Well, that’s a whole bag of tricks, isn’t it?
Evil Season 3 Episode 8 found David going all-in on his work with The Entity, while Ben investigated demonic toys, and Kristen battled her fear over Lexis, RSM Fertility, and her missing egg.
That doesn’t account for their trusted cohort, Kurt’s exploration of evil, which is going to come back to bite everyone in the ass.
Poor Kristen.
She had just gotten her life back on track after losing the guilt of killing LaRoux, and then the RSM Fertility Clinic storyline reared its ugly head again, revealing more than Lexis could be in danger.
But let’s start with Lexis because things are heating up in that area.
After Kristen met with Victor in Evil Season 3 Episode 7 and learned from him that Lexis is part of an agenda connected to the same cases she, David, and Ben have sworn to stop, Kristen is suffering nightmares again.
When the demon first started coming to her, Kristen was aggravated. She felt like her mind was playing tricks and wanted them to stop.
But now that he’s back, with Lexis in tow, she should look at them as a warning, one she should heed.
Evil’s demons are always comical, which makes it hard to be too fearful of what’s to come. Part of me wishes that at least one of them was taken more seriously so we could figure out if they’re to be feared or just seen as a nuisance.
They boop, dance (made me laugh out loud), run on treadmills, and they’re partners in crime with Leland Town, the ultimate funny guy with a demonic streak.
If Kristen sees Lexis and the demon (doesn’t he have a name like Chuck or something?) dancing at the end of her bed, it takes away from the potential reality of the situation she’s facing. Even if she can talk herself into not believing evil exists and puts the blame solely on humans’ hands, it could leave her at a disadvantage.
And Kristen must not take it too seriously if she allows Sheryl to retain contact with the kids despite her mom’s relationship with Leland and the various other issues, such as Sheryl’s bottled head and doll effigy.
Lexis typically seems unphased by what’s going on around her in that capacity. But please, oh please, let her share with Kristen that Sheryl took her to see grandma’s boss and then asked how many eyes he had.
I’m also not so sure that Lexis didn’t see the manager as Sheryl sees him. She was a little too bright in that room. It was unusual. And we’ve seen her playing with a tail during Evil Season 2, so she’s probably getting good at hiding her reaction to such oddities.
The best scenario would be if Lexis was playing along with grandma and not letting on what she actually saw so that she could report back to Kristen. Hopefully, Kristen’s recent fears and rules of behavior have sunk in, and Lexis knows something is amiss.
Lexis had no problem sussing out Leland’s presence in Bumblebee Valley, so her awareness of these things is advancing well beyond her age.
What the encounter did, though, was show that Sheryl might not be all in after all.
Sure, she’s on board with abducting and terrorizing and probably juicing her daughter’s husband, but she does love the girls, and she was definitely relieved when Lexis claimed not to have seen her manager as a five-eyed demon.
What did strike me in that scene, though, was that we never saw the manager through Lexis’s perspective. It was done purposefully, I think, to leave us in the dark. It was a good choice.
But Sheryl’s evident relief with the thought Lexis didn’t see the hairy beast showed a tiny crack in Sheryl’s veneer.
At this time, I’m beginning to suspect that Leland’s mere presence acts as some kind of hypnosis, and it doesn’t wear off unless he’s far from his subject for long periods.
Nothing else accounts for Leland’s ability to flit in and out of otherwise rational people’s lives without them calling him on it. It would also account for why Leland kept an office at the Church.
Monsignor was Leland’s closest ally; suddenly, he’s not even an afterthought. It has to be proximity.
That reminds me of the kickass scene when Kristen served Leland with the restraining order and the fact there is more of Kristen in this particular story.
Were Kristen’s intruder and the darling demon baby reality, or was it another dream?
There are times that I cannot tell the difference, and that story didn’t end with Kristen waking up in bed, leaving it up to us to determine what we saw.
Of course, it makes more sense that the baby reflected Kristen’s inquiry into her lost RSM Fertility egg. But the longer we linger on the clinic, the more likely it seems that someone is doing something to the eggs there.
The supposed plans for Lexis fired up Kristen again, hoping that she could find her missing egg and destroy it.
Given everything that’s been going on, of course, she would begin to imagine the unimaginable. Someone has told her that her egg is missing and added to it that it had been donated for medical research.
If only medical research was how we imagined it in the traditional sense. Instead, you can donate your body for parts and wind up as a medical school cadaver, or your frozen egg can be donated to another clinic for implantation.
That floored me, so I can’t imagine what it did to Kristen to learn her egg was implanted elsewhere.
Kristen is a good mother, and she cherishes motherhood. That’s why discovering a demon baby in her kitchen led to the logical conclusion of caring for it.
That little monstrosity, had it been real, didn’t ask for what happened to it. To treat it poorly because of how it was conceived is inconceivable to Kristen.
And dang it, the little thing was so grotesque to be cute, in its own way. There wasn’t a growl coming from its lips but a baby’s cry. Kristen would never allow one of her children to suffer, no matter how it came into this earth.
And it seems there was something to her dreams. When she met Valerie and Logan, the parents to her egg, Kristen felt for their plight, and she and Valerie connected.
But Kristen couldn’t shake what Logan said about his baby growling, either. He was frightened. Was it new father jitters mixed with his concern over what he’d heard about RSM Fertility? We’ll probably never know.
Logan seemed off his rocker when Kristen found him digging up ‘poisonous’ plants in the backyard. He proved to be far more than nervous when Kristen found him, with the same hand rake in his hand, covered in blood after freeing Valerie from the baby.
The blood was an indicator of the atrocity he committed, but Kristen’s face said far more about it. Katja Herbers carried a good portion of this episode on her shoulders. From connecting with Valerie to talking with David and making the gruesome discovery, she hit every note of the pain these issues were causing Kristen.
Thank goodness she and David have come to an understanding again because it was tearing them both apart to lose their intense friendship.
David: This is all a game to you, isn’t it?
Victor: A very serious game, and one we need to play to protect the holy.
At first, Kristen had difficulty accepting that David had lied to her. I found that interesting, given how long she lied to David about what she’d done to LaRoux. Total honesty isn’t easy. I’m not even sure it’s possible. But the kind of lies David was telling were obviously connected to his job.
And David has been going through some things himself.
Called to serve the Vatican is an incredible request for any priest, but David is newly ordained. That makes it easier for him to say yes and more difficult to navigate within his existence.
David has developed close relationships with Kristen and Ben, and while they know taking vows would alter it somewhat, going radio silent so often was almost whiplash.
The same is true for David, though. He was used to his autonomy, and now that’s gone, he’s left playing silly games with Victor LaConte.
David: This is all a game to you, isn’t it?
Victor: A very serious game, and one we need to play to protect the holy.
But for the first time, David did more than play along. He took control.
The haunted toys were a fun distraction and gave Ben something to do, but I don’t even remember the conclusion to the story. How did the thumb get into the magic eight ball? How were the stuffies changing expressions after being purchased? Did they ever reveal that, or was it so quick that while writing my recap, I missed it?
Nonetheless, through that case, David was left counting 12th words after honkytonk and saying silly things into answering machines.
It was the first time that David got a double whammy. The case was closed to Victor, but David heard another honkytonk. I laughed out loud when David tried to make his case: People just don’t say honkytonk. They just don’t! Haha. And he was right.
Taking the initiative to move on, his second honkytonk word saved Grace Ling’s life.
It also opened up a broader story about the Church and the Vatican and what they do that I hope will be further explored in Evil Season 4. Everything happening in that room was intriguing.
And I’d love for someone to explain why the games to find and deliver information. Straight talk is frowned upon, which has left David in the dark. Now that he’s cracked a case, maybe we’ll get to learn more about it.
The more knowledge, the better, especially as Leland’s plans to carry out whatever he’s planning ramp up.
That hypnosis theory stands when it comes to Kurt. The good doctor is in way over his head. He latches onto every word Leland utters with a deference that’s frightening.
How can he play to the Alouette demon, fingers flying across the keyboard with unnatural speed, and not question what the hell is happening to him?
Part of it may be that every time he begins to question it, Leland steps into the room again, and the hypnosis begins anew. It was actually mind-blowing watching how easily Kurt was swayed into possession.
Kurt wasn’t even sure that he believed in exorcism, but he put his life in Leland’s hands with the idea that he’d invite a demon in to learn about the experience and then have it exorcised. Like, what in the hell is happening here??
That horrifying reality doesn’t even account for how Leland will use Kurt’s compliance in his fight against Kristen and desire to set Lexis at the top of a satanic family dynasty.
Kristen is being manipulated from all sides. Her mother and now her former therapist will use their relationships to swing things in Leland’s direction. Kristen treading water, Leland and his cohorts pulling on her under while David, Ben, and hopefully Victor and friends pull her free.
I have to believe that Kristen has more luck with the positive forces aiding her than the evil trying to pull her under. She’s never needed the alliances she’s made more than she does now.
David: Kristen, I don’t want to disappoint you or myself, but I do believe in something that goes beyond both of us. I know you don’t believe in God, but I do, and that requires an action that is beyond what we have. I don’t know how else to say it, but I care for you more than anyone I know. But when God demands something of me, I have to obey.
Kristen: I wish I understood.
David: I know. It’s OK. As long as you know how much you matter to me.
Kristen: David, I love you. I hate saying that because it sounds like I mean something that I don’t, but I love you. I love you as a friend. I love you as somebody I respect, somebody who… Look, I should probably stop talking.
Kristen and David’s final discussion about their relationship should be soothing to them both. David is pulled in two directions, but they don’t have to conflict. That may become clearer as Victor’s knowledge of the satanic houses works to Kristen’s advantage. He’s trying to save Lexis, and Kristen will have to work with them to do it.
OK, Evil fanatics! Tell me what you thought about “The Demon of Parenthood”!
Every hour reveals heaps of material to discover.
How did you read Kristen’s demon baby encounter? Why is Kurt allowing himself to fall into darkness? Will David’s new authority within the Entity prove fruitful?
Please drop below and share your thoughts on those questions and more!
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.
