Evil (2019) s03e03 – The Demon of Sex

This episode ends with an odd, incomplete feeling. There’s no oomph to any of the storylines, and the resolutions are all put off until next time. There’s not even a cliffhanger, just Katja Herbers and Andrea Martin not being shitty to each other. It feels like a long episode cut up, but it also feels like the first really streaming episode of “Evil.” Whenever there’s an F-bomb, it’s a good F-bomb, onscreen, in scene, not tacked on later to flex.

The investigation plot this episode involves a newly married couple—Freddy Miyares and Freddy Miyares—having troubles in the martial bed. They’re both virgins, and whenever they try getting busy, he gets nauseous and she breaks out in hives. Initially, now priest Mike Colter thinks they just need a couples’ counselor, but nun Martin convinces him there’s a demon. Because she can see and talk to the demon. I’m not sure if it’s a new demon costume, but it’s not a good one. It’s like “Evil” knows it’s got its audience; it doesn’t need to try anymore.

Colter calls Herbers in to consult, then disappears for the episode, presumably off on secret Vatican secret service business like covering up more Indigenous Canadian child murders or something. Herbers and Martin don’t hit it off, but they agree to work together—there’s a weird “we’re being condescending to another woman” stand-off they do, but it’s well-acted weird, so it’s okay.

Will Herbers figure out how to keep the demon out of the martial bed? Will Martin get in trouble for talking during the meetings? It’s high-stakes stuff.

Aassif Mandvi’s got the other main plot. He’s suffering from depression thanks to his job; specifically, the mysteries of “Evil” leaves unresolved after the episode finishes. His sister, Sohina Sidhu, decides she’s going to help him out of his funk. It’s a good character episode for Mandvi, who gets to do more and different things than usual. His semi-breakdown starts when he can’t fix Herbers’s toilet; her husband flushed a shrunken blood sacrifice to Satan head down the toilet in the first episode of the season, and it’s been causing plumbing problems since. It gets to be too much for Mandvi.

Then there’s some stuff with Herbers and her kids being mentally abusive to one another. It’s unsuccessful except for tying into Christine Lathi’s superior workplace subplot. Michael Emerson tasks her with selling demonic crypto, only he really puts her millennial drones in charge. Lathi’s not going to take their shit and has to figure out how to succeed selling nonsense. Crypto and religion. “Evil”’s got all the nothing for sale.

Lathi’s great this episode, Mandvi’s great this episode. Martin’s only okay, which isn’t great. And Herbers is only okay, too; despite being around a bunch, she’s got nothing to herself.

It’s a peculiar episode. If it’d had some kick, it’d be one of the better this season. But, instead, makes you wonder if they know what they’re doing. Like when Monsignor Boris McGiver comes off like a total rube and draws attention to him always being a total rube, which is a problem since he’s the patriarch.

Nelson McCormick’s direction is fine; it’s the dramatically stalled script, credit to not new-to-“Evil” Aurin Squire.

Evil (2019) s01e02 – 177 Minutes

“Evil” doubles down on the debunking of magic this episode. This time it’s about a miracle, not a possession. The heroes are looking into a girl being pronounced dead then coming back to life after a priest whispers to her. Dakin Matthews plays the priest. It’s a small part but it’s nice to see Matthews. He’s a solid character actor.

And this episode is definitely an improvement over the first. The teases of religious explanation are shorter, the debunking is better… though I was shocked how far they take it in the last scene, revealing former priest-to-be Mike Colter gets high on shrooms to talk to God. No wonder it doesn’t matter how much Colter prays about something God never helps; God’s his trip.

Duh.

Sorry.

There’s more with lead Katja Herbers’s night terror demon, even putting her kid in pseudo-danger because nothing says serious network show like the willingness to mutilate children. Herbers and the kids are fine, there are just too many of them. Plus grandma Christine Lahti who apparently goes out partying every night, which is cool, but also means Lahti’s just a constant cameo (I forgot to even mention her last episode); it’s like she’s doing the part as a favor to the producers or network. Anyway. There are so many kids on this show it’s like a seventies sitcom.

Michael Emerson is back—working at the D.A.’s office, planning on reversing all of Herbers’s old cases to let the evil free. Herbers’s boss just thinks she’s a jealous silly woman, apparently unable to appreciate Emerson’s wild performance (he seems like a villain from the “Batman” TV show; he’d be less absurd in a leotard).

Boris McGiver (another fine character actor) shows up as Colter’s higher up at the Church who’s keeping a secret about angel sightings for some reason.

So, better than the first episode, but still sort of uneven. It’s too thorough where it needs some brevity and vice versa.