Hell ran out of demons on a glorious September day in 2019. And Robert and Michelle King’s Evil snatched them all up, only to drop them in a cauldron of identity crisis. Are they real? Are they not? Are we ever really going to know? If you’re a fan, you know how little these questions have started to matter ever since the show found its central mystery in the ever-so-chaotic war between Kristen and Leland. And the Rosemary’s Baby vibes in the first episode of season 4 are an upfront declaration that a final showdown between good and evil is afoot. The antichrist is likely growing inside an oblivious surrogate.
Spoiler Alert
Are Kristen and Leland going to have a baby?
Well, what do you know? Leland’s got a demonic bun in some poor girl’s oven. In Evil season 3’s ending, the look of terror on Kristen’s face told us that RSM fertility handed her egg to the worst person possible, the sociopathic psychologist Leland Townsend. And as the first episode of season 4 drops us right in the thick of it, we see the horror becoming excruciatingly real for Kristen. Lexis slipping through his hands might’ve ruined Leland’s plan to mold her into the leader of one of those demonic families, but he’s quickly moved on to something even more sinister. He’s about to father a child that’s part him and part Kristen. The bells have rung for the coming of the antichrist. But what’s the fun in letting Leland enjoy rubbing it in Kristen’s face? Sure, he’s won this one. Does that mean Kristen wouldn’t have a laugh at the cost of being reminded of what a horror parenthood is? She may be drawing from her personal experience as a mother of four, but Leland’s bound to be terrible at the midnight feedings, the diaper changing, and having a yowling infant to look after. Kristen clears out all signs of faith and spirituality from her house in a desperate attempt to reclaim her agency. God, ghosts, and demons have taken enough from her. Being the only one bringing in the bread in a family of six doesn’t give her the option of leaving her job at the church. So a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do.
What’s The Mystery At Garrow Research Facility?
Monsignor Matthew couldn’t have asked for a better man to replace him. And even though he doesn’t quite buy into demons and exorcisms, Father Ignatius is going to be the interim head of the church until they find someone permanent. And he comes bearing a case that’s bound to intrigue Ben. Evil‘s going pretty meta with the whole “science vs. faith” shindig with this one. So apparently, the particle accelerator at Garrow Research Facility has gone ahead and opened the gateway to Hell. A clearly fake video of a group of Satan worshippers sacrificing a girl inside the underground tunnel at GRF is another nudge for Kristin, David, and Ben to check the place out. Dr. Ethan Parquet is pretty convincing when he passes off the video as a friendly prank between the physicists at Long Island and CERN. But the most immediate red flag is Emily Reinhardt claiming that the girl in the video quit her job to avoid the attention she was getting. While two little devil graffitis hardly prove any satanic activity, they’re pretty shaken up when a loud rumble from the ground above is followed by the lights going out like a row of dominos. Still not enough to call up the Vatican. But the custodian Mateo Marcus leaves a secret “they’re lying” note on David’s electric scooter.
What do they learn from Mateo?
Mateo’s story proves to be worth the trip the investigator trio makes to his house. The jittery custodian with a terrified wife makes some pretty bold claims, including the fact that the “gates of hell” are actually at B33. That immediately paints the people at GRF in a suspicious light, considering they only showed the B13 section to the investigators. The next bomb that Mateo drops on them is the story of a mysterious sinkhole that opened up during construction. And in his narrative, the girl from the satanic sacrifice video was apparently dragged into the sinkhole by a ferocious creature that lives there. Mateo’s got a pretty spooky video to back it all up, too. Kristen obviously doesn’t believe that the monster coming out of the smoke in the video is real. But regardless of that, GRF definitely seems to be hiding something from the investigators they’re seeking a clean bill of health from.
What happens when they go back to GRF?
Ben never thought that the Vatican would send someone who knew as much, if not more, about the workings of a particle accelerator. But Father La Russo seems to know what he’s talking about. While the local parishes are screaming Satan, Father La Russo has a much graver, much more tangible concern. He’s worried that the massive energy from the collision of the gold ions in the particle accelerator could cause the earth to cave into a series of quantum blackholes. Ben’s pretty adamant that it’s only possible in theory. And given that CERN’s been up and running for six years, he doesn’t see why GRF should be held back by a question of unpredictable probability. Whether they believe Mateo or not, the trio has at least got to examine B33 before handing in their report to the church. And believe it or not, Ben’s pretty dumbfounded by the surprisingly well-informed case that Father La Russo’s made. So, this time around, they split up for the investigation. While Ben and Kristen tail Dr. Parquet to the HYDRA conjunction to make sure GRF is not accidentally destroying the planet, David hops on his e-scooter to follow Emily to B33. Are we just supposed to ignore that the HYDRA conjunction, the point where the beams converge, is named after a creature in Greek mythology that’s a serpent with many heads that grow back when cut off? I’m not sure.
I don’t know if I’d call it a stroke of luck, but David is left alone right at B32 when his scooter runs out of juice, and Emily goes back to get another one for him. Knowing he could have a better look around without Emily breathing down his neck, David goes to B33 by foot. In a freakish coincidence (is it a coincidence, though?) Kristen feels something’s off at the HYDRA conjunction just as David starts to hear ghostly whispers from the walkie-talkie Emily gave him. There’s an unprecedented power surge that shoots Ben with an electromagnetic laser beam of sorts. And the radiation detection card they’re wearing goes from green to red. While that’s happening, David has a vision of a gigantic centipede-like creature crawling out of the sinkhole that was covered by a tarp. Considering how frequent his visions are and how there’s no way to tell if they’re real or not, David keeps them to himself. But the sinkhole being real proves that Mateo wasn’t lying. I’m not totally buying Dr. Parquet’s claim that they were exposed to a negligible amount of radiation. Thankfully, though, being shot in the face with the laser beam hasn’t turned Ben’s brain to mush. It’s too soon to deduce anything concrete yet, but for now, we could entertain the possibility that David’s vision was an effect of the radiation he was exposed to. And that may be the case for Ben, too. This is certainly not the first time these two are being haunted by creatures of hell, but the demon that shows up in Ben’s room might just have something to do with what happened at GRF.
Is Leland controlling Andy?
Kristen’s doing the best she can under the circ*mstances. And however much I might find Andy insufferable, his being back has certainly made life a little easier for Kristen. The kids are on a short leash with dad around. And his trick to make them take a vow of silence comes in handy when Kristen has to break the news that Grandma won’t be coming around anymore. These sorts of things are always easier when the kids can’t ask why. But Lynn doesn’t take the news of no more mass on Sundays too well and sneakily seeks Sister Andrea’s help before being sent back to her mom. Lying that she was with her boyfriend does get her out of trouble for now, but it does prompt Kristen to schedule another birds and bees talk. But Lynn’s the least of Kristen’s worries. It looks like Andy’s been hypnotized by Leland. The creepy “Feliz Navidad” playing on the other end when Leland calls triggers something in Andy and makes him a puppet for Leland’s instructions. Andy’s pulled back to Leland’s place so he and his girlfriend (fiancé?) can play “Who gets to tell this meat puppet what to do?” Sheryl wants to be welcomed back into the house. And Leland wants to make things more awkward between Kristen and David by telling Andy that his wife’s having an affair with the priest. The universe really couldn’t have put two worse people together. Andy showing up to ask him to back off doesn’t faze David a bit. But hearing it from David, Kristen flies off the handle before blurting out that she has feelings for her priest friend. That’s not going to make work awkward at all!
Is The Particle Accelerator Connected To David’s Vision?
We might be seeing a mix of insecurity and caution in David’s decision to hide what he saw at B33 from Kristin and Ben. And then there’s that classic clash of faith and empathy in him as he seeks Sister Andrea’s guidance in figuring out if the sinkhole he saw at the particle accelerator is the actual door to Hell. He’s way more concerned with the ethics of the very concept of Hell. If this God that he prays to is as loving as he’s told, why would he send the non-believers to hell? Sister Andrea’s likely come to believe in David’s ability to unsnarl himself from the traps of his troubled faith and circ*mstances. And he’s left to solve not one but two mysteries with his faith in himself and God intact. He’s got to figure out what that vision of the angel meant.
They would’ve gone back even if they weren’t invited. But GRF’s apparently got evidence that all that Hell business is just rumors spun to defame the facility. Emily and Dr. Parquet are accusing Mateo of extorting GRF with a fake video he created. And they claim that he’s ready to confess. But as David, Ben, and Kristen look at Mateo acting strangely at B33, things get a lot more complicated. Mateo seems to nervously pray before he’s seen to be in a struggle with something or someone who’s just outside of the CCTV range. He either falls or is pulled into the sinkhole as the GRF staff and the investigators run to B33. Masks fall off when things get real. And after her unwavering statement that there’s nothing spooky going on in GRF, even Emily makes the sign of the cross. Even if we believe that Mateo really was up to no good and faked that video to blackmail GRF, there’s nothing fake about his fall into the sinkhole. Radiation? Demonic creature? It’s too soon to tell. But enough is going wrong at the particle accelerator for David, Kristen, and Ben to greenlight its opening. Father La Russo has had a rather noticeable impact on Ben. Even though there are fail-safes in place to prevent catastrophic accidents at the particle accelerator, Ben’s now a skeptic of science, and he’s hesitant to declare the facility safe.
From that cheeky reveal in the ending sequence of episode one, it looks like whatever’s happening at GRF is no coincidence. One of the threads that season 3 left open was the dream or vision David had of a black angel telling him, “38 days, woe to Babylon.” He’s been wracking his brain, trying to decode what he thinks is a message. At the end of episode 1, David gets to know from Father Ignatius that GRF’s official opening is scheduled to take place in 38 days. It’s never a good sign when numbers repeat in such an ominous context. Kristen breaking the big news about her “son” to David and Ben only validates what David’s been fearing all along. The angel’s message was a warning about the very end of the world. The surrogate carrying Kristen and Leland’s demonic son is due in 38 days. The coming of the antichrist will bring about doomsday. So, it’s confirmed that Kristen’s egg has been used to create the spawn of Satan. I don’t think he’ll crawl out of that sinkhole at B33. But I’m not above keeping my mind open to something freaky happening in Evil.
