I desperately want to read the market research on “Evil.” While the show cops out on the Catholic Church being an international rape cabal, its relationship with Catholicism is complicated. Intentionally complicated, like there’s one team in the writers’ room who goes anti-Catholic and then the other team who goes pro. I wonder if they’re the same teams who do the Bible’s true and Bible’s not. This episode seemingly acknowledges a whole bunch of supernatural only for it may be to not. But the most significant swings aren’t even about the demons. They’re all very human concerns.
Hence the subject, as revealed in the title: C Is for Cannibalism. The episode answers many outstanding questions, including a brilliant twist reminiscent of the “Shield” finale. It raises more issues for next season, including the old “children in danger” trope, which “Evil” has been avoiding lately. It actually wasn’t; it turns out they just weren’t telling us about all the danger children were in offscreen.
As a season finale, it sets “Evil” up, once again, for a big season with a lot of twists and fallout. Some shocking reveals and shocking turns. But all of them could’ve been introduced and established earlier in the season and hurried some of the arcs, whereas the season actually lost its arc the further it went. Maybe Rona? Certainly not in “Evil” itself; their Earth escaped the pandemic. But maybe it affected availability and so on. Next season “Evil” will finally really get going. How can it not….
Which is a familiar sentiment about the show–it’s got to get going now, right?
It’s an extremely well-directed episode—by Alethea Jones—about med student Taylor Trensch, who gives a hard-to-resist craving to eat human flesh. Hence the title. It takes place on campus during Hell Week, so there are all sorts of scary red herrings. Jones directs the hell out of it, no pun. Hope she’s back next season.
The episode also resolves Mike Colter’s ordination subplot, with some surprises and an awkward cast party where shitty Church boss Boris McGiver hangs out with Christine Lahti, Aasif Mandvi gets to be adorable, and Kurt Fuller and Andrea Martin have a fantastic scene.
The cliffhanger changes the show a lot, but nothing the cast can’t handle. I’m looking forward to Season Three more than I looked forward to Season Two (not sure I looked forward to it at all), but I still don’t think they’re going to pull it off. Not unless they tighten up their plotting next season.
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