‘Evil’ Season 2 Episode 1 Recap: “N Is For Night Terrors”

Evil was always a little too bold for network TV, anyway. The supernatural drama, which was created by married writer/producer duo Robert and Michelle King (of The Good Wife and The Good Fight fame) hit CBS in fall 2019 and cleverly riffed on the conventions of network procedurals with wonderful strangeness. At first glance, it resembles a modern X-Files: Logical, ex-Catholic forensic psychologist Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) plays the Scully to devout priest-in-training David Acosta’s (Mike Colter) Mulder, as they investigate demonic possession cases for the Vatican alongside tech expert Ben (Aasif Mandvi).

Yet the show consistently sets itself apart by refusing to come down on one side or the other, an echo of the Kings’ own relationship — Robert is a practicing Catholic, and Michelle an agnostic Jew. So as Kristen, David, and Ben take on all kinds of often-terrifying, often-silly cases are rendered even more unexplainable because of how damn connected we all are — whether it’s a VR game or a seemingly innocent YouTube video, modern life places us in the immediate vicinity of all kinds of dangers.

The ways in which the characters’ belief systems help them navigate the world’s everyday horrors were pushed to the brink in the Season 1 finale, which saw the gang discovering that a fertility clinic Kristen used to conceive one of her four daughters may be attempting to corrupt a generation by demonically manipulating eggs. And did I mention that a rosary left a crucifix-shaped burn on Kristen’s palm after she presumably killed Orson LeRoux (Darren Pettie), the serial killer who’s been targeting her family? Now that Evil has moved to Paramount+, all bets are off.

Season 2 picks up exactly where we last left off, with a shocked Kristen cradling her freshly burned palm as the rosary looms large in her periphery. But whether or not Kristen is falling under the devil’s sway is irrelevant at the moment, because she’s got a murder weapon to hide. In case you had any lingering doubts about her role in LeRoux’s murder, an interlude of Kristen hastily attempting to bury her bloody ice axe in the backyard before resolving to wash and hide it on the family coat rack is perfectly damning.

Kristen pulls out her phone to call her absent husband Andy (Patrick Brammall), but something about a late-night call informing her spouse that she killed someone and one of their children may be the spawn of Satan isn’t super appealing. She opts to call David instead, but he’s busy with supernatural problems of his own.

After years of radio silence following the so-called vision from God that convinced him to join the priesthood, David had another of a glassy-eyed Kristen walking through a wheat field to join a scythe-wielding, horned Goat Devil. Whether this Kristen is headed to the slaughter or to pick up a scythe of her own is still unclear, and since David’s visions are often brought on by blinding pain or hallucinogens, the Kings are still reticent to wholeheartedly embrace or debunk the supernatural. Whatever the case may be, his latest wheat field excursion features a new detail: series villain Leland (Michael Emerson), who’s positioned between Kristen and Goat Devil, dancing irreverently to disco music. You’ve got to admire when Evil gets straight-up weird.

Leland targeted Kristen’s darker impulses throughout the first season, sabotaging her career and even seducing her own mother. So it’s fitting that as Kristen stubbornly avoids confronting her newfound murderer title, the Evil gang’s first big case of the season is all about him. The local priest isn’t too convinced about a fertility clinic being a front for demonic corruption, but he is interested in having David, Kristen, and Ben evaluate Leland, a “new parishioner” who’s requesting an exorcism (Side note: Kristen’s much-deserved cursing is a delightful upside to Evil‘s Paramount+ move).

David and Kristen are predictably horrified, but Ben raises an important point: If Leland is trying to co-opt them, why not use his lies to glean more information about his true lies and motivations? At the end of Season 1, Kristen pieced together that Leland was actually a loser from Iowa who reinvented himself as a glib trickster associated with the very worst our culture has to offer (from violent incels to a literal demon therapist). Now, he claims he first sold his soul to the devil as a bullied high schooler who wanted to get even with his cruel bus driver. It’s later discovered that he never even knew the driver, but before Leland’s ex-wife can reveal more, she conveniently gets put in a coma. Oh, and Leland also inexplicably has a copy of the secret Vatican map of evil the gang discovered last season.

The real takeaways from this investigation are how Leland continues to prey on the main trio’s own anxieties, muddling the line between the rational and the supernatural even further. While Ben has always been a snarkily welcome presence on the show, but Season 2 finally promises to delve deeper into his own fears and beliefs. Raised Muslim and with personal no ties to Christian theology, Ben has the voice of reason who even Leland mostly leaves alone. But with Kristen and David closer to his grasp, he’s expanding his horizons. “How are you sleeping, Ben?” Leland muses. That night, Ben experiences night terrors of his own, as a slinky she-demon climbs in bed to slash at his bare chest. The Evil demons are a kinky bunch, aren’t they?

Meanwhile, David is forced to agree with Kristen’s assertion that his priest seems more inclined to help Leland out because of his large donations to the church, not his spiritual devotion. (Hopefully the show will continue to artfully dole out relevant critiques of Catholic institutions) Leland also happened to describe the devil exactly as David envisions him, which can’t be great for anyone.

Of course, Leland’s real target continues to be Kristen, who’s unable to run from the dark turn her formerly upstanding life has taken — nor does she want to? There are funny nods to Kristen’s supposed possession throughout the episode (an upside down cross falling on her head was my favorite), but plenty more genuinely concerning moments. Pushing the rules of doctor-patient confidentiality to their absolute limits, Kristen admits to her therapist that she wouldn’t change a thing about the murder, and even thought of a pre-meditated alibi for LeRoux’s wife. Ben hypothesized that Kristen’s crucifix burn was the result of the crucifix getting too close to a curling iron, but there’s an perverse glee in her eyes as she goes toe to toe with Leland.

Of course, the series is interested in not only how we’re corrupted as individuals, but how we and countless other evils influence future generations. So far, each season seems to be focusing on one of Kristen’s four daughters — first little Laura’s heart defect miraculously healed, and now Lexis seems predisposed to demonic behavior. She saw Goat Devil at the end of Season 1, and now vampire-sharp molars are emerging from deep within her jaw. And when a dentist gets too close during a routine procedure, she’s somehow able to nearly bite the poor woman’s finger off while under anesthesia. Perhaps the Bouchards will turn into a demon family before Evil ends, or goats will continue to get an unjustifiably bad rap. Either way, Season 2 is shaping up to be Old Testament-level brutal.

Abby Monteil is a New York-based writer. Her work has also appeared in The Daily Beast, Insider, Elite Daily, Thrillist, and others.

Watch Evil Season 2 Episode 1 on Paramount+