'Evil' Gives Closure As Best It Could On Short Notice

by Julian Spivey

Photo: Paramount

​“Evil” wrapped up its terrific four-season run on Paramount+ on Thursday, August 22, with its finale, aptly titled “Fear of the End.”

“Evil” and its showrunners, Robert and Michelle King, were put in a box in bringing their beloved series to an end. They were informed after the originally 10-episode fourth season was through filming that it wouldn’t return for a fifth season but were gifted an additional four episodes to wrap the story. It was a gift for the show and the fans but also an unenviable task to try to wrap such a complicated story in such a short amount of time.

The series features three people: Kristen (an agnostic psychologist), David (a Catholic priest), and Ben (an atheist scientist), who come together to attempt to access and solve supernatural religiously related cases.

The show had such a high with its 10th episode of season four, which was supposed to be the fourth season’s finale, in which Leland Townshend (Michael Emerson), the show’s main villain over its run, having a final showdown with his ex and Kristen’s mom, Sheryl (Christine Lahti), which ended the season in tragedy and would’ve set up perfectly for a fifth season.

The additional four episodes that concluded the series were entertaining. Still, certain aspects were clearly rushed, especially how the show dealt with Kristen’s marriage to Andy (Patrick Brammall) and its ultimate path to dealing with Leland.

The Kings, being the witty, sarcastic writers and showrunners they are, dealt with the final four episodes by throwing the fact that they had been canceled into the faces of the network hosting them. Not only has “Evil,” the show, been canceled, but so has the Church’s accessors program and St. Joseph’s Church itself, which is being sold off to help the Catholic Church financially.

I never expected that our trio of heroes would be able to defeat evil itself. I don’t know if anything could beat the idea of evil. So, there would always be a feeling of not necessarily receiving closure with the show. But it at least felt like the show would end with Leland’s defeat – and in a way, it did, but it also had to be left open-ended enough for the possibility of the show continuing elsewhere. The Kings and the cast want to continue work on “Evil,” but I feel like if there were going to be a savior for the show, it would’ve come by now – but maybe another entity like Netflix, which has seen success streaming the series’ first three seasons – was waiting for the series to finish airing and seeing the response and numbers before deciding.

And, so just as the show has been put in a box by its abrupt cancellation and limited wrap-up, Leland too has been placed in a box, literally, with his new home being the box at a silent monastery from season two’s fantastic episode “S is for Silence,” which was supposed to have held a demon before Kristen (Katja Herbers) accidentally let it loose.

It’s a good enough place to store Leland while the show is potentially in limbo, but I have a feeling it’ll be his place for eternity.

Our three heroes' friendship will never be defeated by evil, but their paths have been forced to diverge due to the assessor’s program in New York coming to an end. Ben (Aasif Mandvi) has taken a high-paying desk job that he can’t pass up to travel across the world with David (Mike Colter) and Kristen, who have left for the Vatican to continue their job trying to uncover and defeat evil.

The show always seemed to be on the path of Kristen and David winding up together – whether they end up as an actual romantic couple or remain two friends who love and need each other – but that path was forced into hyperdrive by the show’s untimely ending. This may have been how it would always end for these two characters. Open-ended.  

Ultimately, I think “Evil” did the best it could, given its circumstances. It’s not the complete closure I would’ve wanted from one of the best TV shows of the last half-decade, but it’s nice to have at least the chance to have an ending.