[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Evil Season 3 Episode 4 “The Demon of the Road.”]
We might think twice the next time we head down a deserted (or rumored-to-be-haunted) road in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night after the latest Evil episode.
Kristen (Katja Herbers), David (Mike Colter), and Ben (Aasif Mandvi) investigate the possibility of a demon haunting a highway and discover it was the work of the man clout chasing. As Victor Leconte (Brian D’Arcy James) of the Entity later told David, the man was the successor of one of the sigils on the map of the demonic houses and he shot himself after his team left; the Entity just cleaned up so his successor couldn’t cannibalize him, so his house is gone. Stopping all the demonic houses leads to peace on Earth. Plus, Sister Andrea (Andrea Martin) faces a trial of sorts about her health, and Kristen lets out her frustrations on a contractor’s work.
Read on for insight into the episode from the creators and stars.
David’s Doubts
So is David having significant doubts after that last meeting with Victor? “Throughout,” co-creator Michelle King told TV Insider. “He’s never quite certain whether he’s doing good, fighting the good fight as it were, or in fact is he working for a group that has gone rogue?”
According to co-creator Robert King, they looked at the original La Femme Nikita for this storyline. “She didn’t know where she was in the hierarchy of spies and she was given all these small tasks that were part of a bigger mission, but she never understood whether it was evil, whether it was good, or where she stood in it,” he explained. “We wanted that sense of being unsettled, partly because TV expects you to be the person in charge, James Bond, not a James Bond who’s confused by his mission and being told all you need to do is bring this Bible here, put it in this room, and it’s over. We like the idea of Mike Colter not knowing what party he is in the mission and whether he should trust this guy, Victor Leconte.”
Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+
For David, becoming involved with the Entity gave him “a purpose,” said Colter. “I was excited about that in terms of where the storytelling was going because it allowed David to be this double agent for the church and he felt a bit of importance. All of a sudden, his day-to-day wasn’t so mundane anymore. He was keeping secrets from his friends, his colleagues, even the monsignor and working within the church, so he had a purpose unto his himself, and I think that felt good.”
But there is the question of what has happened and whether he’s part of a group “doing the right thing,” Colter continued. “David has that quandary of the soldier complex of, if you listen and you drink the Kool-Aid, you’ll feel good about yourself and you can sleep at night, but if you don’t then you have to blow this whole thing up. He wants to believe in the purpose, in the journey, in the mission, but you’re dealing with human beings, they’re fallible. He’s fundamentally trying to be always good and that just never seems to happen.” In this case, he’s trying to focus on “the bigger picture” of the demonic houses and trying to save the world.
Fighting With Demons
Sister Andrea dealt with Leland (Michael Emerson) trying to convince the church her physical and mental health is declining since she’s said she’s seen demons. “She’s really up against it because not only is she fighting actual demons, she’s being undermined in here profession as well by Leland who wants to get her out of the way,” Michelle King said.
Added Robert King, “the show’s very honest about the bureaucracy of the Catholic church and how even though religion is supposed to make someone a visionary, if there were a true visionary in the church, there’d be a lot of suspicion of him or her and that I think is what’s going on with Andrea. That is easily coopted by some demonic or even just psychopathic energy like Leland.”
Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+
Meanwhile, Sister Andrea is also dealing with Dr. Boggs (Kurt Fuller) refusing to accept he’s seen a demon. “She thinks he’s kind of a fool in that he saw a demon, but he talks around it. He doesn’t really settle into the fact there really could be one,” Martin shared. “I think she doesn’t want him to keep talking. I think she really wants him to feel and wants him to go deep in his own soul, but he’s scared. I think that’s a fabulous dynamic. I think she has fun with him.”
As for that “boop” and tap to his head after Boggs told the council of priests Andrea told him she’s seen demons, “I think it was an affectionate gesture,” said Martin of the “sweet little moment.” “It’s also a gesture like, ‘Look, I know what you’re doing. You don’t have to hide anything from me.’ It’ll be interesting to see where that goes. I love working with him. I think he’s a wonderfully comedic actor so it’s fun being with him.”
Is Andy Alive?
Maybe it’s just us, but we can’t help but wonder if there was more to that video call Kristen had with her husband, Andy (Patrick Brammall), while he’s in Nepal than meets the eye. He didn’t say much, and he ended the call claiming he had to go.
Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+
Could it be that wasn’t Andy Kristen was talking to? After all, Leland was involved on sending him on that trip. “I don’t think you can be sure of anything” Michelle King teased.
Maybe it’s not too crazy to think Andy could be dead. “It’s a bit of an uncertainty there” was all Robert King would say.
Kristen’s Justifiable Anger
When the contractor tried to claim to Kristen that he and Andy had agreed he’d get a second check up front before continuing work on the house or he’d rip down the work he’d done, she, knowing that wasn’t the case, picked up a sledgehammer to do that for him. The contractor caved.
“Men who can’t get it through their stupid heads that they have to listen to women and treat women like actual people [like] that guy at the grocery store that I took out with the French fries or this contractor asshole, who’s saying, ‘I spoke with your husband’ … he had that s**t coming,” Herbers said. “I like this side of Kristen a lot because it’s a side of empowerment and she’s not hurting anyone. She is just getting it through these stupid assholes’ heads that she’s not to be messed with. I don’t think there’s another way that she could get it through his head. He was trying to walk all over her. She didn’t hurt him. She just destroyed his construction. Good on her.”
Evil, Sundays, Paramount+