The second part of last week's opener concludes that storyline, and while it isn't as interesting (with less emphasis on character and a thinner storyline), it was generally more fun.Having successfully exorcised Liam (Shaun Dooley) last week, Father Jacob (Martin Shaw) still has to contend with the demon inhabiting a homeless man called Michael (Rick Warden), who has viciously attacked Jacob's clergy friend Vimal in a sauna and skinned him alive. Again, a source of contention is how Jacob can perform his exorcism in a society that doesn't believe in such things -- exemplified here by the police, who understandably think they're dealing with a psychopath, not a demonic possession.
Ultimately, the episode boils down to a battle of will between Jacob and Michael/Astaruth, with the demon suggesting Jacob allow himself to be "exorcised" of his faith -- a scenario Jacob's mentor Monsignor Vincenzo (Luigi Diberti) warns against. However, after Michael starts killing Jacob's friends, it seems Jacob is running out of options. But can his faith survive a run-in with one of Satan's minions?
Writer Joe Ahearne fills the episode with intriguing nuggets of religious and historical trivia; like the flaying of St. Bartholomew's skin, Pope Pius XII's controversial tenure during the holocaust, and ghoulish Nazi practices -- which he neatly folds into his plot, blurring reality with fiction. Fundamentally, this is all absurd tosh, but there are enough intelligent links to historical fact to make you suspend your disbelief and buy into the situation. Ahearne is particularly adept at feeding this kind of theological research into the storyline and treating everything with unyielding seriousness.
It helps that, at times, Apparitions is genuinely unnerving. While it sometimes slips into unintentional comedy (Michael bellowing wind at Jacob), sequences like a climactic levitation (excellent), the asphyxiation of Nurse Anne (Michelle Joseph) in a darkened bathroom (artfully done), the skinned body of Vimal (gross), a blessing blowing the fuses in a light shop (creepy), and flies swarming over a Bible bound in human flesh (horrid), were all tense moments with real bite.
Liam and his daughter Donna (Romy Irving) were perhaps pushed into the background too much, particularly considering this was part 2 of what began as their story -- although Liam becomes a reluctant sidekick to Jacob and helps him during an exorcism (but don't you need two priests for that?) Donna comes under the protection of Jacob throughout this episode, and there's a bizarre inference near the end that this little girl might grow up to become an equivalent to Adolf Hitler! Like I said, Apparitions is a bit too silly for its own good at times, but this was still an enjoyable and occasionally tense hour of chills and thrills. And Martin Shaw imbues everything with a significant degree of acting weight.
I think the real test for Apparitions will come next week, with the first of the remaining four episodes written as self-contained stories.
20 November 2008
BBC1, 9pm
Cast: Martin Shaw (Father Jacob), John Shrapnel (Cardinal Bukovak), Rick Warden (Astaruth/Michael), Luigi Diberti (Monsignor Vincenzo), Romy Irving (Donna), Michelle Joseph (Sister Anne), Sarah-Jayne Steed (Sarah), Shaun Dooley (Liam), Stephanie Street (DI Rachel), Siobhan Finneran (Sister Ruth), Patrick Bridgman (George) & Mia Fernandez (Fiona)
