The end is nigh for Evil. As the Paramount+ show returns for its fourth and final season, it’s as mystifying and magnetic as it has been since its 2019 debut. It is a relief to say its two years in limbo from our streaming devices hasn’t eroded its grime as an X-Files-meets-Exorcist procedural and a saw-tooth satire of modern living. But while Evil is back in business, it’s also business as usual. After five years, Evil still revels in the ambiguous spaces where neither science nor faith offer satisfying answers to haunting questions. It was sinful fun in the beginning when pragmatic psychologist and mother of four Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) stared into the yellow eyes of a wisecracking night terror and fought back with her intellectual prowess. (Where is George these days, anyway?) But now as the patina of time on Evil is hard to ignore – Kristen’s gaggle of daughters look overgrown in their school uniforms – the show’s deployment of its signature tactics are less effective. Worse, it’s less provoking.
