TV Review: EVIL: Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot [CBS, Tribeca TV Festival 2019]

Evil Plot Review

CBS‘s Evil: Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot from the 3rd Annual Tribeca TV Festival gives viewers a wild ride, delivering laughs and scares in equal proportion through a fascinating premise and a remarkable cast. Evil feels like a drama with elements of both horror and comedy, sometimes simultaneously. As the name suggests, this show is all about evil, but not in a super villain kind of way. Rather, it tackles examples of evil that exist in our contemporary world and poses the philosophical question about how such evil acts can be explained.

The pilot introduces us to Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers), a forensic psychologist who’s working to pay off her student loan debt and to support her four daughters by assessing criminals for mental illness in order to testify as a witness for the DA’s office in court. Kristen relies on psychological reasoning for knowledge, and believes that science can answer all of humanity’s questions, though perhaps slowly. Her personal philosophy, her marriage, and her career are challenged with the entrance of David Dacosta (Mike Colter), a priest-in-training who believes that people who commit evil acts are driven not by mental illness, but rather by demonic possession.

Kristen, David, and David’s spiritually skeptical assistant Ben (Aasif Mandvi) form a team informed by knowledge of psychology, religion, and all of the natural happenings that make things go bump in the night. Only with all three perspectives together can they begin to uncover a mystery that involves a serial killer rapist, a potential demon, and a very real plot point that explores the way that people intending to do evil find places to connect with each other online. The story is at once ripped from the headlines and totally capable of eluding questions of reality versus imagination.

Evil is the brainchild of writers Michelle King and Robert King, who have wondered together for years about the causes and kinds of evil that exist in our world. In Evil, they present not only an exploration of the many kinds of evils that take place today, but also an exploration of why that evil is happening. In a country that likes to describe tragedy as senseless, Evil forces viewers to question their own assumptions about the roots of tragedies like those that occur so often in America today. Are the murderers we see all mentally ill? Or are they moved by less explicable, perhaps more supernatural, forces of evil? For anyone interested in adding a philosophical bent to their processing of today’s real-life horrors, this show provides a fascinating and educative perspective.

Beyond the brilliance of its premise, Evil showcases fantastic actors whose performances captivate in delightfully unique ways. Each character is written with a level of complexity that will lend itself perfectly to future story lines, which will surely be an essential ingredient that prevents Evil from turning into just another serial mystery show. Instead, it’s clear that we will witness highly engaging character development that intertwines with increasingly more complex examples of humanity’s evil.

Evil is an absolute must-see. The pilot is just the beginning of what will almost certainly be a highly successful run, and American television and American minds will be better for it.

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