This season is so good!
Even so, after Evil Season 3 Episode 3, I’m not entirely sure where we’re going next.
The crux of this hour focused on how demonic activity infiltrates our daily life.
Of course, it’s metaphorical. It’s a TV show. But it does lead to questioning what, exactly, is meant by demonic activity.
For Sister Andrea, it’s reality. She sees demons where others don’t. It’s a burden and a curse that can be used against her. But it can also be used to help others do their jobs more efficiently.
Kristen and Ben have always been the naysayers of anything spiritual or demonic. They believe in the tangible, not the intangible.
Sister Andrea: There’s a demon in there.
David: There’s… what does that mean?
Sister Andrea: It means there’s a demon in there between them. It has its hands on their shoulders.
David: I didn’t see anything.
Sister Andrea: Because you’re not as good.
As Leo and Amalia, a young couple married (so playfully) by David, sought counseling for their sexual issues, even David didn’t see the nature of their problems. Sister Andrea saw a comical demon who had inserted himself into their relationship.
David allowed Sister Andrea to retain her position on the basis of taking notes when Kristen started talking with the couple. As Kristen talked, the demon reacted by either sexy talk with the Sister or by losing parts of himself, quite literally.
You know who I fantasized about last night? You. You are so hot.
But Kristen doesn’t believe in all of that gobbly gook, so she got each partner alone for counseling that entirely undermined her progress.
Kristen may not believe in the unbelievable, but she does believe in evil. She’s seen it too often not to believe. LaRoux was evil. Leland is evil.
Still, she misses indications that Sheryl’s part of that group. But when Leland decided to rid himself of Sister Andrea’s insight by talking with Monsignor, Kristen, at the very least, saw an opportunity to push back on that despicable man.
Sister Andrea: It’s not going well.
Kristen: What’s not?
Sister Andrea: Your counseling. The demon’s larger. It’s in control.
Kristen: Sister, I need to do what I do.
Sister Andrea: I know. But do it better.
Was that the only reason that Kristen chose to protect Sister Andrea? Or is she possibly beginning to realize that evil and demonic entities take on a different meaning for different people, and you can’t discount that?
Leo and Amalia went away happy campers. But they have also entered into a threesome with the demon. Physically, he’s all intertwined up in their reality, and metaphysically, their need to hurt one another to enjoy their flesh is as good of an indicator of demonic activity as anything else.
But what does it mean that they didn’t win this time? Will that be indicative of things to come? Will the demons get a toehold that our Evil group cannot battle successfully?
While Kristen looked into spending the money she and Andy were getting for the business, she didn’t opt to pay for a plumber, instead relying on Ben to deal with the demonic toilet.
It’s just silly to think that nobody hears that demonic moan, which could sound like old pipes on a good day, but every day? That’s just too much. The toilet fought Ben and ultimately spit up an eyeball. That was the last straw for Ben, who fell into the deep malaise of the culturally derealized.
Ben: I am not depressed! I was diagnosed as culturally derealized by a bunch of 12-year-olds.
Karima: Culturally wh-
Ben: Derealized. It means disgusted with the insanity of reality.
Karima: What insanity?
Beh: Uh, the cases that I am trying to solve that don’t make any sense. Photos of angels. A soul-weighing machine. My girlfriend with a twin attached? I try to figure out these cases that don’t make any sense, and then we just move on to the next thing.
Ben’s relationship with his sister Kamira has been a bright spot on Evil, and her pragmatism about things is so refreshing. While he’s snacking his head trying to understand the unexplainable, she just says you don’t believe reality; it just is.
What she failed to say was that reality is different for everyone. All of our baggage informs our reality, and you cannot remove one from the other.
As scientists, Ben and Kamira view things with a different view than the rest of us. Even though they share that and their familial bond, Ben and Kamira view things differently, too.
Taking Ben to what he called Nerd Narnia was the best fun we’ve had since Evil Season 2 Episode 7, with Kristen and a young nun repeatedly laughing while enjoying each other’s company.
Kristen got to run in a casking wheel or something, and Ben and Kamira got to use their brains to blow something up in three minutes or less. It was a marvelous scene.
What we didn’t see also seems significant. It wasn’t a trip to Nerd Narnia that put Ben at rest. Not entirely, anyway. Kamira worked with him to attack the issues he needed to solve. As their solutions to the unbelievable are so fun, I hope we revisit this in another episode.
And, of course, no hour would be complete without Leland and Sheryl. His task for the week included growing his cryptocurrency, Makob. Makob must mean something, right? Mak’ob means pain and suffering in Hebrew, and fools parting with their money for the intangible seems to fit.
Leland: So, your goal this week is to get Makob to trade for $135 per coin.
Sheryl: Wait, $135 for what? It’s not even real.
Leland: What is real?
Sheryl: OK. This desk, my purse, but not, but not that. I can sell anything, but if it’s just there, how do I do that?
Sheryl was voicing what all rational people say when confronted with Bitcoin, NFTs, and the like. What the hell is it, and why would anybody be stupid enough to spend money on it? Bring on the pain and suffering, Makob!
Sheryl’s an intelligent woman, so why does she allow Leland to threaten her? Out one side of his mouth, he props her up and gives her tools to do the job he wants her to do, but out of the other side, he embarrasses her.
Leland: Remember that moment in Working Girl where Harrison Ford says ‘make me money, or I’m gonna kill you’?
Sheryl: Mmm. No.
Leland: Well, get Makob up to $135, or I’m gonna kill you.
Maybe it worked. Sheryl was getting trounced by her millennial employee who had no faith in her and just wanted her boomer ass back in her office shopping online. Jerks don’t know Sheryl, do they?
After Kristen and the girls made their own commandments to live by, Sheryl took some of them to heart. She started by bringing Melindas, that awful makeup influencer Lexie likes, in on the project. Seriously. Did you see her eyeshadow? What even was that? Lexie could do better.
But it appeared to be working, as the value doubled quickly, and Sheryl got the gumption to treat her employees as they deserved to be treated, with disrespect and downright harm.
If only you could treat people like Taylor and Bobby the way Sheryl chose to do it. Hasn’t everyone wanted to punch a fellow customer as Kristen did during Evil Season 2 and how Sheryl just handled her two buffoon employees?
There was a lot to like during this episode and many questions to ponder.
Where are you standing these days on the real-life demons addressed metaphorically this season?
Drop below and share your thoughts in a comment!
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.
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