Fox’s The Exorcist concluded season one with an explosive episode that paid off every storyline while leaving the door open for more demonic possessions for Father Tomas (Alfonso Herrera) and Marcus (Ben Daniels) to exorcise. Episode 10 titled “Chapter Ten: Three Rooms” began with Henry (Alan Ruck), Kat (Brianne Howey), and Casey (Hannah Kasulka) wanting Father Tomas to help their mom. The young priest showed up at the Rance house just as Angela (Geena Davis), now integrated with Pazuzu, was choking Casey as a punishment for her family’s disobedience.
Angela lets Father Tomas know there’s no ‘Angela’ left and wants to know how far Father Tomas is willing to take this. He’s willing to do whatever is necessary, but the second he begins to pray, she knocks him out as easily as if he’s a fly buzzing around her head. She plants images in his head, making him believe he’s in back in his childhood home. Marcus joins him in the vision, warning him he’s “stepped in it this time.”
Meanwhile, citizens gather on the streets of Chicago along the parade route preparing for the Pope’s visit.
Elsewhere, Brother Simon (Francis Guinan), Maria (Kirsten Fitzgerald), and the rest of the devil’s faithful followers prepare to use the ashes on Marcus. Maria protests, saying they were meant for her, but Brother Simon doesn’t care and treats her like dirt. Simon takes the hood off of Marcus who sees his friend Father Bennett is also tied to a chair. Brother Simon addresses the kidnapped priests, proud to have grabbed the special security liaison to the Vatican and Rome’s greatest living exorcist. He tells them they can integrate of their own volition or die – it’s their choice. He slices Father Bennett’s arm and then Marcus’ so they can both feel what it’s like to be dying, telling them to decide quickly.
And now we’re back in Father Tomas’ vision, and he’s aware this isn’t real. The demon posing as Marcus warns him that integration is permanent and reminds him he’s not an actual exorcist. While Marcus and Tomas talk in the vision, back in the Rance house Angela places a large knife in Tomas’ hand (he’s obviously still passed out). In the vision, Marcus tells Tomas to wake up now or he’s going to die. Unfortunately, Tomas doesn’t know how to wake up and pull himself out of the vision. He looks down and sees the knife in his hand.
Angela happily announces the Pope will die in front of millions of viewers that very day. The world is going to change because of it, and she can’t take advantage of the new opportunities that will be presented if she kills her family. Henry tells her he’s going to kill her and Kat says Marcus will find her, reminding the thing now inside her mom that Marcus kicked its ass once before. Angela tries to slap Kat but can’t; her hand freezes before she can hurt Kat.
Inside her body, the demon has figured out Angela has hidden away part of herself. It’s the same place buried deep down inside that Regan hid when he possessed her. The conversation between Angela and Pazuzu plays out with Angela peeking out her bedroom door while Pazuzu approaches in the hallway, fingernails razor sharp and leaving scratch marks on the walls. Pazuzu calls out to Angela, but she shuts him out, warning her that if she doesn’t let him into her hiding place, he’ll torture her family.
Inside Father Tomas’ vision, Marcus calls himself the voice in the back of Tomas’ head. Marcus reminds Tomas of all the lies he’s told and that God doesn’t want him, and his family didn’t want him to be in the Vatican. Tomas sees his dead grandmother in the kitchen and watches as she suffers through the end stage of her life. He begins praying while Marcus whispers in his ear about the weeks it took his grandmother to die. Marcus says cats ate Tomas’ grandmother’s face and that everything he believed about her death as being swift and peaceful was a lie. Marcus forces Father Tomas to look at his grandmother as she gasps for air in her bed. Tomas kneels beside her and holds her hand while Marcus asks if this suffering is what God wanted.
Brother Simon watches as the blood drips out of Marcus and Father Bennett. He taunts Marcus, asking why he would die for a Church that doesn’t care about him. Maria warns Simon the parade’s about to start, but he’s caught up in reminding Marcus how the Church has constantly mistreated him over the years. He even talks about Marcus’ ex-communication and it appears Marcus might be breaking, but then he tells the story of the six blind men in the room asked to describe an elephant they’re touching. Marcus tells Brother Simon he won’t break, revealing he saw the “whole damn elephant” when he was 12 years old. He saw God and now he’s willing to die not for the Church but for Him.
Simon picks up the ashes, invokes Vocare Pulvere, and blows the ashes into the air. The group leaves but Brother Simon doesn’t allow Maria to go with them, and she’s upset because she’s the one who brought the Pope to Chicago.
Angela spins a hammer on the table, telling Regan to open the door and her family won’t be harmed. The hammer stops, pointing at Kat. Angela makes Casey pick up the hammer and tells her to hit her sister as hard as she can on the knee. If Casey doesn’t do it, Angela will tear Henry’s arms off. He screams as they’re pulled out to the side. Henry tells them he loves them as Casey begs Angela not to make her do it. Casey can’t hit her sister, so Kat grabs the hammer and hits herself on the knee, screaming out in pain from the blow. Angela/Pazuzu releases Henry’s arms while in her hidden area deep inside, Angela begs Pazuzu not to hurt her innocent family. Pazuzu tells her she can’t run, she can only open the door and give in completely.
The ashes float in the air over Marcus and Father Bennett, and the demon is whispering to Father Bennett, and he’s nearly ready to accept it. Marcus, seeing how close his friend is to giving in, taunts Maria. He says she’s been left behind on the bench, calling her Renfield (Dracula’s human servant). Maria yells at Marcus to shut up, and Marcus tells Maria she’s too afraid to take what’s hers. She falls for it and the demon enters her body as Marcus releases himself from his restraints. He and Father Bennett, while both in bad shape due to the blood loss, are able to take out the two priests who were left behind with Maria. Maria, foaming at the mouth, falls to her knees.
Over at the Rance house, Henry tends to Kat’s injury while Angela watches over the still-unconscious priest. Marcus is still trying to get Father Tomas to denounce the Church in his vision, as the knife remains clutched in Tomas’ hand. Tomas tries to wake himself up as Marcus holds Tomas’ hand, moving the knife up toward his throat. In the Rance house, Angela’s watching Father Tomas bring the knife up slowly.
The knife is at Father Tomas’ throat when Casey sees what’s happening and yells, “Wake up, Father Tomas! Wake up!” In his vision, Marcus’ eyes are now the eyes of the demon and Father Tomas hears Casey yelling off in the distance. He opens his eyes and now he’s kneeling in front of the altar at his church. He says, “Suicide is a mortal sin,” and drops the knife. Angela turns and stares at Casey as she picks up the hammer for round two.
Father Tomas admits to the demon version of Marcus that he’s sinned.
Casey tries to talk to her mom inside the demon, telling her to fight. Angela throws Casey down, telling her she’s had enough of her.
Father Tomas continues to talk to demon Marcus, admitting he wasn’t there for his grandmother and thought himself to be special. He wasn’t strong enough to deny Jessica or be honest with Angela when she asked for his help.
Angela presses her fingernail into Casey’s eye while Father Tomas tells demon Marcus he was wrong. Father Tomas says he has love, hope, and faith. These are all strengths and make him what he is: an exorcist.
Father Tomas rises from the floor as the Rance family screams at Angela to let Casey go. She senses he’s come back to the present and can’t believe it. He begins the exorcism again, holds up his crucifix, and screams, “The power of Christ compels you!” Angela is thrown back through the air and lands hard on the floor. She sits up and licks the blood off her lips, smiling.
Crashing noises and guttural moans can be heard throughout the house. Father Tomas continues the exorcism as the house begins falling apart around them. Henry helps Kat toward the door, but Casey turns around and heads back into the living room where Angela floats in the air as Father Tomas continues to pray, arm outstretched and holding up the crucifix. Angela growls and roars.
On the streets of downtown Chicago, the crowd has expanded and prepare to watch the parade. The Pope’s car approaches the crowd with two security guards in front. Marcus can be seen holding his bloody arm and stumbling toward the crowd gathered behind the barricades lining the street. He’s weak and falls to the ground.
Father Tomas continues to try and rid Angela’s body of the demon, and Angela slaps him, knocking him to the ground. She tells him he’s not a real priest as now Casey, who picked up a Bible, is also beginning to pray. Henry and Kat join her as they recite the Lord’s Prayer. The hidden part of Angela that’s inaccessible to Pazuzu hears her family praying.
Disgraced priests are on the streets watching the parade as the crowd cheers. The Pope’s car stops so he can wave at the crowd from inside, and then a loud buzzing noise makes those gathered cover their ears. Everyone (other than those in Brother Simon’s group) is affected by it, including the security detail walking in front of the Pope’s car. Eyes and ears begin to bleed.
At the Rances’ house, the family continues to pray out loud as does Father Tomas. He grabs Angela by the head and she continues to growl. We see the locked area inside of Angela where Pazuzu is now banging on the walls in anger and frustration. Angela won’t let him in but then stands up and says she’s tired of spending her life looking over her shoulder. She won’t watch him hurt her family anymore and she won’t let him win. She opens the door to the secret area and tells him to come and get her.
Meanwhile, Brother Simon approaches the side door of the Pope’s vehicle while the security personnel are still clutching their ears. One of his followers accompanies him and as he moves closer to the car door, he begins laughing. He looks in at the Pope.
Angela is now locked in an inner battle with the demon, beating him up. Her body is still struggling against Father Tomas, and Father Tomas promises her he won’t kill her. He swears he’s going to save her.
Brother Simon puts his hand on the window inches from the Pope’s face. He says, “The Morningstar sends his greetings,” and just then Marcus arrives and responds, “And I send mine!” slicing Simon’s throat with his rosary. The blood spurts everywhere, but the Pope is unharmed.
The hidden part of Angela is kicking the demon’s ass while Father Tomas is trying to save Angela’s real body. The demon speaks, saying Angela can’t do this because she’s “just a damn woman,” while Father Tomas continues the exorcism and Angela’s body lifts toward the living room ceiling.
Inner Angela has made mincemeat out of Pazuzu while Angela’s body bends in half and her family screams. Father Tomas cradles Angela’s apparently lifeless body, her face bloodied, and her eyes staring unseeingly at the ceiling.
Marcus looks in at the Pope and then stumbles away as the disgraced priests turn and leave. The noise stops and the security personnel are able to stand up. They surround the Pope’s car as it pulls away.
Pazuzu grabs at Angela’s foot in the locked room, begging her not to walk away from him. She doesn’t listen, walks away, and then closes the door behind her, leaving him to scream in frustration and anger by himself. He’s now shut in in that secret part of her buried way, way deep down inside.
Angela’s eyes rid themselves of the demon’s extra pupil and close. Her family race to her side and cry over her body as Father Tomas grasps her hand.
Days later, Marcus sits next to Casey on the stairs outside the Rance house. He jokes about having to stare at her demon face for hours, telling her he prefers this version. She asks if he keeps tabs on the people he exorcised, and he says some of them. Some got better; some were in pain their whole lives because they didn’t think people would believe them. Casey asks how to get past it, and Marcus tells her she needs to remind herself it wasn’t her fault and tell herself she’s still there.
“The bastards don’t get to win,” says Marcus, and Casey worries she’s not strong enough. He tells her he’s never seen anyone fight longer or stronger, and she’s probably the strongest person he’s ever met. They hug as Henry tells her it’s time to go. Henry and Kat are by the car and it appears they’re all packed up and ready to move. Henry waves at Marcus, and Marcus sheds a tear as the Rance family drives away.
Marcus, Father Tomas, and Father Bennett meet at a restaurant, and a news report with footage from the attack on the Pope plays in the background. Marcus is surprised Father Bennett stuck around, and Father Bennett asks Marcus if he remembers that defacing a Bible is sacrilege. Marcus corrects him, saying he’s redacting not defacing it. Father Bennett leaves, but not before telling Father Tomas and Marcus to try and stay out of trouble.
Marcus and Father Tomas walk down the street, and Marcus isn’t sure what’s next for him or where he’ll wind up. Father Tomas wants Marcus to stay and train him to be an exorcist, and Marcus wants to know if Father Tomas really understands what he’s asking. He tells the young priest that sooner or later he’ll die with a demon standing over him. Father Tomas claims he knows the costs.
Elsewhere, Superintendent Jaffey (Tim Hopper) gets into the backseat of a car next to Maria.
Marcus asks why Father Tomas wants to be an exorcist and Father Tomas says that when the demon died, for just a brief moment he saw the true face of God. Marcus says that’s how they get you.
Jaffey asks Maria how she always manages to get what she wants. Maria says they’ve had a minor setback, and Jaffey reminds her Simon is dead and Pope Sebastian’s alive. Maria says Simon got greedy and Sebastian was never the finish line. They won’t make that mistake again.
Father Tomas says He chose him. He and Marcus stroll off together down the street.
The final scene of The Exorcist season one finale takes place on a beautiful fall day. Kat walks with a cane next to her sister as Henry waves from the porch. Angela’s there in a wheelchair and says she feels safe as her two daughters walk through the beautiful fall leaves.
