N is for Night Terrors
Leland is revealed to have befriended the Archbishop of New York, through a series of "generous donations", and has used his influence with said Cardinal to request an exorcism on himself. Bishop Marx assigns the team to evaluate Leland, despite their strong objections.
Meanwhile, Kristin goes to lengths to cover up her murder a LeRoux, and asks Ben to privately determine why her rosary gave her a "rash" (actually a burn).
Tropes
- The Alibi: Kristin reveals to Dr. Boggs that she purposely visited (and murdered) LeRoux during a period when Mrs. LeRoux was at a party with friends, and thus would not be falsely implicated in his death.
- Ambiguous Situation: Did Leland really sell his soul to a demon, and if so, why? Kristin debunks his initially stated reason for doing so, and he never offers an alternative. But, he does seem to answer to his demonic "therapist", whose description he gives when telling the assessors what the devil looks like. The fact that David has been dreaming of said demon doesn't mean much, as the demon resembles Baphomet, which is an incredibly common piece of pop-culture devil imagery. If David were to have a mundane dream of a demon based on Catholic imagery, it would probably look something like Baphomet.
- And I Must Scream: When Ben is haunted by the Abby the succubus, he is completely paralyzed except for his mouth and eyes.
- Big Fancy House: Leland is revealed to live in a lavish mansion. It's decorated in a such a sterile yet tasteful way that the team assumes he removed all of his personal items before consenting to their search.
- Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: Part of the assessors' assignment is to figure out how much of Leland's past he is lying about, and most of it seems like this. Kristin manages to get a bit of it debunked by talking to his ex-wife Janie, but this becomes a dead end after Janie is mysteriously rendered comatose in a hit-and-run accident.
- Deal with the Devil: Leland claims that he did this as a teenager. He was being tormented by a bullying bus driver, and found a ritual in a book on the dark arts that let him summon the devil. He made a deal to have the bus driver killed in exchange for his soul. He now wants an exorcism in order to void said deal. Ben is able to confirm that the bus driver Leland spoke of did die, but Kristin discovers from Janie that Leland never actually road the bus as a child, leaving his entire claim of selling his soul highly questionable.
- Destroy the Evidence: Kristen attempts to bury her ice axe, still covered in LeRoux's blood, in her back yard. However, she realizes one of her daughters is watching her out the window, and opts to instead clean it with bleach and put hang it on a coat hook where it normally resides.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted: The succubus assaulting Ben during his night terror is treated as truly horrible.
- Eldritch Location: Ben is unnerved when he uses a microphone on Leland's mansion and discovers it has no ambient sounds. No pipes, heating/cooling, wind, or electrical buzzing of any kind. This fact actually allows him to detect the very faint noise of the sigil map rustling in the wind in it's hiding place.
- Evil Laugh: Ben is unnerved when he uses spyware to watch Leland through his webcam and sees Leland staring directly at the camera (and seemingly Ben) and laughing maniacally.
- Fin Gore: While Lexis is under general anesthesia to have her canine's filed down, she unintentionally bites off the dental hygienist's right index finger, leaving it hanging by a strip of skin and latex glove.
- Foreshadowing: Leland creepily warns Ben that he will dream that night. Ben then has a night terror of a succubus assaulting him.
- Here We Go Again!: Once again, a member of the team begins having night terrors of a demon assaulting them while they are paralyzed in bed. As Kristin seemingly killed George last season, this time it's Ben who is haunted by a succubus. Like Kristin, he refuses to believe she is real.
- Holy Burns Evil: Kristin does not want to believe this is why the cross burned her, and instead insists to anyone who will listen that it is just a rash. She two different mundane explanations this:
- She and Dr. Boggs theorize that it's a psychosomatic response to the guilt of murdering LeRoux.
- Ben discovers that the cross is made of mostly Cobalt, a highly effective heat conductor. He theorizes that, as the cross was sitting next to a curling iron when it burned Kristin, the curling iron must have been on (possibly because one of the girls had just been using it), and the cross heated up as well.
- Internal Reveal: Several:
- Kristin, during a session with Dr. Boggs, interrogates him on the legal specifics of doctor-patient confidentiality. After he affirms his commitment to the practice, she candidly tells him she murdered LeRoux. He's naturally horrified, but agrees to keep her secret, as she has already committed the crime and confidentiality is only voided if she reveals she plans future crimes.
- Kirstin, David, and Ben discover Leland's copy of the sigil map, and realize that he has been using Sheryl to spy on them.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Invoked as Leland addresses Kristin and David by name while Ben has to tell him who he is. This backfires on him because he slightly underestimates Ben's resourcefulness.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Ben easily figures out Leland's laptop password is after a few tries. Later it seems Leland may have deliberately left it easy to break into.
- Precision F-Strike: To show off the jump from the CBS network to Paramount+ streaming.Kristin: (regarding Leland) We can't believe a word that fucker says.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Subverted. Bishop Marx appears this way through most of the episode, patiently listening to the team's objections to acquiescing to Townsend. He then promptly throws all their evidence out the window because he "came to a different conclusion" and orders them to proceed with arranging the exorcism. It's stated he's acting irrationally because the cardinal is breathing down his neck.
- Scary Jack-in-the-Box: The chihuahua toy that sings "Feliz Navidad" functions as this, since Leland packed it into a drawer so that it pops up when the gang opens it.
- Scary Teeth: Lexis' adult canines have started coming in early, and are so sharp they cut into her mouth and she leaves a trail of droplets of blood leading to the bathroom. Kristin attempts to get them filed down at the dentist's suggestion, but the procedure does not go as planned.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Leland uses his friendship with the cardinal to insist on having an exorcism, despite the vast conflict of interest (and violent history) he has with the assessors.
- Suspicious Spending: There is no explanation given as to how Leland can afford his Big Fancy House on a therapist's salary.
- Storybook Opening: The framing device for each episode starting this season is a children's book called "The Pop-Up Book of Terrifying Things", which is alphabet themed, with each pop-up presenting a different letter. Each episode takes its name from one of the entries.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: The reaction of the trio that Leland is the guy who wants an exorcism.
