‘Evil’ 4×10 Review: “How to Survive a Storm”

The TL;DR version of our Evil 4×10 review goes something like this: this really hurts, what a ride, and thank the TV gods for those “bonus” episodes because we would’ve been rioting in the streets if the series had ended there. But no, we still don’t think only four more episodes is going to be enough. Just saying. We’ll gladly go shopping for bread and toilet paper immediately before a hurricane, pray with a nun, have a drink with a shrink (a rhyme!), tank some stocks, and re-learn how to play the high notes on clarinet in that atrocious Sousa march if it means we can have more.

And we’re not even sure what we wouldn’t give for a different ending to Evil Grandma Sheryl’s story. So, let’s just say all of the above and more. Maybe we just wish we had two lives: both to dedicate to saving Evil. (Too soon?)

“You need to stop freaking out. It’s just a storm.”

Often, episodes of this series send our trio off on an assessment that’s…interesting enough but, at least to us, not really the point. It’s always more of a framework for exploring tons of other things than a real, standalone story. In a sense, we can fit the hurricane in Evil 4×10 into that framework since the apocalyptic weather itself works as a backdrop. Not to mention, our usual “is this supernatural stuff real or not” most definitely comes into play here. Kristen’s daughters are convinced, through a creator on our old friend VidTap, that the “veil between the spirit world and our world” is about to, essentially, collapse during the incoming storm. As we see later in the episode, in yet another badass moment of Sister Andrea (literally) standing her ground as the world erupts in utter chaos around her, that…is most definitely the case.

“You’re an old woman. You. Mean. Nothing. And we? Own. The storms.”

So, we have our demons! Are they really more powerful as the storm becomes more powerful? All signs point to yes. But, in their showdown with Sister Andrea, when they’re actually able to hurt her, they even claim that this storm is theirs. Not God’s. And honestly? Anyone who’s ever been through even a “minor” hurricane can probably confirm: It’s Hell on Earth. So, that…tracks.

But, if you can, take the is it/isn’t it out of the picture for a moment. Because the way the hurricane just works throughout Evil 4×10 is, if possible, the best way the series has handled making a (not quite) case into a framework, like, ever. Every single aspect of “How to Survive a Storm” masterfully utilizes the ever-increasing danger, the inserts of disaster footage, the emergency alerts. And that heightening sense of “oh, we’re in trouble” that comes about as those alerts deliver worse and worse news, even as everyone just kind of tries to cosplay at going about “normal” life? Spot on. It’s what we do, with increasing frequency and increasing absurdity as what should be horrifying weather keeps, somehow, getting worse and we become more numb to it.

Climate change, y’all. It’s real, and we’re normalizing purely abnormal, batsh**t weather, going about our lives and downplaying our spiral into disaster. And, as always, shoutout to our climate activist queen Katja Herbers, whose influence we’re going to go out on a limb and bet is all over this.

But anyway!

The plot even, kinda flawlessly, follows Hurricane Lucy’s trajectory a bit. We reach Cat. 5 — the absolute worst — just as we learn that New York’s great evil, Leland, is next door. And while we’ll break both of these things down more below, we have to point out that both David’s battle with Leland and Sheryl’s ultimate demise fit the storm pattern, too. Closest to the eye of the storm, the worst things happen. Then, in the eye itself, there’s a false sense of calm — both the trio and Sheryl seeming like they might have the upper hand — then more horror…and, finally, all that’s left is the destruction the storm left in its wake.

In Evil 4×10, it’s the viewers that get destroyed as we lose Sheryl — far more than Kristen’s madhouse full o’ toilet paper. But Leland only gets away with that because he can use a freak, catastrophic accident during the hurricane to make her death seem like…not murder. And if we’re going with our whole storm metaphor just one more step before we move to another part of our discussion, Leland’s arrest and Kristen winding up taking in the baby she never consented to creating in the first place…well. Rebuilding after one of these things usually means putting things back into places that don’t quite ever feel the same.

It’s also usually a long road to getting power back, assessing flood damage, and fixing what’s broken. So, back to being greedy for a second: Hi. Hello. Four episodes ain’t gonna do it. More, please.

“Listen. I love you. And I’ve always loved you. Keep the kids safe, ok?”

One of the best parts of Evil 4×10 is also the worst part: Evil Grandma Sheryl’s grand finale. Christine Lahti is, as always, fantastic from start to finish. And the path her character takes, from her seemingly-insane encounter with Kristen at the grocery store, to her great escape with Dr. Boggs and their chat in his office, to the fight with Leland, to even her gutting death scene just fits. Probably what we hate about all of this — aside, of course, from the obvious — is that we didn’t see it coming when we should have. No. We refused to see it coming, even when the character told us, more than once, there was only one way this was going to end. (Kinda fits with our whole climate change discussion, huh?)

Sometimes, the truth is just not what we want it to be. Kristen can’t — or maybe just won’t, with everything she’s seen while working with David and Ben — hear it. Not even as her mom is begging, willing her to believe her. Not even with Sheryl’s intense, perfectly clear and focused, gaze trained on her. And not even with her mom’s hands grasping both of her biceps as she whispers about love, and protecting the kids, and the dangers that are coming her way.

We don’t believe the reality in front of us, that Sheryl can’t possibly beat a Leland that’s this powerful all on her own, either. Because we don’t want to. We want to believe in this total badass of a woman going out on top; we want to believe in women finally winning. And we want, above all, to believe in redemption. The question of whether or not Sheryl achieves that final goal, even when she can’t finish the work of ending Leland before she dies, is a complicated one. But given the emotional, gutting scene in the hospital, we know she dies with her daughter’s love. Kristen is there at the end, and she brings the girls to say goodbye. She even brings Father Acosta to say the last rites, despite no one in the room but him believing in much of anything. That has to count for something…right?

For us, Sheryl has always been the perfect anti-hero. At her worst, she was still a great “lesser of two evils,” if you will, when pitted against Leland. And, if nothing else, she was always a woman with no time left for letting men have all the power, much less a monopoly on getting away with being (more than) a little bit bad. Flawed, sure. But she couldn’t go through killing with Andy and wouldn’t stand for letting Leland harm so much as a hair on one of her granddaughters’ heads. Throw in the humanity Lahti always brought to this role, and to say watching that death scene felt like having a Cat. 5 hurricane throw a TV through our window and straight into our chest is…not an exaggeration.

But she’s also a grandmother who was there for her granddaughters when no one else was. When their dad was off doing WTFever and their mom had to work, there was Evil Grandma. So, it’s both kinda perfect and intensely cruel that Evil 4×10 gives Sheryl that moment in the hospital with the girls. Because what we see is so very real and human, even in the midst of all the talk of demons controlling the weather, of monsters unzipping their human suits, and…even David’s epic abilities. Sheryl puts on as much of a brave, reassuring face for her girls as possible. And we can see, even as she’s doing it, how much that takes out of her. But she does it. For them. We’ve seen this from those we love in their last moments, and it just hurts to relive — especially when Sheryl came so close to winning.

Then, we change our focus, see just how much space is between that broken, defeated woman in the hospital bed and the daughter she’s hurt so much with the whole Timothy/antichrist plot. But she uses some of her last strength to give Kristen that sad smile, to fight for her hand to reach out, to use some of her very last breaths to ask Kristen to forgive her. It’s actually agonizing watching her struggle to return Kristen’s “I love you” and…not be able to get a single word out. And it’s just…a gift, though an agonizing one, to see Lahti and Herbers have this final, heartbreaking moment

And finally, at the bittersweet end, there’s David, offering his God’s forgiveness. He knows what this woman has done, and he still sees Sheryl as someone worthy. And to see her finally go, in peace…to finally rest with his help…is simultaneously uplifting — you, too, can turn it all around before it’s too late! — and heartbreaking AF. Real talk: Is there a single dry eye in the audience after watching all that? Because uh. Yours Truly gets dehydrated just trying to write about it. So, let’s not talk about actually watching.

There’s so much we can say here, about how Sheryl survives long enough to get to say goodbye to all five of her girls and to get that redemption. How that woman, refusing to accept David’s kindness in the confessional in episode 8 finds a way now. But maybe the real, important thing here is this: She goes out on her own terms, having fought like hell knowing Dr. Boggs has her messages for Kristen and Andy. Knowing she did what she could. And knowing she came so, so close to defeating Leland. If she had only had someone to watch her back — say, like Kristen does a priest, a nun, and a nerd — who knows?

Also: This really hurts.

David vs. Leland

Let’s end this review somewhere that doesn’t make us want to fall out of a window in the middle of a raging hurricane…

Evil 4×10 puts David in a bit of a moral crisis. Earlier this season, he kinda…unwittingly killed the General when he was just beginning to hone his skills. And, after the fact, Father Dominic told him it was “God’s work,” even as David said he was “harmed by this work.” Now, seeing that Leland has moved in next to Kristen and her daughters, he knows he has a way to protect them. But he also knows that his faith tells him killing people is bad. Full stop. So, a very agitated and maybe even a little desperate David goes to Father Ignatius for advice.

“If you were certain — absolutely certain — that someone was going to kill someone that you care DEEPLY about…would — would it be wrong to do everything in your power to stop him.” 

(Let’s all take a moment to scream about the emphasis on “DEEPLY” and then move on…)

Notably, Father Ignatius doesn’t give David a blank check to go prevent one evil act by committing another. In fact, he makes things both more and less complicated at the same time. In no uncertain terms, he warns David that God will not forgive a murder, that the hypothetical “defender” David is asking him about “would be sacrificing their eternal soul.” But, then, there’s this:

“There is so much about my faith that I don’t understand, David. Some days, I don’t even know if I believe. I pray, I pray, I don’t feel anything. But there’s one thing I do believe and always have: John 15, verse 13, ‘greater love hath no man than laying down his life for his friends.’”

(Whatever you do, don’t think about that verse in the context of Sheryl’s arc…)

Wallace Shawn delivers this with a sort of quiet sincerity that marks the gravity of the situation far more than a more overtly passionate method might. And all the while, David sits, and listens, and you can see the wheels turning. He has an air of defeat about him, in a way. After all, he’s resigned to laying down his own eternal soul for someone he loves cares “deeply” about — that’s no small matter. But what we also see here is the second he makes his mind up, internalizes Father Ignatius’ assertion that having saved Matt would’ve been “serving God” in his mind, and knows what he has to do.

And then, the showdown.

From the “forgive me, Father” ahead of time, to Michael Emerson’s robotic movements as David takes over, to the way the camera swings around like these two are really in some kind of cage match or something, the big battle between David and Leland in Evil 4×10 is so incredibly well done. It’s a standout sequence, portrayed by two absolute powerhouses in acting, and a highlight of an already fantastic season and even better should’ve-been season finale. (Of many!) And the terror painted all over Mike Colter’s face when David realizes Leland is onto him, coupled with Emerson’s horrifyingly, sadistically delighted “hello, David,” is second to none.

All we can say from here is thank God for Sister Andrea being by David’s side, as well as for Ben the Magnificent’s success in screwing with Leland’s plumbing at just the right moment. (And y’all know someone at this show had a blast creating that series of shots.)

It takes us almost losing David for Father Dominic to finally give us some answers, and even then, he’s reluctant to do so. And what a story it is, how he used to be one of them but then, went to the other side. Our only conclusion, delivered by Sister Andrea of all people, is that we must, in fact, “kill him.” But that’s going to take some work. And later, when Leland steps into David, we learn just how difficult that work is going to be. Not only that, but holy f**ck, the absolute, pure, hatred rolling off Colter as David crushes Kristen’s hand…like, imagine if we’d gotten at least 10 episodes of, like, Evil!David or something. Hello???

But — and I never thought I, a former band geek would say this — Sousa for the win. Can confirm Emerson is spot on with Leland’s yowling, ear-covering, defeated reaction to hearing “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” Hate that march. Awful to play. Annoying AF.

Anyway. We have David, we have marching band (!!!), and we have Sheryl’s last words landing the man in prison. At the risk of cursing us here, and paraphrasing our Evil Grandma’s earlier words: Coming after Leland means someone’s not going to survive. And if only one “side” can win, we wouldn’t bet against our trio.

More on Evil 4×10

• …did nobody consider that, perhaps, the extra toilet paper might be…evil? Especially after the chatbot sent some panties that one time, and Mama Kristen even told the kids their “free” app for finding spooky sh**t wasn’t really free?
• Still can’t believe Mama K’s kids are this grown, but I really love how we’ve watched all four of these girls grow as actors. Awesome that they get so many moments to shine in Evil 4×10, right from the start.
• “Serious demons, not…clickbait demons.” Sister Andrea would be so proud, Lynn.
• Any other Doctor Who nerds here? The whole “dead people are found walking the streets” thing was giving “Army of Ghosts.” (And, tbh, the way I was ugly crying by the end was giving Doomsday.”)
• “But they said it’s a one in 100 years storm.” “Eh. You know, they say that every year.” No, seriously, this was too real. I hate it here.
• “You’re the most important people in the world to me. Even if I haven’t always shown that.”  Losing my mind over the way Lahti’s voice breaks on “in the world to me.”
• “I’m sorry, Leslie. But that’s crazy.” Nobody does the big, fake PR smile like Kristen Bouchard. Or, in reality, like Katja Herbers as Kristen Bouchard. But. You know. Details.
• Love the way that very first remote viewing scene is lit, shot, and edited. Gorgeous, honestly. And always here for Colter’s eyes popping out of his head when David recognizes Leland’s “Feliz Navidad” gremlin.
• “No. The storm is coming. Leland will always be there.” Like, is this a threat? Is Leland immortal? If so, we’re gonna need an infinite episode count. Obviously.
• Kristen is such a freakin’ mood. Canned margarita, bubble bath, laptop. Ignoring the kids’ hysteria over the storm. No f**cks to give, whatsoever…but she’s still watching the news. Like. If that isn’t me whenever people text me eleventy-billion times about a storm hitting the coast when I’m…not there…
• Actually. Come to think of it, they should’ve called Evil 4×10 “How To Buy Toilet Paper.” Love the running gag, especially with all the gut punches this episode provides. But, to reiterate: Nobody saw this as a bad sign? Not even the boys???
• Absolutely everything about the kids’ adventure to the house next door is a yes from me. The way that suspense just builds and builds, with the backdrop of the storm: Yes. But Maddy Crocco steals it. Talk about pure and utter fear when Lexis is separated in the group and we see that thing.
• Leland, you are not Mister Rogers. None of this “neighbor” from you.
• But the way David sits up back in his room…
• HIT HIM HARDER KRISTEN
• If looks could kill, honestly. Talk about loathing radiating off Herbers.
• “In the meantime. We’re gonna have to take care of ourselves. These!!!! Are stun guns.” She is so perky and delivers that with a flourish. Continue to adore Mama Kristen. Yes. Even, and maybe especially, when she doesn’t want her bath interrupted.
• It’s the boys <3333333
• The Kristen/Ben hug??? My heart. She is, like, limp with relief.
• “Have you ever sliced into human flesh, David?” Is Leland Townsend auditioning for the new Ghostface or.
• There is something so special about the way Sister Andrea puts her hand over David’s heart. Can’t even pinpoint what. Just…talk about healing hands.
• “I’m the f**ckin storm, Oscar.” Would lay down my life for this woman.
• The way she grins over that computer like she’s finally got Leland, almost immediately followed by how she cowers under the desk and is terrified even of Kurt…
• …really should’ve seen it coming. Did not.
• Poor Dr. Boggs, really. That man sees too much and all the worst times.
• “…but I can’t stop watching.” “Like the end of the world.”
• Another pairing we were well and truly robbed of before this season: Sheryl and Kurt!
• “F**ck me now, Kristen.” Ok but Leland is supposed to be the bad guy, so why is he making David say the good things???
• “Sorry about what I said earlier.” “Oh. That’s ok. You weren’t yourself.” And her goofy grin??? STOP.
• “YOU WON’T HURT THIS FAMILY.” Sister Andrea, y’all.
• “So…this is about how you guys screwed things up for my generation?” “Pretty much. Sorry.” “It’s the devil.” “No, no. It’s just us; it’s just people.” “It’s pure evil.” The intersection here is that people are pure evil and have screwed the planet up, while refusing to do anything about slowing down their damage. So, there’s your truth.
• The girls kneeling to pray with Sister Andrea, one by one, leaving Lexis all by herself…a moment. And seeing them all asleep against each other/her. <3
• NOT THESE TWO WAKING UP AND GRINNING AT EACH OTHER LIKE THAT. NOW IS NOT THE TIME.
• “I wish I had two lives: One for God. And one for you.” “I wish I had two lives: Both of them for you.” The vulnerability???? The heart eyes?????? And with only four episodes to go???? FML.
• “What about me?” “Three lives.” This family!!!
• And the timing from Aasif Mandvi was insane. We got the whispered confessions, we got time to lose it over them, and then we got the comic relief, with a touch of heart. Iconic.
• “Hi, Leland. So sorry you’re not feeling well. Here. Let me help you out. Hey. Your stock’s not doin too well. That’s gotta be hard on you, huh? I think the death of its new CEO is gonna prove problematic, too. Nice knowing you, Leland.” She is so powerful and triumphant here.
• Stop the count!!!
• This is 239847384 times more tragic because we really thought we’d made it. WTF.
• Her face when she hears the news.
• No. No, no, no, no. And also? NO.
• “Don’t die, Grandma. Please.”
• NO.
• When Kristen puts her hand on her cheek…my God. Who needs words?
• The soundtrack drowning out her sobs as she’s losing it…
• Was I talking about Kristen or me in that last bullet? You decide!
• “Oh! Maybe he made bail already.”
• “Jesus Christ.” “…yup.”
• And her helpless look back at them like “can you believe” and also “help.”
• The deranged grin toward the cop is screaming “can you f**cking believe.”
• Can y’all imagine having to wait a whole hiatus after this? Small mercies, I guess.
• …but I’d still rather we didn’t get canceled.

What did you think of Evil 4×10 “How to Survive a Storm”? Leave us a comment!

New episodes of Evil stream Thursdays on Paramount+.