Review: Evil CBS S01E03 ‘3 Stars’

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Warning: Post contains spoilers

CBS psychological-horror series “Evil” ushers in a superb entry with season 1 episode 3 “3 Stars.” Patti Hitchens (Dascha Polanco of “Orange is the New Black” acclaim) believes that her boss, renowned Broadway producer Byron Duke (John Glover) is possessed. Since Patti is a loyal parishioner, Monsignor Matthew Korecki (Boris McGiver) tasks priest-in-training and Catholic Church assessor David Acosta (Mike Colter) to investigate. David, along with his medical advisor, forensic psychologist Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers), and tech advisor Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) accept their mission.
As “Evil” episode “3 Stars” opens, Acosta reviews the six different types of possession. Patti explains that after losing out on a Tony Award, Duke began changing. Byron became increasingly irritable, began sweating blood, and strangely the room instantly became colder when Duke walked in. Monsignor Korecki instructs the team to assess the situation.

Although Byron Duke agrees to meet with David, Kristen, and Ben it’s clear he’s accommodating them against his wishes.  At first, Occam’s razor appears correct. Kristen cites narcissistic personality disorder, David adds anger management, and Ben dismisses the sweating blood as infected hair plugs. Still, a strange video shows Duke seemingly communicating with an invisible demon.

Meanwhile, the nefarious Dr. Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson), having replaced Kristen at the D.A.’s office, sets his plan of reversing her cases into motion. First up, Townsend recommends trying Fiona Plemmons’s (De’Adre Aziza) 15-year-old son Adam as an adult. “They reversed you,” Fiona sobs into the phone.

At the end of “Evil” episode “177 Minutes,” David brewed up a cup of shroom tea. While tripping, he appears to have a vision of a glowing orb comprised of figures. Visiting Father Amara (Clark Johnson, who I loved in “Alpha House”), David discusses his vision. “I had another vision,” Acosta offers. “I’ve been hearing about The 60. In assessments. It’s some kind of coordination. Evil becoming organized. And I thought I saw something in my vision.” Father Amara encourages, “Write it down. Get a notebook, and write down everything you can remember…symbols matter.” David rips the cellophane off of a sketchpad and begins recreating images from his vision. There’s a woman’s figure, plus some strange archway embossed with Roman numerals.

Observations:

CBS series “Evil” S01E02 “3 Stars” cleverly subverts the previous dynamic. Whereas typically David plays the believer, with Kristen and Ben the resident skeptics, all three proceed into the assessment dismissively. However, “3 Stars” appears to present the first instance of actual possession, or at the very least confirmed supernatural phenomenon. Ben concludes that Duke’s smart thermostat and Amazon Alexa-type smart virtual assistant have been hacked. This satisfactorily explains the temperature change as well as why Duke speaks to an invisible entity. Yet the hacker, IT specialist Sebastian Lewin (Noah Robbins) admits to the hack but reveals he stopped days earlier. Moreover, Ben’s sister Karima Shakir (Sohina Sidhu) attempts to trace the hack, but ends up speaking to a voice about a baby. It’s unclear what this means specifically, though I suspect we’ll learn eventually. I really appreciate her inclusion, as Karima is a neat character, and it’s juicy fleshing out Ben’s back story.

David makes a major breakthrough in his investigation of The 60. His drawing, as Kristen astutely points out, is Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi.  Using a series of dots from the painting, as well as converting the Roman numerals from his vision into longitude and latitude, David sets points on New York, Washington DC, and Chicago. Perhaps it’s indicative of a coordinated attack by The 60 to take over those cities.

Kristen attempts to record Leland Townsend. Unfortunately, the recording doesn’t quite work, presumably because Townsend blocks her device with a jammer. When Ben offers to create a deepfake, Kristen accepts. This offers a bit of a twist. While Kristen is a protagonist, contracting Ben to create a deepfake proves that she’ll play dirty if need be.

The sexual tension between Acosta and Bouchard comes to a head. In a scene riddled with double talk, Kristen inquires about David’s ambitions of becoming a priest. More specifically, she hints at the vow of celibacy David has committed to.

“Evil” on CBS delivers a juicy mix of psychological, and horror-inspired elements, supernatural phenomenon, and dark comedy. A cinematic vibe pervades. Cinematography is superb. In a highlight scene, Patti talks on the phone while in the background Duke walks out onto a balcony and jumps, plummeting to his death. The score ripples with strings, timpani, and even emulates Jerry Goldsmith’s epic “The Omen” soundtrack in one spot. Technically masterful, and bolstered on a core cast of well-crafted characters, “3 Stars” may be the best “Evil” episode to date.