Sunday, July 14, 2024

Saving "Evil"







No -  this post is NOT about the assassination attempt on Trump.

I decided to write about this on Thursday, after watching the most recent episode of the show "Evil," originally on CBS, now on Paramount. I had already decided this would be the title of the post, knowing that  the series will likely be its final, pending cancelation.  

However, I can't deny that in writing this title today, the double-entendre didn't cross my mind.


It's no secret that I have nothing positive to say about Trump - but I also do not wish pain, suffering or death for him, or for anyone, for that matter.


Also, those of us who work in healthcare are committed to doing what we can to help either treat and end suffering and save lives, or assist others who end suffering and save lives  -  despite what we think of the person and their character. 

Because it is not the healthcare professionals' job to decide life and death, nor who is most deserving of life and death, only to save it -  no matter who you are or what you've done - Trump, Biden, soldiers, terrorists - they are all lives. 


Speaking of which, that is also the job of the FBI, who is now stepping in with an investigation - an agency which Trump has insinuated needs to go - but is now in charge of investigating his assassination attempt, because that is what they do.


And if anything good can come from this assassination attempt and crowd shooting yesterday, I hope it's that gun laws change and that Trump might rethink some of his rhetoric - because it's one thing to  advocate for for insurrections and violence, but quite another when you, yourself, are the victim of it.

Thus, I'm praying for changes of the heart, amen?

Not holding my breath for that, but sometimes it takes your life flashing before you eyes to make positive changes.


Unfortunately, my husband - the former Army Ranger - does not feel the same way, and half-jokingly said "Damn, they missed ... hehehe"- to which I said "Markkkk - he doesn't deserve to die."

He said "I'm just joking.  Sort of.  It sure would've solved a lot of problems, though, and we can get back to normal here in the U.S."


In other news, it's been quite a week for famous deaths - "The Shining's Shelley Duval, Dr. Ruth, Richard Simmons and just moments ago, we heard that Shannen Doherty of Beverly Hills 90210 fame died from metastatic breast cancer. 


Thus, with so much bad news, we often turn to escaping into TV and movies for a little fantasy, with such events.

Or is it? 

Paramount's "Evil" - which I've written about before - is nearing the close of its final season - unless there's a chance it can be saved? 

Though it's no Ozark - and it has gained a following since I wrote that post - it was still not able to cross that threshold to being that show that everyone was talking about.

Recognizing it's no masterpiece like Ozark, I personally am glued to my seat almost as much, and certainly laughing a lot more, but apparently others aren't.

Why is that?

Granted, there are a few loopholes not closed, a few writing troubles at times, but it's still fairly brilliant, both drama and comedy.

Mark and I were discussing why that was, and I think the subject matter can be questionable, if you're the sort of person who is either staunch atheist or staunchly religious.


The show is meant to be like an X-files, only for spiritual happenings - and much funnier.

So a Catholic priest , an agnostic forensic psychologist, and a lapsed Muslim IT expert walk into a bar ...

Just kidding, no - well, sometimes?


No, the premise is, a Catholic priest (David), an agnostic forensic psychologist (Kristen), and a lapsed Muslim atheist and  IT expert (Ben) are all recruited by the Catholic Diocese in NYC to investigate claims of possession and other dark happenings, to rule them out for exorcism.


The show was written by married writing team, Robert and Michelle King, with Robert being a practicing Catholic, and Michelle being a culturally Jewish atheist, so it gives interesting perspectives on these issues, allowing for some space in between.



Because 98% of of the time on the show, no matter how it looks at first, the phenomenon are ruled out and pronounced either a mental or physical illness or tech trickery, with another 2% being pronounced by Kristen and Ben as "unexplained," which the church then addresses -  much to the dismay of Kristen and Ben, who say that just because they can't solve it, doesn't necessarily mean it's spiritual, just that we don't know the answer yet.


The show centers most around Kristen, a forensic psychologist and agnostic, who's job is to evaluate and assess criminals for motive and mental status, particularly when a defendant tries to use an insanity plea.  



She is also the married mother of 4 girls, holding down the fort of their modest NYC home mostly alone, while her husband sporadically works as a mountain-climbing guide, often gone for months at a time. 

Kristen acknowledges that evil exists, but believes that there's nothing spiritual about it - it's a uniquely human trait.

Also, that most people are a mix of good and bad, and what is "good" and "evil" can also be culturally subjective.

Thus, in our culture, she believes that most "evil" can be attributed to mental illness in some way, but that it's actually rare for a person to be pronounced "evil" overall.

However, with the serial killer, she does pronounce him evil, as she cannot find enough organic/biologic mental illness or psychological trauma damage to explain his behavior away. 

(She also doesn't believe in ghosts, stating that most "hauntings" or "possessions," if not psychotic mental illness, are extended guilt or grief reactions "possessing" or "haunting" a person.)


Not helping matters is that Leland - the forensic psychologist for the defense - happily believes that he is possessed by a demon, himself, after inviting it in for power, and believes that he is serving Satan, as part of a group of businessmen who believe the same.

Kristen quickly learns about this and their businesses (which include social media propaganda), but finds this, too, as ridiculous religious belief, and although she believes Leland is also evil, there's nothing spiritual about it - "the devil" is just an excuse for humans like Leland and his friends to do the evil they want to do anyway.


Nevertheless, as (Father) David would say "They still believe they're serving Satan regardless, and can be a contagious mindset and negative energy, regardless of the motivation."


David - the new priest - he has also assessed the serial killer on behalf of the church (as the killer was initially Catholic) and does believe him to be demon-possessed.

He disagrees with Kristen, but is impressed with her assessment abilities, and thus tries to recruit her after witnessing her assessment in court (as well as her handling of Leland), to assist him and the church in investigating these cases.  





She refuses, having left the church and becoming agnostic many years ago, wanting nothing to do with religion - but David argues that he needs her input to help disprove the phenomena as spiritual.

Kristen still refuses, until Leland somehow wins the case, the serial killer walks free, and Leland takes over most of her case load.

Thus, to pay the bills, she relents, plus the Catholic Diocese of NYC has now formally requested her, along with Ben for his IT investigation debunking skills. 


David, though a priest, is also a highly educated man, so he does not necessarily believe himself that everything is spiritual, but also says just because science can explain it, it doesn't mean science isn't used for evil - both can be true. 

Kristen will concede that "evil" behavior can be contagious, as copycat murder, mass hysteria and paranoia, or peer pressure, but that this is again psychological, not spiritual.


Complicating matters further, Kristen's own mother, Sheryl - played by one of my favorite actresses, Christine Lahti - joins the organization fully aware, literally seduced in by Leland. 




But don't mistake Sheryl for a sucker - she's a bad-ass and knows full well what she's doing, but is herself drawn to power, and convinces herself that going along will bring protection and power for her family, particularly her granddaughters.


As for Leland - brilliantly played by Michael Emerson - isn't your typical maniacal-laughing, room-commanding, cat-stroking evil genius -  he instead looks and speaks like your average, meek, mild-mannered psychologist, but is also incredibly manipulative and essentially has no empathy, soul, or conscience.




And as if all of that wasn't bad enough, Kristen had previously frozen her eggs to preserve them for later use in her youth, discovers that the company that owns the fertility clinic that stores her eggs (of which she has used one for her 4th daughter) is owned by the organization Leland works for, and has a dastardly plan regarding them, and actually learns that she may not have legal rights to them.

As mentioned, Kristen believes that Leland is evil, as is the organization he works for, but believes that their belief in Satanism is simply an excuse to do evil they want to do anyway.

David, on the other hand, believes it is both. 




David has been spiritually sensitive all of his life, initially resorting to addictions to push it away, but during one particular acid-dropping episode, believes he saw God and Jesus, who told him his life had a bigger purpose and to accept his spiritual sense as a gift from God and he doesn't need hallucinogens to access it, and in fact, they may obfuscate it.

Thus, believing he was saved by divine intervention and grace, he becomes a priest.

Initially, in the first season, he will sometimes still drop acid in order to try to see/speak to God again and induce/enhance his gift so that he can see spiritual things clearly, but he never sees God again.


But after talking with Sister Andrea - a nun with the same gift,  but more advanced - hilariously play by comedic actress, Andrea Martin - he discovers he doesn't need it.

In fact, Sister Andrea tells him hallucinogens are a crutch, a lack of belief in a gift - and the reason he can't see God again is because the vision was a one-and-done scenario, because God himself, directly communicating with any human, is extraordinarily rare.

Thus, he can either accept what God said in his one-time visit, as well accept God's gift without crutches that may confuse the visions, or he can keep trying to push it away - but perhaps it is the key to finding his true purpose and peace.




Thus, he begins to experience visions without the hallucinogens  - which are remarkable CGI work, I've gotta say.

Of course, Kristen pronounces them as "hallucinogen flashbacks" - only wait, hold up - darned if they aren't also premonitory!

And of course, the church takes notice of them, too - and a special secretive group from the Vatican also recruits David to participate in church CIA-like missions.

However, David is often directed to these missions, despite feeling his visions are directing his attention elsewhere, which begins to conflict with what the secret-society "church CIA" wants him to do - - and he is beginning to question whether this secret organization is truly directed by God or their own power and politics - and that is where we currently are with David.


Speaking of Sister Andrea, she is absolutely my favorite character on the show - although everyone can be funny (with this season being the funniest), she is the funniest - not easy to do with the subject matter.  She is played by SCTV Alumni comedic actress, Andrea Martin (most  known for playing Aunt Voula in My Big Fat Greek Wedding).




Sister Andrea believes in science and mental illness and that most times, these are exactly the explanations behind these phenomenon and nothing more - but she also has the "gift of discernment," meaning she can see when demons are also afoot in a situation and when they are not. 

She is a nun at the NYC diocese and often spends her days doing the laundry and cleaning the church,  sometimes counseling others, but can also be found chasing demons out with holy objects and prayer.

(FYI, in the Catholic church, "demons" have to answer nuns, but nuns are not allowed to perform exorcisms - so Sister Andrea is left to her own devices).


She doesn't do this in a frantic manner, just a quiet walkthrough like shovel that's been doused in holy water, and a calm "And who are you and what do you want?" 

To the sarcastic and snarky demon, whom she handles with equal snarkiness, but never with fear.

She calmly addresses whatever it is and gets rid of it, unbeknownst to the priests, who believe she's a little crazy (because they cannot see them, except for increasingly David), but harmless, well-meaning, and devoted. 

However, most often, she simply outsmarts them/tricks the demons out of the church. 

For example, when Leland comes to the church to falsely claim he wants an exorcism, Andrea can see right away that he's demonic, and when he comes to have a private chat with her to pick at her about her  faith and her powerlessness in the church versus men, she not only says that his organization is no different versus men, and neither concerns her - God knows her worth and her true purpose versus the purposes placed upon her by men.

She threatens to douse Leland in holy water to leave her alone and get out, to which Leland laughs, saying that he is much too powerful for that now.

She throws the holy water, which actually does burn him and he leaves - EXCEPT - we only later learn that it wasn't holy water at all, it was a mix of house-cleaning chemicals she'd mixed up 😂


In fact, Sister Andrea appears to be the only thing that Leland is afraid of.

Not only because she's as uncompromising about God as he is about Satan and himself, and his manipulation/temptation has no effect on her, but because Leland knows she can see the demon in him whereas others can't, including priests, initially states: "How come I've never heard of you?"

To which Sister Andrea replies "Because I'm a nun."

And after she tricks Leland away, says to himself "Wow.  The Catholic church really needs to respect their nuns more."

The demons themselves, however, have heard of Sister Andrea - and are sore afraid. 


In fact, it is because of Sister Andrea that of Kristen's daughters, Lynn, is considering becoming a nun, but tries to keep this a secret from her mother, who will have none of it, until Ben says "Let me get this straight - you're upset because your daughter is sneaking out of the house to talk to a nun instead of pregnant?"

Thus, Kristen visits Sister Andrea and discovers that her daughter has forged the permission slip to talk with Sister Andrea, and relents to her daughter speaking to Sister Andrea, only with her present. 

Thus, in this most recent episode - which became a little more "Touched by an Angel-ish" than I care for, regarding David's "visions" - Kristen asks Sister Andrea to come and speak to her daughter in her presence, plus David believes her house is now a hotbed for demons because Leland and her mother's activities - so David asks if he can bless the house and have Sister Andrea also take a look around.

The girls, too, believe there is something going on, because of strange events in the home, especially when Kristen is not there. 

Sister Andrea does indeed find a demon named "Lou" living in a hole in the wall in their basement and decides to wait him out of the hole, he has to come out eventually, and though she can cleanse somewhat, it is the presence of Father David that can actually rid and bless the home after she's done so.


In the meantime, Kristen and Sister Andrea have a one-on-one talk about Sister's Andrea's beliefs, and Kristen expresses her fears that despite her intelligence, Lynn will instead spend her life sweeping floors and doing men's laundry, tucked away from the world.

Sister Andrea replies something like "I do not try to sway her to the vocation, I simply answer her questions. And doing men's laundry isn't my true purpose, it's just what the church says I do, when I'm not serving in the true purpose and service of God and others.  Some, including the priests themselves, might THINK that's my purpose, but it isn't.  Regardless, some people's purpose is to serve others and we enjoy serving others."

Kristen smiles and seems very happy with this answer, willing to let her daughter decide what gives her joy.


Then Sister Andrea successfully draws Lou out, David finishes the job, and the demons are gone - at least from inside of the house - but they're still there, right outside the home, waiting to get back in.


As for Ben - sweet, hypersmart Ben - he is usually the answer-giver with most of the phenomenon.  If he doesn't know, he'll research and find out and then test it.





That is, until one of their investigations is to a particle-acceleration plant, where someone has anonymously posted a video of people worshipping Satan, with someone being "sacrificed" to it.

The company says the video was an internal fake, created as an internal joke regarding all the rumors about "God-particle" accelerators, but the team is nevertheless called to investigate it. 

The team's investigation do find that the actress "being sacrificed" is indeed an actress, who refuses to be contacted, citing that although the video was fake, something is definitely wrong at the plant.

But other that safety concerns, they find nothing else - with the exception of David, who does see something sinister in a hole created by an explosion from a nearby tank, that the others can't see.

HOWEVER, Ben is blasted by a radiation beam from the particle accelerator that has run amuck, but his radiation levels come down and no brain damage is found - and yet now, he has a Djinn that shows up in his apartment, every day, wreaking havoc.

He believes he's gone crazy, but Kristen - and his scientist sister - believe the hallucinations are just a side effect of such a blast of radiation, with the exception of his sister, who despite being a scientist, is still a practicing Muslim and believes that it can be both.

Ben throws out her theory, going with the idea that this is just a hallucinatory side effect of the particle-accelerator blast to his brain and begins to perform experiments on himself to help him understand it and its limitations so that he can function, but struggles when he discovers that calls and even videos of himself were sent out to ex-girlfriends asking them to visit him, despite no record of these being made on his phone and him having no memory of them.

That is Ben's current dilemma, driving him literally crazy, when he is the one that usually figures everything out scientifically. 


Needless to say, lots of gray-area issues to unpack, here, so I can see if you are a hard-core atheist or hard-core Catholic/otherwise religious (Christian, Muslim or Jewish), you might have a problem with it.

However, if you're open to the idea of exploring and pushing the boundaries of what we currently  want to believe, whether from a scientific or faith perspective, then it's right up your alley.

It poses some interesting questions, that's for sure - the thinking person's approach to as-of-yet unexplained phenomena.

However, sadly, this is the show's final season due to never fully having the audience the show deserves - so give it a try and help them out?

The first 2 seasons are now on Netflix, but they really find their footing by Season 3, and Season 4 can get a bit hokey, but the climax of the coming antichrist and what is being done to prevent it is worth a watch. 

Another feature which becomes almost its own character in the show - which I think is a brilliant filmmaking move - are the lighting and the long-lens/wide-angle "upshots" taken ...





You will notice that rarely are there "flipped" close-ups during conversations, they're often done as an "upshot" - from underneath for effect - above them, on with a wide-angle or long-lens for effect - with the lighting itself being an almost central character. 



In the above photo, the lightning itself gives a halo effect, over their heads - signifying God is with them in their pursuit to do good, and that they have been chosen, even if they don't believe in him.

Last but not least, the theme song is fantastic - which dramatically starts slowly and builds faster and faster, along with black and white contrasting images, and animated scene openers/interscene "book" popouts are among the best parts of the show.

One of the best theme songs since Yellowstone, IMO, I give you the theme song of "Evil" ....

(The objects seen in the opening theme song often change, but they have meaning regarding what's currently going on. )








No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.