- Premiered on CBS, September 26, 2019
- Cast: Mike Colter as David Acosta (Million Dollar Baby, The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Luke Cage), Katja Herbers as Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Divorce, The Americans, Westworld), Aasif Mandvi as Ben Shroff, who refers to himself as Ben the Magnificent, (Die Hard With a Vengeance, Analyze This, Law and Order, ER, Blue Bloods, A Series of Unfortunate Events), Dakin Matthews as Father Augustus (My Two Dads, Gilmore Girls, Charmed), Christine Lahti as Dr. Bouchard’s mother Sheryl Luria (And Justice For All, Running on Empty, Chicago Hope, Law and Order: SVU, Hawaii Five-0, The Blacklist), Michael Emerson as Leland Townsend (The Practice, Lost, Person of Interest, Arrow), Boris McGiver as Monsignor Matthew Korecki (The Wire, House of Cards, Turn: Washington Spies, Boardwalk Empire), Kurt Fuller as Dr. Boggs ( Psych, Rosewood, The Good Wife, Providence, AllyMcBeal)
- Creators: Robert and Michelle King (The Good Wife, The Good Fight, BrainDead)
- Genre: Drama, Supernatural, Thriller
The premise of the show is about a team of professionals
(Dr. Bouchard and Ben Shroff) led by David Acosta that investigates alleged
supernatural occurrences for the Catholic Church to determine if an exorcism is
necessary.
David Acosta is a former journalist who is currently studying to be a priest and lives at the church. He works as an assessor; someone who investigates and then reports back to the church whether or not there are possible demonic situations or miracles.
Dr. Bouchard is a forensic psychologist who, after being fired from the District Attorney’s office, is hired by Acosta to work with him on cases. While David is devout in his beliefs, Bouchard is skeptical of any religion; where David uses his faith to guide him towards answers, she uses science.
Leland Townsend is Bouchard’s nemesis. He masquerades as a fellow forensic psychologist, but is actually an occult expert who uses mind control techniques in order to get people to commit crimes for his own pleasure.
In the pilot, Bouchard discovers that Townsend was
somehow able to get his hands on notes her therapist took during their sessions
and uses it against her to discredit her during a trial. It was David’s take on
demons and their connection to evil people that encourages her to work for him.
It places itself within the supernatural/thriller television genre without being too scary or too complicated. The storylines are interesting and easy-to-follow without being condescending.
Once you watch one episode you can’t wait for the next episode. Yes, it is that addictive and it will become a binge-worthy show in the future.
It has also been renewed for a second season.
The writers have made the characters interesting.
They were careful not to make the typical mistake many television writers make either by disclosing the characters’ background too fast or not at all. Every episode viewers learn more about their backgrounds and personalities which makes you want to continue to watch.
The show is able to perfectly walk the fine line of not being disrespectful to those viewers who have religious beliefs while not be too church-y to those who aren't religious. You also don't need a cheat sheet to understand the church aspect and you don't need a PhD for the scientific approach.
The problems that the show has is Bouchard’s daughters are just loud and undefined. There’s not a lot of depth to them other than being a scene filler and an annoying one at that.
The writers seem to try too hard to show the differences between Bouchard's controlled professional life and a private life that is overly chaotic.
In real life, unless there is some underlying dysfunction, doesn't happen or at least isn't as obvious such as the case of the Bouchard family.
The emotionally dysfunctional power surge seems to be Bouchard's mother and learning more about who she is will well be worth the wait.
There is also no real information about Bouchard’s
husband who works as guide escorting mountain climbers on Mount Everest.
Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but he is a dynamic within the Bouchard family and is referenced a lot.
While viewers are becoming familiar with Bouchard and Acosta, Ben is a bit of an enigma and you can feel that there is a lot more to this character.
David Acosta is a former journalist who is currently studying to be a priest and lives at the church. He works as an assessor; someone who investigates and then reports back to the church whether or not there are possible demonic situations or miracles.
Dr. Bouchard is a forensic psychologist who, after being fired from the District Attorney’s office, is hired by Acosta to work with him on cases. While David is devout in his beliefs, Bouchard is skeptical of any religion; where David uses his faith to guide him towards answers, she uses science.
Leland Townsend is Bouchard’s nemesis. He masquerades as a fellow forensic psychologist, but is actually an occult expert who uses mind control techniques in order to get people to commit crimes for his own pleasure.
This is a really good show.
It places itself within the supernatural/thriller television genre without being too scary or too complicated. The storylines are interesting and easy-to-follow without being condescending.
Once you watch one episode you can’t wait for the next episode. Yes, it is that addictive and it will become a binge-worthy show in the future.
It has also been renewed for a second season.
The writers have made the characters interesting.
They were careful not to make the typical mistake many television writers make either by disclosing the characters’ background too fast or not at all. Every episode viewers learn more about their backgrounds and personalities which makes you want to continue to watch.
The show is able to perfectly walk the fine line of not being disrespectful to those viewers who have religious beliefs while not be too church-y to those who aren't religious. You also don't need a cheat sheet to understand the church aspect and you don't need a PhD for the scientific approach.
In addition, the show doesn't over-dramatizes the church's connection to exorcisms to tell a good story.
The problems that the show has is Bouchard’s daughters are just loud and undefined. There’s not a lot of depth to them other than being a scene filler and an annoying one at that.
The writers seem to try too hard to show the differences between Bouchard's controlled professional life and a private life that is overly chaotic.
In real life, unless there is some underlying dysfunction, doesn't happen or at least isn't as obvious such as the case of the Bouchard family.
The emotionally dysfunctional power surge seems to be Bouchard's mother and learning more about who she is will well be worth the wait.
Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but he is a dynamic within the Bouchard family and is referenced a lot.
While viewers are becoming familiar with Bouchard and Acosta, Ben is a bit of an enigma and you can feel that there is a lot more to this character.
All these problems are minor when it comes to the overall dynamics of this show.
