Photo: Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+
Here are a few things I can never get enough of on Evil: our merry band of assessors being the cutest best buds on the planet; Sheryl and Leland’s ongoing demon office feud; the Bouchard girls hanging out with Ben the Magnificent; and Victor LeConte being as mysterious and hot as ever. And guess what? All of those things play into Evil’s second outing of its final season (I have to keep saying it so it feels real, you know?). How lucky are we? The bad news, however, is that racist robot dogs might be a thing. Hey man, the world is a scary place — Evil’s simply pointing out what’s already there.
The case of the week: Father Ignatius has sent our team werewolf hunting. No, seriously. Apparently, Father Ignatius does not believe in any of what they’re doing and so just sends them on any old case that crosses his desk. I love that for them, and I love that for us; Wallace Shawn and Father Ignatius are gifts that keep on giving. Anyway, this of course, isn’t a straightforward werewolf case. Something werewolf-like has been spooking congregants of a small church near a graveyard and the team has been asked to investigate. After an overnight spent waiting in the back of a pickup, hanging out, and making fun of each other’s 30-second ghost stories, the team comes face-to-face with the beast when it comes out of the shadows and promptly attacks David. It’s no werewolf, though — it’s a robot dog, a piece of tech people use to secure their property.
They definitely aren’t supposed to be attacking at will, though, so something’s off. When they bring the robodog back to the church, they learn that another one of these dogs recently attacked Sister Agnes, a missionary from Senegal, outside of the church. David starts to wonder if somebody has programmed these dogs to attack Black people — it’s horrifying, but it wouldn’t be unheard of. Thankfully, Ben’s ol’ pal Katie from Science Club has moved on from her job at VidTap (Evil’s answer to TikTok) and now works for the company that builds these dogs. She gives them one of their demo-dogs to compare to the one they found and they realize it must be the specific dog that was reprogrammed to attack Black people — the owner must have jailbroken the software (very much a crime). They need to find the dog’s specific owner.
Are robots actually scarier than werewolves? Maybe! That night, it’s Lexis who hears something scratching at the back door and finds the robodog, which Ben definitely shut down earlier, switched on and begging to come inside. Imagine Kristen’s delight the next morning when she finds her daughter’s completely in love with the thing. But Ben’s hot on the tail of the owner — he tracks him down while looking into the software code (and hanging out with the Bouchard girls) and gives the guy, Harley, an ultimatum — he won’t report him to the authorities for the crime he committed and he’ll give him the dog back if he tells them what he changed in the software code.
When they meet with Harley, the team is in for a surprise — Harley’s Black, he definitely did not reprogram his dog to attack Black people. He tells them he used a link he found on a Reddit board to change the software to extend its battery life. The meeting leads them to a few important discoveries. Ben has a new theory: What if the software was reprogrammed to target people in another way, say, tracking GPS apps people have on their phones to determine if they are Catholic or not? David has an app to help him find local mass times, and Sister Agnes and some of the congregants at the church at the original sighting more than likely have the same app. When they meet with Harley again and learn that the dude really hates the Catholic Church, Ben’s theory is confirmed. And they have Katie there to record the whole conversation and inform him that her company will be suing him for a whole lot of money, so that’s cool. Now we just need to wait until Kristen realizes that the reason the robodog started to go after Lynn in the end is because she, too, has that app on her phone. I truly can’t wait until Kristen is forced to confront that her daughter wants to become a nun. The amount of canned margaritas that woman will have to drink in order to process that revelation!
Perhaps more important to the greater mythology of the show: When the team digs a little deeper into these links Harley found on the Reddit board and head to the creator’s site, can you guess what the person’s avatar is? Yet another one of our 60 demon sigils. Everything is connected on Evil! Something tells me we’ll find out just how connected in about 30 days when Leland’s antichrist baby is born. So much to look forward to!
Speaking of Leland, he might think that he’s in complete control over at DF Global Industries, but Sheryl may just end up surprising us all. He’s over there leading board meetings, touting some great trends in numbers as far as turning the population demonic, and boasting about his incoming antichrist win, but Sheryl refuses to be overlooked; she brought them Kristen, after all. Alas, as Sheryl learns, you can sell your soul to satan and you’re still going to have to deal with the hell that is misogyny in the workplace. Even when she handles a mission to temper a demon in a man who is starting to “peek out” with aplomb — she basically tells the guy to fuck off and cuts off his finger, as one does — Leland and the Manager agree that she’ll never get promoted within the organization because she’s a woman. Like, could you even imagine? A woman in a leadership role?! Insane. They do appease her though by offering her a corner office on the executive floor. She immediately realizes they’re just messing with her, though, when she steps into the office to find a comically low glass ceiling. Above her, Leland and all the men and demons look down below, laughing at her as they continue on with their important business. “I’m coming for you assholes,” she vows. She is really going to make Leland’s life miserable and it is going to be an absolute delight to watch.
Leland’s plans for global demonic domination might be thwarted by some other players, too. The Entity is honing in on what it believes to be its secret weapon in this battle between good and evil: David Acosta. Victor LeConte shows up for another hilariously mysterious meeting with David. This time, his instructions wind up sending David on a strange test to prove that he may have some budding remote viewing skills. (Remote viewing is basically like a clairvoyance, or an “extra-sensory perception” in which a person can see or sense an object that is nowhere near them). It was our favorite prophetess, Grace Ling (who apparently is not doing well since the Monsignor was murdered trying to protect her), who put the Entity on to David’s unique skill set. Victor LeConte isn’t one to buy into remote viewing, so instead he’s passing David off to another member of the Entity, Father Dominic. David remains unenthused about being jerked around by these people with little to no explanation and instead of hearing more about what Father Dominic has to say, he tells them he’d much rather be spending his time helping his friends. We’re only two episodes in and already there seems to be a major conflict brewing for David’s loyalties: He seems less and less willing to choose his vows over his friends. It’ll be interesting to see that come into play as things get, let’s call them, more chaotic.
• Agh! What’s happening to Andy?! After Kristen urges him to go to the doctor for more tests, the doc finds needle injection sites between his toes and his bloodwork points to major drug use. Kristen and Andy are at a loss. Later, we find him in the bathtub, feverish and shivering. His daughters find him and are able to intercept another one of those triggering calls from Leland and “Feliz Navidad.” Instead, they calm their dad down by singing one of their favorite childhood songs with him. I swear, if Andy dies and we have to watch these sweet girls lose their dad, I will not survive it!!
• Ben attempts to “science [his] way out of” the jinn he’s been seeing since the ion beam, and while he thinks he’s onto something — it must be a trick of the eye — he later learns that his theory is wrong; The jinn begins appearing much more frequently. What does Ben decide to do? Well, he seeks professional help … from Kurt Boggs. This is not going to go well, is it?
• Kristen and David’s one-on-one at the top of the episode while werewolf hunting was so sweet and moving and a testament to the great character development that’s gone on over four seasons. He has more questions about her egg being hijacked by Leland — he’s worried about her and her too-casual reaction to a wildly horrifying thing. She assures him that she’s done letting the people trying to make this crazy world crazier control her; she is done giving any of them, especially Leland, her power.
• Even Kristen’s assurance when David asks if he can ask her about it — “Not only can you ask me, but you never have to ask me if you can ask me” — is such a sweet friendship beat. I know this show is full of freaky scares and big questions about good and evil and deliciously biting social commentary, but honestly, I love it the most for the friendship? I’m a softy!
