'Evil' became a must-watch binge during the pandemic. Is Season 3 still worth watching?
People binged a lot of movies and TV shows during the COVID-19 pandemic, not surprisingly.
Part of it was having a lot of time on our hands. But there were other reasons. Some shows speak to the moment. Not explicitly, necessarily — sure, a lot of people watched “Contagion” at the beginning of the outbreak, but that got old fast.
But some shows and films just seemed to be what you needed in the moment.
“Evil,” the supernatural series that began life in 2019 as a CBS network show, then moved to Paramount+, the streaming service, for its second and now third season, was one of those for me. (First it was a rewatch of “Hannibal,” actually. Then this.)
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'Evil' Season 3 returns to Paramount+ on June 12
Now “Evil” is back, streaming its Season 3 on Paramount+ beginning June 12. It’s a welcome return, the show's weaknesses notwithstanding.
“Evil” is most easily described, and maybe easily dismissed, as an “X-Files” knockoff, with faith and science at odds when a team investigates supernatural goings-on. But where Mulder had faith in the supernatural in “The X-Files,” while Scully, a physician, leaned on science, the faith in “evil” is of a more traditional bent — specifically the Catholic Church, which sanctions the investigations.
Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) is a clinical psychologist. She works with David Acosta (Mike Colter), who for the first two seasons was a priest in training; he was ordained in the Season 2 finale (and promptly made out with Kristen, a problematic thing for a priest to do). They’re joined by Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi), a technology contractor, atheist and gizmo genius who often provides comic relief.
Oh. And Kristen killed a guy. But he was a serial killer. Still, she killed him. Long story.
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Like “The X-Files,” there’s a monster-of-the-week element as well as an underlying mythology plot. Kristen is the mother of four daughters in Catholic school (though she has left the faith), so there’s room for contemporary cases. (The third episode of Season 3 has a Slender Man-like plot.)
Complicating matters is Kristen’s mother Sheryl (Christine Lahti), a free spirit who winds up with Leland Townsend. He’s played by Michael Emerson, who takes his great, creepy character in “Lost” to much farther extremes. He’s either a genuine servant of Satan — his chats with literal demons certainly make it appear so — or completely off the rails.
Either one would keep him off the streets, you’d think, given some of his actions (making communion out of the flesh atop a man’s skull was a nice touch). But no, he’s right there in the mix.
Like 'The X-Files,' the monster-of-the-week episodes of 'Evil' are better
It sounds dumb to say that this strains credulity in a show that is all about straining credulity, but it does.
There are a lot of loose ends floating around after two seasons and the three episodes of Season 3 that were sent for review. Some involve the Vatican and its secret police force (I mean, it seems plausible), and a fertility clinic with possibly nefarious intentions.
Which is why, as with “The X-Files,” I prefer the stand-alone scary episodes to the overarching mythology. Some are genuinely scary, or at least creepy. The rest is pedestrian in comparison.
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Also Robert and Michelle King, who created the show, take a little too much delight in the freedoms a streaming platform offers. All of a sudden everyone talks like a longshoreman.
Here's why you should watch 'Evil' Season 3
But what makes the show worth watching is the camaraderie between the leads — Herbers is particularly adept at playing the harried working mom whose husband is often away and who just kind of plunges ahead with life — and the goofy humor. The demons are big whiners, for instance. That doesn’t mean they aren’t scary and that they can’t do harm. They just complain while they do it.
There’s a catharsis to horror. That’s doubtless part of the appeal “Evil” held for me during the pandemic. Things were tough all over, but at least Satan worshippers weren’t roaming around in everybody’s business.
As far was we know. It’s hard to tell where 'Evil' Season 3 will lead, but for now, anyway, I’m still willing to follow.
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'Evil' Season 3 release date
Streaming on Paramount+ on June 12.
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Evil Season 3 review: Why you should keep watching
