'Evil' Season 1: CBS show goes behind science and religion in search of demons and more in age of social media
CBS’ 'Evil' is about to revolutionize the paranormal genre by pitting the question of terrorist activities being a supernatural phenomenon in the wake of the social media boom. 'Evil' focuses on real-life people communicating through the internet to wage attacks against hundreds of innocents all the time - a thing common in recent mass shootings like the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, and the El-Paso Walmart shooting in the United States. That said, 'Evil' also pits two very staunch religious believers against each other as its protagonists, to evaluate the line separating science and religion and how the two come into play in the concept of what constitutes evil.
According to the official synopsis of the show, "Evil is a psychological mystery that examines the origins of evil along the dividing line between science and religion. The series focuses on a skeptical female psychologist who joins a priest-in-training and a carpenter as they investigate the Church’s backlog of unexplained mysteries, including supposed miracles, demonic possessions, and hauntings. Their job is to assess if there is a logical explanation or if something truly supernatural is at work."
We see 'Westworld' actress Katja Herbers playing the role of Dr. Kristen Bouchard, a psychologist and a single mother to four girls, with the husband/father absent from any participation whatsoever. Kristen also helps the prosecution in certain cases, but at her core, she is a lapsed Catholic - a stark contrast from her partner in the new mission, Mike Colter's David Acosta. David is a priest in training, a seminarian of sorts, who spends more time outside classrooms and helping Kristen in her investigation, with his past as a foreign correspondent coming in handy in certain circumstances.
Kristin challenges the idea of evil by demanding whether people claiming to be 'possessed by demons' are 'referring to demons metaphorically, or clinically.' Meanwhile, David has been appointed by the Church itself to give an explanation to these demonic 'possessions', which he claims looks a lot like the 'insanity' that Kristin specializes in. But even though David is accompanied by the contractor played by Aasif Mandvi, the chemistry to watch out here would be the clash between his beliefs and Kristen's staunch disbelief as the two go about investigating the fine line separating 'possessions' from 'insanity'.
This challenging repartee also bears an uncanny resemblance with the writers/executive producers of the show: Michelle King, a self-proclaimed 'agnostic Jew', and her self-proclaimed 'devout Catholic' husband, Robert King. Watch out for the full horror unleash itself when 'Evil' arrives this month end on September 26, only on CBS.