The eerie opening of "Evil" Season 4, Episode 13, "Fear of the Unholy," sets the stage with David's solemn address at the final Mass within his church's hallowed walls. His voice echoes through the sanctuary as he announces the impending doom of deconsecration and the church's sale, leaving a somber pall in the air. As he retreats behind the altar, a cryptic note catches his eye, beckoning him to a mysterious "sacred place" at the stroke of eight.
Father Rodrigo Katagas (portrayed by Anthony DeSando) presents our protagonists with their final case, a convoluted web involving the brilliant yet wheelchair-bound Professor Johann Taupin (played by John Christopher Jones), a Stephen Hawking-esque figure reliant on an electronic voice box for communication. The Vatican, keen on harnessing Taupin's expertise, desires his presence at the prestigious Pontificia Accademia delle Scienze, the scientific council at the heart of the Church. However, our heroes' mission is clear: to ensure that Taupin's past holds no dark secrets tied to the occult.
Neil (Christian Borle), Taupin's private secretary, immediately casts a sinister shadow, his every move dripping with malice. From the way he deliberately interposes himself between Kristen, David, and Ben, to the dismissive "Church people" he utters with a sneer, his dislike for them is palpable. His refusal to meet Kristen's gaze, a subtle yet telling gesture, does not escape her keen observation.
Kristen's first encounter with Professor Taupin is equally discomforting. He dismisses her field of psychology as mere "soft science," a dismissive brush-off that pales in comparison to the unsettling sexual innuendos he directs towards her. As she storms into the room accompanied by the Five, a cadre of male graduate students under Taupin's tutelage, a glaring omission becomes apparent—there are only four of them. The fifth, Beverly (Sarah Lyddan), a female graduate student, is sequestered in a cramped office, a veritable closet, where she too reveals Taupin's predilection for making inappropriate sexual remarks towards female colleagues and students. A fleeting glance at the crucifix adorning her wall betrays her inner turmoil before she warns Kristen, with unwavering conviction, that if she had a say in the Vatican's decision, Taupin would never set foot near that committee.
After the solemn church was stripped of its divine aura, Archbishop Paul Guilfoyle embarked on a futile quest to reclaim the holy relic, a cherished shard of a saintly thigh bone, only to emerge empty-handed with a dismissive shrug, seemingly unperturbed. Sister Andrea, however, was immediately plagued by visions of spirits wreaking havoc within the sanctuary's walls: they gyrated obscenely on statues, performed daring pole dances along chandelier chains, and indulged in lewd acts upon the pews, defiling the once-revered space. Unwavering in her conviction, Sister Andrea insisted that the relic must be retrieved at all costs, lest it continue to corrupt the premises.
David, upon venturing into the sacrosanct confines, encountered not Victor LeConte nor Father Dominic, but a fresh face in Vatican security, Giovanni De Vita (portrayed by Denis O’Hare). When David inquired about the whereabouts of his former acquaintances, he was informed of their reassignment, though Giovanni later conceded that LeConte had tragically passed away. As their conversation delved deeper, Giovanni probed David's latent resentment towards the Church, exposing his "treacherous deeds" and summoning the enigmatic Father Augusta (Paco Lozano), blindfolded, to conduct a rigorous interrogation.
The interrogation unfolded in a tense dance, with David and Father Augusta grasping a glass of water as a makeshift truth-telling device. David's responses to the barrage of questions were met with subtle gestures from the Father, each a delicate balance between truth and falsehood. Yet, amidst the myriad of queries, one stood out as paramount: would David betray his principles to protect Kristen Bouchard? After a momentous pause, David's affirmative answer echoed through the chamber, weighted with consequences.
Meanwhile, Ben sat ensconced in his home, his head adorned with a literal tinfoil hat, lost in the rhythm of music and the click of his computer keys. A sudden call from Professor Taupin disrupted his solitude, the professor's voice filled with urgency and a foreboding sense of otherworldly presence. Taupin's words turned sinister, his tone morphing into a demonic growl as he declared, "It's inside me." Despite the flimsy barrier of tinfoil, Ben's djinn breached the feeble defenses, gripping his skull from behind as a pipe organ's haunting melody swelled, announcing the arrival of a new chapter with a flash of the title card across the screen.
Father Ignatius (portrayed masterfully by Wallace Shawn) is rudely awakened in the dead of night by a deafening thud echoing from deep within the sanctuary. To his surprise, it is Sister Andrea, armed with a hammer and crowbar, viciously attacking the walls concealing the worship area. She insists that the archives have hidden a relic behind these barriers, and much to his initial astonishment, Father Ignatius joins her endeavor. Reaching into the freshly excavated hole, he endures a rat's bite but triumphantly retrieves the reliquary, only to find it empty. "I suppose the rat beat us to it," Father Ignatius sighs, his voice laced with disappointment, reinforcing my undying admiration for Wallace Shawn's impeccable delivery.
Is it remotely surprising that Leland (Michael Emerson, in all his enigmatic glory), should be serenading the night with Roger Miller's "Do-Wacka-Do"? Indeed, it's the tune that fills his apartment as David bursts in, uncovering a painting shrouded in tarp. This canvas, its crimson hues reflecting eerily on David's face, is no stranger; it's the same ominous piece alluded to in "How to Save a Life," Season 4, Episode 8, when the infant Antichrist lay in its manger. The painting depicts an apocalyptic landscape of war, flames, and devastation—a goat-like demon rending a woman's screams, bodies dangling from power lines, and at its heart, a woman's closed-eyed visage. But as David leans in for a closer inspection, her eyes snap open, startling him momentarily before he swiftly conceals himself from Leland's impending arrival.
Leland's crooning to Roger Miller's tune is abruptly halted by a savage gut punch from the beefy priest, sending him crashing to the floor, gasping for air. It's a gratifying sight to behold the mastermind behind so much suffering for David, Kristen, and others, reduced to a state of vulnerability. "Take your time," David remarks nonchalantly. "It'll take a moment." He inquiries about Leland's lavish new abode, procured by his "billionaire friend," to which Leland nods, warning David, "People are coming here." David then comments on the painting, prompting Leland's curt response, "You shouldn't have looked."
David delves into why Leland abandoned the Entity, and Leland, momentarily taken aback by David's knowledge, explains that his journey into remote viewing exposed him to the Church's darkest secrets, leading him to flee not just the institution but to join its opposition. Leland professes his belief in the "Great Unseeable Truth," a shared conviction with David, a transcendent reality beyond the material world, a burden they both carry. "You don't bear shit," David scoffs. "You chose evil." Leland counters that there is no absolute evil, but there is free will—God's sole gift amidst suffering, uncertainty, and death. And with this free will, Leland has wrought chaos and misery, simply for the thrill of it.
Leland then divulges that during their remote viewing sessions, they inadvertently left imprints of each other's essence: David now bears a sliver of Leland's darkness, while Leland has embraced a fragment of David's virtue. David promptly dismisses this notion, yet Leland's subsequent words linger, hinting at a possible truth beneath his words. He queries David about the Church's vehement opposition to his remote viewing into Leland's mind, implying they feared David would uncover the same secrets Leland holds. In a pivotal scene, the truth of Leland's words dawns on David as Leland casually mentions the "Vatican's lie detector ordeal, administered by some pompous monk"—precisely the test David had endured earlier. David's expression betrays his realization that the villain is finally speaking candidly. Leland remarks that David is branded by the Entity, and if they cannot trust him, he'll be eliminated. He allows this revelation to sink in before softly humming "Do-Wacka-Do" once more.
Perchance there's truth in Leland's claim that they now share fragments of each other, or perhaps it's merely a suppressed facet of Leland's psyche surfacing. Amidst an emotional video of two dogs embracing, Leland finds himself emotionally swayed, swiftly diverting his attention to a clip of a brutal street fight. Michael Emerson, indeed, stands as one of contemporary acting's most captivating talents.
When David confides in Sister Andrea about his fear of harboring a piece of Leland within him, she assures him that faith is the sole antidote, should it be true. David confesses his weariness with faith at times and prepares to depart. Sister Andrea, however, notices a spot of blood on the back of his sweater, urging him to lift it. There, she discovers a demonic slug latched onto his lower back, which she terms "sin" and crushes beneath her heel, though David remains oblivious to the supernatural entity.
David's ingenuity sparked anew, he enlisted Sister Andrea to accompany them on their next encounter with Taupin and Neil. To their dismay, Sister Andrea's keen senses failed to detect any demonic aura emanating from Taupin. However, as Neil subtly shifted his gaze, Sister Andrea's attention was drawn to an inconspicuous seam concealed at the nape of his neck. With a swift move, she grasped it and tugged, revealing a grotesque, scaly skin beneath. Neil's visage twisted into a snarl, and he lunged at her, prompting her to hastily retreat, casually dismissing it as an attempt to tuck away Neil's clothing label.
Steeling herself, Sister Andrea retreated to the kitchen, armed with a knife and concealed herself, ready for action. Neil, sensing her resolve, followed her into the shadows. Seizing the moment, Sister Andrea sprung into action, slashing at Neil's face and sending him stumbling to the ground. Their fierce confrontation was abruptly halted by Ben's panicked cries for aid, as Taupin's body began to hemorrhage from every orifice, his eyes, nose, and mouth pouring forth a gruesome tide.
In the hospital's sterile confines, Neil bore the agony of stapling his shredded cheek back into place, donning a face mask as a makeshift bandage, only to inform the perplexed doctors that Taupin could not undergo an MRI due to a microchip embedded within him, facilitating the use of his vocal cords. The team's collective mind raced, contemplating whether this technological intrusion was the root cause of Taupin's erratic behavior and the sudden, violent bleeding.
Visiting Taupin in his hospital bed, Ben found the man eerily unperturbed by the possibility that the very device meant to empower him might be slowly consuming his life. To Taupin, the prospect of his knowledge being uploaded to the cloud upon his demise offered immortality of a different kind, rendering the promise of Heaven obsolete.
Meanwhile, Father Ignatius was rudely awakened by a thunderous noise, jolting him from his slumber. Descending the stairs, he found Sister Andrea intently listening to a wall, hammer conspicuously absent. Together, they shifted a massive armoire, revealing a gaping hole behind it. With a mischievous glint in her eye, Sister Andrea instructed Father Ignatius to take a seat with a bowl of candy as a decoy. As she prepared to delve into the unknown, Father Ignatius's voice was tinged with doubt as he queried her conviction in the existence of demons. She affirmed her belief with unwavering certainty, yet confessed her own ignorance regarding the presence of God.
Ignatius, sharing her sentiments, admitted his own uncertainty, confessing that he became a priest solely due to his parents' wishes. He lamented the decline of church attendance, the rise of nonbelievers, and the societal stigma attached to discussing spirituality. In a world where faith had become a source of ridicule, even he, a man of the cloth, struggled to comprehend the delicate balance between good and evil, God and the void.
A profound dialogue, one of the show's most poignant exchanges, is abruptly shattered by the sinister emergence of a demon from the abyss. Sister Andrea, with lightning reflexes, pins its writhing hand to the ground with a kitchen knife, her eyes blazing as she commences an interrogation, while Father Ignatius stands bewildered, witnessing only Andrea's frenzied stabbing at the empty floor and talking to an unseen entity.
Later, secluded in her chamber, Sister Andrea's relentless interrogation of the demon unravels a shocking revelation—it had devoured the sacred relic. Undeterred, Andrea's surgical precision slices through the demon's flesh, and the relic, shimmering with an otherworldly glow reminiscent of Indiana Jones's adventures, is triumphantly retrieved.
David's unexpected visit to Leland, amidst his preparations for a gathering of sixty souls, adds another layer of intrigue. As David probes Leland on the Entity's perceived supremacy over its adversaries, Leland's paranoia escalates, convinced that his overseers have vanished into thin air. LeConte's demise, Father Dominic's reassignment—Leland queries how the Church perpetuates its enigmas amidst such turmoil. David, ignoring a message from Kristen, places his phone beside Leland's, a silent testament to his divided loyalties.
Leland, sensing David's vulnerability, offers a deal—Kristen's safety in exchange for David's departure from the priesthood. His hand extended in a gesture of finality, but David remains resolute, reclaiming his phone and exiting, leaving Leland's offer hanging in the air.
During their tense exchange, David's cunning duplicates Leland's phone, unraveling the Vatican's quest—the identities of the sixty, their rendezvous's details etched in time and space. David's resignation from the Entity's fold is tendered, only to be met with a new assignment from Giovanni: Vatican security, in the heart of Rome. Kristen, overwhelmed by the news, retreats into the pages of "Surviving Separation," her distress palpable as she grapples with the impending separation.
As Sister Andrea gracefully joins David within the sanctity of the church, mere days before its artistry and furnishings succumb to a ruthless transformation, she imparts upon him a solemn directive: to seek absolution in confession each time he aids the Entity, warning him fiercely not to let their influence corrupt the purity of his gifts. Puzzled by her knowledge of his involvement, he inquires, and in response, she commands him to rise. With a deft hand, she extracts yet another sin slug, this one significantly larger, from his burdened back. "My presence by your side shall be fleeting, David...for with each transgression, this burden grows ever more formidable."
With a mere week until the curtain falls on this captivating series (or perhaps, a glimmer of hope lingers for fellow 'Evil' enthusiasts, fingers crossed in secret prayer that another might seize the reins and continue our tale), "Fear of the Unholy" boldly strides towards resolving the intricate character arcs meticulously woven throughout its narrative. Though I harbor a cautious optimism that not all mysteries may be unveiled, I remain steadfast in my belief that the revelations we do receive will be deeply satisfying. And so, with anticipation brimming, I eagerly await our final rendezvous next week as the story reaches its inevitable, yet poignant, conclusion.
