Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers from Season 4 of Evil.With therecent series finalebringingEvilto an end, as definitive an end thatEvilhas ever given (which never was much), we look back at the series as a whole, and realize that it is definable by how very undefinable it is. It isn’t a show that’s easily shoehorned into a box. It’s a “case of the week” procedural, it’s a horror series, it’s a drama, and, at times, even a comedy.That said, there have been defining episodes throughout the series that left an indelible mark, changing it in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.
If looking at which of those episodes is the most shocking, the majority would point to Season 1’s fourth episode, “Rose 390,” where the show dares to point to the parents of an evil child, who threw his own baby sister in the pool to drown her, as having killed him, claiming he’s “missing” (the attempted infanticide would land atnumber three of Entertainment Weekly’s listof the 30 most shocking TV moments of 2019). That episode proved thatEvilwasn’t afraid to take risks, that taboo subjects were never off the table, and dark moments can get even darker.
Others might point to “Book 27,” the Season 1 finale, that sees Kristen (Katja Herbers) brutally murder Orson Leroux (Darren Pettie), the mass murderer whose conviction is overturned with the help of Leland (Michael Emerson), before he can harm herself or her daughters. That episode made it evident that even the good guys were capable of incredibly bad things, that the protagonists were not only up against evil forces against them, but the evil within themselves.But there’s another episode that changed the show going forward — and looking back — in an understated, and decidedly shocking, way, and that episode is the sixth in Season 3: “The Demon of Algorithms,” the episode where we see that Kristen’s husband Andy (Patrick Brammall) is being held hostage by Leland… and Sheryl (Christine Lahti).
Sheryl’s Complicated Journey Begins in Season 1 of ‘Evil’
Christine Lahti’s Sheryl is an enigma in a show that is chock-full of them, and to understand why “The Demon of Algorithms” is the series' most shocking, one has to understand her journey. Sheryl is Kristen Bouchard’s mother, and the grandmother ofKristen’s four daughters. When we meet Sheryl, our first impressions suggest that, despite perhaps being a little flighty, she is supportive of Kristen. What is also made evident is thatshe is more keen on being the “fun grandma” as opposed to a responsible one, gifting the girls an inappropriate VR game without supervision (the aforementioned “Rose 390”), and in the following episode, not noticing that the girls have walked out of the house with their friends to follow a masked girl to the cemetery.
Sheryl is also shown to be selfish to a fault. She meets Leland at a restaurant, who plays on her desire to find love and invites him to Kristen’s for dinner. Needless to say, Kristen is less than impressed that Leland is in her home and playing with her daughters, and after forcing him to leave (a great Kristen moment) tries to convince (“demands” may be more appropriate) Sheryl to stay away from Leland. A truly supportive mother would, at the very least, try and respect her daughter’s wishes, or even petition for a reasonable conversation about the situation, butSheryl defiantly meets up again with Leland on the down-low, and they deepen their relationship by engaging in sex.
Here’s where things start to get murky when it comes to Sheryl.She goes to new lows, giving Lexis (Maddy Crocco) advice on how to deal with a bully by telling her to hit the bully with a rock, and then instructs her to lie about it when Kristen finds out. It’s part of Leland’s instructions for Sheryl to influence Lexis, we believe, but it could easily be that her stellar grandparenting just happens to include giving terrible, terrible advice. If it’s the latter, then it would explain why Sheryl makes the stunningly bad decision to accept Leland’s marriage proposal. Oh, that’s not the stunningly bad part.Thatis reserved for asking Kristen — the same Kristen that flat-out forbade her from even seeing Leland again — for her blessing, leading to Kristen forbidding Sheryl from seeing the family again.
Sheryl Goes Deeper Still in Season 2 of ‘Evil’
In Season 2, Sheryl goes from bad mother and grandmother (aka “Rad G”) to… bad? It looks to be heading that way, asSheryl sinks even deeper into the grasp of evil inEvil.She’s already on the wrong side of Kristen, but after Leland breaks off their engagement, she deceptively visits Kristen’s therapist under a fake name… and soon after takes Leland back. She begins making sacrifices to Eddie the doll, a creepy porcelain-headed doll in the vein of Annabelle. After being paralyzed and injected with an unknown substance, whichLahti saysthe Kings refer to as a youth serum, she is rejuvenated, and empowered to do the forbidden.
That includes drilling a hole in a man’s head (but not killing him, asLahti herself believes), staging Satanic rituals with Eddie dolls, and performing sinful acts at the behest of Leland’s cohort Edward (Tim Matheson) which earn her a place in a secret society that represents the 60 demonic houses on Earth. That place is formalized by an initiation ritual and the acceptance of a sigil: a shrunken head in a jar.Season 2 wraps upwith Sheryl attending a gathering of the 60 demonic masterswith Leland, looking on as the newest member of the group eats the flesh of a deceased member.
“The Demon of Algorithms” Changes Everything for Sheryl on ‘Evil’
Up to now, even though Sheryl has done some pretty questionable things, and some decidedly less than wholesome ones at that, you never really got the impression that she was so far gone that she would put those she loves in peril. Defiantly seeing someone behind one’s back, even someone as loathsome as Leland, isn’t, in her mind, perilous, just rebellious. Besides, Lahti has expressed thatSheryl would do anything for her family, and, in a strange way, is doing all these things to protect them.
But then comes “The Demon of Algorithms,“andthe shock of seeing that Andy is being held captive by LelandandSherylchanges the series irreversibly. We know that Andy and Sheryl have a contentious relationship, but that Sheryl would go to such a degree, regardless of her rationale, is a step too far and a cause to question what we know of her. She hasn’t done anything til then that is criminal in nature. Weird, occultist, and evil? Sure, but notthis. This would shatter Kristen if she found out. Shatter her own grandchildren’s lives. See her imprisoned for a lengthy period of time, or, even if she beats charges, as Leland manages with the help of his demonic cronies in the series finale, she’s sentenced to something far harsher by those she cherishes the most: outright exclusion.
At that point in the series, it forced us to look back at her previous actions in a new light, with the illusion that she is in greater control of the situation than how it appears being questioned. Does she not care about how Leland is tearing her daughter apart? Is she actively working with Leland to push Lexis toward her demonic destiny? Is she fully aware of that being the end goal for her granddaughter? Probably, and it’s not something we would have even considered before. AsEvilhas done all along, it plays with expectations, and the expectation that a matronly figure would never intentionally bring evil into the lives of her family is one of the most impactful sacrifices in the series.
The Final Season of ‘Evil’ Doesn’t Change “The Demon of Algorithms” Shock Value
But now thatEvilhas wrapped, does it change the perception of “The Demon of Algorithms” as being the series' most shocking episode? The Season 4 episode that sees the end of Sheryl, “How to Survive a Storm,” isfar and away the series' most devastating, but when you play with matches, you’re going to get burned, as they say, so although the episode is deeply tragic, it isn’t necessarily shocking. Prior events make it clear that Sheryl fully intends to make Leland pay for what he has done to Kristen and her granddaughters.What isn’t clear is whether it was her plan all along or if Leland had simply gone too far by putting Laura’s (Dalya Knapp) life in danger.
It does change how we look at “The Demon of Algorithms” slightly. If one believes the former, then “The Demon of Algorithms” is where Sheryl went all in on her commitment to keep an eye on Leland from the inside, past the point of no return. If it’s the latter, the episode is still where Sheryl goes all in, not for any altruistic reasons, but because she’s been lured there.Either way, “The Demon of Algorithms” retains its power to shock, with Sheryl having willingly severed any hope of restoring a normal relationship with her own family ever again.
“The Demon of Algorithms” Alters How We See ‘Evil’ Season 4
The finale of Season 3, with Sheryl having the complete absence of any guilt at being discovered by Kristen to be working with Leland, and being a willing participant in the baby shower of the Antichrist, suggests that Sheryl had indeed been lured, and that her commitment to “the dark side” wasn’t a conscious decision.And if that is the case, then “The Demon of Algorithms” makesSeason 4 ofEvilthat much more impactful as a result. Sheryl’s “come to Jesus” moment almost literally becomes just that, with Leland’s actions snapping Sheryl out of darkness and, if not back into the light, at least back into the Sheryl that reclaims her edge, and herself.
It’s one thing to be a double agent, but coming back from the depths she had sunk is another. It turns the middle-third of the season into the one true redemptive arc in the series itself. Every other character has moments where they are tempted by one side or the other, but only Sheryl goes from being firmly planted in one camp into an avenging angel in the other.Her actions speak to the series' theme of nature versus nurtureand, ultimately, bring hope back to the overarching narrative, giving the side of “good” its first major retaliatory strike and its first major victory. In a way, “The Demon of Algorithms” becomes not only the series most shocking episode but also its most hopeful, something only a show likeEvilcould pull off. Damn. Miss you already,Evil.
Evilis available to stream in the U.S. on Paramount+
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“Evil,” the 2019 TV series from creators Robert and Michelle King, is a gripping exploration of the intersection between science and the supernatural. The series stars Katja Herbers as Dr. Kristen Bouchard, a forensic psychologist drawn into a world of dark mysteries and unexplained phenomena. Alongside priest-in-training David Acosta (Mike Colter) and tech expert Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi), Kristen is tasked with investigating a series of bizarre cases for the Catholic Church, including demonic possessions, hauntings, and miracles.
