Word of mouth (or rather, digital tales) about this show sounded so intriguing that I marathoned it in recent weeks. Background re: personal knowledge of original text - I had read Batty's original novel decades ago and seen the movie on tv, then, ten years ago,
on one unforgettable occasion in the Hollywood Cemetery with
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bitterbyrden. (Still qualifies as the most thematically awesome surrounding to watch a horror movie in that I've ever experienced.) Emotionally, while I think both book and movie are intelligent horror avoiding the claptraps many subsequent imitations fell into (especially of the misogynistic type), I didn't and don't love, and don't have the urge to rewatch. Which is why I hadn't planned on watching the tv show until the above mentioned buzz started from various sources. As it turns out, though, I have opinions on the original movie/book's characters based on those old viewing/reading experiences which cause a few nitpicks on what otherwise I've found to be a well-made, often moving show with characters that made me care deeply for them, and quite a few comments, though its narrative, on the present day.
Speaking of the present day, since the tv show is set in it I at first wondered what kind of "based on" we were dealing with re: the source material - a modern day adaption of the charactes and some of the plot a la
Bates Motel or a sequel to the movie/film (which for example
Buffy started out as), or something with no connection at all in terms of content and characters (as
Frozen is to Andersen's story
The Snow Queen)?
The answer turned out to be both/and to two of these possibilities, something indicated as early as the pilot since there's a scene where Father Tomas, one of our two leads, while looking for something else comes across an old newspaper report on the events of
The Exorcist the movie, indicating we're in the same narrative universe. The first season also replicates
and twists to some degree the original novel's set up and some of the characters - there are actually two Exorcists in the story, the grizzled Exorcist veteran (Father Merrin/ Father Marcus) coming to the aid of the younger priest who never did an exorcism before and doesn't believe in the existence of demons befoe encountering the mother and daughter troubled by one (Father Karas/Father Tomas); the younger priest is having a crisis of faith, has a backstory guilt involving his sick mother (Karas)/grandmother (Tomas) which the demon exploits; the existence of the demon and the need to help the possessed serves to reaffirm the younger priest's calling after he confonts his fears and weaknesses. And of couse: the main possessed person of the s1 tale is a female teenager (though Spoiler is considerably older than Regan - who was, I dimly recall, 11 in the book, 12 in the movie).
At the same time, since this
is a tv show hoping for more than one season, the fate of neither priest is that from the movie... in the first season. I'll talk about more spoilery theme variations and contrasts below the cut. Above spoiler cut, let me add that while the first season was good, the second one was great, and I suspect that has to do with it being entirely its own thing. Both s1 and s2 present the viewers with troubled families to empathize with, and I did, but the s2 one made me care
more. The show took its time there to build up an increasing sense of wrongness until revealing the truth, and endear the various family members (it's a foster family, btw, which is important both thematically and to the plot) to the audience so that you desperately want them to come out of this okay. And while both seasons are unmistakably those of a horror show based on a horror movie famous for some truly gross scenes, the second one struck me as having more confidence in itself and knowing it didn't have to deliver a bloody shock per episode, which the early first season did. Psychological horror is always what works strongest for me anyway, and while both seasons have it, the second one, again, has it more.
Another reason why I am impressed by the show: the way it deals with grief and trauma - both short term and long term - and with family dynamics, both the positive and the negative. And the way it manages both the deliver tropes while (largely) avoiding clichés,
and doesn't ignore this is not a story set in the 70s. In both seasons, there are gay and bi characters important to the story, one of whom is one of our two main leads. It delivers both critique of the Catholic Church as a corrupted institution
and positive depiction of various dedicated individual members of the clergy to whom their faith is quintessential (not just our two leads). The female characters in both seasons contribute as much to the plot as the males. (And yes, they interact with each other.) And the casting doesn't ignore the various ethnicities of the US, again, especially in s2.
( To talk further about the virtues (and some flaws), I must get spoilery beyond the basic set up for the show. )In conclusion: I'm glad I managed to watch the show before the year ended. (Not least because I see it has been requested for Yuletide.) If you can stomach horror, go and do likewise, each season has only 10 episodes. :)
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