Have we really reached the penultimate episode?
Is Evil Season 4 Episode 13 the last time we will be looking forward to another episode of this thought-provoking series?
Dammit, it’s just mean to bring Evil to a screeching halt.
We’ve got a full recap of “Fear the Unholy” if you’re looking for details. Here’s where the discussion happens (as if I could ever hope to do Evil justice with words on a page).
There was no hiding the fact that Kristen’s words were spoken on behalf of everyone who has brought Evil to life and those of us who have watched it. It’s not just sad; it’s mean.
We’re literally at the end of the road, but there is still so much to be explored. Just look at this list of goodies:
- There were two “case of the week” storylines.
- David’s involvement with The Entity actually ratcheted up instead of slowing down.
- Ben came very close to understanding his brain issue, which remains unsolved.
- Sister Andrea battled and defeated multiple demons.
- Leland revealed a bit about his time with The Entity and why he turned his back on the Church.
- The consequences of remote viewing emerged, suggesting Leland and David now have slivers of each other inside of them (which didn’t correlate to a literal sliver of St. Joseph’s thigh bone)
This tale will not be wrapped up by the end of Evil Season 4 Episode 14, and every ounce of my being hopes that Michelle and Robert King are holding out on us with a renewal.
They’re trying to find closure for these characters they love by examining their potential futures through their doppelgangers, but they are not ready to let them go any more than we are.
So, let’s break it down bit by bit to see where we are.
The Cases of the Week
I honestly thought we’d seen the end of these, but instead, the search for the relic at the Church and assessing whether Stephen Hawking, I mean Johan Taupin, should work with the Church on quantum analysis fit beautifully into the hour and added to the end rather than taking away from it.
Catholicism is known for its mysteries, and discovering a relic was located in the sanctuary of the parish played well into that. Perhaps not as well as seeing spirits overcome the building once it was deconsecrated, but pretty close.
Throwing Ben (and Aasif Mandvi) a bone with one of the world’s preeminent theoretical physicists didn’t seem possible in a Church setting. Evil surprised us all with that nugget.
The Church hasn’t survived for millennia on a wing and a prayer. They’ve always been intimately involved with the greatest minds of the world.
What we don’t know about the Church would fill up many different series. All we want is for Evil to continue.
Ben’s Brain Issue Remains Unsolved Despite the Story Crossover
When the lightbulb went off for Ben that Taupin was experiencing hallucinations and acting strangely because of his self-applied treatment that mimicked what Ben experienced in the particle accelerator, I thought he might find a cure.
Does the fact that he didn’t mean that he won’t? They could slip it into the finale, but I get the feeling Ben is stuck as he is.
There isn’t a magical cure, even on a supernatural show like Evil, when your brain has been invaded like his was.
And you know what? That’s OK. We don’t need all the answers, but we do need to know that Ben will find a way to live with his new normal. Maybe that means choosing an entirely different life path.
Sister Andrea’s Forced Retirement
Sister Andrea is being retired to the nunnery from Evil Season 2 Episode 7, “S is for Silence,” the very one that made such an impression on me that it still feels like I watched it yesterday.
She’s so vibrant and sees things that male clergy members only wished they could. So, of course, she’s being punished. David momentarily considered those they met there, wondering if Sister Andrea might actually like it.
No, she won’t like it. They’re arranging it so that if she does encounter evil, she just has to watch it play out. Without her voice, she can’t conquer evil as she’s become so prone to doing.
She enticed out a whiny demon who ate the St. Joseph relic and tore two flesh-eating buggers right off of David’s spine.
Sister Andrea will always have work to do. Maybe she’s the trigger for the Church to reconsider the need for silence.
Surely, God wouldn’t approve of her being tight-lipped while pure evil ran amok. Then again, I’ve never understood God’s motivations within religion as I know it, which is why I, like Kristen, am agnostic. I have too many questions.
David’s Reassignment
The final assessment wasn’t just to put our assessor team through the motions. It was also to introduce David to his new boss and offer more insight into the Church and Leland Townsend.
Did you notice that David was acting differently even before Leland’s bombshell of the two of them being intermingled? He was talking back and being more forceful. It was as if the shortened time frame of his current work had given him more confidence.
That confidence also made him question his purpose and his faith.
It struck David hard that the Church wouldn’t tell him why they didn’t want him remote-viewing Leland. But it struck him harder that he might have taken a bit of Leland with him from the experience.
Who would want to have something in common with Leland? But David understood what Leland meant when he said at a certain point, he couldn’t see the difference between the Church and what they wanted him to view.
You see ugly things doing that work. David has seen it already. And if our only true gift is free will, not using it becomes harder the more you see through that remarkable vision.
David already experienced the human lie-detector, which Leland noted marked him. He warned him that people would disappear when they were no longer relevant, and then David learned Le Compte had died and Father Dominic dispatched.
How long will David be around if he gets even closer to the action? He’s barely holding it together now.
Pulling him away from the work and the people he loves would be dangerous for him. One wrong move, and he could be the next person who is never seen again.
The Allure of the Path Not Taken
Through it all, the allure of the paths they didn’t take kept niggling away at each of them.
Ben almost seemed comforted by the knowledge that there was a world where he was a family man. Kristen kept imagining her doppel relishing life.
David’s first look at his doppel using hate as a motivator was pretty powerful for a man devoted to faith and love.
The idea of their others and what could have been isn’t dissipating; it’s increasing. And the more uncertainty they have about what’s next, the easier it might be for them to try something new.
With one hour left, we won’t get the answers we seek. How can we? But it seems like we will get more food for thought, perhaps enough that we’ll ponder our own lives and if we’re where we are supposed to be.
Throughout its run, Evil has opened doors for us to look through and take a peek around. Those doors normally close without an explanation of what we’ve witnessed.
Life is always opening and closing doors. It’s what we do with those experiences that make it worth living. It’s sure as hell made Evil worth watching.
So, I’m OK with however Evil ends. It’s been one of the most satisfying series to watch, and it’s embarrassing the number I’ve devoured. This one, though, will stick with me. I’ll refer to it often.
As much as I want the show to continue and would appreciate answers to lingering questions, that’s not how life works, and I wouldn’t give it all back for either.