Evil (the tv show)

[Thomas Veil]

I've been wanting to post this for a while, but held off because I kept on waiting to see if this series could live up to its lofty title. Boy, has it ever.

Here's the Wikipedia page who don't already know what it's about, but to put it succinctly it's sort a religiously-focused version of The X Files.

Like The X Files, Kristen is a rationalist, David is a believer, and the two often come up with differing theories about the cases they take on.

Like The X Files, there is an underlying plot about some looming apocalyptic catastrophe...only this one is religious, not alien in nature.

And like The X Files, certain plot twists (I'm thinking especially the ending of the episode "Rose390") leave you saying to yourself, "I can't believe they went there."

On top of that, Michael Emerson plays the most loathsome bad guy I think I've ever seen on a series. He insinuates his way into people's lives just to create trouble. On any other show, you'd think he's "just" a manipulative psychopath, but on this one...well, he's obviously something more.

Emerson is so good in this thing that even though I watch him and tell myself rationally that he's an actor and probably a very nice man, I always feel like I want to reach through the screen and strangle that sinister little son of a *****. 😄

Mostly I'm impressed with how thoroughly creepy this show can be, considering it's on a regular TV network and not HBO or something. That is no small trick!

Your thoughts? (Please, if you'd like to discuss plot twists, use the spoiler function. This show is too deliciously scary to be giving things away.)

​

 

[Tomorrow]

This looks pretty cool. I don't often watch TV serials, but this one looks right up my alley.

I loved the original X-Files when it was out. Might have to give this one a look.

 

[Huntn]

I see it’s on CBS All Access, which is kind of regular network, but it’s not, the new subscription model bandwagon. It makes me wonder what the future of CBS is, not that I watch any regular CBS show anymore. We have basically abandoned all network viewing and I have become more intolerant to commercials So maybe it is the future.

@Thomas Veil are you maintaining a subscription or binge watching?

 

[Thomas Veil]

Neither. I set my DVR to record it weekly off the CBS network and I watch it at my leisure...

...which usually has to be when my wife’s not around, since stuff like demons appearing in your

Spoiler

bed at night to rape you

scares the bejabbers out of her. 😄

(We basically had the same system with Gotham, since that show was pretty violent and gory.)

I’m also one of those guys who likes to watch week-to-week instead of bingeing. I like the anticipation of having another episode coming up.

 

[Huntn]

Neither. I set my DVR to record it weekly off the CBS network and I watch it at my leisure...

...which usually has to be when my wife’s not around, since stuff like demons appearing in your

Spoiler

bed at night to rape you

scares the bejabbers out of her. 😄

(We basically had the same system with Gotham, since that show was pretty violent and gory.)

I’m also one of those guys who likes to watch week-to-week instead of bingeing. I like the anticipation of having another episode coming up.

I thought it said CBS All Access when I looked it up. It definitely said watch on CBSAC. Maybe that just means you can watch it there too.

 

[MacNut]

I thought it said CBS All Access when I looked it up. It definitely said watch on CBSAC. Maybe that just means you can watch it there too.

It's on the network but can be watched on all access.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Oh my god. I just watched the winter finale alone, and it scared the crap out of me. You know how I compared to the series to The X Files? I don’t remember that show ever frightening me the way this one does.

Without getting into details, I’ll just say that things are really hitting the main characters hard. David (the priest) is under attack, as is Kristen‘s family, and there is a very palpable sense that the events that are happening to them are way outside of their control.

The show returns January 9, and I can’t wait.

 

[Thomas Veil]

LOL. Between getting distracted by first the NFL playoffs, then the XFL, then all this coronavirus craziness, it took me this long to get around to the last four episodes of season 1 of Evil. (Yes, there are only 13, and yes, it's a network show.)

I don't know if anyone's watching this, but the season finale was a terrific cliffhanger. Should you choose to watch the series, know that various things that happen in "standalone" episodes will come back to haunt you in the finale. It ties a lot of seemingly unrelated things together.

There have been three or four times in the series when the lead character, Kristen, has been shown to be a very strong woman who can take care of threats to her and her family. Ordinarily that would be something to cheer--until they reveal the horrifying reason why she's that way.

A very good conclusion, I thought, that answered lots of questions. Now if only the virus will subside a while so this show (and others) can return in the fall.

 

[Huntn]

I recently completed Season 1 (Netflix*) wow this is great! Nothing is resolved at the end of Season1 and then Season2 (Paramount +) gets better!

* Season 1 is available on Netflix for viewing until the end of Sept.

 

[Huntn]

Just watched Season 2, Episode 10, (3 more to go to the season final) this story is getting darker and the ramifications of this good vs evil story is becoming much larger in scope. 👍

My wife says it’s getting stupid, which is one way to look at it, but I’m enjoying the premise and characters (really like the main stars and the nun ).

 

[Huntn]

Spoilers
Season 2:Episode11- I am loving this show, it’s in the zone of creativity, and unexpected. The darkness in Kristen, has it been lifted? What are the forces of the Devil pumping into the veins of her mother?? 🤮

 

[Huntn]

Just finished Season 2, and while I’m still enjoying it, it seems it has lost it’s focus juggling many plot balls, even though many are/seem related, carrying them forward but other stories come and go and seem to be glossed over or dropped unfinished.

If you expect some resolution at the end of season 2, there really are none to be had, the plot continues to get deeper and more complex. In the major plot line, I’m guessing we are somewhere between the 4th and 7th inning.

 

[GrumpyCoder]

Finished season 2 today. Loved season 1, very mixed feelings about this. Too much stuff going on that makes no sense or doesn’t contribute to the storyline at all. I hope season 3 will be better again.

 

[Huntn]

Just started Season 3, still loving this. The dynamics of the story are outstanding Kristen clinical psychologist, , Leland the primary bad guy, Kristen’s husband who just came home for good, and her mother working for the other team, along with new Priest David, who is being visited by a demon, appearing to be Kristen, praying on his sex addiction.

With the brief nudity, but more the language, I can’t imagine it broadcast on CBS unless there, it is edited.

 

[Huntn]

Finished Season 3, I Want More. This is where 10 episode seasons suck. I want 2 characters in this story to pay and suffer, yet I have to wait!

 

[Huntn]

​

The final season, Season 4 has started on Paramount +, one episode per week ugh. Yet I love this show and I’ll wait until I can watch 2 episodes at a time! However, today we rewatched the Season 3 final and Season 4 Episode 1. Things are churning.

For anyone not familiar, there is a team of 3, a priest, a sceptic, and a technician also a sceptic, working for the Catholic Church investigating supernatural phenomena, this and a long running sub-plot to bring the anti-Christ to Earth. Some evil characters in this show, including Michael Emerson’s. 👹🔥

 

[Huntn]

Entering the home stretch, I love everything about this show. This type of story telling is very creative with elements of humor. There are numerous side plots with an over arching story of Evil, the Anti-Christ coming to New York.

 

[Huntn]

Entering the home stretch, I love everything about this show. This type of story telling is very creative with elements of humor. There are numerous side plots with an over arching story of Evil, the Anti-Christ coming to New York.

Uh, I love just about everything about this show, except how they ended it, which was mearly ok. 😳 As far as the overreaching story, nothing really was resolved. It’s as if the writers were notified and did the best they could to end it with the time they had left. When something like this builds for 4 seasons, I wanted something more definitive.

Spoiler

The best that can be said was that evil was set back somewhat…

 

[GrumpyCoder]

Finished it yesterday. Mixed feelings. Season 1 was brilliant, then it took a nosedive. They didn't follow the main story lines, the whole Sheryl and Leland thing felt pointless. Ben and his demon/tinfoil hat was abandoned. The cases they worked on each episode were hit or miss. The daughters were nothing but annoying yelling all the time. The whole Andy thing was boring. At some point Sister Andrea and her interaction with the demons saved the show. They should have done more with it. Real shame they left so many things open and unanswered. In the end, they just wrapped up the characters and that was it. So much more unused potential in the series. I think part of it was due to pacing, going from super slow and boring to super fast through the last three seasons.

For me, it was a ok-ish/good series, with the exception of season 1, which I thought was brilliant. YMMV.

 

[Huntn]

Finished it yesterday. Mixed feelings. Season 1 was brilliant, then it took a nosedive. They didn't follow the main story lines, the whole Sheryl and Leland thing felt pointless. Ben and his demon/tinfoil hat was abandoned. The cases they worked on each episode were hit or miss. The daughters were nothing but annoying yelling all the time. The whole Andy thing was boring. At some point Sister Andrea and her interaction with the demons saved the show. They should have done more with it. Real shame they left so many things open and unanswered. In the end, they just wrapped up the characters and that was it. So much more unused potential in the series. I think part of it was due to pacing, going from super slow and boring to super fast through the last three seasons.

For me, it was a ok-ish/good series, with the exception of season 1, which I thought was brilliant. YMMV.

I agree lots of room to critique, many things came along, looked at, and then dropped. My wife commented on this. And because of that, for the over arching story, I was hoping for a coherent ending that dealt with the “evil coming to New York”, which we did not get. Yes, there was a setback of sorts. This is one of those shows were I’m so vested in the characters and their relationships that I can watch, enjoy, and basically give the writers a lot of slack.

Kristen’s husband Andy was put through a ringer, so he got my sympathy, but felt that this element of the story was fumbled. The daughters all talking at once was specifically designed to be annoying.

 

[Lioness~]

Just started with this, interesting 😈👿

 

[Lioness~]

I loved the show, and sister Andrea was my fav, totally brilliant.
But I even liked the evil charachters in their acting 😂
I also found that they were capable to handle such a difficult subject as Evil with a lot of respect and humour, in a good balance. They also gave the audience space to fill in gaps with their own interpretations.