Evil - The Demon of Death and The Demon of Memes - Reviews

3.01- “The Demon of Death”
Written by: Robert King and Michelle King
Directed  by: Robert King
Reviewed by: KathM

The theme in this episode is…love? Hate? Desire? Death? It’s hard to say, but one thing’s for sure, Evil is back!

Let’s start with desire. In last season’s episode, Kristen and David kissed. And kissed. And kissed. I found it strangely beautiful, given how long they’ve had these very palpable feelings for one another. But before anything more can happen Kristen grabs her clothes and runs out of the room, only to return moments later to finish the job! Such passion, such joy! If only Kristen had actually been there, because apparently who/whatever came into that room after Kristen left was not who David thought it was. But even a forked tongue did little to deter him.

Andy is back! I’m not sure how long he’ll last, but he’s received an offer on the climbing business and plans to find a job in NYC with Kristen and the kids. Oh, and he tells Sheryl that he wants her out. Pack up your creepy familiars and hit the road, Gramma! Time to go. Sheryl laughs at him and wishes him good luck getting her out, and I don’t think Andy had any idea what he’s up against. I just hope if she kills him violently it isn’t in front of the children.

Kristen has a serious talk with Lexis about Leland, and when she figures out that Mr. Evil is trying to lure Lexis back to him by impersonating a possible friend online, she catches on quickly and tries to lead him around herself. When her sisters join in to taunt Lexis’s stalker, the fun begins. When you hear the constant chatter of the Brossard girls as they follow a random adult around their home, it’s grating. But when the four of them attack Leland online, where he’s trying to lure Lexis back into his web, it is glorious. Their ability to multitask is a thing to behold.

We have a lot of action in this episode: Andy returns, Kristen gets an (ultimately useless) restraining order for the girls against Leland, and the possible weight of the soul is discovered. I didn’t see the purpose of this part of this episode, actually, I found it dull despite the delightful presence of Wallace Shawn. Even when he comes back to life. I want to care about this part of the episode, but I just can’t. I’m more interested in waiting for the real show to begin.

3.02- “The Demon of Memes”
Written by: Robert King and Michelle King and Davita Scarlett
Directed  by: John Dahl
Reviewed by: KathM

You know when you work really hard to get a job and then it doesn’t live up to your expectations? That looks a lot like Father David Accosta, who seems to have outgrown the monotony of daily priesthood life after only about a week. This should not surprise anyone; they should have created a second exorcist job for him because David wants to be in on the action. Instead, the Diocese may lose David completely to Victor “friend of the Vatican” LaConte. At first, we’re all interested because last season Victor had some RSM Fertility info on him.

Unfortunately, that isn’t why he’s looming in David’s room. Instead, he wants to see if David’s interested in joining the Vatican Secret Service/The Entity. David’s interest is piqued. There is,ofcourse, a list of things he can’t do, like tell anyone (like the Monsegioner, Ben, Kristen) what he’s doing, and he has to follow orders without question. Which should not be a problem because that is what he signed up for when he joined the priesthood. He has some trouble following The Entity’s rules, but in the end, it seems that in this case, the payoff for this job is worth it. I’m interested in seeing where this does.

Speaking of the payoff being worth it, a potential buyer appears out of nowhere and offers $800,000 for the Bouchard’s climbing business, which is quite a bit more than the $85,000 Andy had originally agreed on with his partner. Whoever could the buyer be? Edward, of course. Leland gives Sheryl a job as an Internet troll and, as long as Sheryl leads people across the ‘net to sorrow and hatred and doubt, Edward/Eddie will help her stay close to her grandchildren, which means Andy won’t be able to get her to move out. Best to get Andy out of the way, then. Oh, and if Andy takes Eddie on a personal 3-month trip to Nepal, he’ll throw in a personal bonus of $150,000, which will pay quite a bit of the bills and add an additional bed and bathroom. Andy wants to stay at home; Kristen wants him to stay home. But, as Sheryl tells Eddie and Leland, Kristin is the pragmatic one, and she'll insist Andy lead the trip because financially it’s a huge boon to the family finances. Extra bedrooms and a new bathroom won’t build itself, you know. Kristen stupidly asks Andy not to die, which even had my cat looking up at the screen doubtfully.

Sheryl's new job has me worried that she's the cause of Visiting Jack, the villian of the week. He's a Slender Manesque figure who has kids possibly killing themselves and and lots of other kids checking a web site and following instructions to complete the tasks before they die. One person impacted is Ren, Lynn's possible boyfriend. He's been stuck in his room for days, trying to survive the tasks Jack has set forth. Lynn, at the behest of her sisters, has been trying some of the tasks (like trying one of Kristen's bottomless supply of little margaritas). Kristen notices that one item on the list is, "have sex with a virgin", something Lynn vehemently denies doing. Come to find out that Wandering Jack was developed by two guys who are squatting and don't want to be found out, although I think there are easier ways to accmplishing this than terrfying teenagers.

Points to Ponder

Is anyone else interested in watching Kristen doing any kind of climbing? Ever since the beginning of the series, when she was presented as a climber, I’ve been waiting for her to do something climbing-related.

Why aren’t Andy and Ben buds, or at least acquainted? You'd think Andy would be intersted in meeting one of his wife's workmates since they spend so much time together. He'd have help fixing the toilet, too.

Orson LeRoux: you just can’t escape him. If we’re not trying to deal with Kristen’s latent feelings about his murder, we’re sitting down to have a chat with Widow LeRoux, who still lives in the murder house and cheerfully informs Ben and Kristen that she has a new, sweet man in her life. Who may be called Edward or possibly Leland. Can't wait to see her again and find out.