'Evil' S1 DVD: Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes

Robert and Michelle King put the same thought-provoking warped perspective that makes "The Good Wife" and the "Wife" (reviewed) spinoff "The Good Fight" such wonderfully dark fun to good use as to S1 of the CBS psychological drama "Evil." The CBS Home Entertainment DVD of this first outing of this latest King-sized offering hits real and virtual store shelves on June 30, 2020.

IMDb does reviewers everywhere a solid during these Hell hound days of The Summer of 2020 by providing a perfect synopsis of the "Supernatural"/"X-Files" mash-up that is "Evil." "A skeptical female clinical psychologist joins a priest-in-training and a blue-collar contractor as they investigate supposed miracles, demonic possession, and other extraordinary occurrences to see if there's a scientific explanation or if something truly supernatural is at work." The frequent ambiguity as to this is one of many things that make "Evil" such a treat.

The series aptly examines the nature of evil; this includes whether it is the work of Satan and why some people turn to the dark side. We also get ample discussion of the extent to which someone invites that harmful element into his or her life. 

The aforementioned shrink is Karen Bouchard, Ph.D. She goes down the rabbit hole in the pilot when her consulting for the NYC DA office has her evaluating a "baby" who has done a bad bad thing. This puts her on the radar of future man in black David and handyman Ben (the magnificent). Their common interest relates to whether the devil made the defendant do it.

The "excitable boy" playing a major role (with a little help from the not-so-good-son) in the final S1 episodes is one of many reasons that the 13 "Evil" S1 episodes are worthy of a marathon, but not binge, watching session. By George, you will want to keep the lights on for some of these episodes. 

Many of the other episodes, including an exorcism apparently gone wrong, similarly involve story arcs. An awesome example of this is an evaluation of a purported prophet leading to an investigation of potent symbolism. This mission from the agents of God leads to a family reunion at a commune that practices what it preaches as to peace, free love, and understanding. Cosbying the sangria is a little more questionable. 

The Halloween and Christmas specials are particularly awesome in that they are especially dark and have heavy elements of the highly entertaining impact of Karen often bringing her work home with her to the extent that she repeatedly must battle her personal demon. Halloween finds the annoying shrill and hyper four girls of Karen playing host to the weird neighbor kid, who is an especially bad influence. Christmas, which involves especially dark mass hypnosis by a Katy Perry clone, is a little more fun in that it is the one "Evil" episode that features the same type of animated music video that Team King does so well.

Michael Emerson puts his "Lost" training as a psycho-in-geek's clothing to excellent use as the yin to the yang of Karen; psychologist Leland Townsend really enjoys manipulating the weak-willed to do his bidding; revealing the boss of the Townsend agency is one of the best surprises of this series that is full of twists.

The S1 cliffhanger arguably is the most surprising moment in the series. At the very least, it sets the stage for Karen to present the arguably most interesting workers' compensation claim in real or reel history.

CBSHE first supplements this with deleted and extended scenes that indicate that Beelzebub was whispering in the ear of the editor who decide to exclude these moments. We also get the self-explanatory special features ""Evil: Season One: Genesis" and "Does Evil Exist?' The latter especially provides good material for water-cooler chatter if we ever return to our offices.