EVIL Stirrings

Article first published as TV Review: EVIL on Seat42F.

CBS has an EVIL new drama, which premiered last week. It’s about a team of investigators who try to determine if miracles and possessions are real. They are skeptics, not believers (for the most part), and the series is about them as people as much as it is about their cases, a departure from the network’s typical procedural formula (though there’s a bit of that in there, too). Will they prove a god and/or Satan exist? Or will their job be a series of debunks?

EVIL was created by Michelle King and Robert King, the minds behind The Good Wife and its spin-off, The Good Fight. Both of those shows, while legal in nature with specific trials and negotiations dealt with, were far from the basic procedural, and provided some wonderful characters over the years. Two episodes in, my impression of their new series is that it will be the same, a rare gem on a mostly has-been network.

The clear lead is Katja Herbers (Westworld, Divorce), who plays Kristen Bouchard. Fired from her job for not being willing to bend the truth on the witness stand while professionally testifying, Kristen is desperate. She’s at home with four daughters (Brooklyn Shuck, Rise; Skylar Gray, Married; Maddy Crocco; and Dalya Knapp) while her as-yet-unseen husband guides mountain climbing expeditions. Thankfully, her mom, Sheryl (Christine Lahti, Chicago Hope), lends a hand, but that’s not nearly enough.

A quick note about the kids: They seem pretty interchangeable and generic at the start, but I don’t believe they’re likely to stay that way. There are a lot of characters and a lot of story threads in EVIL, and for now, the girls are mostly a plot device to ratchet up the stress on Kristen, seen almost exclusively in a group. However, episode two started to distinguish one from the herd, and based on the creators’ past works, I find it probable that viewers will soon be able to distinguish them as individuals quite easily. It just may take a bit of time.

Back to Kristen, she is saved from unemployment by none other than the Catholic Church. Specifically, would-be-priest David Acosta (Mike Colter, Luke Cage), who asks for her help. The two, along with Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi, The Daily Show), make up the team that drives the A story of the initial offerings.

However, EVIL is more than one woman’s work and home life. We see her in therapy with Dr. Boggs (Kurt Fuller, Psych), which strangely ties into the first case. She is visited in her dreams by a demon named Georgie (Marti Matulis, Teen Wolf). And David is taunted by a man who might be supernatural, or at least have supernatural connections, named Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson, Lost).

That’s an ambitious workload for a broadcast network show, especially one on this particular channel. It’s a complex, well-developed world that presents a lot of questions without giving a lot of answers. I wouldn’t call EVIL particularly religious, but it’s not exactly not religious, either. It doesn’t have a point of view or agenda that it’s pushing, with various characters representing varied viewpoints, and none seeming to be more correct than any other. It’s a setting and premise to dwell in, showing us possibilities, rather than telling us what to think.

I like EVIL a lot. Already a fan of the Kings, I think this is every bit as intriguing as their previous shows, as well as being quite a bit weirder. The opening credits of EVIL are reminiscent of The Good Fight, while its lead has echoes of an in-over-her-head Alicia from the beginning of The Good Wife. It seems an evolution of their writing, and one that will probably be quite compelling.

EVIL airs Thursdays on CBS.

BRAINDEAD Smart

Article first published as BRAINDEAD Review on Seat42F.

From the creators of The Good Wife, Robert and Michelle King, comes a new summer drama (sort of) series, BRAINDEAD, premiering tonight. Set in modern-day, partisanship-paralyzed Washington D.C., it follows a group of people connected to the government, some of whom begin to suspect that all of this chaos is not completely on the fault of the humans. Or, there is an alien race who is beginning to take advantage of our mess for their own gains. No, it’s not a documentary, it is fiction, though there will be plenty who wish reality was so easily explained and fixed.

The protagonist is Laurel Healy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Mercy Street, 10 Cloverfield Lane), a kind-hearted, student loan-strapped documentarian who would like to stay far, far away from the nation’s capital and those who populate it. A relatable outsider, she is not trusted by those in power because they don’t think she knows their world. And, they’re sort of right.

Laurel has been semi-forced to relocate to D.C. by her father (Zach Grenier, The Good Wife), who says he will fund her stalled film if she gives him six months working for her brother, Democrat minority whip Luke Healy (Danny Pino, Law & Order: SVU). Laurel is willing to sell out some of her principles, though not keep her mouth shut, for such a bribe, and so she gets to work helping Luke’s constituents.

It takes almost no time at all for Laurel to get drawn into the mystery, though, when one of the voters complains of her husband acting strange. Before the pilot comes to a close, the husband isn’t the only one, and viewers are let in on exactly what’s going on, even if Laurel is still working the long road of clues towards the bad guys (and eventually the solution).

BRAINDEAD is populated with a terrific cast, from the three mentioned above, to Aaron Tveit (Graceland, Les Miserables) as a Republican Congressional aide whom clashes with Laurel, to the handsome investigator (Charlie Semine, Mercy), to Megan Hilty (Smash) in a small role as a newscaster, to the cherry on top, Tony Shalhoub (Monk, Nurse Jackie, Wings), as a mind-controlled senator. Each play comedy well, especially when it comes to characters who aren’t trying to be funny, but Shalhoub also excels at the intentional stuff.

You see, BRAINDEAD is billed as a humorous thriller, and I think that description is apt. There’s the very dark situation that is sweeping across the nation’s capital, but there are over-the-top humorous moments, as well as some more subtle political commentary, that keep things entertaining and without too heavy a tone. It has the feeling of those 1990s movies where the world is in silly danger, but with a higher quality writing and a production that takes itself more seriously, in a good way.

There’s a lot going on, with about half the main characters not even appearing in the first episode. This is good because I think it’s satisfying to see different sides of a situation like this, as there are many facets of what is happening. The entire run is set for thirteen episodes, which is a lot to fill, but despite the fast pace of episode one, I feel the Kings can probably do it well. (And their touted multi-season plan gives me confidence they have a good strategy.)

Still, there does seem to be something missing. I mean, I really enjoyed the pilot and am setting a season pass on my TiVo immediately, but there is still a little hollowness to the hour. I’m not quite sure what is causing it yet, and further hours will likely either illuminate or erase it. But it just feels a couple notches below The Good Wife, in my opinion, lacking quite the sharpness of wit present in the dialogue of that just-concluded series.

BRAINDEAD airs Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.