Robert and Michelle King are masters of the "weird." If you’ve been following the journey of Kristen Bouchard, David Acosta, and Ben Shakir since the beginning, you already knew that. But Evil season 4—which unexpectedly became the series finale—cranked the dial to a level of theological and technological insanity that most network-turned-streaming shows wouldn't dare touch. It wasn't just about demons anymore. It was about venture capital, deepfake pornography, and a baby that might literally be the Antichrist, born from a stolen egg and a surrogate who happens to be the protagonist's mother.
The show got canceled. It’s a bummer. Paramount+ gave them four bonus episodes to wrap things up, which the creators affectionately called "Season 4.5." Honestly, it’s a miracle they stuck the landing at all.
The Chaos of the 60 Stories
For three seasons, we heard about the "60." It sounded like a massive, global conspiracy of demonic houses. In Evil season 4, we finally see how mundane that evil actually is. It’s not just goat-headed monsters in sewers. It’s a corporate office. Leland Townsend, played with a delicious, skin-crawling snark by Michael Emerson, is basically just a middle manager for Hell.
The season forces us to look at the "Entity"—the Vatican's secret service—and realize they aren't much better. David is stuck in the middle. Mike Colter plays David with this exhausting internal conflict that feels so real. He’s a priest who sees visions, but he’s also a man who is being used as a remote-viewing weapon by his own church. The show asks: if the "good guys" are using the same shady tactics as the "bad guys," does the distinction even matter?
The writing this season is sharp. It’s jagged. One minute you’re laughing at Ben (Aasif Mandvi) dealing with a literal jinn following him around because of a scientific experiment gone wrong, and the next, you’re watching Kristen (Katja Herbers) realize her life is a house of cards. The tonal shifts should give you whiplash. They don't. That’s the King’s magic.
Why the Tech in Evil Season 4 Hits Too Close to Home
Most horror shows rely on ghosts or masked killers. Evil season 4 relies on the terms of service agreement you didn't read.
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Ben’s arc this season is particularly devastating. He’s the skeptic. He’s the guy with the flashlight and the EMF meter. But when he gets hit by an experimental particle beam, his reality starts to fracture. He starts seeing a demonic figure that he cannot explain away with logic. It’s a brilliant metaphor for how modern technology—AI, deepfakes, quantum computing—is reaching a point where it’s indistinguishable from magic or the supernatural.
- The episode "How to Plot a Rehash" tackles the horror of AI-generated content.
- The "How to Build a Chatbot" episode isn't just about code; it’s about the soul of a dead person being trapped in a loop.
- We see the "60" trying to influence the stock market through demonic algorithms.
It's terrifying because it's barely fiction. You’re watching it and thinking, "Yeah, a demonic hedge fund sounds about right for 2024 or 2025."
The Leland and Sheryl Power Struggle
Sheryl, played by Christine Lahti, is one of the most polarizing characters in TV history. In Evil season 4, her descent—or ascent, depending on how you look at it—into the inner circle of the 60 reaches its breaking point. She’s trying to protect Kristen’s daughters while also injecting herself with demonic "youth" serums.
The tension between her and Leland is the engine of the first half of the season. It’s a toxic, murderous workplace rivalry. When Leland finally gets the upper hand, it leads to one of the most shocking sequences in the show involving a baby bottle and a very dark secret.
The show doesn't shy away from the grotesque. You remember the "Birth of the Antichrist" scene? It wasn't some Rosemary's Baby homage that felt dated. It was clinical. It was weirdly domestic. That’s what makes this show stand out in the crowded "prestige horror" genre. It finds the horror in a suburban kitchen or a sterile office building.
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The "Final Four" and the Move to Rome
When the news broke that the show was ending, fans were panicked. How do you finish the story of the Antichrist in four episodes? The Kings decided to move the pieces to Rome.
The final episodes of Evil season 4 feel like a fever dream. The Assessment Team is disbanded. The rectory is closing. But the evil doesn't stop just because the funding does. The finale, "Fear of the End," is a masterclass in ambiguity.
Is baby Timothy actually the Antichrist? Well, Kristen is raising him now. She’s decided that a mother’s love might be enough to outweigh a demonic pedigree. It’s a beautiful, slightly insane sentiment. It suggests that nurture can beat a literal hellish nature. But then you see that look in the baby's eyes in the final frames.
The show ends with David and Kristen in Rome, continuing their work for the Church. It’s a "Status Quo" ending that feels deeply unsettling. They haven't won. They’ve just relocated the battlefield.
What the Critics Got Wrong
A lot of reviewers early on dismissed Evil as a "Monster of the Week" procedural. That was a mistake. By Evil season 4, the serialized plot is so dense you almost need a corkboard and string to keep track of the demonic houses.
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- People thought the daughters were just background noise. They weren't. Their collective screams and their weirdly synchronized behavior were a harbinger for the show's climax.
- Critics argued the show was too cynical about the Church. If anything, the show is deeply respectful of the mystery of faith, even while it mocks the bureaucracy of religion.
The nuance here is that David Acosta isn't a perfect priest. He’s a guy who struggles with drugs, lust, and doubt. In the final season, his doubt is his greatest strength. It’s what keeps him human when the Entity tries to turn him into a tool.
The Legacy of the Assessment Team
Ben, David, and Kristen are the heart of the show. Their chemistry is what made the technical jargon and the theological debates watchable. In the final season, their friendship is tested by the literal end of the world.
Ben finally admits that he can't explain everything.
David admits that he can't save everyone.
Kristen admits that she might actually be a little bit "bad," and she’s okay with that.
The final scene of them walking together in Rome is a perfect encapsulation of the show. They are tired. They are slightly traumatized. But they are still looking for the truth, even if the truth is a demon wearing a human suit.
How to Process the Ending of Evil Season 4
If you just finished the finale and you're feeling a bit lost, you aren't alone. The show didn't give us a neat bow. It gave us a messy, complicated, and hauntingly beautiful goodbye.
Take these steps to fully digest the series:
- Re-watch the pilot. Knowing where Kristen and David end up in Rome makes their first meeting in the cold open of Season 1 feel completely different. The foreshadowing about "The 60" was there from day one.
- Look into the "Pop-Up Book" clues. Every episode title in Evil season 4 starts with "How to..." and corresponds to a page in the demonic pop-up book seen in the intro. There are hidden symbols in almost every transition frame that hint at the ultimate fate of the characters.
- Follow the creators on social media. Robert and Michelle King have been vocal about wanting to continue the story elsewhere. While there’s no official word on a Season 5 or a spinoff, the "Evil" universe is built to expand. They've hinted that the Rome setting was intended to be a soft reboot for a potential new chapter.
- Analyze the "silent" episode again. Season 4 leans heavily into visual storytelling. Pay attention to the recurring motifs of the "eyes"—the cameras, the paintings, and the literal demonic eyes watching from the shadows.
The show is gone for now, but its influence on how we tell horror stories on television will stick around. It proved that you can be smart, funny, and absolutely terrifying all at once. It taught us that the real demons aren't hiding under our beds; they're probably sitting in the cubicle next to us or living in the apps on our phones.