Here we stand, my compatriots, at the threshold of an epoch-making conclusion to a television series that has etched itself into my heart as a favorite amidst recent times. 'Evil' has drawn its final curtain, and oh, what a crescendo it has reached. Episode S4E14, aptly titled "Fear of the End," unfolds with Kristen (Katja Herbers), now seated in her revamped garage-turned-office, tending to her patients, while Ben (Aasif Mandvi) familiarizes himself with his sleek, glass-partitioned workspace, haunted by the eerie inscription "RUN" etched within his desk drawer's depths. David (Mike Colter), on the other hand, utters his last prayer amidst a barren living space, his resolve set as he prepares to bid farewell. But Demon Kristen, clad in her schoolgirl disguise, clutches desperately at his leg, her screams echoing through the threshold as he shuts the door, forever silencing her pleading.
Giovanni (Denis O'Hare) whispers to David of The Entity's designs, revealing the 60 and Leland's impending rendezvous, their sinister plans looming large. He warns that Leland's sights are set on Ben or Kristen. Kristen's last appointment of the day, ostensibly with Ernest Truman, reveals itself to be a disguised Leland (Michael Emerson), unwelcome as ever. She wastes no time, dialing 911 and reciting the restraining order that binds them, but Leland remains impervious, dangling the promise of eternal peace in exchange for her presence at the 60's gathering. Her patience waning, she incapacitates him with a stun gun, only for him to awaken repeatedly, each time met with another jolt from her device. David arrives, shoulders Leland like a burden, and deposits him at his doorstep, a literal dismissal.
Meanwhile, Leland and Stick (John Carroll Lynch) stage an audition for screams, with Jennifer (Emma Pvitzer Price) showcasing a formidable vocal prowess that fails to impress Stick's jaded ears. He dismisses the need for such theatrics, urging Leland to end Kristen's interference once and for all. But their machinations are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Sister Andrea (Andrea Martin), a force to be reckoned with. Confronting Leland, she unveils her knowledge of their schemes, and as Demon Stick (Fedor Steer) rises, menacingly, she follows suit with a sardonic "fear" that emasculates him, leaving him stunned and silent as she strides away, a picture of unwavering defiance amidst the demons' domain.
Kristen, David, and Ben immersed themselves in a nostalgic evening, reminiscing about their past cases, eventually casting their files into the crackling bonfire's embrace. As the flames danced, they indulged in libations, the warmth of the fire mirroring the camaraderie between them. Kristen, with a playful grin, teased that her canned margaritas had fueled their revelry, prompting Ben to inquire about his own influence. After a thoughtful pause, she confessed that her friends' wisdom had humbled her, fostering a newfound appreciation for others' knowledge.
Turning the spotlight on David, Kristen inquired how she and Ben had impacted his life. David's voice softened as he revealed that until now, he had lacked confidants with whom he could delve into deeper conversations. Embracing them tightly with one arm, he confessed his impending longing for their presence, echoing his sentiment with heartfelt sincerity. "Me too, David. Me too."
Meanwhile, the Bouchard sisters—Brooklyn Shuck, Skylar Grey, Maddy Crocco, and Dalya Knapp—embarked on a clandestine mission, unearthing the confiscated VR headsets from Kristen's closet. As they activated the devices and downloaded an update, an enigmatic app named "Mother Midnight" captivated their attention, promising to unravel the veil of their futures within the confines of the closet. Lynn and Lila, brimming with curiosity, ventured forth, reciting the incantation and being met with a sinister hand that brushed Lynn before vanishing. A long, eerie hallway materialized, and, armed with a rope as a safety net, they ventured down its eerie length.
Emerging downstairs, they found Kristen, David, and Ben engaged in conversation, unaware of the impending danger. Leland, his climbing axe raised, crept silently behind them, his strike swift and deadly, embedding the weapon in Kristen's skull before turning his wrath on the girls. In a panicked frenzy, the girls screamed and scrambled out of the closet unscathed, their screams echoing through the house.
Alerted by the commotion, Kristen, David, and Ben rushed upstairs, their faces etched with concern. The girls recounted their terrifying encounter with Mother Midnight, and the trio, intrigued and apprehensive, decided to test the app for themselves. Donning the goggles and uttering the fateful phrase, Ben felt the demonic hand's grasp, pulling him towards the hallway. At its end, a haunting sight awaited him—the Bouchard daughters gazing into their mother's room, where a brilliant light shone. Stepping inside, he was confronted with the devastating scene of his sister, Karima (Sohina Sidhu), lying helpless in a hospital bed, her life slipping away. She, a skeptic, pleaded with Ben, her last breaths beseeching him to reveal the whereabouts of Allah. Her final confession, a poignant acceptance of life's finality, echoed as she slipped into eternity.
Ben's tears stream relentlessly down his cheeks, magnified behind his goggles, and then, the true intent of the Mother Midnight app unfolds before our eyes – Kristen's deepest dread materializes. Dr. Kurt (Kurt Fuller), with a cold precision, orchestrates a damning intervention centered on Kristen's shortcomings as a mother. She is deemed unworthy of the title, her sarcasm and dismissive treatment of her grown daughters cited as evidence of her unfitness. As Kristen's screams pierce the air, CPS officers forcibly remove her daughters from her grasp.
Switching perspectives, David's journey through the goggles plunges him into the heart of the Bouchard residence, where a relentless pounding echoes from the basement. Sister Andrea braces herself, steeling against the freshly sealed wall from "How to Survive a Storm," which suddenly ruptures with a deafening blast, hurling both figures back. Out strides Demon Stick, its maw descending upon David's neck, eager to feast. As David's life ebbs away, Leland looms, his voice dripping with malice, taunting David with the nonexistence of heaven's gates.
With a Herculean effort, David wrenches himself free from the app's clutches and the confining goggles. The trio, now reeling from this surreal experience, struggle to comprehend the app's capacity to conjure a vivid, tactile replica of the house. Glancing out the rear window, they're confronted by a chilling sight – figures clad in identical goggles, peering in with eerie intensity.
Panic sets in as they bolt out the back door, striving to disperse the intruders. But one manages to breach the threshold, his pleas for mercy mingling with desperate stories of a previous game-time visit and a desperate need to save his daughter from the sealed-off abyss in the basement. The realization dawns: the girls' demon-tracking app, unwittingly, has been capturing intimate footage of the house's interior, inviting a sinister audience into their private nightmare.
Returning to Ben's abode, he had cunningly extracted the interface from the VR goggles, a less intricate iteration of the technology embedded in Taupin's cerebrum last week—operating harmoniously without the need for invasive implantation. This interface seamlessly melded with the demon-tracking application released by DF, the ubiquitous entity behind it all. DF, in turn, utilized the app's data to fuel Mother Midnight, shedding light on why the Bouchard residence had been invaded.
Ben summoned a cerebral blueprint, highlighting the regions intertwined with the thalamus, the neural hub that the VR goggles harnessed. As they juxtaposed this map against the enigmatic sigil chart of the sixty they'd relentlessly pursued, a revelation dawned: Each sigil mirrored a distinct region of the human brain. "Why lure when you can infuse despair straight into the mind's very core?" David mused, his voice laced with insight.
Meanwhile, Leland and Stick ventured into the freshly desecrated sanctuary, designating it as the site for their nefarious Black Mass. The Entity's spies lurked in the shadows, poised to strike at the sixty. Sister Andrea, a voice of dissent, found herself amidst this dark congregation. She rushed to the window, rapping against the glass, desperately trying to convey to Giovanni their erroneous choice of venue. But her warnings fell on unhearing ears.
Desperate, she reached out to David, her call a clarion warning as Kristen and Ben puzzled over the existence of demonic havens when the devotees of Satan could convene virtually. David's mind raced, realizing Sister Andrea's wisdom, and he sprinted towards the church, his phone pressed to his ear as he pleaded with Giovanni. But the Entity had anticipated their every move, setting a trap for the sixty who would not be present. They had lured David to the church depicted in the painting, cloned Leland's phone—all part of their sinister plan.
Giovanni, however, remained steadfast in his convictions. As Jennifer's screams echoed through the air, the Entity surged forward, only to find the cathedral eerily vacant save for Jennifer, surrounded by cauldrons spewing forth a noxious, deathly mist. Jennifer pressed a note into Giovanni's hand, its message stark: "Meet the evil descending upon New York... You." The surviving members of the Entity scattered as Jennifer's voice filled the space, her rendition of "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" ringing out before the screen plunged into darkness.
Stick and Leland solemnly commemorate the 18th anniversary of the Entity's demise amidst a haunting group call that echoes through the demonic abodes, their voices mingling with the promise of "new technology," a harbinger of the 60's sinister evolution. "Still Families… reside within here," Stick whispers, tapping his temple, alluding to the nefarious planting of evil and despair directly into the neural labyrinths of the human brain.
As the call dissipates, Stick's gaze hardens towards Leland. "No more half-measures. Your guardianship over Kristen has spanned four long years. It ends this very night."
David's timely arrival at the church saves Giovanni from the brink of oblivion, dragging him to safety amidst the suffocating embrace of death. As Giovanni regains his breath with the aid of oxygen, David fiercely confronts the Entity's crusade against the 60, revealing their chilling discovery—the 60's insidious plan to infiltrate the mind through neural pathways. David's conviction is unwavering; he refuses to be complicit in the Entity's machinations, confessing that every assistance granted to them diminishes his sense of divinity. Giovanni, intrigued, grants David's audacious request to helm the assessor program, albeit with a catch—the assignment lies in Rome.
This revelation triggers a chorus of dissent from Kristen and Ben. Ben's lucrative job offer far surpasses the Church's meager compensation, while Kristen yearns for the tranquility of an ordinary life. The show's subtle yet poignant nods to its own precarious existence add a layer of irony to their predicament.
David defends his comrades' worth. "If they're so effective, why were we silenced?" Kristen queries, her tone laced with confusion. "Because they're blind to their own folly!" David retorts, his voice resonating with frustration.
That night, Kristen meticulously secures her sanctuary before tenderly checking on her slumbering daughters. Unbeknownst to her, the girls' eyes flicker open, feigning sleep as they ready themselves with the enigmatic goggles. Fifteen minutes remain on the ominous timer.
Kristen, observing her doppelganger through the Dutch-spewing video, translates the words that echo with rebellious fervor: "A life unexplored is a life unlived." As the timer ticks down to zero, the truth unravels—the countdown was merely a ruse, a lure for unsuspecting users to fall prey to the Mother Midnight app, DF's sinister tool designed to infiltrate and corrupt minds. The stage is set for a digital nightmare that threatens to unravel the very fabric of reality.
As the intruder lurked outside, their nefarious intentions thwarted by locked doors, Leland cunningly excavated the concealed hole in the basement wall, bricks tumbling aside to reveal his sinister entrance. Emerging like a shadow from the depths, he slipped on his earbuds, immersing himself in the empowering tune of Roger Miller's "Dang Me," his steps up the stairs echoing with the ominous clang of a massive knife.
His destination: Kristen's room, where the sound of running water in the shower lured him with false hope. Playfully calling her name, he was met with silence – a deception, for Kristen had been hiding in the closet, armed with a length of climbing rope, her heart pounding with resolve.
With a swift and decisive move, she looped the rope around Leland's neck, her strength surpassing fear as she tightened the noose, dragging them both to the ground. Her grip relentless, she strangled the life from him, her eyes fixed on his fading gaze.
But just as justice seemed to be served, David's calming voice intervened, gently halting her actions. Ben's presence added a sense of reassurance. Kristen's tears flowed as she relented, loosening the fatal embrace.
Yet, Leland's fate was not yet sealed. He was crudely bundled into a bag, his protests muffled as he was unceremoniously deposited into the ominous box from "S is for Silence," Fenna (Alexandra Socha) watching with a mix of fascination and unease.
The series finale unfolds in a new chapter, as Kristen and the girls embark on a fresh start in Rome. A video call with Ben filled with warmth and love, she sends her girls off with a smile, though her thoughts linger. Timothy's eyes suddenly flash, his mouth contorting into a demonic snarl, revealing sharpened teeth – a haunting reminder of the darkness that lingers.
David's concerned query meets with Kristen's reassurance, a pacifier silencing Timothy's otherworldly howl. "Nothing at all," she whispers, her tone masking a thousand unspoken fears. As a joyful chorus swells, the camera pulls back, painting a picture of hope amidst uncertainty, before the screen fades to black, marking the end…or perhaps, a new beginning.
This closing chapter, I foresee, may ignite a fiery debate among fans. Leland's survival, the recurring theme of eerie technology intertwining with the narrative, and the abrupt conclusion to intricate storylines like the enigmatic 60 and Lexis's apocalyptic prophecy – all elements that may leave some unsatisfied. Yet, the brevity of four episodes, despite their excellence, undeniably left threads dangling, inviting speculation and fueling the hope that another creative mind might seize the mantle and continue this gripping tale.
The fervor within the Evil subreddit, the relentless Netflix petition drives, and the show's soaring popularity on Paramount+ and streaming platforms alike, all point to a rabid fanbase yearning for more. While the odds may seem astronomical, the potential for a rebirth of this captivating series, sparked by its passionate community, remains a glimmer of hope in the darkness.
For me personally, as the curtains drew to a close on my beloved show, my heart ached with a bittersweet melancholy, yet I found myself largely content with this finale's denouement. My sole, albeit significant, reservation lies with Stick and the looming threat of "The Evil encroaching upon New York," which felt somewhat unfinished, a dangling thread.
John Carroll Lynch, a veritable colossus in his craft, was a stroke of brilliance introduced into the narrative, alas, his presence didn't quite have the breathing room to unfold its full potential. Nevertheless, I am profoundly grateful for these final four chapters, which served as a mostly gratifying testament to the series' conclusion.
Over the course of its four enchanting seasons, 'Evil' has woven itself into the very fabric of my affections. The thrill of anticipating each fresh episode has been a sensation I hadn't experienced in ages, and the intricacies of its storylines, the rich tapestry of lore, and above all, the unforgettable characters of Kristen, David, Ben, and Leland, have captivated me to no end.
To the visionary Kings, the remarkable cast, the penmanship of the writers, and the entire crew who brought this masterpiece to life—my heartfelt gratitude and admiration. You have crafted a legacy that will linger long in the hearts and minds of those who were fortunate enough to embark on this extraordinary journey.
