Evil Series-Finale Recap: Last Rites
Evil had a tall order coming into what is supposedly its series finale (I’m holding out hope, what can I say), but this was a challenge of the show’s own making. Over the course of four seasons, the storytelling on Robert and Michelle King’s supernatural-horror, sometimes-comedy, always-social-commentary series has been consistently tight. It was never a series interested in easy, obvious answers, but always cut to the core of its themes or the subject du jour in such incisive, clever, and yes, many times terrifying ways. Even at its weirdest or most chaotic, it was always clear the writers had control over the story; Evil always knew what it was doing and always exuded confidence. While these last four episodes haven’t been bad — I’m sorry but Evil is just operating on a different level than most television shows and even its “worst” episodes are fucking elite — the storytelling has felt less controlled, less precise. Four episodes is just simply not enough time to wrap up everything Evil’s been trying to do since it premiered. It deserved so much more, in every sense of the phrase. So while there are some truly great things happening in this episode, it’s mostly underwhelming as far as finales go — and certainly doesn’t evoke the feeling that this is the final statement on what Evil was about as a series.
“Fear of the End” definitely does have something to say, though. It’s a sentiment the entire fourth season has been touching on — that evil, despair, and misery are more accessible, easier spread, and more potent because of advancements in science and technology. That’s certainly where we wind up in regards to the meeting of the 60 families. Instead of some big showdown with the demonic families and the Entity or the assessors, Leland and Mr. Stick use the assumption that there will be a big meeting to their advantage.
As per usual, Leland has been one step ahead. The painting was a setup, he knew about David cloning his phone, and despite Sister Andrea’s warnings to Giovanni the big show Leland and Stick make of renting out St. Joseph’s for their Black Mass and human sacrifice is just that — a show. When Giovanni and dozens of Vatican Security members descend on the church, they realize it’s all a trap, but it’s too late. Sure, David also tries to warn them. (Sister Andrea enlists David to appeal to Giovanni since he’s a man and he’s tall —“Tall people are convincing even if they’re dumb” — and David and the assessors are slowly unraveling Leland’s plan.) But Giovanni never listens and while David arrives in time to pull Giovanni out, the rest of his men die from the poison planted in the cauldrons Stick had the event planner set up. Hey, at least all those Vatican guys die listening to the eager, wannabe actress Leland hires as “Screaming Girl” sing her version of Annie’s “Tomorrow.” A haunting image if ever there was one!
It’s true: There is no big meeting of the 60. At least not IRL. The demons have gone virtual, people! The big, bad evil coming to New York? Turns out it was the Entity all along. Thanks to the VR goggles Sheryl bought her granddaughters back in season one, the assessors are able to figure out Team Demon’s plan. They’re still too late, of course, but it’s good that they at least realize what is going on here.
The Bouchard girls break out the VR goggles to try a new game, “Mother Midnight,” in which your future is supposedly revealed to you. When Lynn and Lila put the goggles on, they stand in their dining room and watch Leland murder their mother with an ice ax to the back of the head. When Kristen wears them, she gets an intervention for being a terrible parent and watches her daughters get ripped away from her by CPS. Ben watches Karima die terrified that his cynicism about religion and the afterlife was right all along. David gets attacked by the Stick Demon and while he’s bleeding out, Leland stands over him, calling him a fool. Basically, it’s everyone’s worst nightmares come to life — or at least to virtual reality. Oh, and there is also this 24-hour countdown, which some believe means that these futures will come true when the clock runs out. Scary, right?
Ben does a little digging and makes two important discoveries: All of these apps lead back to DF Global, and there is an interface in the goggles that connects to the brain — sort of like Toppin’s cerebral path but less invasive. It’s like despair and pain and evil is being injected directly into the brain in a convergence of tech and humanity. When David gets a glimpse of a map of the brain that Ben’s been looking at, one that shows the 60-ish regions connected to the thalamus — regions including those that control sight, sound, sleep regulation, visual reasoning, judgment, like, all the biggies — something dawns on him. He pulls up the sigil map and realizes those 60 demonic houses, this sigil map that we’ve been looking at for four seasons, looks exactly like a map of the brain. Team Demon is cutting out the middleman, removing the need for demons or demonic forces to tempt people or sow seeds of sin, and instead have found a way to directly and efficiently spread evil. “Why go to the trouble of tempting when you can upload despair right into the brain?” That’s when David realizes that the 60 won’t be meeting in person — they don’t need to do anything in person ever again.
David’s right on the money. After the staged Black Mass to take out the Entity is successful, Leland and Mr. Stick hop on … a Zoom call with the 60. Listen, I’ve always believed Zoom calls to be evil, so this reveal felt very good and very right to me. Most of the 60 are on board with their new business plan to use technology to spread their message (even poor cloven-hoofed Norm, who just cannot figure out that mute button), and are satisfied with Leland’s promise that he will take care of killing Kristen and the baptized anti-christ as planned that evening. They all go about their business. I remain torn about this twist. On one hand: It is hilarious to watch these demons on a Zoom and it is deeply, deeply unsettling to think about how this “direct upload of despair to our brains” is actually happening. Once again, Evil taps into some horrifying truths in the way only Evil can (a completely bonkers way). On the other hand: That was it? All of this talk about the 60 and all this time spent with that sigil map and this is all we get? I feel exactly like Lynn and Lila when they realize that 24-hour countdown was all leading to an ad letting them know that their trial period was up and they need to pay to continue the game: I’m disappointed and confused but yeah, I will buy into this regardless.
This mix of disappointment and acceptance comes into play in regards to Leland’s fate, too. Aside from his big demon call, he’s been up to his usual games with Kristen. He poses as a new client — Ernest Truman, hilarious — and shows up to her newly renovated office to torment her. She tases him repeatedly until David and Ben show up to get rid of him. But Leland is committed to making good on his promise to kill both her and Timothy for his cause. He sneaks into the Bouchard house by way of that demon hole in the basement (I love how much use this show has gotten out of that thing), and finds his way up to Kristen’s bedroom with a very large knife. Believing her to be in the shower, he slowly creeps in — but Kristen’s lying in wait. She uses a rope in the closet to strangle him, taking him to the ground. You can see it in her face — she’s going to kill this man. But right before that becomes an inevitability, we see David’s hand reach out for hers. He tells her softly to stop. Then, Ben shows up on the other side, “we’re here,” he says as she releases the rope and breaks down into tears.
The intimacy between these three friends showcased in this scene is gorgeous — it is a culmination of the relationship they’ve been building up for four seasons. Kristen has killed before in order to protect herself and her family, but now she doesn’t need to cross that line. She isn’t alone in this fight anymore and she recognizes that. There is no judgment from David and Ben, either, only empathy and understanding and a desire to support. Earlier in the episode, the three assessors have a drunken fireside chat about how they’ve changed because of knowing one another. Now, we don’t get a rendition of Wicked’s “For Good” or anything, which I would’ve welcomed and would’ve only been like the 50th weirdest thing to happen on this show, but we do get this scene. We get to see exactly how they’ve all been changed by one another. It’s a fitting tribute to the friendship that was the anchor for all this madness.
Still, admittedly, for a guy who was always one step ahead and loved elaborate schemes, and was literally sucking out the brains and blood of people for who knows how long in his New York City apartment, you’d think Leland would have a better plan than “creep into Kristen’s house and stab her.” This final showdown between two people who have been at each other’s throats for four seasons was much less dramatic than I would’ve ever guessed. But you know what? Boy, did I cackle when it was revealed that instead of killing Leland, the assessors were tossing that piece of shit in the demon cabinet at the silent monastery. May the botflies eat his flesh and may he never know peace! It is a deliciously, well, evil, fate for ol’ Leland Townsend.
The other great aspect to Leland’s end is that, like much of this episode, it isn’t exactly an end. Should someone get their head out of their ass and bring back this series, it would be easy to dive back in. Leland could escape, evil still lurks at every corner, and what of our assessors? Well, with his new leverage over Giovanni, David asks for his assessor program back — he wants his people around him. The compromise, though, is that he can have the program and Kristen and Ben back, but they have to work out of the Vatican. Ben declines since he’s now making bank (I don’t fully buy this decision, but alas). Kristen, inspired by her doppelgänger, decides to go for it. Initially, it would only be for six months, and the girls are more than down for a little Italian excursion. So, we leave the world of Evil with Kristen and David (still a priest, unfortunately), hanging out together in Rome, working on cases, wearing chic Italian sunglasses, and saving the world.
You didn’t think Evil was going to end on such a basic note, though, did you? They pack in one more surprise, as a treat. Kristen looks down at a smiling baby Timothy in his stroller, and suddenly, his face transforms into that of a demon. She pops a pacifier in his mouth and pretends like everything is just fine, but it looks like that baptism for the antichrist did not take as well as we thought. Consider it one last nightmare for the road, friends.
Church Bulletin
• So, um, Ben’s migraines and visions of the jinn are just … fixed? No explanation, no conclusion to his story? Did he get that cerebral path and we’re supposed to infer that? What a dropped story line if ever there was one.
• Not that I don’t love watching Sister Andrea go toe-to-toe — cute little nose boop included — with the Mr. Stick Demon, but nothing came of this at all. She has no showdown with him, she never takes him on in any meaningful way. What gives?
• Speaking of no pay-offs: We don’t get any sort of conclusion or closure on Lexis. Both David and Kristen were warned about her, even Lynn should have some suspicions at this point, and yet … not a thing. Not even a quick cutaway to her tail for old times sake. I could’ve also used like, one more Kurt Boggs scene. That guy was the best.
• The other “Midnight Mother” players showing up at Kristen’s house with their goggles on in an attempt to prevent the fates they’ve seen on their game from happening, a fun little trick from DF Global, provides an incredible visual, but feels like a waste of time in the end. Wouldn’t people playing this game have been showing up for days or was this game literally just released that day? Other people clearly played the game before Lynn and Lila, since they read about it online — wouldn’t people have noted that the 24-hour countdown was all leading to an ad? The whole thing just feels sloppy.
• A Fenna cameo! You love to see it!
• Ben flustered when Kristen ends their Italian video chat with “I love you” because he really is part of the Bouchard family? David telling Ben and Kristen that he never had real friends before them and embracing them both around the fire? I love these three so much — what do we do without them?