Original subtitles

I had an epiphany a long time ago, and I felt God was trying to tell me

something.

But he's been silent since.

And I'm so sorry about imagining snapping the necks of your little girls.

Hey, why do you have blood on your leg?

I don't have blood on my leg.

The thought of the innocence isn't killing two -year -olds.

It's corrupting the egg.

Oh, my God.

He was bludgeoned.

We're thinking by his wife, but we're not sure.

I'm so sorry. That is terrible.

Thank you.

Mom, what's wrong?

Nothing. Go back to sleep.

What happened? Is Dad home? No, he's not home. What?

I didn't do it. What are you doing, Mom? Why are your hands dirty? They're not

dirty. Yes, they are.

You want us to help clean them?

Why are they dirty? No, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Everyone go back to sleep. Everything's fine now.

Okay?

Thank you.

Dan was discovered in the backyard of his Bay Terrace home. The body has been

identified as Orson LaRue, the recently convicted and then cleared serial

killer. There are no suspects at this time, but New York police are asking for

the public's assistance.

It's called RSM Fertility. We think there's an attempt to corrupt its

eggs.

I'm sorry, what? We've been dealing with a lot of cases piecemeal, demonic and

possessed children.

We think it's not an accident.

We discovered it's connected to this clinic. And you think it's what?

A demonic presence is trying to corrupt a generation through manipulating their

eggs.

And you two believe this too?

Well... One of my daughters was conceived with the help of that clinic,

there is something wrong, I'd like to know what it is. Your Eminence, we want

focus on this exclusively.

We've always talked about getting proactive with evil, not just reacting

defensively. Do you have the children's names?

I've tried to access the clinic's databases online.

They've wiped them clean.

We are looking into other ways to locate the parents of their kids. Okay, okay.

Let me look at it. Meanwhile...

I have an important assessment.

This is important. And I'm not saying it isn't. But this came to us directly

from the Cardinal. He has a new parishioner, a good man.

He's been giving generously to the church, and he finally confessed why.

In his youth, he allowed himself to become possessed.

Allowed himself?

Diabolical subjugation. He voluntarily submitted.

To the devil?

In exchange for... It's better that he tell you himself.

He's here. Your Eminence, can we talk?

Saw that your serial killer's dead.

My serial killer?

LaRue. Legend.

Is there anything I should be worried about there?

I have no idea what you're talking about, Ben. Blood on your leg yesterday?

Your hand now?

There's nothing you should be worried about.

In fact, I put this in my hand last night. I got a skin rash.

Could you see what the metal is?

How long was it in your hand?

Just a few seconds.

Can I see your hand?

No.

His Eminence wants us to handle this first.

He's in here.

Is this the guy who sold his soul to the devil?

Oh, hello there.

You're kidding.

This is Leland Townsend.

We've met.

Yes. David and I are casual acquaintances, and Ms. Bouchard and I

profession. This is the man who wants an exorcism?

Yes, please.

Some of my past choices have been so... ill -advised.

And my life of late is undergoing such a change.

The most wonderful, vibrant woman has entered my life. Our wedding is right

around the corner. My mother.

That's right.

Really? What a small world.

But I want no roadblocks to our future happiness.

I still have certain dark moments.

So, David, Kristen, Ben, knowing my heart

and mind as you do, I think you'll find that an exorcism is in order.

We cannot fall for a word that comes out of that fucker's mouth. Miss Bouchard.

I know, I know you think you know him, Your Eminence, but you don't. It doesn't

matter if I know him. It only matters if we can help him. But he doesn't want

help. How do you know that?

Because he's a psychopath.

But isn't that why we're obligated to help him? David, he has come here saying

he's possessed. Oh, my God. He's come here saying he's welcomed the diabolic

into his life. You're saying the same thing. So the only question is whether

not he's being genuine in his plea. And that's the goal of assessing him. Should

he receive an exorcism? You're doing this for the money.

What? You said he's giving generously to the church. The cardinal has become his

friend. That has nothing to do... Oh, it has everything to do with it.

And he, that man in there, wants to co -opt you. He wants to co -opt us. That's

why he proposed to my mother. That's why he came to my house. And now he's

moving on from me to here to you.

Are you done? I'm not done if you're not listening. Jesus said they that are

whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. If Townsend is

sick, then all the greater glory is God's.

Why didn't you say anything?

I was thinking.

What?

That we should be smart.

What is smart here? I don't believe in possession. I don't believe in exorcism.

But I still think that we do some good here because we target bad people and

keep them from hurting good people. Ben, this is a con job.

Exactly.

So let's con him back.

How?

We're going to assess him, right?

We're going to find out about his life.

We're going to talk to him. He's going to talk to us. He's going to lie.

Exactly.

In my experience, people who lie reveal just as much about themselves.

So let's let them lie.

Well, isn't this civilized?

Look at the four of us.

Mr. Townsend, why do you want an exorcism?

Well, I'm in love.

What does an exorcism mean to you?

It's the Roman Catholic Church's attempt to separate man from his darker nature.

And my darker nature has enjoyed a pretty free reign.

How exactly did you go about offering your soul to the devil?

Well, you don't offer, you sell.

And unlike with your Christ, where the rewards don't come until after death,

then not particularly well -defined, with Satan, it's a clear contract.

The rewards are now.

It's always something that you've asked for, something you covet.

What did you covet?

How have you been sleeping, Ben?

Well, what did you covet?

No nightmare?

Mr. Townsend, we can only assess your need for an exorcism if you answer our

questions. Otherwise, we have other cases.

Well, then let me set the scene.

High school.

Senior year. Class of 1979.

Roosevelt High.

Des Moines.

Kristen has been kind enough to investigate my background. And talk to

-wives. That's right.

Oh, cornucopia of biographical details.

Marching band.

Never made it to... Kristen, you're looking especially fetching today. What

missing? This is what I look like when I'm bored.

Go ahead.

You were setting the theme?

Roosevelt High, Des Moines.

After marching band, I was forced to ride the school bus home.

The bus driver enjoyed making fun of me.

Incessantly.

I'd always been intrigued by the dark arts.

And one day I decided to apply what I had learned, and I conjured up the

devil.

While my parents were watching MASH in the next room, the deal was sealed.

My soul in exchange for the excruciatingly painful and lingering

bus driver.

What was his name?

Luke Faraday.

What exactly did Satan look like? I'm sorry?

You said you conjured up the devil. What did the devil look like?

Tall.

Seven feet.

Body thick with gray -brown hair, an animal's muzzle, and long, curving

horns.

You all right?

Okay.

You look different.

I'm not.

Ready to start?

Yes, but I wanted to make sure about the ground rules first.

The ground rules?

We have patient -doctor privilege, right?

Jeffy V. Redmond's Supreme Court decision demands absolute protection

communication between psychotherapists and their patients. Kristen, what is

about? A parking ticket? And it cannot be reported to the police.

As long as it's not about a future crime. Okay, yes. We both know the

And I also know how psychiatrists sometimes bend these rules and tell

stories to the police in order to achieve what they consider justice. That

never happen. Kurt, I work with the DA's office. It happens all the time.

Kristen, you know how seriously I take confidentiality. It's absolutely sacred.

I will in no way share or hint to the police.

Now, what are we talking about here?

Shoplifting?

I killed someone.

You killed someone?

How did you kill someone?

I took an ice axe. I went to a man's house and I killed him.

In self -defense?

No.

Kristen, I don't...

What were the circumstances?

Well, you heard me talk about Orson LaRue, the serial killer, right?

So he was threatening my family.

So I went to his house with an ice axe. I told him not to come near my family

again, or I would kill him.

And he said he was going to call the police, tell them I threatened him, and

when they came for me, he was going to go to my house and kill my daughters.

So I stepped inside.

I closed his door, and I hit him over the head.

I... I'm stunned.

You couldn't find any other way... To protect my daughters? No.

The way you're telling me this, you don't seem bothered.

I'm not. I am... I'm glad he's dead.

And the police? You're not worried?

No, they think it's LaRue's wife. Oh, my God.

They're wrong. They'll quickly find that out.

She was with friends. I made sure of that before I went to his house. You

sure she had an alibi? Mm -hmm. So it was premeditated? You knew you were

there to kill him? Well, I knew that if I did kill him, they would blame his

wife. So I made sure she had an alibi.

So, how do you feel about your actions now?

I can't change my actions.

And I wouldn't.

So, if you're not bothered, why call me to come in

today?

I came in contact with an object.

Last night, and it left a rash on my skin. Is that a cross?

Yeah, it's from a rosary. It had a crucifix on it.

I'm wondering if I might be showing psychosomatic symptoms.

Oh.

Well, we have talked about your Catholic guilt before. It could be a...

remnant anachronism from your childhood.

Have you ever seen anything like it before?

Well, I have had people come in with rashes on their neck and back.

You know, the body has a tendency to object, even when the mind doesn't.

Kristen, you're pretending to be unaffected by a terrible act.

So your PTSD is coming out in ways both primitive and sub -logical. That's why

the rash.

I want you to take this prescription of prazosin, and we can talk again.

What? Is it the brushing again? No, I don't know. I was just sleeping and then

it just started hurting. Let me see.

Ow, ow, ow. Hold on, hold on.

It's just about your baby teeth.

Ow!

What? What happened?

Nothing. You've just... You've got some sharp teeth coming in there. Am I a

freak, Mom?

No.

You are the best daughter in the whole world.

And you have the most beautiful smile.

A vampire smile.

No.

A beautiful smile.

I love you.

I love you, too.

Hi. It's Cobalt.

Cobalt can cause a rash.

Oh, sorry.

It's too late. No, no, no. It's fine. Come in. So, Cobalt can cause a rash,

more importantly, it's a great conductor of heat.

So if it's heated up even a few degrees, it can cause a burn. Let me see your

hand.

See, that's a burn.

Where was this? Where was the cross?

Whoa, whoa, what happened? What the hell? Did you slaughter a pig?

It's, uh, teeth issues.

Um, so it was here.

This was on, right?

I don't know. The girls turned it on. It was on earlier, and it was cooling

down. That's what did it.

You think? I know.

Cobalt doesn't create a rash on its own, but you heat it up, yes, it will.

What'd you find out about the bus driver?

Luke Faraday died in 1978.

The same year Leland went to Roosevelt High? Yeah, I couldn't find him. His

was Jake Perry.

Leland's name was Jake Perry.

You did your own research?

Yes, a few weeks ago.

How'd the bus driver die?

There was a crash.

Luke Faraday was trapped inside the bus. The fire was so intense, nobody could

get close enough to help him. No other vehicles involved.

The bus just seemed to careen out of control all by itself.

Well, that means nothing.

Nothing supernatural, anyway. He knew this bus driver died.

Made up the tension with the bus driver to match the facts. So how did we find

out if it's a lie? I talked to his ex -wife before. I'll call her again.

See if he even knew this bus driver. Well, good. You do that.

We'll go in and deal with him.

Mr. Townsend.

Where's Kristen?

She was hoping to join us later.

She's not ill, I hope.

Did you look up Luke Faraday? Ben?

I did.

Tell us more about him. Poor man.

He had such a future in bus driving. It's such a promising career, don't you

think? Instead, that awful fire.

Suffered for a week in the hospital.

Unimaginable pain.

So, how do you decide if I'm worthy of an exorcism?

Bad questions.

Looking for causes other than the supernatural.

What causes?

Mental illness.

Oh, so if I'm a psychopath, I can't be possessed?

No, you can be both.

Yay.

Then what is it that you do?

I'm the comic relief.

I look for physical causes.

And if there are physical causes of my diabolical possession, then I don't get

my exorcism? That's right.

You don't believe in the devil?

No.

In God?

Nope. Do you ever pray in the dark of night when there are strange sounds,

strange forebodings?

Do you?

Do I pray? Oh, yeah, to my father below.

You should try it sometime.

It's so comforting to pray to power instead of weakness.

Did you know that Christianity is the only religion that prays to a criminal?

The more I listen to you, the more ridiculous you sound.

You're going to have a dream tonight, Ben.

Good guess. One you've never had before.

Oh, my God.

Tell me more.

Oh, Kristen.

We've been having the most wonderful chat. I'd heard that you were ill.

Oh, no, not at all. I was just having a wonderful talk with your ex -wife,

Janie.

Ah, the lovely Janie.

How is she?

Good.

She was just telling me how you never took the bus because you had your own

So you never knew Luke Faraday and he never teased you. So there was

no reason for you to pray to Satan to cause his fiery accident.

Any thoughts on that?

Leland?

Well, of course I lied. I'm possessed.

Did you really think that the spawn of the devil would be honest with you?

we believe the spawn of the devil would at least offer some evidence that he was

in fact the spawn of the devil.

It's an eight now, but this read nine last month.

And ten before that.

It's counting down my debt.

I have eight months to get you to help me.

You're saying you didn't do that tattoo?

I'm saying that Satan did that.

I was home one night.

I heard scratching noises moving around on my hardwood floors, like the claws of

some beast coming for me.

How do you run away from something you can't see?

And then, a searing pain, like a claw digging into my flesh,

carving out the number eight.

I understand your skepticism, Kristen.

But have a little pity.

It was awful.

Well, it's a good thing we're investigating.

We'll have to examine your residence now.

No, that won't be necessary.

Actually, it is. We'll check with the bishop, but I'm sure he'll agree.

We need to look for signs of demonic infestation.

Or, we could just drop this whole thing right now.

Good. We're settled.

Tomorrow, we'll drop on by.

This is not real.

Kiss me. Come on.

Why won't you kiss me, please?

Okay, this is from the talk today.

Leland, put this in my mind. You know what I love?

Men's nipples.

Do you remember this safe word?

Just a second more, Alexis.

My goodness, those are sharp, aren't they? They've been hurting her a long

I think this will just require a little reshaping, that's all. Can you do it

today? I think so.

Do I need a shot? Just local anesthesia. It won't hurt.

Maybe we won't do these today.

Is everything all right?

Nothing to worry about, but incisors can be tricky. And these are buried pretty

deep in her jaw. Why?

Sometimes teeth form this way in the womb if the mother had a fever.

There's nothing to worry about, Mrs. Bouchard. I just want to put Lexus under

general anesthesia to deal with the underlying problem.

Is the operation serious?

No, no.

It just means going in deeper.

Let's do it Thursday.

Am I all right, Mom?

Oh, you're great, babe.

Why are my teeth like this?

I don't know.

They just are.

You know, my feet were webbed when I was a kid.

Really? Yeah.

I don't know why, but everyone made fun of me. They called me Swamp Thing.

So I stopped caring. I just decided I would climb. I'd read about it in a

magazine. I'd start climbing everything.

You know, school, the side of our building, a mountain.

Should I do that?

No.

I'm just saying, kids make fun until they realize who you really are.

Told Leland we needed four hours.

He'll be back at midnight.

Well, very tasteful. Looks like he removed anything that revealed anything

himself.

He's being sarcastic.

Nothing in the bathroom.

No mirrors.

David.

He's toying with us.

Hey,

I got something in here.

I'm in.

It's not password protected.

Yeah, not a great one.

Lucifer 8.

Seems like he does most of his work in the cloud.

Can you add some surveillance software?

hack into his webcam so the camera light doesn't come on and we could watch him

whenever we want. Yeah, great.

Alright, so Leland said that he heard scratching noises, right?

Turn off the lights.

They're too loud.

Sorry.

Huh, really weird.

What? No sound.

So maybe you lied about the scratching.

No, no, no, that's not what I mean.

Usually an apartment building will have all kinds of ambient sounds, you know,

wood settling, water in the pipes, but I'm getting nothing.

It's like it's...

completely devoid of any natural sound.

Oh, I got something.

What? Coming from there.

Are you alright?

What the hell is that? Some cheap -ass alarm?

No, it's just... Maybe you're right.

Maybe he's hiding something.

Oh, my God. What is that? A dead rat? That is not how a dead rat smells.

Ah, that's the sound.

Paper flapping.

Digital math.

The photos we took.

How did he get it? My mother.

What is all this writing?

Some weird -looking math.

Chinese. Is that Arabic?

I don't recognize it.

Hold on.

You think you wanted us to find this?

No. I would never have found it without the sound.

Well, we put it back exactly the way we found it.

Ow!

Oh! You okay?

Oh, man. What happened?

Good morning.

A tattoo kit?

Is that what the all -powerful Prince of Darkness used to mark your ears? You

did it to yourself.

Everything you told us was a lie. I'd go with histrionic personality disorder in

addition to the raging narcissism. You strip everything away, and you just

seem like a man who's had his every evil wish granted. Maybe I'm just very

patient. Did you ever think about that?

Take my bitch of an ex -wife, for example, Jane. Oh, right. I just spoke

her. Her life seems infinitely better without you.

Hmm.

You might want to talk to her again.

Hi. May I speak with Janie?

Are you one of Janie's friends?

My name is Kristen Bouchard.

Who's this?

I'm Janie's mother.

She's been in an accident.

I'm so sorry. What happened? A truck hit her car coming home.

He's in a coma.

I'm not convinced.

You're eminent.

He's lied about every past evil act he's offered to support his claim. What

about his ex -wife? You said she was in a coma? Leland could have found that out

all sorts of ways. It certainly doesn't mean that he caused it. Look, I'm not an

unreasonable man, but I'm getting calls from the Cardinal. You want me to

convince him, then convince me.

You believe Townsend is a psychopath?

I do. Then give me a positive analysis of psychopathy instead of a negative

analysis of possession.

How does she do that? Interview him.

You know.

Your job.

So, what do you think?

I think he's right.

I need to evaluate him.

Something funny?

No.

It's just the chair.

Knowing who else has that there.

I'm going to ask you a series of true or false questions.

Ah, the classic approach.

Your birth name is Jake Perry?

True. You grew up in Des Moines, Iowa?

True. At the age of 18, you sold your soul to Satan?

True. It must be so difficult with your husband away all the time.

You feel sad when people around you are sad?

False. You like sunsets more than sunrises?

Why, yes, I do.

Just how insane are you, Leland? Insane?

What a quaint term.

By the way, how's little Laura? Is her heart all better? Oh, that's right.

You stole my therapy notes, which just means that you're a thief.

If you want an exorcism, you're going to have to do better than that. You're no

more evil than... No more evil than what?

You?

Ever since you've been working with David, things have been happening to

Darkness has come into your life.

You let it happen.

That's why you're easy.

David will be harder.

He's the real prize.

Which is why I need your help.

Dear God. It's a trade.

You want me to leave your daughters alone? Then help me tempt David away

the priesthood. He is two months away from ordination.

Two months of potential sexual activity.

Yum, yum.

Just tell him I need the exorcism.

That's all.

all the signs of a psychopathic, narcissistic personality.

So your view hasn't changed?

He wants to think he has some supernatural power, but his grandiose

just part of his narcissistic defense.

What do you think?

I think it's up to us whether there's value in taking this further.

You mean suggesting an exorcism just to see what he does?

The only reason not to is because he wants us to.

There's another possibility here. What's that?

It's a cry for help. What do you mean?

He wants an exorcism because he wants to be good.

No. Yeah, I don't believe it either.

So we recommend no exorcism? Agreed.

What's he doing?

Nothing. He's just staring straight ahead.

It's been like that for ten minutes.

You think it's a loop? I thought of that, but the shadows outside the window

aren't repeating.

Okay. See you guys here in an hour. Okay, yeah, I'll be there.

I think we're gonna have to go a little deeper.

It's just the anesthesia. It'll wear off.

All right.

I'm looking for something definitive, but I'm not seeing anything. Well, I

expected going into this that we would only find what he wanted.

As you can see, he led... I'm reading that. Interesting.

Maybe somewhat disturbing.

Your evaluation wasn't very long.

Sorry, what?

There are aspects of his psychology that fall outside of known conventions.

That's right. But you still believe his issues are long -standing narcissism and

psychopathic traits.

Correct. David, you wrote you don't think an exorcism is appropriate. He

want one.

He wants to calm the church into doing his bidding.

I'm going to recommend to the Cardinal that we go forward with the exorcism.

Then it doesn't matter what we said.

It does matter.

I listened. I considered your opinion, and I came to a different conclusion.

Wait.

I want you three to be there.

Be there for what? His exorcism. You all believe Mr.

Townsend will mimic a possessed soul.

He will. Then that's why I want you there.

To be my skeptical eye.