically hurt Casey.
Marcus takes a bus tour around Chicago, listening to the tour guide tell them all about the many serial killers who have made Chicago their killing ground. The tour guide and bus driver won’t let Marcus or anyone ask questions, but Marcus is anxious to find out more about deaths involving missing body parts.
Henry finds Angela in the hospital’s chapel and she doesn’t want to leave because there’s still 36 more hours before Casey can be released. They both look exhausted, and Kat’s gone home to freshen up. Henry remembers a family trip years earlier in which Casey stood by the freeway picking flowers. He recalls that as being the most scared he’s been until what she did on the train. He’s now on board for whatever treatment Angela wants to get for their daughter.
Father Tomas and his young nephew visit Maria Walters (Kristen Fitzgerald) and Tomas explains he wants to perform an exorcism but the Church won’t allow him. He’s hoping to go above Bishop Egan’s head and ask the Cardinal. She asks if it’s the right thing to do and tells him to follow his impulses. Meanwhile, the nephew enters her husband’s room and finds Mr. Walters in his sick bed. The sight frightens the nephew and he runs from the room.
Back at his church, Father Tomas continues his research on exorcisms. He’s studying when Jessica arrives, looking upset.
The doctor needs to put in a feeding tube because Casey won’t eat. Angela still can’t enter the room, but through the open door she sees Casey’s in pain.
Jessica’s upset her husband accidentally sent her texts that he meant to send to his mistress. She’s crying and Father Tomas comforts her, telling her this isn’t her fault. She doesn’t want to go home and he offers her his bed, saying he’ll sleep on the couch.
Marcus is hanging out with the bus driver and tour guide from the sightseeing tour. They’re actually two of the names on the list Father Bennett gave him, and he explains he’s been excommunicated. He reveals he was an exorcist, and they immediately respond by saying he must have noticed the surge in activity. The couple show him their notebook detailing the upswing in murders, and they know all about missing body parts and that they’re used for summoning demons. They all agree that’s why the organs were harvested.
Father Tomas checks in on Jessica who’s in his bed, assuring her it’s not weird. Angela texts him and he explains to Jessica that he might need to rebel against an order from the Church. She flirts with him and asks if there’s any other lines he’s thinking of crossing. He tells her goodnight and leaves the room.
Angela’s text included a photo of Casey, and in the hospital room her physical condition is deteriorating. The stranger sits on her bed and he threatens her with violence, as his own physical condition is also horribly deteriorating.
Father Tomas wakes up and finds a note from Jessica on his bed. She thanks him for allowing her to stay the night.
Mother Bernadette is finally able to see Marcus and she’s covered with scratches on her face. He asks what the Belladonna in the garden is for and she admits it’s for extreme cases. Father Bennett has spoken about him, telling Mother Bernadette Marcus is a pain in his ass. Marcus says Bennett thinks the Church might have been compromised and she agrees saying there’s been an escalation in activity recently. It’s been a year and a half since he lost the boy to the demon and Marcus says he doesn’t lose. They took his collar so he thinks it’s over, but Mother Bernadette thinks losing it is just an excuse and he needs to check his ego at the door. They discuss their differences in how they approach exorcisms and she invites him to join her in tonight’s attempt to exorcise the possessed man.
At the hospital, Angela’s going crazy not being able to see her daughter and Kat is trying to calm her down. Father Tomas arrives and he says he will do something as soon as they get out of there, but Kat is convinced Casey needs specialists and not an exorcism. She storms away as Father Tomas says he can’t do anything officially but is willing to help unofficially.
Back at the convent, Marcus is in the center of the circle of nuns and the possessed man takes a swing at him. Marcus doesn’t give up, manhandling the man but then caressing him, taking his cue from Mother Bernadette. He hugs him to his chest, reciting the words. It seems to be working and the nuns help the man stand, taking him away as Mother Bernadette smiles at Marcus indicating job well done.
Casey is hooked up to machines as the stranger calls her an ungrateful bitch. A spider crawls out of her nose and she struggles against her restraints. The nurse comes in to help her and Casey stares at the nurse’s cross on her necklace. The stranger comes up behind the nurse, starting to strangle her with the necklace until Casey agrees to whatever he wants. Angela rushes in the room, stopping the stranger (who she doesn’t see) from shaking Casey’s hand to solidify the deal.
The nurse is bandaged up while down the hall Angela yells at the doctor, threatening to sue if they don’t let Casey go home. He agrees, but only because he’s exhausted everything he knows to try and help her.
Marcus is back and ready to team up with Father Tomas. Marcus, in a more peaceful mood, asks if the demon’s been manifesting. Father Tomas says it has and he’s been waiting for Marcus, asking for his help. Marcus warns him he’ll lose everything if they catch him, and Father Tomas is ready to do whatever’s necessary. Marcus says he now feels “big as a mountain.”
Father Tomas and Marcus prepare a padded room, complete with chains, up in the Rance family attic. They gather supplies and then pray with Angela and Henry. Marcus helps Father Tomas put on his collar as Tomas wonders why this is all happening now. Marcus thinks that’s a good question. They enter the room where Casey is chained up and they’re ready to begin the exorcism.
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The Exorcist airs on Fox on Fridays at 9pm ET/PT.
