- Title: Perception – Possession
- wiki: link
“Time-out, Daniel Pierce is standing here telling me not to believe the crazy person?”
Kate Moretti (Rachael Leigh Cook) brings Daniel Pierce (Eric McCormack) an unusual case where the only suspect in a murder is a hallucinating woman (Rya Kihlstedt) whose husband and priest believe has become possessed by the Devil (John Glover, who shows up as Daniel’s weekly hallucination). Properly identifying her symptoms as caused by a Teratoma tumor, Dr. Pierce saves the woman’s life although Kate’s intervention unintentionally cause problems with her marriage plans as the priest she has to get surly to stop an impromptu exorcism (Timothy V. Murphy) is the same one in charge of ruling on the annulment of their first marriage and greenlighting their second ceremony in the church.
With the tumor removed, the woman admits to the murder of the charity’s assistant (Alex Frnka) but claims temporary insanity because of the voices emploring her to commit the crime. Not buying her story which Pierce believes sounds too detailed and rehearsed, Daniel and Kate search for proof that the woman’s symptoms didn’t start until long after the night the victim was run over. However, all the pair find is a perfect alibi that clears her completely of the crime which she could never have committed. The woman’s husband (Anthony Starke) also provides an unshakable alibi with his regular meeting with a dominatrix (Elle Young). However, in looking at how he could afford to spend $100,000 a year on such sessions Kate and Daniel finally find the real motive for the crime.
A little too long is spent on Kate struggling with an apology to a priest we all know isn’t in her nature to give, but Cook has fun indignantly squirming when called on. The tumor, and how it caused the bizarre behavior we witness, is one of the more interesting medical (rather than purely psychological) phenomenon the show has introduced. An extra subplot involves a jubilant Lewicki (Arjay Smith) finally beating his distracted mentor at chess. Despite the distractions of an angry priest and halted wedding along with the chess game and the Devil inciting Daniel into selling his soul, the professor and the FBI trace the charity’s money-laundering scheme back to the victim’s family (Al Sapienza, Daniel Booko, Clare Carey) and reveal the series of events which led to the young woman’s murder.
