Ordinarily, it’s easy to dive headfirst into an EVIL review.
But after EVIL Season 2 Episode 13, cohesive thoughts escape me.
Instead of formulating a train of thought that can make sense of the finale, it’s impossible to pin down the theme. All I see is chaos.
Maybe that’s the point. What is chaos other than a series of events that steals your focus, so the real issues lurking that need your attention go unheeded?
David didn’t heed any warnings, either from the demonic forces knocking at his door or from the personal urges he tried to shake off.
The result is that David is now an ordained priest who broke his vows on the very day he took them.
A man of God whose primary concern is protecting the world from real evil seems to have fallen into its clutches. If David can’t help himself, how can he help others?
It was helping others that got him into this predicament, namely helping Kristen. Well, his visions have plagued him nonstop regardless, but when Kristen placed herself at his feet begging for mercy, their strained sexual tension was impossible to overcome.
EVIL has gone from a show that pits science and the divine at odds to leaving little room to dismiss that the supernatural exists.
It’s pervasive on EVIL, but evil is pervasive in real life, so the correlation is that while we may not see and experience what exists in the EVIL world, we’ve got our own doubts and temptations that make life just as chaotic and misdirected.
Look at Leland. He was a nut, yes, but even David, Kristen, and Ben had no idea of his capabilities. We laughed him off as a wannabe because of his eccentric ways, but his Satanic ties are deep and thriving.
He’s managed to get a straight line from himself to the Catholic Diocese through Kristen. He’s subverted her authority as a mother, daughter, and wife, using her family to continue his attack on her so that he could insinuate himself into The Church.
EVIL sure makes a mockery of The Church. At the same time that it’s unfolding that evil isn’t something to scoff at, The Church is so eager to believe their own hype that they pat themselves on the back for a job well done, bringing Leland into the fold.
It’s ludicrous to both believe and have your head shoved so far up your own arse that you cannot recognize the very evil you’re trying to combat.
But that’s across the board here. David and his doubts, Kristen’s refusal to believe when everything points to the opposite. Sheryl’s conflicting interests by tying herself to evil while still pretending she cares about her family.
Kristen’s “exorcism” is still a mystery. She did an about-face, recommitting to her marriage, realizing that David belonged in The Church, and once again relying on Kurt to get her through.
But Lexis said Kristen smelled like death. What part of her is dying? Is Kristen’s soul rotting, or did the evil inside of her die during the exorcism?
Since she picked up the ax again, intending on mama-bearing Leland as she did LaRoux, her softer side seems like a ruse — not purposeful, but manipulated.
Kristen would be a good tool for God in the same way that the man earlier in the season was acting on behalf of the archangel. Her daughters’ safety drives Kristen, and when that’s challenged, she’s proven nothing can stop her.
Still, she did stop herself. She picked up the ax and left the house, but instead of proceeding to Leland’s (where she would have interrupted the strangest birthday party of all time), she went to David.
Kurt was right that Kristen’s been affected by killing far more than she’d care to admit. But when Kurt got a taste of her life and decided to take a breather, Kristen’s foundation was shaken again.
She got so close to killing again but turned to David instead. Can a priest be effective if he can’t even make it one day without breaking his vows?
How would God see that? And is God and The Church the same thing? Can God work through David even though David’s temptations overpower him frequently?
I can’t say that I know much about the priesthood despite growing up Catholic, and the celibacy thing has always made the calling harder to understand.
But when you think about how invasive romantic issues are to our everyday life, it makes sense to ask someone committed to God and serving in his name to cast that aside, if only to keep the mind free to focus on those you serve.
David hoped that by becoming a priest, his life would be normal. That threw me a little. Sister Andrea, who has become David’s greatest advocate, thinks normal is far crazier than what they encounter.
Sister Andrea: This is from last week.
David: What was that?
Sister Andrea: A tail.
David: Oh my God. Why am I doing this? I wanted things to be normal! This is crazy!
Sister Andrea: No, David. Normal life is crazy. This is how things really are! [David grabs the booze and leaves]
But the look on David’s face when he realized that everything he’s experienced so far was only the tip of a massive iceberg reinforced the tremendous leap he was taking into the priesthood.
Maybe it hadn’t even hit him until that moment. Still, he went through with the ordination nonetheless. While lying prostrate on the altar floor at his ordination mass, he envisioned himself slip-sliding away with two nude women.
All of the signs pointed to him fleeing, but he stayed the course.
Sister Andrea’s discussion with Kurt was fantastic. She wanted him to stop making up fiction to disprove what he’s seen himself. Kristen does it continuously. Ben, too. David seemed to think that if he took his vows, he’d be normal. We all want to ignore things staring us right in the face.
For a season ender, it left a lot up in the air.
We’ve only now gotten the full picture of the crests on Leland’s map. Sheryl is going to be ruling one of 60 satanic houses once she eats Edward.
Sister Andrea: This is a map of 60 demonic houses. All houses of Satan going back 60 decades.
David: OK.
Sister Andrea: They’re like family crests, and each house needs to ensure its line of succession before the master of one house dies, he must guarantee a successor.
David: How does he or she do that?
Sister Andrea: He needs to be consumed, eaten.
Not too long ago, David wanted to find out what went on at the fertility clinic once and for all. But that fizzled out again, and even its exact connection to Leland and the satanic houses is still unclear.
So we end the season clear as mud. The only clear thing is that David made a mistake becoming a priest.
With official word from New York Comic-Con today that EVIL will return for a third season, we have a lot more to look forward to. This is a show that could continue for many seasons to come. There is so much to explore between the divine and the secular and where the two meet.
What are your thoughts on the finale? What would you like to see from EVIL Season 3?
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.