Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) is struggling to make ends meet while her husband is off doing something involving climbing the Himalayas. She works as a consultant for the DA’s office to figure out whether a person is or is not considered sane enough to stand trial. After being attacked by a perpetrator during a followup interview, she meets David Acosta (Mike Colter), a representative of the Catholic Church who investigates the backlog of items that might be possessions or miracles. When Kristen is sort of quit/fired from her contract with the DA, David’s invite to join his team as medical professional is too good to pass up. Along with another crew member named Ben (Aasif Mandiv), the three pretty quickly run afoul of a possible demon. Will they fight Evil or discover its just daily evil.
Evil is strangely delightful in a world full of real horrors. Part of the show is funny, part of it is scary. There is a demon named George that pees in corners and demon-possessed bosses. While the show is clearly fictional, it does a great job of balancing belief and possible explanations. On a particular rough day, I found myself bingeing the first disc as a worthy distraction. It feels a bit like Hannibal, meets Insidious, while on a date with Fox’s The Exorcist TV show.
The cast is beautifully diverse, featuring not only a woman as the main character, but a powerful and intelligent Black man, and a Middle Eastern man cast in a positive light as a Tech professional. Kristen is a mom of four girls, and she’s an awesome one. I’m sort of delighted by the fact that she is enjoys drinking margaritas out of a can. The show just got a second season, so I know I’ve got more to enjoy. The show does a great job of covering issues like racism and church scandal as well.
Evil Season One is available June 30, 2020 from CBS.
