'Evil' Episode 4's morbid element of horror is a parent's love and need to protect their child at all times
A parent's love knows no bounds, and all of its limitless extents are rivaled only by their need to protect their kid at all costs. But tonight's episode of 'Evil' evaluates how much is too much when it comes to parents doing anything, and everything under the sun to save their child from harm.
After 'Black Mirror's parents transplanting a chip in their child's brain to censor out graphic brutality, comes this new fresh set of parents on 'Evil' who end up demonizing their son so intensely that extreme measures including the murder of a child aren't a far-fetched idea for them.
Tonight's case in point was little Eric — a nine-year-old child who exhibits clear psychopathic tendencies, like biting his older sister until she bleeds, or experimenting with milk by mixing bleach in it.
Fun kid stuff, that is! Years of psych-evaluation later, Eric's parents conclude this is a case bordering on the supernatural, and seek out the church's help, where even Kristen isn't able to pin down his psychotic disorders, if any, despite showing a clear lack of empathy.
However, it is only David that Eric connects with on some remote level. Their common love for graphic novels and comic illustrations makes it easier for David to help Eric with the suggestion of praying to God, to help him deal with whatever's going on.
Eric takes a liking to this concept and soon, he begins mowing the lawn and praying regularly. Ben, on the other hand, deduces that the general apathy and hostility in the child could be stemming from environmental factors.
This includes copper contamination from pipe-corrosion in their house, which is said to lead to psychiatric symptoms. One would think this is where the family's troubles end, but the seemingly pious kid doesn't entirety leave things to his God when it comes to his wishes being granted.
When David goes over to Eric's place to teach the kid some drawing, he finds Eric sitting by the pool, praying. There's an eerie calmness about the child, the kind that makes you anxious about what tragedy is lurking around.
And sure enough, David finds that Eric has thrown his baby sister in the pool and was praying to God to drown the child. This causes his parents to reach out for an exorcism in rampant tension, but when the team arrives at Eric's home, things are a bloody massacre — quite literally.
Amidst police authorities, Eric's mother can be seen trying to process things through tears as the little boy is nowhere to be found. There is blood on the walls which Eric's father insists isn't the boy's, and right then the ball drops: Eric's mother eerily whispers that she loves all her children.
But when one of them endangers the others, she has to be protective. For those having trouble trying to register something so morbid and humane, Eric's parents killed him out of fear and paranoia. And they are most likely going to get away with it.
We thought demonic virtual assistants and a psychopath attorney were going to be all that constitute 'Evil', but tonight's episode changed the whole ball game for the horror-meets-logic genre, in a way the 'Black Mirror' episode 'Crocodile' had.
In 'Crocodile' we had seen an adult woman murder a child in cold blood to omit all possible witnesses of her crimes, but this time, 'Evil' has taken things a whole notch higher with a parent brutally ending their child's life.
And sadly, we don't know what could be darker: a kid drowning his baby sister, or parents murdering their own child.
