Before I even begin this review I’m going to start by
saying this is a show that doesn’t flinch at brutality – including the very
open beating of a child to exorcise him. This is not going to be an easy show to
watch for many
So the opening credits of this show are super duper
ominous. I mean it’s trying really really really really hard to be creepy.
Super hard – music, camera work, everything
I actually find it a little off putting. Not out of fear
of the creepy but because a show that is trying THIS HARD to tell us its creepy
feels overly… defensive? It’s like a guy who yells how huge his cock is. You
know he’s either not all that anatomically gifted – or he is indeed sporting
double digit inches but the rest of his skills and personality are so terrible
that this is literally his only marketable asset
Yes, I’m overthinking it – but the opening makes me think
either a) it’s not that creepy or b) it IS that creepy, but with no real plot
(this could be because I’ve been burned by Damien)
And having watched it I’m still getting a whole lot of Damien as well – and not just the
over-emphasis of tone. There’s a general feel to building towards something for
most of the episode when we pretty much know exactly where we’re going. “Is
this demon possession?” Yes, it was billed as a show based on the Exorcist.
Thankfully it doesn’t build for too long but it generally didn’t engage me. To be
fair, though, the episode was mainly about introducing the characters – I think
the main problem there is that I’m not overly invested in any of them yet and
the episode rested heavily on me becoming invested
Our protagonist is Kyle. When he was a young boy his
mother was possessed by a demon (though many characters assume she was mentally
ill which is a trope we often see in possession stories of every kind) who
violently and terrible abused him for a long time. He was eventually taken in
by Megan’s family and now they’re all adults Megan views him as a brother and
tires to look out for him
That’s necessary because Kyle isn’t doing so well, living
in his old home where he was abused, tormented by memories with no food in the
house, no running water and generally neglecting himself. I feel for Megan,
even while she’s stomping all over his space and boundaries, she’s desperately
trying to reach out to her brother.
His descent into hermitdom isn’t just because of his
childhood; he apparently grew up well enough to fall in love, marry and have a
daughter and then Something Ominous happened which split it all up. It’s
heavily implied it was all Kyle’s fault, that he did something bad – so bad
that Megan’s husband doesn’t want him around their daughter: while at the same
time admitted some other Event means Megan owes Kyle hugely.
That bad event seems to have been Kyle’s wife Alison was
possessed as well – it looks like Kyle is something of a demon magnet
There’s a whole lot of careful dancing around past events
that are constantly alluded to but not examined yet.
We have other minor cast members in the form of Nice
Church Ladies who think Kyle’s mother was possessed and a much nicer and
heartbreaking neighbour who would clearly do anything for Kyle because he and
his wife lived next door to him when he was a child and didn’t realise the
extent of the abuse they were overlooking and how has an incredible amount of
guilt.
That’s Kyle. And now we have another boy, Joshua,
possessed by a demon and it’s all as disgusting and horrific and terrifying.
And yes it’s definitely demonic possessing – complete with levitation and
terrifying black goo and spooky voices.
Kyle can’t stay away, especially since helpful reverend Anderson
is determined to gently drag this very fragile human being demon hunting with
him. Kyle joins him for a series of attempted exorcisms, drawing on what he
remembers from how he managed to unpossessed his mother (who is now comatose in
hospital) as a guidance on how to save Joshua which, after several brutal
scenes, the do
I have to emphasise now those brutal scenes. This show
likes it’s gores and horror. We see that small child eat his own fingers –
graphically. There’s blood everywhere. And to “help” Joshua we see Kyle and the
Reverend manhandle this child a lot and there’s a scene where Kyle flat out
punches Joshua repeatedly in the face. A grown man just full on beating this
child up.
Between memory and current events, Kyle realises his
blood and tears are demon poison and they manage to exorcise Joshua with Kyle’s
blood – giving us an ominous black cloud with threats for the future
Throughout this it was clear the demons knew Kyle and
were targeting. We also had a weird moment where Joshua-demon tries to suck green
gas of some kind from Kyle’s mouth.
Joshua is returned to humanity at the end – and Rev
Anderson’s friendship with police chief Giles and the mother’s refusal to press
charges means Kyle isn’t arrested for beating up a child (the mother refuses to
press charges? Since when does the mother get to decide that it’s ok to
overlook the brutal beating of a child? That just makes her complicit to child
abuse) though he hasn’t made any fans on the police force
I’m leery – how much of this show will revolve around a
plot and how much around these utterly brutal scenes?
