S4E17 - “Demonology”
Episode Recap by Jen at Wheel’s Up!
Our episode starts at a townhouse in Georgetown and something very demonic is happening. A man is tied to a bed, bleeding and screaming and not in a good way. Ominously, a priest looking guy walks into the room holding a candle as a priest does. An exorcism? God only knows!
We cut away to see Emily pulling up to a bar where she meets an old friend named Johnny. Unfortunately, this is not a happy reunion, as Johnny breaks the news to Emily that their multiple pal Matthew Benton is dead. Emily is shocked and sad. Johnny tells Emily that Matthew had a heart attack, but he’s convinced that there was something else going on. Matthew was a drug user and had a tendency to ramble but the last time Johnny saw him, Matthew was afraid, convinced that “they” were going to kill him and that “they” had already killed Tommy V. Johnny has no idea who “they” are, nor does he know a Tommy V, but considering Emily’s job, he asks her to look into it.
Emily shows up at the BAU, mopey and soaked from the rain. She tells Hotch about the loss of her friend and asked him for permission to look into it. He offers her help but also tells her to take a few days to take care of herself, which is a very novel idea coming from Hotch, in my opinion.
The next day, Hotch shares the case with the rest of the team while Morgan and Prentiss go to the morgue to examine Matthew’s body. When she sees Matthew, Prentiss has a flashback to her teen years, where she and Matthew are at a doctor’s office together. Meanwhile, Hotch and JJ go to talk to Matthew’s Benson’s parents, and Rossi and Reid go to the Valentine household to talk to the wife of Tommy V. Both families are extremely religious and convinced that each of their departed loved one’s souls were in the possession of evil. Outside of this detail, the two men are connected by having attended this same pilgrimage together in Galicia, Spain. Additionally, as soon as Matthew’s parents hear JJ mention Emily’s name, they ask them to leave.
Back at the BAU, Rossi presents the idea that Matthew and Tommy’s deaths could have resulted from exorcisms, considering both families thought they were possessed. This would help to explain some of the details of each man’s death, such as the superficial ligature marks on the bodies’ wrists and ankles. Morgan doesn’t want the team to jump to conclusions, which they don’t, but Rossi goes to talk to his priest friend and asks him about exorcisms, which are of course very controversial.
Soon after, we see a man who seems to be seeing or hearing things run from the cab he was taking back to his house and when he arrives, he is confronted by a priest who claims he is there to help the man. As the man tries to kick the priest out, three men come up from behind him and drag him to the bedroom. The next day, he is found dead in said bedroom. His name was Patrick Cavanaugh and he was in Galicia, Spain as well.
While Prentiss, Morgan, and Reid examine the bedroom, Reid is becoming more convinced of the exorcism angle, while Morgan is still a bit apprehensive to say all the deaths are connected. When Cavanaugh’s fiance comes to talk to the team, Emily loses her cool a bit and accuses the fiance of lying and that she’d be charged as an accessory if she had requested Patrick to receive an exorcism.
Since the team hasn’t actually been invited to investigate the case, basically because there isn’t technically a case to investigate–each man died of something that would be considered natural causes, dehydration, a heart attack, and an aneurysm.
After Prentis’ outburst at the last scene, a complaint was filed and JJ is working to smooth it over, so Hotch is not happy but he asks Reid and Morgan’s thoughts about the case, where again, Reid is pretty sure of the connection, but Morgan isn’t, which pisses Emily off cuz she feels like he doesn’t have her back. JJ is not able to convince the DC police to open an investigation, so Hotch wants the team to drop it for ~administrative~ reasons. Rossi does not accept that, because “people are dying. This isn’t about religion, it's about evil.”
Just then, Garcia comes into Hotch’s office with more information about the Spain connection, as the church that was hosting the pilgrimage had to stop services when the priest there died of a heart attack at the time all of the men were there. However, there were lots of rumors that the priest had actually been murdered, the same way the men are being murdered now. To Rossi and JJ, this indicates motive, but without an invitation from the police, Hotch won’t allow the team to investigate.
Rossi goes a little rogue and takes Emily for coffee, and then to an abandoned lot to press her on her relationship to Matthew. Prentis opens up to Rossi and reveals to him that when she was a teenager living in Rome, she got pregnant. Matthew wasn’t the father but he was a good friend of Emily’s and found her a doctor that would perform an abortion, even though he was extremely religious and was told that Emily wouldn’t be welcome in his congregation if she did have one. Matthew stood by her and made her feel loved even when she was going through such a difficult time.
However, the priest’s treatment of Emily led Matthew to start questioning his religion. He started doing drugs and denouncing the church, which is when his parents became concerned that he was possessed. Emily blames herself for Matthew’s life unraveling. Rossi then reveals what Garcia had found, that Matthew and the others may have killed the priest in Spain. Emily doesn’t believe that but wants her friend to rest in peace so Rossi tells her he wants to keep investigating, if she wants to. Emily, Rossi and Reid go talk to a panel of local priests, who tell them that performing so many exorcisms in a row would require medical care. Garcia looks into Catholic hospital records and finds the potential unsub. When they arrive to arrest Father Paul SIlvano, they find that he has diplomatic immunity.
They bring him in for questioning regardless and Emily sits down with him. This dude is definitely responsible for the murders, they just don’t have anyway to prove it. As the priest pries at Emily’s relationship with God, he tells her to be strong because the storm is almost over, indicating that not all the exorcisms/murders are complete. Considering the priest’s diplomatic status, politics are coming into the play the longer the team questions him, which means eventually they have to let him go.
Hotch lays into Emily for accusing the Italian government of authorizing this man’s assassination list, which is a bit of a stretch, but this dude is definitely guilty so, yeah, Hotch, she is accusing the Italian government of of murder and she’s RIGHT!! Hotch unofficially suspends her for a few days, but on her way out, Rossi hope in the elevator with her and they go back to Matthew’s parents house. Things get heated but Emily ultimately figures out the last target is her friend Johnny.
Father Silvano is already at his home and starts performing the exorcism, but Morgan and Prentis show up in time to stop him. John is safe and Father Silvano loses his diplomatic status so he can be extradited back to Italy. John apologizes to Emily for not being there for her in Italy, insinuating that he was the father of her baby.
The episode ends with Prentis taking a long emotional walk in the snow to the front of a church where she pulls out an old photo of her, Matthew, and John in Italy. Her nose starts bleeding, indicating the demons of her past have been cleansed. The sad girl vibes are immaculate and her side profile is the hottest thing i've ever seen.
Rating Criteria:
Criminal/Serial Killer: 20/20
Character development/ character arcs: 20/20
Forensics/Context: 20/20
Script writing: 20/20
Background characters: 20/20
Overall: 100/100