Season 4 of Evil premieres Thursday, May 23 on Paramount+.
There’s nothing on television quite like Evil. If you’re a fan, you’ve probably had that thought before. If you’re not, you’ve likely heard someone else express it. But it’s worth repeating, especially as the show nears its conclusion. A foreboding pervades the opening of Season 4: While still reveling in the sly delights of robot dogs and particle accelerators infested with demons, there’s a feeling that creators Robert and Michelle King are slowly but methodically brewing up something truly grotesque. The endgame is nigh.
The formula is the same as it ever was: The spirit-hunting (or -debunking) dream team of skeptical psychologist Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers), Catholic seminarian David Acosta (Mike Colter), and tech enthusiast Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) are bopping around New York and its outer environs, checking in on anyone and everyone who reports something strange in their neighborhood. The trio are as oddly matched and entertaining as ever, with Kristen and David trying their best to ignore the persistent spark between them while Ben wrestles with his own demons – or, rather, djinn. Their nemesis, Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson, slimy as always), and his bureaucracy from Hell have one of Kristen’s eggs, with which Leland plans to bring about the Antichrist. (Rosemary’s Baby copycats are so hot right now).
Evil retains its singular and, yes, wicked sense of humor, teasing out the silliness inherent to talk of demon infestations and world-ending infants while never outright discounting their existence. That would defeat the whole purpose of the show, which is more concerned with exploring all probabilities rather than providing answers. The central trio has found a kind of equilibrium in their disparate attempts to explain the unexplainable. They’ve hit their stride both as coworkers and friends, and this season in particular offers them more chances to actually open up to each other. It’s fun to see, even if this is some of the last we’ll see of it. (Thank heavens for the four additional episodes Paramount+ gave the Kings to wrap up their story.)
The pop-up book that traditionally introduces the title of every episode is a do-it-yourself manual this season, inviting readers to learn “How to Split an Atom” or “How to Train a Werewolf.” Though the book is created with digital effects, its intricate designs remain a fun little nod to Evil’s use of practical makeup and elaborate sets. (At one point, Kristen’s mom, Sheryl, finds a literal glass ceiling placed over her office.) There are demonic entities in Season 4 whose rubbery creature makeup and creep-out factor give Doctor Who aliens a run for their money – and are decidedly much more sinister. With its case-of-the-week and B-movie influences, Evil has a certain throwback charm. It’s nice to see these nods to a more analog era of terror coming from a show that’s gotten so much mileage out of the easily corruptible digital technology that consumes our modern lives.
While Evil continues to strike a complicated balance between humor and horror, there are darker interactions between characters – and some moments of real peril – in the early episodes of this season that feel altogether new. Andy (Patrick Brammall), Kristen’s husband, shows lasting, ominous signs from his time as Leland’s prisoner. David’s battles with faith and doubt have typically been portrayed as internal, but here they come to the surface in random outbursts. It’s a seething frustration that Colter – as a character who feels the pressure of playing the serene Man of God – portrays with a bewildered anger. David and Kristen’s push-pull relationship comes across as both an anchor and a burden, a connection that Colter and Herbers render with multilayered intensity. . There’s an edge of your seat feeling to Season 4: Will Kristen, David, and Ben finally be stretched to their breaking point? Given Evil’s thrilling, chilling refusal to provide easy answers, there’s really no predicting what will happen after that.
Verdict:
Score: 9
Short blurb:
Poll suggestions: What’s the best supernatural TV procedural? (Evil, The X-Files, Fringe, Supernatural)
Who is the most evil child? (Damien from The Omen, the triplets from The Brood, Gage from Pet Sematary, the Boss Baby from The Boss Baby)
