Evil: How to Slaughter a Pig

June 8, 2024 3:32 PM - Season 4, Episode 3

A priest, a skeptic, and a psychiatrist (who is also a skeptic) walk into an utterly bonkers TV show. And this TV show asks: can pork products can cause possession?

* I cannot imagine how much fun it was for David to send his co-workers a gif of a dancing horned pig with the words: NEW ASSIGNMENT
Possessed pork

Honestly, #lifegoals

*I remain astonished at the very many organizations that have an in with the Catholic Church to get their shit inspected for evil

*We all thought the drone footage of the son was freaky, right? But as Shepherd said, "Wouldn't let your neighbour know there was some weird shit happening on his farm, even if you didn't get along?"

* I don't care, I am calling them the Dixie Chicks of Exorcism

* David's latent powers get a workout this week but it also made him an asshole (fuggin dictators)

* In fact, I LOVE Angry David

*Oh shit, look at you, Evil! Bringing back a plot point/character from Season 1! Nurse Bloch (har har) is taking care of Leslie, the young woman carrying the Antichrist...well until Leslie puts two and two together that maybe Leland is a dick?

*...but then after their convo, do we feel Leslie is on the up and up and genuinely wanting Kristen's help? Or did Leland's "reassurance" that they were going to feed the baby the flesh of the biological mother (Kristen) and not the surrogate (Leslie) sway her?

* Kristen yelling at the hospital about labour was fun. This lady has four kids. This is practically habit by now.

* I dunno, I want Sheryl to do something of interest at this point

* No, Doctor Boggs, I do not believe that you are done with your "automatic writing"

* Also, jesus christ, Ben that is A LOT of antipsychotic medication. Listen, the Djinn is real and you don't like it and I don't like it but here we are

*Finally, we stop with Gilmore Girls style of non-communication and our intrepid trio finally come clean: the Djinn for Ben, the Entity's shenanigans for David, and Kristen trying her damnedest to remain a skeptic

*"We are three fucked-up people." Amen, Ben. Amen. But yes, a black guy, a brown guy, and a white woman probably should not hug in what I assume is upstate NY

*Once again, Ben--my fave Evil character--puts himself Through It by going out into a field in the middle of the night to get accosted by a....DEMON PIG

*In the fine tradition of Evil episodes, what the fuck happened to the DEMON PIG? Shouldn't we be concerned about said DEMON PIG? We will never hear about DEMON PIG again just like we never heard about the lady who turned into a pillar of salt in S3

*Also the farm is near the demonic particle accelerator so I guess that's a plot point we're gonna keep

*DEMON PIG

posted by Kitteh (5 comments total)

I thought maybe the djinn took care of the demon pig? Maybe the djinn has some ability or even obligation to protect Ben.

In terms of Leslie, I think Leland is playing her to get Kristen involved. Either the conversation with the nurse was staged or he figured out how to use it to manipulate her when he realized she might have heard them. I mean all of that persuasion just to turn Kristen into baby food? That seems like a waste. But using using Leslie to get Kristen to bond with the baby and become his mother? Corrupting her to the point she willing raises the antichrist? Seems a lot more likely to me.

In terms of the "in with the catholic church" I pondered Wallace Shawn's character setting up a reddit sub for demonic activity in the area and just scrolling through it over his morning coffee chuckling over what whackadoodle assignment to send them on next.

Sheryl continues to infuriate me. She works with literal fucking demons, she's helping someone give birth to the antichrist, and she thinks that conversation was just a delusion? She doesn't even consider it's true? Like if she was just another civilian with no demonic experience, I'd understand. But she KNOWS damn well that this is possible.

While it's within the realm of possibility that Sheryl has some other plan going on that will ultimately help save the day, I'm reaaaaaaaallly dubious about that. She seems to consistently over estimate her abilities and then have to scramble not to fuck up and there's been no evidence of her having any ability to really form and execute a plan of that magnitude.

Yeah I still don't like Sheryl.
posted by miss-lapin at 5:39 PM on June 8 [2 favorites]

Sheryl continues to infuriate me. She works with literal fucking demons, she's helping someone give birth to the antichrist, and she thinks that conversation was just a delusion? She doesn't even consider it's true? Like if she was just another civilian with no demonic experience, I'd understand. But she KNOWS damn well that this is possible.

Glad I'm not the only one who was like, "Oh come the fuck on, Sheryl! Are you being serious right now??"

Shepherd and I are taking bets for her character arc at the end: he says unearned redemption and I say she will sacrifice herself for Kristen and the girls (which I guess is redemption of another flavour).

I love your take on Father Ignatius, miss-lapin. This made me chortle because I just love the idea of r/demonicpossessions.
posted by Kitteh at 8:33 AM on June 9 [1 favorite]

I understand why dramatically it made sense to have Ben (yet again, despite the Dead Kid Basement, the Blood Cult, the Djinn Possession) solo-boloing into the field.

But I think the show really missed an opportunity by not giving him a companion, culminating in Kristen, shithoused on canned margaritas, fighting a demon pig in a field with a her ice axe.
posted by Shepherd at 2:20 PM on June 10 [3 favorites]

But I think the show really missed an opportunity by not giving him a companion, culminating in Kristen, shithoused on canned margaritas, fighting a demon pig in a field with a her ice axe.

Ohhhhhhh that would have been GLORIOUS.
posted by miss-lapin at 3:40 PM on June 10 [1 favorite]

I appreciated the "don't skip or the skipping ghost will visit you tonight at 3:13 am" warning in the credits. I'm also glad they are explicitly pivoting back from psychic powers to religious visions for David's situation. And I thought Kristen's look of confusion right after the kid was born was a great bit of acting, I thought it was very affecting without trying to go big with it at all.
posted by whir at 9:35 PM on June 10 [2 favorites]