Season 4, Episode 04
The Devil's in the Details… and the Upstairs Bedroom
Directed by John Badham
Written by Bill Callahan
"I want both of you boys in there with me... in the event she needs to be restrained. Now, have either one of you ever been involved in an exorcism?"
Agatha, a student at Saint Attalus Catholic College, leaps from a rooftop to her death in an apparent suicide. Gus drags Shawn into the ensuing investigation as a favor to their old Sunday School teacher, Father Peter Westley. Agatha had reportedly been acting very strangely as of late, and while it looks like straight-up suicide to Shawn, Father Westley fears she may have been possessed by a demon. Shawn is deeply skeptical, but when her best friend Lucy starts going wild, shutting herself up in her room and acting violently, Shawn starts to suspect there may be more going on here than meets the eye…Tropes:
- Artistic License – Religion: Father Westly in the The Exorcist parody episode violates the actual procedure of a Catholic exorcism pretty severely. For instance, he not only failed to have any medical or psychiatric experts examine the girl (which is a required step for all suspected possessions), but he apparently never even examined her himself (beyond noting her odd behavior) before deciding to conduct an exorcism. As with the above mentioned instances of artistic license this could be intentional as Father Wesley is mentioned to be something of a crackpot with questionable ethics and standards.
- As the Good Book Says...: Father Westley drops Shawn a clue by mentioning Proverbs 11:6 – “The righteousness of the upright will save them, the unfaithful will be trapped by evil desires”.
- By "No", I Mean "Yes": Shawn tries this, but Gus cuts him off.Lassiter: [on cell phone] I'm talking to Vick, she wants to know if you two dopes are on the case.
Shawn: Well, Lassie my friend, I'm afraid the answer is a big fat
Gus: YES.
Shawn: And by "yes" he means
Gus: ABSOLUTELY.
Shawn: May I speak to you in the Stop Openly Contradicting Me Room, please? - Catholic School Girls Rule: Averted at Saint Attalus, which doesn't have a uniform, much to Shawn’s disappointment.
- Chemically-Induced Insanity: What actually happened to Agatha; Lucy slipped her some of Father Westley’s Parkinson’s Disease medication. When taken by someone without Parkinson’s, it causes extremely erratic, emotional behavior.
- Constantly Curious: In the Cold Open, little Shawn asks a lot of questions about Noah’s Ark in Sunday school that Father Westley can’t really answer to his satisfaction. Henry at first tries to rein Shawn in, but eventually he moves beyond the more theological questions (why would God ask one thing of Noah but not the koalas) to matters of more practicality (How did the lions eat?) and Henry switches sides.
- Curse Cut Short: Lassiter spots a nun...Lassie: [to Shawn] Well, you can tell your senses to kiss my [nun walks by] ... sweet... love biscuits.
Gus: I don't know that you made that any less offensive. - Demonic Possession: Lucy is suspected of being host to a demon, and Agatha was suspected of the same. Lots of spider-walking, speaking in other languages, screaming, and divulging of personal secrets ensues.
- Dies Wide Open: Agatha died like this, her eyes opening in her last moments.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Lucy pegs Shawn as a Covert Pervert and uses that against him during the exorcism.Lucy: You're hot.
Shawn: [smirk] Thanks. You're not so bad yourself. A little young, perhaps... - Dutch Angle: Scenes involving the seemingly-possessed Lucy generally have these, to increase the sense of horror and disorientation.
- Even Evil Has Standards: As depraved as Lucy's plan was, it was only meant to make Agatha act erratically. She certainly didn't intend for Agatha to throw herself on a balcony and even tried to talk her down.
- Gone Horribly Right: Lucy wanted to make Agatha go crazy... and she went crazy enough to commit suicide.
- Hollywood Exorcism: Father Westley does ‘em, apparently.
- Horror Struck: Shawn is initially utterly dismissive of the possession angle, but is visibly horrified and baffled when she tells Shawn about an incident in 7th grade where he put a tack on a teacher’s chair, and may have given him blood poisoning—something he’s told very, very few people.
- Just One More Level!: Henry has recently gotten addicted to a new video game, and Shawn spends some time trying to wean him off it.
- Pac Man Fever: The fake game Henry "plays" looks pretty awful, even for 2013.
- Removing the Rival: Lucy coveted Agatha's boyfriend, drugging her in hopes that she'd act so crazy that she'd get dumped. She didn't intend to kill the victim.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Lucy gave Agatha some of Father Westley’s medication to drive her berserk, only for it to work too well and send her leaping off a balcony. She overheard Father Westley mention he suspected Demonic Possession the next morning, and pretended to be possessed herself in order to fuel that idea. Everything she did while possessed was due to a combination of natural flexibility and researching the people who came to see her ahead of time.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To The Exorcist, particularly the scene when Father Westley shows up outside Lucy’s home wreathed in Ominous Fog while the movie’s eerie theme starts playing.
- Yandere: Lucy is this to Cameron, Agatha’s former boyfriend. She was hell-bent on driving a wedge between Cameron and Agatha, and gave her psychosis-inducing medicine to do it so that she could be together with Cameron. When her plot is exposed, she defends her actions by saying Agatha wasn’t right for him even though she didn’t mean to kill her friend.
- You Just Told Me: Father Westley won’t break the confessional seal, but drops a critical hint to Shawn that allows him to lead Lucy into a verbal trap and admit that she spoke to him about her obsession with Cameron.
