A Horror Series With 95% Tomatometer Is Coming To Netflix Before Its Final Season Next Tuesday
A psychologist, an equipment guy, and a priest walk into a bar…
Summary
- In 2019, the creators of The Good Wife hit it out of the park with this supernatural mystery.
- The final season will premiere on May 23.
- Luckily for those who don't have a Paramount+ subscription, the series will begin streaming on Netflix next Tuesday.
Writing duo Michelle and Robert King have had a long winning streak. Back in 2009, the married couple debuted their first show together, the CBS legal drama The Good Wife. Over the course of its consistently excellent 7 seasons, the show was nominated for 43 Emmy Awards and 14 Golden Globes. Rolling Stone called it 'Network TV's Last Great Drama'.
The Good Wife went on to spawn The Good Fight and Elspeth, two spin-offs also written and created by Michelle and Robert King.
But the duo wanted to stretch out beyond the confines of the courtroom, so in 2019 they hit the airwaves with something totally different: a psychological mystery series about Catholicism, faith, the supernatural, and evil.
Evil
Evil premiered on CBS, which had been home base for the King duo since The Good Wife. After the second season was filmed, the show moved to Paramount+. It was recently announced that the upcoming fourth season of Evil would be its last, but Paramount has ordered four extra episodes to wrap up the storyline.
Even better, Netflix is about to start streaming the series before the final episodes premiere.
What Is It About?
Evil follows three main characters. In the pilot episode, we're introduced to:
- Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers), a skeptical forensic psychologist who accepts a job working with an 'assessor' from the Catholic Church. She is hired to help separate explainable real-world phenomena from supernatural occurrences like possession. Although Kristen doesn't believe in the supernatural, that belief is often tested.
- David Acosta (Mike Colter ), a former journalist who is now a priest in training. While Kristen is the skeptic of the group, David is the believer. He frequently seeks divine visions by taking hallucinogens.
- Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi), an Islamist-turned-atheist. Ben is a technical whiz and the group's equipment handler, and he frequently tries to find scientific explanations for the team's discoveries.
Together the trio use their combined knowledge to investigate potentially supernatural events. The series features a new case every episode, but there is also an overarching storyline involving the evil occultist/psychologist Leland Townsend.
A Critical Darling
Although Evil didn't manage to attract a wide enough audience to keep it on CBS, it has an ardent fanbase. Likewise, critics have praised the series from the beginning. Its inaugural season holds a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, and each season has gotten better: Season 2 has 95%, while Season 3 holds an unbeatable 100%.
The critics consensus for Season 3 reads: 'The forces of good and Evil continue to tussle in this sterling third season, where one of television's best procedurals amuses and unnerves with equal aplomb.'
Giving Time to Wrap Up
It was not originally the plan for the series to end after four seasons. Luckily, Paramount+ has commissioned an additional four episodes to wrap up the series (as a sort of mini-Season 5), which will air at some point next year.
Streamers ax dozens shows every year for one reason or another, but abrupt cancellations leave fans frustrated – especially when those shows end on a cliffhanger that never gets resolved. This can also mean that new fans never discover the canceled series, as most viewers don't want to start a show that they know will end in an unsatisfying way.
It seems that Paramount+ has learned from the past, and is giving the chance for Evil to wrap up properly.
Another gift? Netflix will be streaming Evil prior to its season 4 premiere on March 4, meaning that new fans will be able to discover the show.