Mandvi, known mostly for his wry comedy, fits nicely into the role of low-key cynic. Katja Herbers is convincingly buttoned-up and compassionate as Kristen, and she and Colter - who, as the episodes progress, makes it clear that David is bottling up some feelings, too - share an easy chemistry together. That sense of mystery, as well as some mysteries in the characters’ personal lives, are persuasive reasons to keep watching.Īlso persuasive: the cast.
There’s usually a rational explanation for some of what happens, and an element that suggests powers from the great beyond may have a hand in things, too. The show’s trio doesn’t resolve each case in black-and-white terms, either.
To Evil’s credit, it treats both the faithful and the agnostic with equal respect. Even though it’s a wildly different show, on that point, it shares a lot in common with another Thursday night series: NBC’s The Good Place. With its science versus faith premise, Evil is really an exploration of what constitutes good and bad behavior and why some people are rewarded and some are not. Based on the first four episodes, Evil is immediately confident in its multifaceted identity and interest in raising ideological questions, giving it a depth too often lacking in broadcast television.
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Some series take a while to find their footing and rhythm. It shifts between tones easily and authoritatively. When Kristen spends time with her girls, or her extremely permissive mother (Christine Lahti) who often babysits, Evil veers into family drama territory.īut Evil never feels unfocused. Kristen also has four young daughters that she’s parenting while her husband is leading a climbing expedition on Mount Everest. When the investigations by Kristen, David, and Ben involve the potential commission of a crime, that procedural vibe once again takes center stage. When Kristen makes appearances in court, the show adopts the feel of a legal drama, a genre the Kings know well from The Good Wife and The Good Fight. One of the things Evil excels at is freaky scares like BrainDead, it’s also not shy about getting a little spooky.
Among other things, Kristen starts having nightmares about a demonic presence that may or may not actually be stalking her, which leads to some real goosebump-inducing moments in the pilot. There are moments when Evil plays like a work of horror. Kristen, the skeptic and lapsed Catholic, winds up partnering with them, putting her psychological skills to use in a context that differs from her usual gig as a frequent expert witness for the district attorney’s office. David and Ben work on behalf of the Catholic Church to gauge whether seemingly supernatural phenomena - possessions, miracles, ghosts - are legitimate or explainable based on science and logic. When it’s suggested that the alleged murderer may be possessed by a demon, Kristen comes in contact with David Acosta, a priest-in-training played by Luke Cage’s Mike Colter (hot priests: they’re all the rage!) and a carpenter named Ben (Aasif Mandvi). For one thing, it’s not strictly a crime series. With the Kings pulling the strings, Evil clearly isn’t just another standard procedural. But Evil has two things going for it that most shows like this do not: Michelle and Robert King, its creators and the same pair responsible for The Good Wife, The Good Fight, and the late, great BrainDead, with which Evil shares some common ideas. That initial setup and the fact that Evil, which debuts Thursday night, is airing on CBS make it easy to mistake this series for just another network crime procedural, the sort of thing you can half-watch while folding laundry or paying bills online. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers), dealing with a killer who may also be possessed on Evil.Įvil’s first episode opens with forensic psychologist Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers of Westworld) questioning a man who has been accused of several murders.